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)(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 1, 11, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Peterson et al (US 5,846,263, hereinafter “Peterson”).
Regarding claim 1, Peterson discloses a medical device (col 5, ln 40-57) comprising: a sensing circuit configured to sense at least one cardiac electrical signal (col 4, ln 10-47); a memory configured to store at least one supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); a control circuit configured to: identify a plurality of R-waves from the at least one cardiac electrical signal (col 15, ln 14-45); determine at least one variability metric from the identified plurality of R-waves (col 15, ln 14-45); for each of the identified plurality of R-waves, determine at least one feature for comparison to the at least one supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); determine that supraventricular tachycardia criteria are either met or unmet by: comparing the at least one determined variability metric to a variability threshold (col 15, ln 14-45); and comparing the at least one feature determined from each of the identified plurality of R-waves to the at least one supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); based on determining that the supraventricular tachycardiac criteria are either met or unmet: detect a ventricular tachyarrhythmia in response to at least determining that the supraventricular tachycardia criteria are unmet (col 15, ln 14-col 16, ln 43); and a therapy delivery circuit configured to deliver a cardiac electrical stimulation therapy in response to the control circuit detecting the ventricular tachyarrhythmia (col 7, ln 22-col 8, ln 6).
Regarding claim 11, Peterson discloses a method comprising: sensing at least one cardiac electrical signal (col 4, ln 10-47); storing in a medical device memory at least one supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); identifying a plurality of R-waves from the at least one cardiac electrical signal (col 15, ln 14-45); determining at least one variability metric from the identified plurality of R-waves (col 15, ln 14-45); for each of the identified plurality of R-waves, determining at least one feature for comparison to the at least one supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); determining that supraventricular tachycardia criteria are either met or unmet by: comparing the at least one determined variability metric to a variability threshold (col 15, ln 14-45); and comparing the at least one feature determined from each of the identified plurality of R-waves to the at least one supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); based on determining that the supraventricular tachycardiac criteria are either met or unmet, one of: detecting a ventricular tachyarrhythmia in response to at least determining that the supraventricular tachycardia criteria are unmet (col 15, ln 14-col 16, ln 43); and delivering a cardiac electrical stimulation therapy in response to detecting the ventricular tachyarrhythmia (col 7, ln 22-col 8, ln 6).
Regarding claim 21, Peterson discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions (col 5, ln 40-57) that, when executed by a control circuit of a medical device, cause the medical device (col 5, ln 40-57) to: sense at least one cardiac electrical signal (col 4, ln 10-47); identify a plurality of R-waves from the at least one cardiac electrical signal (col 15, ln 14-45); determine a variability metric from the identified plurality of R-waves (col 15, ln 14-45); for each of the identified plurality of R-waves, determine a feature for comparison to a supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); determine that supraventricular tachycardia criteria are either met or unmet by: comparing the variability metric to a variability threshold (col 15, ln 14-45); and comparing the feature determined from each of the identified plurality of R-waves to the supraventricular template feature (col 15, ln 14-45); based on determining that the supraventricular tachycardiac criteria are either met or unmet, one of: detect a ventricular tachyarrhythmia in response to at least determining that the supraventricular tachycardia criteria are unmet (col 15, ln 14-col 16, ln 43); and deliver a cardiac electrical stimulation therapy in response to detecting the ventricular tachyarrhythmia (col 7, ln 22-col 8, ln 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10 and 12-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lindsey G Wehrheim whose telephone number is (571)270-5181. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Niketa Patel can be reached at (571) 272-4156. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Lindsey G Wehrheim
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3799
/LINDSEY G WEHRHEIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799 5/30/2026
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