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 § 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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No 2022/0192575 granted to Itah et al (hereinafter “Itah”) in view of WO 2019/217430 granted to Chou et al (hereinafter “Chou”).
In reference to claims 1, 6, and 15, Itah discloses a method [e.g. abstract], system, and computer-readable medium with instructions [e.g. 0040] for electrophysiological measurement comprising: acquiring signals indicative of cardiac electrical activity from electrodes [e.g. electrodes 24] contacting tissues of a body of a living patient [e.g. 0014]; processing [e.g. processor 28] the signals to identify local activation times at one or more of the electrodes [e.g. 0014]; and displaying traces [e.g. traces 40] representing the signals as a function of time on a display screen [e.g. display 26], while display segments of the traces within a time window of a specified duration containing the identified local activation times relative to parts of the traces outside the time window [e.g. 0014, 0039]. Itah, however, does not specifically disclose increasing the brightness of the traces. Chou discloses a cardiac information processing system which allows for the display to have configurable properties such as being able to adjust color, transparency, brightness, and luminance of specific results [e.g. paragraph 144]. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Itah, to include the brightening capabilities as disclosed by Chou, since such a modification would provide the predictable results of being able to clearly view the traces of interest.
In reference to claims 2, 7, and 12, Itah discloses wherein acquiring the signals comprises receiving intracardiac electrogram signals acquired within a heart of the living patient [e.g. 0014].
In reference to claims 3, 8, and 13, Itah discloses wherein acquiring the signals comprises receiving electrocardiogram signals acquired from a body surface of the living patient [e.g. 0014].
In reference to claims 4, 9, and 14, Itah discloses wherein the specified duration is between 10 ms and 100 ms [e.g. 0064].
In reference to claims 5, 10, and 15, Itah discloses wherein displaying the traces comprises presenting the traces on the display screen [e.g. Figure 1: element 26] without overlaying icons representing the local activation times on the traces [e.g. Figure 1: element 40].
Conclusion
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/NADIA A MAHMOOD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796