DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the invention of Group I (Claims 1-12 and 14) in the reply filed on 07/29/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 recites the limitations “a processor configured to read a biosignal stored in a memory”, and divide the biosignal at certain time intervals”. The specification at [0120] mentions FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the biosignal measurement devices 31 and 32” and the processor 310 may process data such as a biosignal in response to a control signal stored in the memory, and the processor may store a biosignal measured by the sensor unit. However, nowhere is “a biosignal stored in the memory” and therefore these limitations are not adequately described in the specification. Claims 2-12 and 14 are rejected for dependency on independent claim 1. For examination purpose, the “biosignal” recited in claim 1 will be interpreted as a measurable biological signal.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha et al. Pub. No. US 2022/0361800 (hereinafter “Cha”) in view of Chiang Pub. No. US 2022/0000409. Cha discloses an electrocardiogram signal processing apparatus 100, the apparatus comprising: a signal sensing unit, a controller 110, a memory 120 (Figs. 1&3), and a signal determination module unit 210 including a data receiving unit 211, a data learning unit 212, a data determining unit 213, and a processor 220 operably coupled with module unit 210 and communication unit 230 (Fig. 7). Cha teaches in [0043] “the electrocardiogram signal processing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be an apparatus that receives an electrocardiogram signal (note: electrogram signal is any signal in a living organism/ biosignal) from an external electrocardiogram signal measuring device or a device storing electrocardiogram signal data to determine whether the electrocardiogram signal is a normal or abnormal signal. Cha further teaches ([“The electrocardiogram signal processing apparatus 100 may be a computing device including a controller 110, a memory 120, and a communication unit 130. Such a computing device may achieve desired system performance by using a combination of computer hardware (e.g., a device that may include, for example, a computer processor, a memory, a storage, an input device, an output device, and other components of a computing device in the related art”]). Cha does not teach converting a signal segment into a frequency domain, but he teaches the electrocardiogram signal processing apparatus of the present disclosure may convert an electrocardiogram signal having a large capacity into a Gini index (see par. 0067). Chiang discloses on-ear EEG monitor device comprising an EEG processing unit, and the signal analysis by the processor 1102 may be powered by machine learning or deep learning algorithms 1105 that may be optionally stored in the memory 1104 unit to distinguish if the captured signal by the EEG sensors is within the acceptable EEG domain (e.g. frequency, amplitude). Therefore the time applicant’s invention was filed it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Cha in view Chiang in order to converting a biosignal into the frequency domain and determining whether additional analysis of the biosignal is required based on a frequency component of the biosignal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED M FARAH whose telephone number is (571)272-4765. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri. 9:30AM -10:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Niketa Patel can be reached at 571-272-4156. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AHMED M FARAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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