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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Para [0001] should read: “This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 16/958,689, filed June 27, 2020, now U.S. Patent No. 11,504,047, which is a national stage entry of International Application No. PCT/CA2018/051542, filed December 3, 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/658,478, filed April 16, 2018, and which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/611,462, filed December 28, 2017. The disclosures of these applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites a method of analyzing electromechanical characteristics of a heart of a subject using a model that analyzes ECG and measurements of movement caused by the heart.
To start off, step 1 is covered as the claims recite a method.
Moving on to step 2A, this is a two-prong analysis. Under prong one, examiner is required to show the abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon. In this case, examiner points out that the steps of “analyzing a time series of electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements of the heart and measured during a first period of time after stent-placement angioplasty of the subject” and “analyzing a time series of measurements of movement caused by the heart during a second period of time after the stent-placement angioplasty of the subject and at least overlapping with the first period of time” are the abstract idea directed to a mental process. These limitations, under broadest reasonable interpretation, can be done in the mind other than the recitation of the generic computer component. That is, other than reciting “a model” nothing in the claim precludes the step from practically being performed in the mind. The steps of analyzing can simply mean looking at the data and coming up with any result, as doctors do when they look at medical charts. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Under prong two, examiner is required to show that the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim recites the additional element including: “producing the at least one inference”. In this case, the additional element recited is being performed using a generic computer function such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The producing is merely data calculation that a generic computer can perform. In terms of the model, that is simply a generic computer implementation of an abstract idea, it is no more than an automation of a mental process. Accordingly, these additional element do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea (MPEP 2106.05F). The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Lastly for step 2B, the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of producing data amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claim is not patent eligible.
Examiner states that the claim recites a judicial exception, but is not integrated into a practical application (Step 2b of 2019 PEG). In particular the steps of the claim do not recite any additional element that is required for the claim to be performed, moreover the steps of the claim add insignificant extra-solution activity to the abstract idea. (See MPEP 2106.05 (g)). Therefore, the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because there are no additional elements recited. Dependent claims 2-4, 6-10, 16, and 18-20 do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Claims 2-4, 6-10, 16, and 18-20 are rejected based on their dependency to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-4, 6-10, 16, and 18-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Examiner was able to find broad references that showed a model that analyzes ECG and movement measurements of the heart to produce an inference. No references were found to teach the specific measurements being taken after a stent-placement angioplasty. This specific surgical procedure is important to the claims as the inference is being produced based on the results of the surgical procedure. Examiner did not find the motivation to combine references that taught the method for any other surgical procedure. For this reason claims 1-4, 6-10, 16, and 18-20 are objected to as allowable.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AYA ZIAD BAKKAR whose telephone number is (313)446-6659. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:30 am - 5:00 pm M-Th.
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/AYA ZIAD BAKKAR/
Examiner, Art Unit 3796
/CARL H LAYNO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3796