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 .
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 1-20 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.
Claims 1-20 recite “the at least one segment”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner will assume for examination purposes that this refers to the previously recite “at least one segment of the time-varying data”.
Claims 1-20 recite wherein the “first trained HMM” comprises “first parameters trained to identify state changes indicative of events of interest within windows of historical time-varying data” and wherein the “second trained HMM” comprises “second parameters trained to identify the state changes indicative of the events of interest within sub-windows of the windows of the historical time-varying data”. It is unclear whether these parameters are “utilized” by their respective “HMM” to perform their required “identification” of “state changes” functionality.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1-20 recite a method, system and non-transitory computer readable medium which recite the steps/functionality of receiving a signal data signature comprising time-varying data; wherein the time-varying data comprises at least one candidate event of interest; utilizing a first trained Hidden Markov model (HMM) to segment the signal data signature into at least one segment of the time-varying data; wherein the first trained HMM comprises first parameters trained to identify state changes indicative of events of interest within windows of historical time-varying data; wherein the at least one segment of the time-varying data comprises a first length; utilizing a second trained Hidden Markov model (HMM) to segment the at least one segment into at least one sub-segment of the time-varying data; wherein the second trained HMM comprises second parameters trained to identify the state changes indicative of the events of interest within sub-windows of the windows of the historical time-varying data; wherein the at least one sub-segment of the time-varying data comprises a second length; outputting the at least one sub-segment of the time-varying data to represent at least one instance of the at least one candidate event of interest which, after search and consideration, Examiner finds is distinguishable from the cited prior art. The closest prior art found is to US 6963835 B2 to Kimball et al; US 8442821 B1 to Vanhoucke; and US 10529318 B2 to Kurata which teach utilizing Hidden Markov models to detect and segment data signatures and also, e.g., US 20220130415 A1 to Garrison et al. which teach cough and other non-voice sound detection and analysis, however, none of the cited prior art teaches or reasonably suggests the claimed invention when considered as a whole.
This indication of allowable subject matter is contingent upon the anticipated resolution of the remaining issues detailed in this action.
In the event that any amendment made to the claims changes the scope of the indicated allowable subject matter, further reconsideration of whether the claims continue to distinguish from the prior art and/or are subject to further rejection under applicable statutes may be deemed necessary.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to G. C. Neurauter, Jr. whose telephone number is (571)272-3918. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm Eastern Time.
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/G. C. Neurauter, Jr./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459