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 14-18, in the reply filed on January 7, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on January 7, 2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant should note that the large number of references in the attached IDS have been considered by the examiner in the same manner as other documents in Office search files are considered by the examiner while conducting a search of the prior art in a proper field of search. See MPEP 609.05(b). Applicant is requested to point out any particular references in the IDS which they believe may be of particular relevance to the instant claimed invention in response to this office action.
Drawings
The Applicant is reminded to carefully review the drawing figures and the accompanying specification to ensure that all reference numerals present in the drawing figures are defined within the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: on line 6, immediately after “receiving (Rx) coil”, the word “configrued" is misspelled and should read “configured”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 14, 16, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Greene (U.S. 2015/0229139). Regarding claim 14, Greene discloses a wirelessly powered and controlled implantable stimulator (“A charging energy control system may include an implantable medical device (IMD) and an external charger.”, Abstract) configured to receive RF signals from a transmitter (“The charging and communication circuitry 203 drives the coil using a suitable RF signal for charging purposes.”, paragraph [0070]) and provide stimulation using received RF signals (“The IPG 250 may include pulse generating circuitry 253 for generating stimulation pulses for delivery to tissue of the patient.”, paragraph [0071]), the stimulator comprising: a tuning capacitor 402/403 configured to tune the stimulator to receive RF signals of a certain frequency (“capacitors 402 and 403 may be tuned to capture RF power at one or more frequencies”, paragraph [0076]); a receiving (Rx) coil 401 configured to receive RF signals of the certain frequency (“the coil 401 and capacitors 402 and 403 are tuned to receive power at a first RF frequency from external charger 200 and at a second RF frequency from a separate physician-patient programmer device”, paragraph [0076]); a chip 404 configured to convert the received RF signals to a power signal and a control signal (“The RF power is rectified by bridge rectifier 404. The output of the rectifier 404 is shown in FIG. 3 as node VCHG 409.”, paragraph [0077]); a storage capacitor configured to store rectified voltage based on the power signal (“If the capacitor 30 requires charging, the pre-regulator 26 closes the switch 32 so that the charging energy is sent to the capacitor 30 and stored therein.”, paragraph [0031]; and at least one electrode configured to stimulate a target area based on the control signal and stored voltage (“Terminals and electrodes are located on the proximal and distal ends of the leads. The conductors of the leads electrically couple the terminals to the electrodes. The electrical pulses from the pulse generator are conducted through the leads and applied to patient tissue by the electrodes of the leads.”, paragraph [0068]).
Regarding claim 16, it is respectfully submitted that because the power signal of Greene is converted from the RF signal received by the Rx coil, it is inherent that the power signal is “a function of” the geometries of the Rx coil, as the RF signal is “a function of” the geometries of the Rx coil and, therefore, the power signal converted from the RF signal would likewise be “a function of” the geometries of the Rx coil.
Regarding claim 18, Greene discloses that the chip generates feedback based on provided stimulation and provides the generated feedback to the transmitter (“Charge control circuitry 306 controls the charging of battery 254. Charge control circuitry 306 uses the measurement functionality of battery measurement circuitry 308 to detect the state of battery 254. Battery measurement circuitry 308 may measure the battery voltage, charging current, battery discharge current, and/or the like.”, paragraph [0075], where the “battery discharge current” is considered the claimed “feedback based on provided stimulation” and “Accordingly, a charger transmitter 305 is employed to provide charging status messages to the external charger 200 when charging is occurring.”, paragraph [0073], where providing charging status messages to the external charger is considered the claimed “generated feedback to the transmitter”).
Claims 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Babakhani et al. (WO 2021/174215), herein Babakhani. Regarding claim 14, Babakhani discloses a wirelessly powered and controlled implantable stimulator (“a closed-loop neural recording and stimulation system”, paragraph [0008]) configured to receive RF signals from a transmitter (“Many embodiments of the invention described here present the design, implementation, and verification of a fully integrated and RF -powered wireless data TRX.”, paragraph [0044]) and provide stimulation using received RF signals (“neural stimulation for a variety of therapies, such as pain control”, paragraph [0060]), the stimulator comprising: a tuning capacitor configured to tune the stimulator to receive RF signals of a certain frequency (“a tunable capacitor may be utilized to change the resonance frequency of the receive antenna 212.”, paragraph [0071]); a receiving (Rx) coil 216 configured to receive RF signals of the certain frequency (“The rectenna 204, which may include an on-chip coil (OCC) 216, four full-wave rectifiers and a matching capacitor, can receive energy through an inductive link and convert RF energy into a DC voltage.”, paragraph [0056]); a chip configured to convert the received RF signals to a power signal and a control signal (“The rectenna 204, which may include an on-chip coil (OCC) 216, four full-wave rectifiers and a matching capacitor, can receive energy through an inductive link and convert RF energy into a DC voltage.”, paragraph [0056]); a storage capacitor Cs configured to store rectified voltage based on the power signal (“power management unit (PMU) 206 can duty-cycle the operation of the data TX 210 to maintain a minimum voltage across the storage capacitor (Cs) and establish charging and discharging modes for Cs. In charging mode, the converted power by the rectenna increases the voltage level across Cs (Vc) until the PMU 206 activates the TX block 210.”, paragraph [0059]); and at least one electrode configured to stimulate a target area based on the control signal and stored voltage (“Fig. 1(a) shows a conceptual multi-site and distributed neural system enabled by multiple mm-sized recording/stimulating units. Each unit contains a data transceiver (TRX) that is placed on top of a microelectrode array.”, paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 15, Babakhani discloses a charge balancer comprising a discharge resistor and a blocking capacitor (“At the resonance frequency, the antenna can be modeled by a parallel resistor ( Rp,.sub.a ) and a shunt capacitor (Cp.sub.a)”, paragraph [0085]).
Regarding claim 16, it is respectfully submitted that because the power signal of Babakhani is converted from the RF signal received by the Rx coil, it is inherent that the power signal is “a function of” the geometries of the Rx coil, as the RF signal is “a function of” the geometries of the Rx coil and, therefore, the power signal converted from the RF signal would likewise be “a function of” the geometries of the Rx coil.
Regarding claim 17, Babakhani discloses that the implantable stimulator is tuned to operate at 13.56 MHz or 40.68 MHz (“A 40.68 MHz signal can be used for the power link and 13.56 MHz can be used for the transmitter to avoid interference between the uplink and downlink communication.”, paragraph [00107]).
Regarding claim 18, it is respectfully submitted that because the neural recording and stimulation system of Figure 1 is a closed-loop system, it necessarily generates feedback based on provided stimulation and provide the generated feedback to the transmitter, as this is the definition of a “closed loop” system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAMMIE K MARLEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1986. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8 am until 4 pm.
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/TAMMIE K MARLEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796