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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/07/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 7/9/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 4, 10, 12, 13, and 16 are amended. Claims 1-14 and 16-21 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103
Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 103 rejection of claims 1-14 and 16-21 has been withdrawn.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 2, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, and 19 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 12, 15, and 16 of copending Application No. 19/412,712 (US 20260108202 A1) (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 reads on claim 1. Claims 12 and 13 are similar to claim 1, and thus claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 also reads on claims 12 and 13.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 1
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 1
A method of assessing a pathological and/or physiological state of a subject, the method comprising: obtaining a voice recording from a word-reading test from the subject, wherein the voice recording is from a word-reading test comprising reading a sequence of words drawn from a set of n words, wherein the sequence of words are not connected so as to form a sentence and are drawn randomly or pseudo-randomly from the set of n words; and analysing the voice recording, or a portion thereof, by: identifying a plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables; determining a value of one or more metrics selected from a breathing %,unvoicing/voicing ratio, voice pitch and correct word rate at least in part based on the identified segments, wherein determining the value of the one or more metrics comprises determining the correct word rate associated with the recording, wherein determining the correct word rate comprises: computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for each of the identified segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment; clustering the plurality of vectors of values into n clusters, wherein each cluster has n possible labels corresponding to each of the n words; for each of the n! permutations of labels, predicting a sequence of words in the voice recording using the labels associated with the clustered vectors of values, and performing a sequence alignment between the predicted sequence of words and the sequence of words used in the word reading test; and selecting the labels that result in a best alignment, wherein matches in the alignment correspond to correctly read words in the voice recording, wherein performing a sequence alignment comprises obtaining an alignment score and the best alignment is the alignment with a highest alignment score; and comparing the value of the one or more metrics with one or more respective reference values.
A method of treating a neurological disease or disorder in a subject, the method comprising: administering to the subject a treatment for the neurological disease or disorder; assessing an effect of the treatment on cognitive impairment in the subject, by: receiving, by a processor, a voice recording from a word-reading test from the subject, wherein the word-reading test comprises a sequence of words, each word drawn from a set of n words and wherein the subject is prompted to speak the sequence of words for the word-reading test; and analysing, by said processor, the voice recording, or a portion thereof, by: identifying, by said processor, a plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables; and determining, by said processor, a number of correctly read words in the voice recording by: computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for the segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment; clustering the plurality of vector of values into n clusters, wherein each cluster has n possible labels corresponding to each of the set of n words; for each of n! permutations of labels, predicting a sequence of words in the voice recording using the labels associated with the clustered vectors of values, and performing a sequence alignment between the predicted sequence of words and the sequence of words used in the word reading test; selecting the labels that result in a best alignment and counting a number of matches in the alignment, wherein the number of matches corresponds to the number of correctly read words in the voice recording; and determining a cognitive measure indicative of a level of cognitive impairment in the subject based at least in part on the number of correctly read words in the voice recording; and adapting a course of treatment of the subject’s based on the cognitive measure.
Regarding claim 2, claim 3 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 reads on claim 2.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 2
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 3
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables comprises: obtaining a power Mel-spectrogram of the voice recording; computing a maximum intensity projection of the power Mel spectrogram along a frequency axis; and defining a segment boundary as a time point where the maximum intensity projection of the Mel spectrogram along the frequency axis crosses a threshold.
The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying a plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables comprises: obtaining a power Mel-spectrogram of the voice recording; computing a maximum intensity projection of the Mel-spectrogram along a frequency axis; and defining a segment boundary as a time point where the maximum intensity projection of the Mel-spectrogram along the frequency axis crosses a threshold.
Regarding claim 8, claim 4 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 reads on claim 8.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 8
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 4
The method of claim 2, wherein identifying segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises normalising the power Mel-spectrogram of the voice recording, preferably against a frame that has a highest energy in the recording.
The method of claim 3, wherein said identifying the plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises normalising the power Mel-spectrogram of the voice recording against a frame that has a highest energy in the recording.
Regarding claim 17, claim 12 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 reads on claim 17.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 17
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 12
The method of claim 1, wherein determining the value of the one or more metrics comprises determining the correct word rate associated with the voice recording by computing a cumulative sum of a number of identified segments corresponding to correctly read words in the voice recording over time, and computing a slope of a linear regression model fitted to the cumulative sum data.
The method of claim 8, wherein the method comprises said processor determining a speech rate associated with the voice recording by computing a cumulative sum of the number of identified segments in the voice recording over time, and computing a slope of a linear regression model fitted to the cumulative sum data.
Regarding claim 18, claims 5 and 15 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 read on claim 18.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 18
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 5
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: performing onset detection for at least one of the segments by computing a spectral flux function over a Mel-spectrogram of the segment, and defining a further boundary whenever an onset is detected within a segment, thereby forming two new segments.
The method of claim 3, wherein said identifying the plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: (i) performing onset detection for at least one of the segments by computing a spectral flux function over the Mel-spectrogram of the segment and defining a further boundary whenever an onset is detected within a segment, thereby forming two new segments; and/or (ii) excluding segments that represent erroneous detections by computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for the segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment, and applying an outlier detection method to the plurality of vectors of values.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 18
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 15
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: performing onset detection for at least one of the segments by computing a spectral flux function over a Mel-spectrogram of the segment, and defining a further boundary whenever an onset is detected within a segment, thereby forming two new segments.
The method of claim 9, wherein said identifying the plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: performing onset detection for at least one of the segments by computing a spectral flux function over the Mel-spectrogram of the segment; and defining a further boundary whenever an onset is detected within a segment, thereby forming two new segments.
Regarding claim 19, claims 5 and 16 of U.S. Patent No. 19/412,712 read on claim 19.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 19
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 5
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: excluding segments that represent erroneous detections by computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for the segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment, and applying an outlier detection method to the plurality of vectors of values.
The method of claim 3, wherein said identifying the plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: (i) performing onset detection for at least one of the segments by computing a spectral flux function over the Mel-spectrogram of the segment and defining a further boundary whenever an onset is detected within a segment, thereby forming two new segments; and/or (ii) excluding segments that represent erroneous detections by computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for the segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment, and applying an outlier detection method to the plurality of vectors of values.
US Application No. 18/271,416 Claim 19
US Application number 19/412,712 Claim 16
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises: excluding segments that represent erroneous detections by computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for the segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment, and applying an outlier detection method to the plurality of vectors of values.
The method of claim 9, wherein said identifying the plurality of segments of the voice recording that correspond to single words or syllables further comprises excluding segments that represent erroneous detections by computing one or more Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for the segments to obtain a plurality of vectors of values, each vector being associated with a segment, and applying an outlier detection method to the plurality of vectors of values.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7, 9-11, 14-16, and 20-21 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nathan Tengbumroong whose telephone number is (703)756-1725. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 11:30 am - 8:00 pm EST.
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/NATHAN TENGBUMROONG/Examiner, Art Unit 2654
/HAI PHAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2654
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