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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 9 and 17 are rejected 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. Claims 10-16 and 18-22 are further rejected due to their dependency to claim 9 or 17.
Claims 9 and 17 recite “a top surface side disposed in contact with an other end side of the probe inserted through the through-hole.” It is unclear what this means. Referring to Fig. 1A, the top surface of the thermally conductive structure 121 does not come in contact with “an other end side of the probe.” Rather, the top surface touches a side of the probe 101. Clarification is requested. For examination purposes, this limitation is interpreted as “a top surface side disposed on an other end side of the probe inserted through the through-hole.”
The term “large” in claims 9 and 17 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “large” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The disclosure does not provide details as to what a “large area” is and what dimensions encompass the term “large.” Clarification is requested.
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 9-18 and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Prachar ‘951 (US Patent No. 10,750,951) in view of Fang et al. (“Optimization of a Wearable Device for Core Body Temperature Monitoring Based on the Dual-Heat-Flux Model” – 2019).
Regarding claim 9, Prachar ‘951 teaches a measurement device (Title, Abstract), comprising:
a measurement apparatus (Figs. 1, 4 measurement device 100 and Column 5 Lines 36-46) provided with a probe (The open space under the isothermal plate 110 and between the first and second insulations 106, 108 and first and second temperature sensors 102, 104 is interpreted as the probe.) configured by a thermal resistor with a built-in sensor for obtaining temperature information of a target subject for which a core body temperature is to be measured (Fig. 1 first temperature sensor 102, second temperature sensor 104 and Column 5 Lines 36-46), one end of which faces the target subject (Fig. 1 and Column 5 Lines 36-46; “…the first temperature sensor 102 and the second temperature sensor 104 at the skin surface 30”); and
a contact apparatus (Figs. 1, 4 housing 101 and Column 5 Lines 36-46) detachably attached to the measurement apparatus (Column 7 Lines 44-52; “…the measurement device 100 may be coupled to an external power source, an external controller, an external storage device, and/or an external interface in a larger system”), wherein the contact apparatus includes:
a thermally conductive structure made of a thermally conductive material (Fig. 1 isothermal plate 110 and Column 5 Lines 36-46);
a first spacer made of a heat-insulating material and formed inside the thermally conductive structure and provided with a through-hole into which the probe can be inserted and pulled out (Fig. 1 first and second insulation material 106, 108 and Column 5 Lines 36-46); and
a second spacer made of a heat-insulating material formed to cover the outside of the thermally conductive structure (Fig. 1 third insulation material 114 and Column 5 Lines 36-46), and
the thermally conductive structure has a bottom surface side with a large area disposed on a side of the target subject (The bottom side of the isothermal plate 110 is disposed on the side closer to the skin surface 30.), a top surface side disposed in contact with an other end side of the probe inserted into the through-hole (The top surface of the isothermal plate 110 is at the top of the open space.), and transports heat flux from the target subject outside the probe to the other end of the probe (Fig. 1 first and second heat conduction paths 30a, 30b and Column 5 Lines 58-67).
Prachar ‘951 teaches all of the elements of the current invention as mentioned above except for the thermally conductive material being a cone-shaped cylinder.
Fang et al. teaches a DHF (dual heat flux) model in a conical shape, as seen in Fig. 1. As heat travels from the bottom to top, the radius of the heat conductors, i.e. white blocks, decrease while the other blocks increase, which means the heat will be more concentrated in longitudinal channels and reduce horizontal heat flow (Page 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the thermally conductive material of Prachar ‘951 to be a cone-shaped cylinder as Fang et al. teaches that the heat will be more concentrated in longitudinal channels and reduce horizontal heat flow.
Regarding claim 10, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the measurement apparatus includes:
an arithmetic circuit that estimates the core body temperature of the target subject from a measured value obtained by the sensor (Figs. 4, 5 controller 118 and Column 8 Lines 1-10; “…the controller 118 can retrieve the data relating to thermal resistances RI1 and RI2 from the storage device 120, and with the temperatures TS1, TS2, TP, the controller can then calculate the core body temperature TCore.”); and
a housing accommodating the arithmetic circuit (Fig. 4 shows that controller 118 is in a housing. Column 7 Lines 44-52 also mentions that the controller may be an external controller, indicating that it will have its own housing.), and the other end side of the probe is fixed to an outer bottom surface of the housing (Fig. 4 shows that the probe is fixed to an outer bottom surface of the housing that accommodates controller 118.).
Regarding claim 11, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the other end of the probe is fixed to the outer bottom surface of the housing via a plate-shaped thermally-conductive portion made of a thermally conductive material (Fig. 4 shows that the open space is fixed to the outer bottom surface of the housing, which is covered by the first and second insulation material 106, 108.), and
the top surface side of the thermally conductive structure is arranged in contact with the thermally conductive portion on the other end side of the probe inserted into the through-hole (Fig. 4 shows that the isothermal plate 110 is contact with the third insulation material 114.).
Regarding claim 12, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the second spacer is disposed in contact with the outer bottom surface of the housing (Fig. 4 shows that third insulation material 114 is in contact with the outer bottom surface of the housing.) around the other end side of the probe inserted into the through-hole (Fig. 4 shows that the third insulation material 114 is on the other end side of the open space.).
Regarding claim 13, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the contact further includes a buffer member formed on the outer bottom surface of the housing around the probe (see annotated Fig. 1 below).
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Regarding claim 14, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the buffer member has a hollow structure (As seen in the annotated Fig. 1, the buffer member has a hollow structure, in which elements 112, 110, 106, 108, 102, and 104 fill.).
Regarding claim 15, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the second spacer has a hollow structure (The border between the third insulation material 114 and elements 112, 110, 106, 108, 102, and 104 is hollow but is filled by elements 112, 110, 106, 108, 102, and 104.).
Regarding claim 16, Prachar ‘951 in view of Fang et al. teaches all of the elements of the current invention as mentioned above except for a heat transfer sheet formed on a contact surface of the first spacer in contact with the target subject.
Fang et al. teaches that the heat conductors (i.e., white blocks) touch the skin (Fig. 1 and Page 3). The bottom surface of the white blocks is interpreted as a heat transfer sheet.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the measurement device of Prachar ‘951 in view of Fang et al. to include a heat transfer sheet formed on a contact surface of the first spacer in contact with the target subject as Fang et al. teaches that the heat will be more concentrated in longitudinal channels and reduce horizontal heat flow.
Regarding claim 17, Prachar ’951, as modified by Fang et al. teaches a measurement device, as claimed, as claim 17 is analogous to claim 9.
Regarding claim 18, Prachar ‘951 in view of Fang et al. teaches all of the elements of the current invention as mentioned above except for wherein the thermally conductive structure is made of a metal.
Fang et al. teaches that a metal layer is usually added on the outer surface of the probe to reduce heat radiation (Page 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the thermally conductive structure to be made of a metal as Fang et al. teaches that this is usually added to the probe to reduce heat radiation.
Regarding claim 20, Prachar ‘951 teaches wherein the first spacer and the second spacer are made of a heat-insulating material (Fig. 1 first and second insulation materials 106, 108).
Regarding claim 21, Prachar ‘951 teaches an arithmetic circuit configured to estimate the core body temperature of the target subject from a measured value obtained by the temperature sensor and the heat flux sensor using a predetermined equation (Figs. 4, 5 controller 118 and Column 8 Lines 1-10; “…the controller 118 can retrieve the data relating to thermal resistances RI1 and RI2 from the storage device 120, and with the temperatures TS1, TS2, TP, the controller can then calculate the core body temperature TCore.”).
Regarding claim 22, Prachar ‘951 teaches a memory configured to store information on a one-dimensional biological heat transfer model based on the predetermined equation and an estimation result of the core body temperature (Fig. 4 storage device 120 and Column 8 Lines 1-10).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Prachar ‘951 in view of Fang et al. further in view of Tanaka et al. ‘680 (US Pub No. 2019/0159680).
Regarding claim 19, Prachar ‘951 in view of Fang et al. teaches all of the elements of the current invention as mentioned above except for wherein the metal is aluminum.
Tanaka et al. ‘680 teaches a biological data measurement device with a high thermal conductive film for transmitting to a substrate the heat entering into and leaving from a surface. Aluminum foil is preferably used for the high conductive film (Fig. 5(b) and [0145]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the metal of Prachar ‘951 in view of Fang et al. to include being aluminum as Tanaka et al. ‘680 teaches that aluminum is preferably used.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Huang et al. (“Theoretical Simulation of the Dual-Heat-Flux Method in Deep Body Temperature Measurements” – 2010) teaches a similar measurement device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AURELIE H TU whose telephone number is (571)272-8465. The examiner can normally be reached [M-F] 7:30-3:30.
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/AURELIE H TU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791