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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II (claims 12-17) in the reply filed on 04/13/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-11 and 18-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions of Groups I and III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 0/13/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 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 –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 12-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shuros (U.S. Application No. 20190150842 A1).
Regarding independent claim 12, Shuros discloses a system (100) to determine cardiac tissue activation signals (pa. 0052, 0055 & Fig. 1),
the system being connectable to a catheter (102) having a plurality of electrodes (mapping electrodes) arranged at a distal end assembly (104) thereof (pa. 0052, 0054);
wherein the system comprises one or more processors (412, 416, 418, 420, 422) connectable for signal communication with electrodes of said plurality (pa. 0078); and
wherein said one or more processors are adapted to determine a far-field component of Intracardiac Electrogram (IEGM) signal sensed by at least one electrode of the plurality of the electrodes (pa. 0055 , 0077, 0096 & Figs. 4-5) by carrying out the following:
(a) applying tissue proximity measurement to each respective electrode of a multitude of the electrodes to assess respective distances of the multitude of electrodes from a tissue surface (steps 504 and 506) (pa. 0068, 0081);
(b) dynamically selecting, based on said respective distances, a subset of one or more electrodes of said multitude of the electrodes whose respective distances from the tissue surface are above a certain threshold (step 508) (pa. 0087, 0090, 0097). Examiner notes that by assigning weights to the signals of each electrode, the processor is inherently dynamically selecting a subset of one or more electrodes whose signals are going to be accepted; and
(c) obtaining IEGM signal measurements from the respective electrodes of said subset whose respective distances from the tissue surface are above said certain threshold (pa. 0090); and
(d) determining said far-field component as an average of the IEGM signal measurements obtained from the respective electrodes of said subset whose respective distances from the tissue surface are above said certain threshold (steps 510 and 512) (pa. 0098).
Regarding claim 13, Shuros discloses wherein said one or more processors are adapted to further assess a near-field component of the IEGM signal sensed by at least one of said electrodes by subtracting said far-field component from an IEGM signal measurement obtained from said at least one electrode (step 514) (pa. 0098).
Regarding claim 14, Shuros discloses wherein said one or more processors are adapted to determine cardiac tissue activation signal in a tissue near said at least one electrode by repeatedly determining said far-field and near-field components and thereby determining development of said near-field component of the IEGM signal over time whereby said development being indicative of the cardiac tissue activation signal (pa. 0091).
Regarding claim 15, Shuros discloses wherein said one or more processor are adapted to apply said tissue proximity measurement to said respective electrode in (a) by delivering an excitation current through said respective electrode and measuring an impedance of said electrode to thereby assess said tissue proximity based on said impedance (pa. 0068, 0087).
Regarding claim 16, Shuros discloses wherein the delivery of said excitation current impedance is made between said respective electrode and a reference electrode (ring electrode) arranged near an end of the shaft proximal to the distal end assembly of the catheter, such that it typically remains spaced from the tissue (pa. 0068 & Figs. 1, 3).
Regarding claim 17, Shuros discloses wherein said one or more processor are adapted to repeatedly update said far-field component of IEGM signal by repeating operations (a) to (d) (pa. 0091); and wherein updates of the far-field component of IEGM signal are skipped in repetitions of operation (a) to (d) in which a number of the electrodes identified by said dynamic selection (b) as having said respective distances from the tissue surface above said certain threshold, is below a certain predetermined minimal number of electrodes (pa. 0090-0091).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Palti (US 20220192604 A1) teaches a system for electrophysiological measurement which includes a probe having a distal end configured for insertion into a body cavity of a living subject and an array of electrodes disposed along the distal end configured to contact tissue at multiple locations within the body cavity.
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/A.V.G./Examiner, Art Unit 3794 /Ronald Hupczey, Jr./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3794
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