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 .
Response to Amendment
The Office Action is responsive to the Amendment filed 28 April 2026. Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10, 11 and 13-23 are now pending. The Examiner acknowledges the amendments to Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10, 11 and 13-23.
Claim Objections
Claims 14 and 16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claims 14 and 16, the limitation “the processing unit”, should be changed to “a processing unit”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4, 6, 7, 11, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Wallace (US 20050235422 A1) in view of Verghese et al. (US 20190378595 A1) (hereon referred as Verghese).
Regarding claim 1, Wallace teaches an apparatus for assessing a wake-up procedure of a patient sedated with a sedative medication in a medical image acquisition process (“anesthetic techniques…for or dose of pharmacologic sedation…during radiology, radiation therapy, MRI, or other medical procedures”, paragraph [0010]), comprising:
An input unit (“the system would have one or several microphones that records ambient room noise”, paragraph [0009]);
A processing unit (“a digital signal processing system would calculate the appropriate signal to cancel ambient room noise”, paragraph [0009];
An output unit (“display device…image generator…image viewable by the patient”, paragraph [0011]);
Wherein the output unit is configured to provide at least one estimated timing and at least one determined parameter to a controller (“media source device 404 has a display…connected to a patient-monitoring device 410, such as an anesthesia machine that tracks measurements of the patient’s condition”, paragraph [0029]; media source device 404) for device management according to a timing/workflow prediction (“media source device 404 can track the point in the media where the patient fell asleep; when the patient again wakes up”, paragraph [0068]), to cause performance of administering a sedative medication (“the device is capable of providing…sedative, regional, or local anesthetic techniques…reducing the need for or dose of pharmacologic sedation”, paragraph [0010]) and controlling content of an immersive audio-visual system (“the device is capable of providing audiovisual distraction…provide audio and visual distraction during painful procedures…during… MRI”, paragraph [0010]).
Wallace does not teach the input unit being configured to receive patient profile data and sedation data comprising information about a sedation state of the sedated patient and the processing unit being configured to apply a data-driven model to the patient profile data.
However, Verghese teaches an apparatus for assessing a wake-up procedure of a patient sedated with a sedative medication (“systems…for quantitatively identifying a patient’s sedation level”, abstract; Fig. 6), comprising:
An input unit (input 610, Fig. 6);
A processing unit (central processing unit 606, Fig. 6); and
An output unit (output 610, Fig. 6);
Wherein the input unit is configured to receive patient profile data (“demographic or clinical parameters obtained from procedural documentation may include age, weight, gender, procedure type, and medication data”, paragraph [0101]) and sedation data comprising information about a sedation state of the sedated patient (“patient may being in an exemplary baseline state…may be given sedatives…changes the sedation state of the patient”, paragraph [0072]); shown in Fig. 2);
Wherein the processing unit is configured to apply a data-driven model to the patient profile data and sedation data of the sedated patient (“the clinical monitoring system may perform real-time signal processing and analysis to implement both monitoring and predictive functionalities in procedural sedation”, paragraph [0103]), wherein the at least one timing comprises wake up time (“system detects a change in sedation level…may alert physician with sound alarm…alert may display “Patient Awakening””, paragraph [0103]), and wherein the data-driven model has been trained on a training dataset obtained from historical data of one or more patients (“process 1000 may use an interference system…and/or machine learning techniques, and/or statistical inference to determine and predict sedation states”, paragraph [0104]; process 1000, Fig. 10);
Wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the following parameter based on a sequence of workflow steps in the medical acquisition process (“the alert may also be accompanied by a recommendation for an action, and/or may be accompanied by an indication of the next step for the system”, paragraph [0103]); and
Wherein the output unit is configured to provide the at least one estimated timing and at least one determined parameter (“outputs a predicted sedation level or depth of hypnosis”, paragraph [0060]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Wallace with Verghese, and assess the patient profile data and sedation data relative to a medical imaging setting, in order to ensure the patient will receive the sedative medication while undergoing immersive audio-visual stimulation and allow the patient to wake up at a predicted time during a medical imaging procedure (“alert may display “Patient Awakening”, paragraph [0103], “processor is further configured to alert a user when the first predicted sedation level exceeds at first sedation threshold or is below a second sedation threshold”, claim 21; Verghese).
Regarding claim 2, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches the processing unit being further configured to determine one or more of the following parameters based on the at least one estimated timing:
Delivery of the required support for the sedated patient (“the system distracts, hypnotizes, stimulates, or sedates patients undergoing boring, painful, stressful, uncomfortable…procedures”, paragraph [0070])
Delivery of staff support (“operator then chooses a selection from the list which is served up by the media server…screen also allows operation instructions to the operator”, paragraph [0060])
Regarding claim 3, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches all the limitations of claim 1.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the sedation data further comprising at least one of the sedative medication or sedation dose used for the sedated patient (“method may incorporate other information such as patient data, medication type and dosage”, paragraph [0101], “first dose of procedural sedation agent may be labeled as the baseline state or “sedation state 0””, paragraph [0122]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and have the sedation data further comprising at least one of sedative medication or sedation dose in order to help determine the workflow steps in the medical image acquisition process and further determine wake-up time of the sedated patient.
Regarding claim 4, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches all the limitations of claim 1.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the training dataset is obtained from at least one of historical data of the sedated patient or from historical data of a plurality of other patients (“the technique implemented on the system may also learn and evolve by acquiring information from multiple patients over multiple procedures”, paragraph [0104]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and have the training dataset be from previous data retrieved from the sedated patient or from a dataset of a plurality of other patients, in order to further have a better estimation of wake-up time of the sedated patient.
Regarding claim 6, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches all the limitations of claim 1.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the input unit being further configured to receive real-time measurement data indicative of a sedation state of a sedated patient (“real-time indicators relating to…sedation level”, “clinical monitoring system may perform real-time signal processing and analysis to implement both monitoring and predictive functionalities in procedural sedation”, paragraph [0103]);
Wherein the processing unit is configured to continuously adjust the at least one estimated timing and the at least one determined parameter according to the sedation level of the sedated patient (“one or more features from the capnogram that are indicative of physiological state of the patient, compute…a metric indicative of a physiological state of the patient…determine a baseline value of the metric for the patient…corresponding to a baseline state of the patient before procedural sedation begins”, paragraph [0007]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and have the input unit further be configured to receive real-time data of the sedation state of the patient, as well as the processing unit be configured to adjust the estimated timing and a determined parameter according to the monitored sedation level of the sedated patient, in order to provide a better estimation of wake-up time during the medical acquisition process.
Regarding claim 7, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches all the limitations of claim 1.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the controller further configured to generate a trigger signal for the sedated patient (“system may alert the physician with a sound alarm, along with a visual signal indicator”, paragraph [0103]) and/or one or more devices to perform the at least one or more actions (“the clinical monitoring system may also make recommendations for clinical interventions, including…amount and timing and frequency of drug administrations”, paragraph [0103]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and have the controller further configured to generate a trigger signal for the sedated patient in order to signal the patient when it is time to receive sedation dose or instruct the patient/operator further steps.
Regarding claim 11, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches the controller being configured to generate the trigger signal based on information about a status of an imaging system (“patient-monitoring device 410 can alert the media source device 404 to interrupt the transmission of media, for example by stopping the presented movie”, paragraph [0068], “media source device being configured to present on the display a message triggered by the patient-monitoring device”, claim 15). The controller can generate a trigger signal based on the status of the patient, as well as the status of an imaging system.
Regarding claim 13, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches a display configured to display current constraints for wake-up and/or predictive data for the wake-up procedure (“microphones could be placed on the display unit”, paragraph [0009], “messages may be displayed on the display 408 when the media source device 404 is connected to a patient-monitoring device 410, such as an anesthesia machine that tracks measurements of the patient’s condition”, paragraph [0029]).
Regarding claim 14, Wallace teaches a method of assessing a wake-up procedure of a patient sedated with a sedative medication in a medical image acquisition process (“anesthetic techniques…for or dose of pharmacologic sedation…during radiology, radiation therapy, MRI, or other medical procedures”, paragraph [0010]), comprising:
Providing at least one estimated timing and at least one determined parameter to a controller (“media source device 404 has a display…connected to a patient-monitoring device 410, such as an anesthesia machine that tracks measurements of the patient’s condition”, paragraph [0029]; media source device 404) for device management according to a timing/workflow prediction (“media source device 404 can track the point in the media where the patient fell asleep; when the patient again wakes up”, paragraph [0068]), to cause performance of administering a sedative medication (“the device is capable of providing…sedative, regional, or local anesthetic techniques…reducing the need for or dose of pharmacologic sedation”, paragraph [0010]) and controlling content of an immersive audio-visual system (“the device is capable of providing audiovisual distraction…provide audio and visual distraction during painful procedures…during… MRI”, paragraph [0010]).
Wallace does not teach the method of receiving patient profile data of the sedated patient, applying a data-driven model to the patient profile data and sedation data of the sedated patient, and the processing unit being configured to determine a sequence of workflow steps in a medical image acquisition process.
However, Verghese teaches a method of assessing a wake-up procedure of a patient sedated with a sedative medication (“methods…for quantitatively identifying a patient’s sedation level”, abstract, Fig. 21 and 22), comprising:
Receiving patient profile data of the sedated patient (“demographic or clinical parameters obtained from procedural documentation may include age, weight, gender, procedure type, and medication data”, paragraph [0101]) and sedation data comprising a sedation state of the sedated patient (“patient may begin in an exemplary baseline state…may be given sedatives…changes the sedation state of the patient”, paragraph [0072]; shown in Fig. 2);
Applying a data-driven model to the patient profile data and sedation data of the sedated patient to estimate at least one timing in the wake-up procedure of the sedated patient (“perform real-time signal processing and analysis to implement both monitoring and predictive functionalities in procedural sedation”, paragraph [0103]), wherein the at least one timing comprises a wake-up time (“system detects a change in sedation level…may alert physician with sound alarm…alert may display “Patient Awakening””, paragraph [0103]), and wherein the data-driven model has been trained on a training dataset obtained from historical data of one or more patients (“process 1000 may use an inference system…and/or machine learning techniques, and/or statistical inference to determine and predicted sedation states”, paragraph [0104]; process 1000, Fig. 10);
Wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the following parameter based on the at least one estimated timing:
A sequence of workflow steps (“the alert may also be accompanied by a recommendation for an action, and/or may be accompanied by an indication of the next step for the system”, paragraph [0103]); and
Providing the at least one estimated timing and at least one determined parameter (“outputs a predicted sedation level or depth of hypnosis”, paragraph [0060]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Wallace with Verghese and assess the patient profile data and sedation data relative to a medical imaging setting, in order to ensure the patient will receive sedative medication while undergoing immersive audio-visual stimulation and allow the patient to wake up at a predicted time during a medical imaging procedure.
Regarding claim 15, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches a computer program element comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of the method of claim 14 (“media source device 404 includes a server device 452, and one or more console device 454 connected to the server device…for example a computer network…provides the console device(s) with the media for the image generator”, paragraph [0030]).
Claims 8, 10 and 16-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport (US 20170188879 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Wallace in view of Verghese teaches all the limitations of claim 7, but does not teach the one or more devices comprising a mobile patient support and a safety device for preventing the sedated patient from falling down.
However, Rapoport teaches a mobile patient support (MRI-safe cart 800, Fig. 6A, paragraph [0313]) for transferring a patient to and from a medical imaging system (“cart 800 having a base part 85, an upper tray 300…to accommodate a patient…contains a motion enabling mechanism such as wheels”, paragraph [0314]);
Wherein the mobile patient system support comprises a safety device for preventing the sedated patient from falling down from the mobile patient support during transport (safety device shown in annotated Fig. 8A below).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese with the mobile patient support and safety device of Rapoport in order to be able to transfer a patient to and from a medical imaging system and ensuring that the patient is secured in place.
Regarding claim 10, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches the mobile patient support comprising an immersive audio-visual system for providing an interactive audio-visual environment to the sedated patient ((“the device is capable of providing audiovisual distraction…provide audio and visual distraction during painful procedures…during… MRI”, paragraph [0010]).
Regarding claim 16, Wallace teaches an apparatus for assessing a wake-up procedure of a patient sedated with a sedative medication in a medical image acquisition process (“anesthetic techniques…for or dose of pharmacologic sedation…during radiology, radiation therapy, MRI, or other medical procedures”, paragraph [0010]), comprising:
An input unit (“the system would have one or several microphones that records ambient room noise”, paragraph [0009]);
An output unit (“display device…image generator…image viewable by the patient”, paragraph [0011]);
A controller configured to generate a trigger signal for the sedated patient and/or one or more devices to perform an action based on the at least one estimated timing and the at least one determined parameter in the wake-up procedure (“media source device being configured to present on the display a message triggered by the patient-monitoring device”, claim 15)
Wallace does not teach an input unit being configured to receive patient profile data and sedation data, a controller being configured to apply a data-driven model to the patient profile data and sedation data, and a processing unit configured to determine a sequence of workflow steps.
However, Verghese teaches an apparatus for assessing a wake-up procedure of a patient sedated with a sedative medication in a medical acquisition process (“systems…for quantitatively identifying a patient’s sedation level”, abstract; Fig. 6), comprising:
An input unit (input 610, Fig. 6);
An output unit (output 610, Fig. 6);
Wherein the input unit is configured to receive a patient profile data (“demographic or clinical parameters obtained from procedural documentation may include age, weight, gender, procedure type, and medication data”, paragraph [0101]) and sedation data comprising information about a sedation state of the sedated patient (“patient may being in an exemplary baseline state…may be given sedatives…changes the sedation state of the patient”, paragraph [0072]); shown in Fig. 2);
A controller configured to generate a trigger signal for the sedated patient (“system may alert the physician with a sound alarm, along with a visual signal indicator”, paragraph [0103])) and/or one or more devices to perform an action based on the at least one estimated timing and the at least one determined parameter in the wake-up procedure (“the clinical monitoring system may also make recommendations for clinical interventions, including…amount and timing and frequency of drug administrations”, paragraph [0103]).
Wherein the controller is configured to apply a data-driven model to the patient profile data and sedation data of the sedated patient to estimate at least one timing in the wake-up procedure of the sedated patient (“the clinical monitoring system may perform real-time signal processing and analysis to implement both monitoring and predictive functionalities in procedural sedation”, paragraph [0103]), and the at least one timing comprises wake-up time (“system detects a change in sedation level…may alert physician with sound alarm…alert may display “Patient Awakening””, paragraph [0103]), and wherein the data-driven model has been trained on a training dataset obtained from historical data of one or more patients (“process 1000 may use an interference system…and/or machine learning techniques, and/or statistical inference to determine and predict sedation states”, paragraph [0104]; process 1000, Fig. 10);
Wherein the processing unit is configured to determine one or more of the following parameters based on the at least one estimated timing:
A sequence of workflow steps in the medical image acquisition process (“the alert may also be accompanied by a recommendation for an action, and/or may be accompanied by an indication of the next step for the system”, paragraph [0103]); and
Wherein the output unit is configured to provide the at least one estimated timing and at least one determined parameter (“outputs a predicted sedation level or depth of hypnosis”, paragraph [0060]).
Wallace in view of Verghese does not teach the one or more devices comprising a mobile patient support and a safety device for preventing the sedated patient from falling down.
However, Rapoport teaches a mobile patient support for transferring a patient to and from a medical imaging system (MRI-safe cart 800, Fig. 6A, paragraph [0313]) for transferring a patient to and from a medical imaging system (“cart 800 having a base part 85, an upper tray 300…to accommodate a patient…contains a motion enabling mechanism such as wheels”, paragraph [0314]);
Wherein the mobile patient system support comprises a safety device for preventing the sedated patient from falling down from the mobile patient support during transport (safety device shown in annotated Fig. 8A above) and the safety device comprises:
A retractable bore wall attachable to the mobile patient support, wherein the retractable bore is arranged to enclose the sedated patient during transport (“an upper tray 300 at least partially covered or enveloped by an MRI safe material creating an internal space 350 that can be embodied as an incubator”, paragraph [0467]; bore wall shown in annotated Fig. 8A below).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the modified apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and assess the patient profile data and sedation data relative to a medical imaging setting, in order to ensure the patient will receive the sedative medication while undergoing immersive audio-visual stimulation and allow the patient to wake up at a predicted time during a medical imaging procedure (“alert may display “Patient Awakening”, paragraph [0103], “processor is further configured to alert a user when the first predicted sedation level exceeds at first sedation threshold or is below a second sedation threshold”, claim 21; Verghese), with the mobile patient support and safety device of Rapoport in order to also be able to transfer a patient to and from a medical imaging system and ensuring that the patient is secured in place.
Regarding claim 17, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches the processing unit being further configured to determine one or more of the following parameters based on the at least one estimated timing:
Delivery of the required support for the sedated patient (“the system distracts, hypnotizes, stimulates, or sedates patients undergoing boring, painful, stressful, uncomfortable…procedures”, paragraph [0070])
Delivery of staff support (“operator then chooses a selection from the list which is served up by the media server…screen also allows operation instructions to the operator”, paragraph [0060])
Regarding claim 18, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches all the limitations of claim 16.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the sedation data further comprising at least one of the sedative medication or sedation dose used for the sedated patient (“method may incorporate other information such as patient data, medication type and dosage”, paragraph [0101], “first dose of procedural sedation agent may be labeled as the baseline state or “sedation state 0””, paragraph [0122]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport and have the sedation data further comprising at least one of sedative medication or sedation dose in order to help determine the workflow steps in the medical image acquisition process and further determine wake-up time of the sedated patient.
Regarding claim 19, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches all the limitations of claim 16.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the training dataset is obtained from at least one of historical data of the sedated patient or from historical data of a plurality of other patients (“the technique implemented on the system may also learn and evolve by acquiring information from multiple patients over multiple procedures”, paragraph [0104]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport and have the training dataset be from previous data retrieved from the sedated patient or from a dataset of a plurality of other patients, in order to further have a better estimation of wake-up time of the sedated patient.
Regarding claim 20, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches all the limitations of claim 16.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the input unit being further configured to receive real-time measurement data indicative of a sedation state of a sedated patient (“real-time indicators relating to…sedation level”, “clinical monitoring system may perform real-time signal processing and analysis to implement both monitoring and predictive functionalities in procedural sedation”, paragraph [0103]);
Wherein the processing unit is configured to continuously adjust the at least one estimated timing and the at least one determined parameter according to the sedation level of the sedated patient (“one or more features from the capnogram that are indicative of physiological state of the patient, compute…a metric indicative of a physiological state of the patient…determine a baseline value of the metric for the patient…corresponding to a baseline state of the patient before procedural sedation begins”, paragraph [0007]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport and have the input unit further be configured to receive real-time data of the sedation state of the patient, as well as the processing unit be configured to adjust the estimated timing and a determined parameter according to the monitored sedation level of the sedated patient, in order to provide a better estimation of wake-up time during the medical acquisition process.
Regarding claim 21, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches all the limitations of claim 16.
Furthermore, Verghese teaches the controller further configured to generate a trigger signal for the sedated patient (“system may alert the physician with a sound alarm, along with a visual signal indicator”, paragraph [0103]) and/or one or more devices to perform the at least one or more actions (“the clinical monitoring system may also make recommendations for clinical interventions, including…amount and timing and frequency of drug administrations”, paragraph [0103]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport and have the controller further configured to generate a trigger signal for the sedated patient in order to signal the patient when it is time to receive sedation dose or instruct the patient/operator further steps.
Regarding claim 22, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches all the limitations of claim 21.
Furthermore, Rapoport teaches a mobile patient support (MRI-safe cart 800, Fig. 6A, paragraph [0313]) for transferring a patient to and from a medical imaging system (“cart 800 having a base part 85, an upper tray 300…to accommodate a patient…contains a motion enabling mechanism such as wheels”, paragraph [0314]);
Wherein the mobile patient system support comprises a safety device for preventing the sedated patient from falling down from the mobile patient support during transport (safety device shown in annotated Fig. 8A above).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the apparatus of Wallace in view of Verghese with the mobile patient support and safety device of Rapoport in order to be able to transfer a patient to and from a medical imaging system and ensuring that the patient is secured in place.
Regarding claim 23, Wallace in view of Verghese and further in view of Rapoport teaches the mobile patient support comprising an immersive audio-visual system for providing an interactive audio-visual environment to the sedated patient ((“the device is capable of providing audiovisual distraction…provide audio and visual distraction during painful procedures…during… MRI”, paragraph [0010]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 9, filed 28 April 2026, with respect to the drawing objections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The drawing objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 9, filed 28 April 2026, with respect to the specification objections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The specification objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 10, filed 28 April 2026, with respect to the claim objections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claim objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 10, filed 28 April 2026, with respect to 35 U.S.C. 112 have been fully considered. The 35 U.S.C. 112 rejection has been withdrawn due to cancellation of claim 12.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 10, filed 28 April 2026, with respect to 35 U.S.C. 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 and its dependent claims 2-4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13-15 and claim 16 and its dependent claims 17-23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. The rejection of all pending claims 1-4, 6-8, 10, 11, and 13-23 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been updated accordingly.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARA LINH TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3598. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am-5:00pm M-F.
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/L.L.T./Examiner, Art Unit 3791 /ALEX M VALVIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3791
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