DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
2. According to the Amendment, filed 01 May 2026, the status of the claims is as follows:
Claims 1-7, 9, and 11-14 are currently amended;
Claim 8 is as originally filed; and
Claim 10 is cancelled.
3. The objection to claims 1 and 14 because of minor informalities are withdrawn in view of the Amendment, filed 01 May 2026.
4. The rejection of claims 1-14 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention, is withdrawn in view of the Amendment, filed 04 May 2026.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, pp. 5-6, filed 01 May 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-14 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by King et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0172763 A1 (“King”), have been fully considered, and are persuasive in view of the Amendment, filed 01 May 2026. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection, which was necessitated by amendment, is discussed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-9 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lan et al., WO International Publication No. 2006/038822 A1 (“Lan”).
As to Claim 1, Lan teaches the following:
A portable handheld device (“portable handheld device”) 20 for measuring the force of a joint of a person of interest (POI) (see “A portable handheld device (20) for use by a therapist to measure angles and forces associated with a joint of a patient.” in Abstract), said device 20 comprising:
- a force measuring body (“force transducer”) 32, enclosed in a housing (“housing”) 22, comprising at least one connector (“spigot joint coupler”) 23 arranged on an upper side (upper side, not labeled, of “housing 22”) of said force measuring body 32 for removably attaching to said force measuring body 32 at least one accessory (“rotatable hand piece”) 24 provided to be pressed towards said upper side during measurement (see “Referring to Figures 15 and 16, the preferred form hand piece 24 is rotatable and is connected to the housing 22 via a spigot joint coupler 23. In operation, the spigot joint coupler 23 allows movement of the therapist's hand relative to the patient's body part or limb during testing to enhance the accuracy of the measurements. For example, the rotatable hand piece 24 reduces the tendency for the measurements to be affected by any twist between the therapists hand and the patient's body part as the therapist presses the contact pad 26 of the handheld device 20 against the patient's body part via the rotatable hand piece 24” on p. 19, ll. 1-2); and
- a cup shaped bottom case (lower portion, not labeled, of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) having an open side (open upper side, not labeled, of the lower portion of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) and a bottom surface (“contact pad”) 26 opposite to said open side, for removably receiving said force measuring body 32 on the opposite side to said upper side of said force measuring body 32 (see “Referring to Figures 15-17, the preferred form force sensor comprises a contact pad 26 and a force transducer 32. The contact pad 26 may be attached to trαe force transducer 32 permanently or releasably. In the preferred form, the contact pad 26 is permanently connected to the force transducer 32 via adhesive or any other form of permanent mounting means. In alternative arrangements, the contact pad 26 may be releasably attached to the force transducer 32 by a coupling, which may be mechanical or any non-mechanical means such as a magnetic coupling or "the like. For example, the contact pad 26 may be releasable to allow other shapes, sizes or forms of pads to be utilised for different patients and different body parts.” on p. 17, ll. 6-14; and see “The mounting apertures 42 provided about the periphery of the annular ring 34 enable the force transducer 32 to be fixed within a recess of the housing 22 of the handheld device 20 via screws, nuts and .sup."bolts or the like. … It will be appreciated that the force transducer may be secured within the housing utilising various other attachment means in alternative forms of the handheld device.” on p. 18, ll. 5-7), and provided to be in contact with a portion of said POI during force measurement (see “In operation, the contact pad 26 bears against a portion of the body part of the patient and the force transducer 32 Is arranged to continuously measure the force applied to the contact pad 26 by the patient's body part to provide a measure of strength of an associated joint.” on p. 17, ll. 16-19).
As to Claim 2, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the connector 23 allows attachment of the at least one accessory 24 in a direction perpendicular to the upper side (upper side, not labeled, of “housing 22”) of said force measuring body 32 (see arrangement of “spigot joint coupler 23”, “rotatable hand piece 24” and “force transducer 32” in fig. 15).
As to Claim 3, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the connector 23 allows attachment of one of the at least one accessory 24 at a first level not allowing rotation of said accessory 24 around a direction perpendicular to the upper side (upper side, not labeled, of “housing 22”) of said force measuring body 32 (see arrangement of “spigot joint coupler 23”, “rotatable hand piece 24” and “force transducer 32” in fig. 15).
As to Claim 4, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the connector 23 allows attachment of one of the at least one accessory 24 in a second level allowing rotation of said one of the at least one accessory 24 around a direction perpendicular to the upper side (upper side, not labeled, of “housing 22”) of said force measuring body 32 (see arrangement of “spigot joint coupler 23”, “rotatable hand piece 24” and “force transducer 32” in fig. 15).
As to Claim 5, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the device 20 further comprises a retaining means (“spigot joint”, not labeled) for retaining the at least one accessory 24 with the force measuring body 32 when no pressure is exerted on said at least one accessory 24 (see “Referring to Figures 15 and 16, the preferred form hand piece 24 is rotatable and is connected to the housing 22 via a spigot joint coupler 23.” on p. 19, ll. 1-2).
As to Claim 6, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the bottom case (lower portion, not labeled, of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) is attached to the force measuring body 32 by clipping (“screws, nuts and .sup."bolts or the like” or “various other attachment means”) (see “The mounting apertures 42 provided about the periphery of the annular ring 34 enable the force transducer 32 to be fixed within a recess of the housing 22 of the handheld device 20 via screws, nuts and .sup."bolts or the like. … It will be appreciated that the force transducer may be secured within the housing utilising various other attachment means in alternative forms of the handheld device.” on p. 18, ll. 5-7).
As to Claim 7, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the bottom case (lower portion, not labeled, of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) comprises at least one detaching lip (“screws, nuts and .sup."bolts or the like” or “various other attachment means”), in particular arranged on a border of the open side (open upper side, not labeled, of the lower portion of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) of said bottom case, and provided to be pulled for detaching said bottom case from the force measuring body 32 (see “The mounting apertures 42 provided about the periphery of the annular ring 34 enable the force transducer 32 to be fixed within a recess of the housing 22 of the handheld device 20 via screws, nuts and .sup."bolts or the like. … It will be appreciated that the force transducer may be secured within the housing utilising various other attachment means in alternative forms of the handheld device.” on p. 18, ll. 5-7).
As to Claim 8, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the bottom case (lower portion, not labeled, of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) comprises a lateral face (“bottom face”) 20 that is stiffer than the bottom surface (“contact pad”) 26 (see “In the preferred form, the contact pad 26 provides a shaped, padded compression surface for the patient's body part, but other types of force applicator could be utilised as alternatives.” in para. [0087]).
As to Claim 9, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the device 20 comprises several interchangeable bottom cases (lower portion, not labeled, of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) that are removably attachable to the force measuring body 32, one at a time (see “The mounting apertures 42 provided about the periphery of the annular ring 34 enable the force transducer 32 to be fixed within a recess of the housing 22 of the handheld device 20 via screws, nuts and .sup."bolts or the like. … It will be appreciated that the force transducer may be secured within the housing utilising various other attachment means in alternative forms of the handheld device.” on p. 18, ll. 5-7).
As to Claim 11, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the device 20 further comprises at least one command button (“control buttons”) 28b arranged on the upper side (open upper side, not labeled, of the lower portion of “housing 22” shown in fig. 15) of the force measuring body 32 (see “The user interface includes operable buttons 28a, 28b mounted on the housing 22 and a display 30 for presenting the measured data.” on p. 19, ll. 16-17; and see fig. 13).
As to Claim 12, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the device 20 further comprises an electrical interface (“interface circuitry”, not labeled) arranged on the upper side 21 of the force measuring body 32 (see “The interface circuitry may also include input/output ports for communicating with external devices, such as computers, printers or other output devices, to transmit and receive data.” on p. 19, ll. 29-32).
As to Claim 13, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the device 20 further comprises a display means (“display”) 30 arranged on the upper side of the force measuring body 32 (see “The user interface includes operable buttons 28a, 28b mounted on the housing 22 and a display 30 for presenting the measured data. The display 30 may also have touch screen capability to enable the therapist to operate the handheld device 20 via menu systems provided on the display 30.” on p. 19, ll. 16-19).
As to Claim 14, Lan teaches the following:
characterized in that the force measuring body 32 comprises a force sensor (“force transducer”) 32, and at least one of the following sensors: an inertia sensor (“strain gauge resistors”, not labeled) (see “The force transducer 32 includes strain gauge resistors that are attached with adhesive onto both sides of the beam 36 at, for example, the point indicated by the pointer line 36. These strain gauges are arranged according to the electronic circuit shown in Figure 8 to generate force data signals representing the force applied to the contact pad 26, thereby providing a measure of strength of a body part. The force transducer 32 is arranged to communicate the continuous force data to the control electronics for subsequent storage and/or processing.” on p. 18, ll. 15-21), an angle sensor, and/or an accelerometer.
Conclusion
9. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAVIN NATNITHITHADHA whose telephone number is (571)272-4732. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jason M Sims can be reached at 571-272-7540. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NAVIN NATNITHITHADHA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791 07/02/2026
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