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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-8 and 10-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 9955289 B1) in view of Yang et al. (US 20190328984 A1) and Zdeblick et al. (US 20080306359 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches an implantable device (Fig. 3 and Col. 8 Lines 34-40, an implantable medical device 300 suitable for use as pacemaker/ICD 100 shown and described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) comprising:
(Fig. 3 and Col. 10 Lines 10-20, second antenna 312 is configured to receive NFC signals at a frequency generally involves communication between electromagnetically or wirelessly coupled devices (i.e. frequency/voltage generated induced by an electromagnetic field from external device is received at the second antenna);
a power source (Fig. 2, battery 110);
detection circuitry electrically coupled to the electrodes, the detection circuitry configured to detect voltage via the electrodes (Fig. 4 and Col. 10 Lines 35-55, signal detection detects signals received by second antenna 312);
communication circuitry configured for wireless communication according to a communication protocol (Fig. 4, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transceiver and Col. 9 Lines 60-67, configured to transmit and receive signals within a Bluetooth or BLE frequency band); and
processing circuitry electrically coupled to the detection circuitry, the power source, and the communication circuitry (Fig. 2 and Col. 8 Lines 45-60, microprocessor 160), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
(Col. 7 Lines 55-65, battery 110 that provides operating power to the circuits & Col. 10 Lines 35-55, place into a sleep or inactive mode);
determine that the detection circuitry detected voltage via the electrodes (Col. 11, Lines 10-30, As long as the NFC signed has a sufficient voltage amplitude for detector network 400 to detect the NFC signal);
determine the detected voltage satisfies one or more criteria, the one or more criteria comprising the voltage including one or more frequencies (Col. 12 Lines 20-30, activation signal for BLE transceiver 402 when the output of full-wave rectifier 412 is as low as approximately 30mV), the voltage modulating between a plurality of frequencies at a particular rate, or the voltage modulating between a plurality of frequencies at least a particular number of times; and
in response to determining the detected voltage satisfies the one or more criteria, (Col. 9 Line 40-55, sleep/inactive mode (first communication mode), active/wakeup mode (second communication mode).
Liu does not teach the implantable device broadcast, via the first communication mode (sleep mode), a first set of advertisements according to the communication protocol; and broadcast, via the second communication mode (wakeup/active mode), a second set of advertisements according to the communication protocol.
However, this feature is very well-known in the wireless communication art and cannot be considered new or novel in the presence of Yang. Yang teaches active state may be characterized by greater power consumption in the activate state is greater than the sleep state (Par. 54), which advertising rate is “slow” (e.g., packets are transmitted every 10 seconds) when operating in the sleep state/mode and advertising rate is “fast” (e.g., packets are transmitted every 100 ms) when operating in active/advertising state/mode (Figs. 1, 5 and Pars. 57-58, 61).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the above teaching as taught Yang into Liu to effectively and efficiently manage power consumption.
However, the modified Liu does not teach the NFC antenna as taught above comprising a plurality of electrodes.
However, it is very well-known in the wireless communication art the near-field antenna comprising a plurality of electrodes and cannot be considered new or novel in the presence of Zdeblick. Zdeblick teaches the device (transmitter/receiver) with a very small antenna capable of detecting and/or generating signals through a patient's skin (Pars. 40, 91.95).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the above teaching as taught Zdeblick into the modified Liu for low power consumption.
Regarding claim 2, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the implantable device of claim 1, wherein the first communication mode includes a first advertising rate, and the second communication mode includes a second advertising rate, the second advertising rate being different than the first advertising rate (See rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 3, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the implantable device of claim 2, wherein the second advertising rate is greater than the first advertising rate (See rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the implantable device of claim 1, wherein the detected voltage includes voltage induced by an electromagnetic field at an interface between tissue of a patient and the electrodes of the implantable device (See rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 5, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the implantable device of claim 1, wherein the communication protocol comprises a low energy protocol (See rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 6, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the implantable device of claim 1, wherein the detected voltage includes voltage induced by an electromagnetic field at an interface between tissue of a patient and the electrodes of the implantable device, and wherein the communication protocol comprises a first communication protocol and the electromagnetic field comprises a wakeup signal according to a second communication protocol, wherein the second communication protocol comprises a radio frequency (RF) communication protocol (See rejection of claim 1 & Note: first communication protocol and second communication protocol (i.e. NFC and BLE)).
.
Regarding claim 7, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the implantable device of claim 1, further comprising a housing that houses the detection circuitry, the communication circuitry, and the processing circuitry (Fig. 2, housing 140), wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises housing electrodes (Col. 10 Lines 25-30).
Regarding claim 8, the modified Liu teaches previous claim.
The modified does not teach the the implantable device of claim 1, further comprising sensing circuitry configured to sense a physiological signal of the patient via the electrodes.
However, the feature is well-known and cannot be considered new or novel in the presence of Zdeblick (Pars. 41-42).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the above teaching as taught Zdeblick into the modified Liu for low power consumption.
Regarding claims 10-17, method of claims 10-17 are performed by the apparatus of claims 1-9. They recite same scope of limitations. Applicant is kindly advised to refer to rejection of claims 1-9.
Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 9955289 B1) in view of Yang et al. (US 20190328984 A1) and Zdeblick et al. (US 20080306359 A1) and in further view of Frysz et al. (US 20110057037 A1).
Regarding claim 9, the modified Liu teaches previous claim. The modified Liu further teaches the NFC signals at a frequency of approximately 13.5 megahertz (MHz) (Col. 10 Lines 10-25).
The modified Liu does no teaches the implantable device of claim 1, wherein the one or more frequencies are within a range from 150 kilohertz to 200 kilohertz.
However, using a frequency lower than the 13.5MHz is very well-known and cannot be considered new or novel in the presence of Frysz (Par. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the above teaching as taught Frysz into the modified Liu as it is an intentional design choice for low frequency application.
Regarding claim 18, method of claim 18 is performed by the apparatus of claim 9. They recite same scope of limitations. Applicant is kindly advised to refer to rejection of claim 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Uramoto et al. (US 9831704 B2) 1. A power feeding device, comprising: a plurality of electrodes within an antenna pattern layer; a power supply configured to apply a voltage between a first of the plurality of electrodes and a second of the plurality of electrodes; a detector configured to measure the voltage, the measurement detecting an amount of change in a parameter based on the voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the amount of change in the parameter is compared with a threshold value;
Elliott US 20180316788 A1 [0045] … vehicle interface device 140 may transmit an enter active state message to beacons 130 via BLE (block 415; signal 515) that instructs beacons 130 to send advertising messages at an operational rate, which is faster than the advertising rate when beacons 130 are in the sleep mode. In response, beacons 130 may enter active mode and may begin transmitting advertising signals at periodic intervals (e.g., approximately 100 ms) (block 420; signals 520).
Becerra et al. US 20190155255 A1 [0034] … As described further herein, receipt of the interrogation or initial signal causes energy management system 68 to power wireless communication component 118 and/or wireless MCU 116 in a “powered” or active mode, thereby activating wireless communication component 118 and/or wireless MCU 116 to receive data communications over the wireless connection with a high advertising rate or low connection interval such as 10 ms.
Horman et al. (US 20170362931 A1) the detecting comprising measuring a voltage induced in at least one electric dipole antenna comprising a pair of electrodes spaced apart by a first distance and spaced at a midpoint (Claim 13)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CINDY HUYEN TRANDAI whose telephone number is (571)270-1914. The examiner can normally be reached 8am -4:30pm.
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/Cindy Trandai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648 2/27/2026