DETAILED ACTION
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/08/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 25-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) “determining first indication…”, “determining a second indication…”, and “determining a final indication…”. These limitations, as drafted, are processes that, under their broadest reasonable interpretations, cover performances of these limitations in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting “an input capable of acquiring data responsive to intensity signals” and “output the final indication”, nothing in the claim element precludes the limitations from practically being performed in the mind. 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.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim recites additional elements- “an input capable of acquiring data responsive to intensity signals”; “output the final indication” these elements amount no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim(s) is directed to an abstract idea.
The claim(s) does/do 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 “an input capable of acquiring data responsive to intensity signals” and a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claim(s) is not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
Claims 25-29 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 (b) as being anticipated by Terry (USPN 2003/0163032-Cited by the Applicant).
Regarding claims 25,27-28 Terry discloses a method of determining an indication of a physiological condition using data responsive to intensity signals acquired from a detector capable of detecting light attenuated by body tissue (figures 3-5), the method comprising: determining one or more indications of pulse information from data responsive to intensity signals acquired from a detector capable of detecting light attenuated by body tissue ([0061 ]-[0065]); determining a first indication of amplitude data for a pulse based on the one or more indications of pulse information ([0061]-[0065]); determining a second indication of amplitude data for a combination of pulses based on the one or more indications of pulse information ([0061 ]-[0065]); determining a final indication of amplitude data based on the first and second indications, wherein the determining a final indication comprises selecting a lowest indication of amplitude from the first and second indications, averaging the first and second indications of amplitude, or using a statistical analysis of the first and second indications of amplitude ([0061]-[0065]); and outputting the final indication as an indication of blood flow ([0061]-[0065]).
Regarding claims 29, Terry discloses the combination of pulses in the second
indication of amplitude data comprises a maximum and minimum amplitude of a
plurality of pulses ([0061]-[0065]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Pologe et al. (USPN 5,766,127-Cited by the Applicant) discloses a method and device for determining perfusion index using different techniques (see the entire document).
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/MARJAN FARDANESH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791