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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The examiner acknowledges the amendments made to claims 1, 3, 9 and 19 with claim 2 canceled in prosecution. Currently claims 1, 3-20 are pending in the present application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-14, 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang (US Patent No 20200187808).
Regarding claim 1, Yang teaches a wearable electronic device (physiological sensing device 110, [0022]), comprising: a housing (the sensing device 110 may be formed on a flexible or shapable material, [0022], seen as the housing element); an electrode carrier attached to the housing and having a nonplanar surface (wherein the sensing device 110 flexible material is configured to hold and include the multiplicity of sensing electrodes 111, [0022], and by definition if the material is shapeable it is nonplanar); a set of electrodes including electrodes positioned at different locations on the nonplanar surface (see for example figs 3-8 for possible embodiments all showing the electrodes 111 on different locations); a sensor circuit (sensing device 110 creates a sensor circuit with sensor electrodes 111, [0022]); and a switching circuit (switch 960, [0045]) operable to electrically connect a number of different subsets of one or more electrodes in the set of electrodes to the sensor circuit (see fig 9, as well as [0046], explaining how the switch can select certain sensing electrodes creating different sensing subsets 11a-111c) and a processor in communication with the sensor circuit and the switching circuit (see signal processor 123 which is in communication with the sensor device 110 and switch 960, [0047]) and configured to: in a first mode, control the switching circuit to sequentially connect the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes to the sensor circuit via the switching circuit (see in which multiple different electrode sensing groups are created with the sensing electrodes 111a-111d and their individual sequential response in comparison to the reference electrode 112 effectively creating a first sensing group and a second sensing group and so forth with the available electrode pairs, in which this is possible through the switch 960 which creates the different sensing groups of the sensing device 110, [0031]); and conduct one or more measurements for each of the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes connected to the sensor circuit (see in which the sensing electrodes 111a-111d can sense a plurality of physiological signals for different positions corresponding to each sensing group or sensing subset, [0032], furthermore the signal processing device is capable of selecting two candidate physiological signals to sense and measure from the created electrode pairings, [0039]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 3, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: identify, at least partially in response to the one or more measurements for each of the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes (see in which the sensing electrodes 111a-111d can sense a plurality of physiological signals for different positions corresponding to each sensing group or sensing subset, [0032]), a subset from the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes for acquiring measurement of a biosignal (see from Yang, [0033], in which the signal processor 120 compares all the physiological signals from the different sensing groups 111a to 111d, in order to obtain the closest or strongest signal to the reference electrode 112 for acquiring a biosignal); in a second mode, control the switching circuit to connect the identified subset of the one or more electrodes to the sensor circuit, the one or more electrodes used for acquiring the measurement of the biosignal; and operate the sensor circuit to obtain the measurement of the biosignal while the identified subset of the one or more electrodes for acquiring the measurement of the biosignal is connected to the sensor circuit (see Yang, [0033], which discloses how once the strongest biosignal or physiological signal is obtained, then in communication with the signal processor 120, that particular sensing group 111a to 111d which the strongest signal came from, is used to automatically serve as the sensing subset for obtaining the continuous signal measurements).
Regarding claim 4, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 3, wherein: the number of different subsets includes a first subset of one or more active electrodes (see for example wherein the active sensing electrodes are the 111 electrodes, [0031], see as the first subset), and a second subset of one or more reference electrodes (see reference electrode 112, [0031], seen as the second subset); and an optimized biosignal corresponding to different pairs of an active electrode from the first subset of one or more active electrodes and a reference electrode from the second subset of one or more reference electrodes is generated by applying a respective weight to each active electrode of the first subset and each reference electrode of the second subset (see from Yang, [0033], in which the signal processing device 120 is comparing all of the first electrode sensing subsets 111a to 111d to the reference electrode subset 112, and analyzing how close in value each separate subset comes to the reference subset 112. This closeness value serves as a respective weight when determining which subset pair to use for sensing).
Regarding claim 5, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuit comprises a set of one or more reference electrodes disposed on an exterior surface of the housing (see [0032] in which the reference electrode 112 is found on the exterior of the flexible material housing as to be pressed against the treatment area).
Regarding claim 6, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein: the electrode carrier includes a flexible circuit substrate; or the electrode carrier includes an in-ear piece (wherein the sensing device 110 flexible material is configured to hold and include the multiplicity of sensing electrodes 111, [0022]).
Regarding claim 7, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electrode carrier is a wall of the housing (see Yang, in which the electrodes 111 are placed in the flexible material such that they are able to contact the skin on external side of the flexible body, [0022], thereby being found on the external wall of the housing).
Regarding claim 8, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more electrodes in the set of electrodes includes at least an active electrode or a reference electrode, the active electrode or the reference electrode disposed on the electrode carrier (see from figs 3-8 which show the active electrodes 111 and the reference electrode 112 disposed in the flexible material of the sensing device 110).
Regarding claim 9, Yang teaches a wearable electronic device (physiological sensing device 110, [0022]), comprising: a housing (the sensing device 110 may be formed on a flexible or shapable material, [0022], seen as the housing element); a set of active electrodes disposed in different regions of the housing (see for example figs 3-8 for possible embodiments all showing the active sensing electrodes 111 on different locations); a set of reference electrodes disposed in the different regions of the housing (see for example figs 3-8 for possible embodiments all showing the reference electrodes 112 on different locations); and a switching circuit (switch 960, [0045]) configured to: form one or more subsets of active electrodes each comprising at least one active electrode of the set of active electrodes, and form one or more subsets of reference electrodes each comprising at least one reference electrode of the set of reference electrodes (see fig 9, as well as [0046], explaining how the switch can select certain sensing electrodes creating different sensing subsets 11a-111c and how they interact with the subset of reference electrodes 112), and a processor in communication with the sensor circuit and the switching circuit (see signal processor 123 which is in communication with the sensor device 110 and switch 960, [0047]) and configured to: in a first mode, control the switching circuit to sequentially connect the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes to the sensor circuit via the switching circuit (see in which multiple different electrode sensing groups are created with the sensing electrodes 111a-111d and their individual sequential response in comparison to the reference electrode 112 effectively creating a first sensing group and a second sensing group and so forth with the available electrode pairs, in which this is possible through the switch 960 which creates the different sensing groups of the sensing device 110, [0031]); and conduct one or more measurements for each of the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes connected to the sensor circuit (see in which the sensing electrodes 111a-111d can sense a plurality of physiological signals for different positions corresponding to each sensing group or sensing subset, [0032], furthermore the signal processing device is capable of selecting two candidate physiological signals to sense and measure from the created electrode pairings, [0039]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 10, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 9, further comprising: a processor (see signal processor 120 which is in communication with the sensor device 110 and switch 960, [0047]) configured to: identify a subset of the one or more subsets of active electrodes for sensing a biosignal; and identify a subset of the one or more subsets of reference electrodes for sensing the biosignal (see in which multiple different electrode sensing groups are created with the sensing electrodes 111a-111d and their individual sequential response in comparison to the reference electrode 112, as identified by the signal processor 120, [0031]).
Regarding claim 11, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 10, wherein identifying the subset of the one or more subsets of active electrodes or the subset of the one or more subsets of reference electrodes comprises: selecting the at least one active electrode of the set of active electrodes based on an analysis of one or more of: impedances between a first electrode of the set of active electrodes and a second electrode of the set of reference electrodes, and physical distances between the first electrode and the second electrode (see from Yang in which the identifying of which active sensing electrodes 111 and reference electrode 112 to use for obtaining a biosignal is decided based on the position of the electrode pair in relation to each other, [0033], thereby teaching the distance between the first and second electrodes).
Regarding claim 12, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 10, wherein identifying the subset of the one or more subsets of active electrodes comprises: selecting the at least one active electrode of the set of active electrodes based on a contact area with a body of a user for each of the set of active electrodes (see from Yang, [0033], in which the signal processor 120 compares all the physiological signals from the different sensing groups 111a to 111d found on different areas of the body, in order to obtain the closest or strongest signal to the reference electrode 112 for acquiring a biosignal).
Regarding claim 13, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: control the switching circuit for acquiring measurements corresponding to the biosignal being sensed using the identified subset of the one or more subsets of active electrodes and the identified subset of the one or more subsets of reference electrodes (see Yang, [0033], which discloses how once the strongest biosignal or physiological signal is obtained, then in communication with the signal processor 120, the switch 960 activates so that particular sensing group 111a to 111d which the strongest signal came from, is used to automatically serve as the sensing subset for obtaining the continuous signal measurements).
Regarding claim 14, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the biosignal is an electrical activity of a brain of a user (wherein the physiological signal provided may be an electroneurogram, [0024]).
Regarding claim 16, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 9, wherein the housing comprises a first region and a second region, and the set of active electrodes is disposed in the first region and the set of reference electrodes is disposed in the second region (see for example the figs 3-8, in which the active sensing electrodes 111 are found on the outside of the device 110 and the reference electrode 112 is found on the middle of the device. Thereby creating a first region on the outside edge and a second region on the interior of the device).
Regarding claim 17, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 9, wherein at least one electrode of the set of active electrodes has a ring shape, a circular shape, a dot shape, an oval shape, or a hybrid shape (see from the figs 3-8 in which the sensing electrodes 111 all comprise a circular configuration).
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.
Claim(s) 15, 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (US Patent No 20200187808) in view of Mohammadi (US Patent No 20190297408).
Regarding claim 15, Yang teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 9.
Yang doesn’t teach wherein the wearable electronic device is a wireless earbud device or a wired headphone device.
However, Yang does state that the sensing device 110 may be placed in or around the head of the user, [0022], and the analogous sensing circuit components taught by Mohammadi do teach that signal sensing capabilities can be placed in an earbud device 10, [0020].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date to combine the wearable physiological device taught by Yang, with that of the earbud configuration taught by Mohammadi, as to have physiological sensing capabilities in a compact form which will be used in a daily environment as taught by Mohammadi, [0020].
Regarding claim 18, the combination teaches the wearable electronic device of claim 9, wherein an electrode of the set of active electrodes is coupled with another electrode of the set of active electrodes, or an electrode of the set of reference electrodes is electrically coupled with another electrode of the set of reference electrodes, using a set of micro axial cables or a flex (see from Mohammadi in which the active electrodes 42, are all interconnected and formed on a flexible printed circuit 54 or flex, [0032]).
Regarding claim 19, Yang teaches an apparatus configured to measure a biosignal (physiological sensing device 110, [0022]), the apparatus comprising: a first component comprising a set of active electrodes disposed in different regions of a housing of the first component (see for example figs 3-8 for possible embodiments all showing the active sensing electrodes 111 on different locations, seen as the first component); a second component comprising a set of reference electrodes disposed in different regions of a housing of the second component (see for example figs 3-8 for possible embodiments all showing the reference electrodes 112 on different locations, seen as the second component); at least one switching circuit electrically coupled to the set of active electrodes and the set of reference electrodes (see in fig 9, the switch 960 in communication with all of the sensing 111 and reference electrodes 112, [0046]); and at least one processor configured to: form, using the at least one switching circuit, one or more subsets of active electrodes each comprising at least one active electrode of the set of active electrodes, and form, using the at least one switching circuit, one or more subsets of reference electrodes each comprising at least one reference electrode of the set of reference electrodes (see fig 9, as well as [0046], explaining how the switch can select certain sensing electrodes creating different sensing subsets 11a-111c and how they interact with the subset of reference electrodes 112), and a processor in communication with the sensor circuit and the switching circuit (see signal processor 123 which is in communication with the sensor device 110 and switch 960, [0047]) and configured to: in a first mode, control the switching circuit to sequentially connect the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes to the sensor circuit via the switching circuit (see in which multiple different electrode sensing groups are created with the sensing electrodes 111a-111d and their individual sequential response in comparison to the reference electrode 112 effectively creating a first sensing group and a second sensing group and so forth with the available electrode pairs, in which this is possible through the switch 960 which creates the different sensing groups of the sensing device 110, [0031]); and conduct one or more measurements for each of the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes connected to the sensor circuit (see in which the sensing electrodes 111a-111d can sense a plurality of physiological signals for different positions corresponding to each sensing group or sensing subset, [0032], furthermore the signal processing device is capable of selecting two candidate physiological signals to sense and measure from the created electrode pairings, [0039]-[0040]).
Yang does not teach the first component configured to be worn on or in a first ear and a second component configured to be worn on or in a second ear.
However, the analogous sensing circuit components taught by Mohammadi do teach the first component configured to be worn on or in a first ear and a second component configured to be worn on or in a second ear (see from Mohommadi, [0031], in which a first component containing the active electrodes 42 can be placed in one ear, and a second component containing the reference electrode 52 may be placed in a different ear to take measurements between and establish a baseline for signal processing).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date to combine the wearable physiological device taught by Yang, with that of the earbud configuration taught by Mohammadi containing a first and second component configuration, as to have physiological sensing capabilities in a compact form which will be used in a daily environment to help measure physiological signals as taught by Mohammadi, [0020].
Regarding claim 20, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to, identify a subset of the one or more subsets of active electrodes or a subset of the one or more subsets of reference electrodes based on an analysis of one or more of: impedances between first electrodes of the set of active electrodes and second electrodes of the set of reference electrodes; and the biosignal is an electrical activity of a brain of a user (see from Yang, wherein the physiological signal provided may be an electroneurogram, [0024], in which the processor 120 is configured to determine the active subset so that particular sensing group 111a to 111d which the strongest signal came from, is used to automatically serve as the sensing subset for obtaining the continuous signal measurements, [0033]) .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Specifically, the examiner has considered the arguments presented regarding the independent amended claims 1, 9 and 19 that the prior art of Yang does not teach sequentially connecting different electrode subsets to a sensor circuit, and the remarks that the prior art of Yang only teaches that single measurements as opposed to sequential measurements has been considered but ultimately falls unpersuasive. After further search and consideration, necessitated by the amended claim language, it has been found that the prior art of Yang does continue to teach all of the limitations as currently amended. Specifically, it has been found that the newly considered prior art of Yang does contain enough disclosure to teach the amended limitations of a processor in communication with the sensor circuit and the switching circuit (see signal processor 123 which is in communication with the sensor device 110 and switch 960, [0047]) and configured to: in a first mode, control the switching circuit to sequentially connect the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes to the sensor circuit via the switching circuit (see in which multiple different electrode sensing groups are created with the sensing electrodes 111a-111d and their individual sequential response in comparison to the reference electrode 112 effectively creating a first sensing group and a second sensing group and so forth with the available electrode pairs, in which this is possible through the switch 960 which creates the different sensing groups of the sensing device 110, [0031]); and conduct one or more measurements for each of the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes connected to the sensor circuit (see in which the sensing electrodes 111a-111d can sense a plurality of physiological signals for different positions corresponding to each sensing group or sensing subset, [0032], furthermore the signal processing device is capable of selecting two candidate physiological signals to sense and measure from the created electrode pairings, [0039]-[0040]). Furthermore, in regards to the argument presented that Yang only teaches a single measurement selection, the examiner would like to bring applicants attention to the disclosure of Yang paragraphs [0039]-[0040]. In this specification by Yang, it is specifically disclosed that the signal processing device is capable of selecting two candidate physiological signals to sense and measure from the created electrode pairings, thereby teaching the limitation of conduct one or more measurements for each of the number of different subsets of the one or more electrodes connected to the sensor circuit as analyzed under the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim. Therefore, as the previous prior art of record of Yang teaches all the amended limitations of claims 1, 9 and 19 they remain rejected under the prior art of record rejection set forth in the present office action.
In regards to the argument presented about claim 3, that Yang does not disclose that measurements are performed using the same subset of electrodes in the first and second mode has been considered but ultimately falls unpersuasive. The examiner would like to remind that applicant that the claims are analyzed under the broadest reasonable interpretation during search and consideration. Specifically, the language of claim 3 discloses that “in a second mode, control the switching circuit to connect the identified subset of the one or more electrodes to the sensor circuit, the one or more electrodes used for acquiring the measurement of the biosignal.” Therefore, there is no specific claim language or limitation that explicitly states that the same subset of electrodes must be used in the first and second mode. Thereby as the prior art of Yang does teach in [0033], which discloses how once the strongest biosignal or physiological signal is obtained by the strongest subset, then in communication with the signal processor 120, that particular sensing group 111a to 111d which the strongest signal came from, is used to automatically serve as the sensing subset for obtaining the continuous signal measurements, discloses the claim limitation of claim 3 as analyzed under the broadest reasonable interpretation. As the prior art of Yang continues to teach all the limitations of claim 3, it remains rejected under the prior art of record rejection set forth in the present office action.
As no further arguments or remarks have been presented about any more claims, they too remain rejected due to their dependency of the rejected claims 1, 9 and 19.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 KYLE M BROWN whose telephone number is (703)756-4534. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-5:00pm EST, Mon-Fri, alternating Fridays off.
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/KYLE M. BROWN/Examiner, Art Unit 3794
/JOSEPH A STOKLOSA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3794
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