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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 7/31/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments merit additional citations in view of the prior art of record, and a new grounds for rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 in view of Massarwa et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0241929).
Applicant’s explanation of the Specification sections providing antecedent basis for “an area corresponding to one or more locations not in the subset lacks an indication of electrical activity” is appreciated and persuasive, the objection is withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 7/6/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), Applicant alleges that Palti does not teach updating a map of electrical activity within the heart, and displaying the map of the electrical activity, or the map of electrical activity updated such that an area corresponding to one or more locations not in the subset lacks an indication of electrical activity and that Ramanathan does not teach maintaining a geometrical reconstruction of the heart based on all available locations. On p. 11, Applicant alleges that the teachings of Ramanathan are limited to filters which remove “bad channels or data” after which, maps are only generated for the remaining “good data”.
As noted previously, the rejection is based on a combination of references, and therefore, the reliance on arguments against each reference individually is not persuasive. Further, this characterization of Ramanathan does not discuss the user selection of filter criteria that is unrelated to data quality.
In ¶[0046] and ¶[0080] of Ramanathan, the user selections for output control include filter criteria. The filter includes both locations that satisfy time limits or other constraints and user selection of a subset of electrodes during constraints entry. Therefore, the filtering of Ramanathan is not specifically limited to data quality. Nevertheless, to move prosecution forward, the rejection below further includes the Massarwa reference:
The Examiner considers that Ramanathan teaches displaying only a subset of electrode locations in a display of electrical activity while maintaining a geometric representation of a heart, as seen by the teachings of the entire document in combination, but in the case where Applicant disagrees, attention is additionally brought to the Massarwa reference.
Massarwa teaches an electrical-activity indication overlaid on a maintained geometrical reconstruction (¶[0035-0036], Table 1 examples of overlaid activity), based only upon the subset of locations (Fig. 4, visibility is set per sub-group), such that an area of the maintained geometrical reconstruction corresponding to one or more locations not in the subset of locations remains displayed but lacks an indication of electrical activity (for example in Fig. 5, ¶[0067] different catheter type item sub-groups have varying visibilities, and only some are visible).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Palti et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0047220) hereinafter referred to as Palti; in view of Ramanathan et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0101398) hereinafter referred to as Ramanathan; in view of Massarwa et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0241929) hereinafter referred to as Massarwa.
Regarding claim 1, Palti teaches a method comprising:
obtaining a plurality of electrical signals (¶[0035] electrical signals conveyed to and from a heart) from a plurality of electrodes disposed on a catheter (¶[0033] multi-electrode catheter) inserted into one or more chambers of a heart of a patient (¶[0034] into a chamber or vascular structure of a heart), wherein each electrical signal from the plurality of electrical signals provides information about electrical activity in at least one location (¶[0037] locations for mapping) within the heart (¶[0035] position/orientation information, electrical signals conveyed from a heart, Fig. 1, ¶[0013] mapping), and wherein each location of the at least one location is associated with a value for each attribute from a plurality of attributes (¶[0032] LAT, ¶¶[0023-0024] plurality of attributes acquired for each signal, providing basis for rejection criteria of signals, see also attributes in GUI depicted in Fig. 2);
receiving from a user via a user interface a selection of a filtering criteria for the at least one location (¶[0037] locations associated with signals obtained throughout the process), the filtering criteria associated with at least one attribute from the plurality of attributes (Fig. 2, and ¶¶[0024-0026] one example of user set filtering criteria based on attribute value ranges);
applying the filtering criteria for identifying a subset of locations complying with the filtering criteria from the at least one location (¶[0049-0054] and Fig. 2, each electrode at a known location on the device may or may not be filtered out based on the criteria set by the user);
updating a display of electrical activity within the heart, based only upon the subset of locations (¶¶[0060-0061]); and
maintaining a geometrical reconstruction of the heart based on all locations included in the subset of locations and locations not included in the subset of locations (¶¶[0060-0061]).
Palti does not teach specifically, updating an electrical-activity indication overlaid on the maintained geometrical reconstruction, based only upon the subset of locations, such that an area of the maintained geometrical reconstruction corresponding to one or more locations not in the subset of locations remains displayed but lacks an indication of electrical activity.
Attention is brought to the Ramanathan reference, which teaches updating an electrical-activity indication overlaid on a maintained geometrical reconstruction (¶[0037]), based only upon the subset of locations (¶[0080] user set output control set by a filter including only locations that satisfy time limits or other constraints provided for graphical display, ¶[0046] user selection of a subset of electrodes during constraints entry), such that an area of the maintained geometrical reconstruction corresponding to one or more locations not in the subset of locations remains displayed but lacks an indication of electrical activity (¶[0046] user selection of a subset of electrodes during constraints entry, ¶[0080] displayed on a graphical representation of “the organ” not specific only to locations that meet with the constraints, for example Fig. 13, the heart 332 is displayed with 4 user selected virtual electrodes, non-selected electrode electrical activity are not displayed, and the heart is nevertheless maintained, see also ¶¶[0123-0125] describing additional types of electrical activity maps with no noted update to the geometrical reconstruction of the heart with user selection of a location displayed as element 348, e.g.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the electrophysiological mapping of Palti to specifically include updating and displaying a map of electrical activity of the heart, as taught by Ramanathan, because updating displays of electrical activity of the heart provides a repeatable process for quickly identifying regions that are significant in identifying treatment targets (Ramanathan ¶[0141]).
The Examiner considers that Ramanathan teaches displaying only a subset of electrode locations in a display of electrical activity while maintaining a geometric representation of a heart, as seen by the teachings of the entire document in combination, but in the case where Applicant disagrees, attention is additionally brought to the Massarwa reference.
Massarwa teaches an electrical-activity indication overlaid on a maintained geometrical reconstruction (¶[0035-0036], Table 1 examples of overlaid activity), based only upon the subset of locations (Fig. 4, visibility is set per sub-group), such that an area of the maintained geometrical reconstruction corresponding to one or more locations not in the subset of locations remains displayed but lacks an indication of electrical activity (for example in Fig. 5, ¶[0067] different catheter type item sub-groups have varying visibilities, and only some are visible).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the electrophysiological mapping of Palti as modified to maintain a geometrical anatomic representation while removing unnecessary overlaid information, as taught by Massarwa, because Massarwa states that the large amount of information may lead to difficulties in comprehension of the information, and improving comprehension of this information would be beneficial (Massarwa, ¶[0002]).
Regarding claim 2, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 1.
Palti further teaches wherein performing said obtaining, said applying, said updating and said displaying, are performed repetitively (Fig. 3, the overall process is repeating, as the flowchart comprises a loop).
Ramanathan also teaches a repeatable process for updating and displaying (¶[0141]).
Regarding claim 3, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 1.
Palti teaches further comprising displaying to a user a representation of information related to the subset of locations (Fig. 2).
Palti does not specifically teach avoiding displaying information for other locations not complying with the filtering criteria.
Attention is brought to the Ramanathan reference, which teaches avoiding displaying information for other locations not complying with the filtering criteria (¶[0084]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the display of Palti as modified to include avoiding displaying undesired information, as taught by Ramanathan, because it removes anomalous bad data from the sensor data (Ramanathan ¶[0084]).
Regarding claim 4, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 1.
Palti further teaches wherein the plurality of electrical signals are Electrocardiography (ECG) signals (¶[0032]).
Regarding claim 5, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 1.
Palti further teaches wherein the at least one attribute is selected from the group consisting of:
impedance; voltage; late annotation time (LAT) value at a location associated with the electrical signal; Late Annotation Mapping (LAM); Tissue Proximity Index (TPI); value obtained from bi-polar measurement (BI); cycle length (CL) of the electrical signal; at least one stability parameter of the signal; fractionated or non-fractionated signals; and connected or disconnected signals (Fig. 2, and ¶¶[0024-0026] one example of user set filtering criteria based on attribute value ranges including these listed).
Regarding claim 6, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 1.
Palti does not teach wherein the at least one filtering criteria is comprised in at least one preset, and wherein applying the filtering criteria is performed by applying the at least one preset for identifying the subset of locations.
Attention is brought to the Ramanathan reference, which teaches wherein the at least one filtering criteria is comprised in at least one preset, and wherein applying the filtering criteria is performed by applying the at least one preset for identifying the subset of locations (¶[0071] library of user defined configurations stored, that can be later loaded and modified, ¶[0075] default settings).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the filtering criteria of Palti to include storing and loading user-defined presets, as taught by Ramanathan, because the stored configurations can apply to any number of commercially available products, increasing GUI flexibility (Ramanathan ¶[0071]).
Regarding claim 7, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 1.
Palti teaches further comprising defining the at least one filtering criteria (Fig. 2, checking box for attribute filter, and setting range values, ¶[0059]).
Regarding claim 8, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 7.
Palti further teaches wherein defining the at least one filtering criteria comprises defining at least one setting associated with the at least one attribute.
Palti does not teach defining a preset for an attribute.
Attention is brought to the Ramanathan reference, which teaches defining a preset for an attribute (¶[0071] configurations stored by user, ¶[0075] default setting).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the filtering criteria of Palti to include storing and loading user-defined presets, as taught by Ramanathan, because the stored configurations can apply to any number of commercially available products, increasing GUI flexibility (Ramanathan ¶[0071]).
Regarding claim 9, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 8.
Ramanathan teaches further comprising storing the at least one preset (¶[0071] configurations stored by user, ¶[0075] default settings).
Regarding claim 10, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 8.
Palti further teaches wherein defining the at least one filtering criteria comprises selecting the at least one attribute and at least one corresponding value (Fig. 2, checking box for attribute filter, and setting range values, ¶[0059]).
Regarding claim 11, Palti as modified teaches the method of claim 10.
Palti further teaches wherein at least one corresponding value includes a minimal or a maximal value for a numerical range for the at least one attribute (Fig. 2, range set by user, ¶[0059]).
Regarding claim 12, Palti as modified teaches the method of claim 10.
Palti further teaches wherein the at least one corresponding value includes a binary value for the at least one attribute (Fig. 2, some attributes are yes/no such as do not acquire while pacing, among others).
Regarding claim 13, Palti as modified teaches the method of claim 10.
Palti further teaches wherein the at least one corresponding value includes one or more discrete values for the at least one attribute (Fig. 2, the ranges depicted comprise more than one discrete value as upper and lower bounds for individual attributes).
Regarding claim 14, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 8.
Ramanathan further teaches wherein the user interface enables a user to select one or more presets to be applied, from the at least one preset (¶[0071] user interface library of configuration presets).
Regarding claim 15, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 14.
Ramanathan further teaches wherein if a same attribute is comprised in at least two activated presets, the at least one corresponding value of the same attribute complies with limitations of the two presets (this limitation is contingent, and not required to be met “if a same attribute is comprised in at least two activated presets” is not met, therefore, the method of Palti as modified teaches this limitation as a non-fulfilled branch, and ¶[0076] multiple configurations can be loaded for each virtual electrode).
Regarding claim 16, Palti as modified teaches the method of Claim 14.
Ramanathan further teaches wherein the at least one corresponding value of the attribute in a preset complies with available values of the at least one attribute within the at least one location ¶[0071] loading a user set configurations presets the value).
Regarding claims 17-19/20, the claims are directed to an apparatus and computer program product comprising substantially the same subject matter as claims 1, 6 and 8/1, and are rejected under substantially the same sections of Palti, Ramanathan, and Massarwa.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon remains pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0065459 MacAdam et al. teaches filtering views of EP activity based on user criteria.
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/AMANDA L STEINBERG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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