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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on August 24, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed August 24, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3-4 have been amended.
Currently, claims 1-4 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-6, filed August 24, 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-4 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Christensen et al. (US 2011/0034831).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, lines 12-13 recite, “an acoustic waveform collector configured to process signals from the series of acoustic sensors to generate an;” which is an open-ended limitation and indefinite. Referring back to the January 30, 2026 claim set, it appears claim 1 previously stated, “…generate an acoustic waveform” and this limitation will be regarded as such.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the acoustic waveform" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. As stated above, according to the January 30, 2026 claim set, it appears claim 1 previously introduced, “acoustic waveform” and this limitation will be regarded as such.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the first acoustic-to-electric sensor" in line 6, “the body acoustic signals” in line 7 and “the second acoustic-to-electric sensor” in lines 7-8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 2-4 are rejected for being dependent on and for failing to remedy the deficiencies of claim 1.
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.
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.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lahiji et al. (US 2011/0137209) in view of Christensen et al. (US 2011/0034831).
Regarding claim 1, Lahiji et al. discloses an apparatus comprising: a wearable size container configured to be removably attached to an external surface of a body ([0013]), wherein the container has an inner chamber (fig. b, d; internal portion between top patch and bottom patch where “electronic components optionally may be located or sandwiched between the opposed side of the patient patch and the inner side of the external patch” [0047]) and an outer surface (fig. a, c); a series of acoustic sensors 50 (“microphones”) within the wearable size container (fig. 6c, 7b; [0048]) configured to receive sound from different directions (“These microphones (and generally other small, inexpensive microphones) have an omni-directional performance (FIG. 1), resulting in the same performance along all the incident angles of sound.” [0006]) to enhance noise immunity (“microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology provides for directional, high quality and low-noise recording of sounds from the body's internal organs” [0013]); an acoustic waveform collector 100 configured to process signals from the series of acoustic sensors to generate an acoustic waveform (see 35 U.S.C. 112b rejection above) (“process the signals, such as through summing” [0050], [0052]); and a waveform transmitter 112 that transmits the acoustic waveform ([0014], [0043], [0046], [0060]).
Lahiji et al. only discloses the series of acoustic sensors arranged at a back side of the wearable size container facing the body to detect body acoustic signals (fig. 6c) and does not expressly disclose wherein the series of acoustic sensors includes at least a first acoustic sensor arranged at a front side of the wearable size container to detect environmental background sound. Christensen et al. teaches an analogous apparatus wherein a series of acoustic sensors includes at least a first acoustic sensor 10 arranged at a front side of the wearable size container to detect environmental background sound ([0058]) and a second acoustic sensor 5 arranged at a back side of the wearable size container facing the body to detect body acoustic signals ([0042], [0056]), the first acoustic sensor 10 arranged at the front side of the wearable size container in order to better record environmental noise from surrounding environment ([0058]) that is then used to remove environmental noise from the other acoustic sensor, thus reducing the noise level significantly and leaving a cleaner primary acoustic signal from the body ([0030]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lahiji et al. to, in addition to the acoustic sensor arranged at a back side of the wearable size container facing the body to detect body acoustic signals, to include an acoustic sensor arranged at a front side of the wearable size container to detect environmental background sound as taught by Christensen et al. in order to better record environmental noise from the surrounding environment to assist in removing environmental noise from the body acoustic signals ([0030], [0058]).
Regarding claim 2, Lahiji et al. discloses wherein the acoustic waveform is transmitted via a wireless connection ([0014], [0043], [0046], [0060]).
Regarding claim 3, Lahiji et al. discloses wherein the acoustic waveform collector further applies one or more filters 108, 110 (fig. 8) to one or more corresponding valid signal sections to filter out body noise and environmental noise (“Noise cancellation 108 is preferably provided”; “De-convolver 110 serves to de-convolve the multiple sounds received from the body.” [0052]), wherein the one or more valid signal sections are identified by stripping out one or more invalid sections in which the environmental background sound detected by the first acoustic-to-electric sensor (35 U.S.C. 112b rejection) exceeds a background threshold (“Additional physical structures, such as a noise suppression screen may be supplied on the side of the device that is oriented to ambient noise in operation” [0052]; ambient background noise is regarded as exceeding a background threshold when compared to sounds from within the body).
Furthermore Lahiji et al. in view of Christensen et al. discloses the acoustic waveform collector further applies one or more filters (“differential amplifier”) to one or more corresponding valid signal sections to filter out body noise and environmental noise ([0046]), wherein the one or more valid signal sections are identified by stripping out one or more invalid sections in which the environmental background sound detected by the first acoustic-to-electric sensor (35 U.S.C. 112b rejection) exceeds a background threshold ([0046], ambient background noise is regarded as exceeding a background threshold when compared to sounds from within the body).
Additionally the limitation, “wherein valid signal sections are identified by stripping out one or more invalid section in which (i) the environmental background sound detected by the first acoustic-to-electric sensor (35 U.S.C. 112b rejection) exceeds a background threshold or (ii) a magnitude of the body acoustic signals (35 U.S.C. 112b rejection) from the second acoustic-to-electric sensor (35 U.S.C. 112b rejection) is below a mounting threshold indicative of improper mounting of the apparatus” does not alter the structure of the apparatus and does not meaningfully alter how the one or more filters is applied to the one or more corresponding valid signal sections.
Regarding claim 4, Lahiji et al. discloses wherein the acoustic waveform collector further obtains one or more movement waveform inputs (“accelerometers” [0046], [0062]), wherein each of the one or more movement waveform inputs is associated with a corresponding current heartbeat waveform inputs, and wherein each movement waveform input indicates a movement status of a user (“one or more accelerometers additionally capture the heart and respiration rate from the movement of the chest and monitor the activity level of the person” [0062]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERICA S LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1480. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-7pm, flex.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Hamaoui can be reached at (571) 270-5625. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ERICA S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796
Prosecution Insights