DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on March 18, 2024 Claims 11-21 havebeen examined in this application.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 3/18/2024, has been acknowledged.
Amendments
The amendment field has been entered.
Specification amendment has been objected to (see below).
Claims 1-10 are cancelled.
Claims 11-21 are new.
Claims 11-21 are pending this application.
Specification Objections - 35 USC § 132
The amendment filed August 13, 2024 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows:
The incorporation by reference of the international patent application WO2022248639A1 and of the foreign patent application FR2111154 is ineffective as it was added on the date of entry into the national phase, which is after the filing date of the instant application. The filing date of this national stage application is the filing date of associated PCT, in this case 5/26/2022, see MPEP 1893.03(b). Therefore, the specification amendment of 8/13/2024 to include the incorporation by reference is new matter, per MPEP 608.01(p).
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
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 19-21 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 19, the phrase "a pseudo-periodic pa"” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the phrase is intended to mean “a pseudo-periodic pascal (pa)” as in a unit of measurement for pressure, “a pseudo-periodic part”, or something else entirely. Claims 20 and 21 are rendered indefinite, as they both depend from claim 19. See MPEP § 2173.05(a).
Examiner will interpret the claim to be read as “a pseudo-periodic part” for the sake of compact prosecution.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 11-15, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lakshmanan et al. (US 2007/0103328 A1) in view of Hermann et al. (US 2004/0239475 A1), in view of Hwang et al. (US 2015/0143915 A1), in view of Severac et al. (US 2015/0205481 A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Lakshmanan discloses a device configured for assessing a physiological parameter of an individual through a temporary contact of the individual with the device ([0016] a living subject being directly in contact with an object of interest, [0029] Each time the heartbeats it generates a small measurable shock wave, ballistocardiogram, that propagates through the body (physiological parameter). This wave can be measured either with a sensor that is directly in contact with the living body), comprising:
a pressure sensor ([0028] In accordance with this aspect of the invention, there are provided a plurality of pressure transducers disposed in predetermined relationship to the object of interest, for producing respective transducer signals responsive to pressure waves resulting from the heartbeat of the living subject);
a receiving surface configured to coming into a contact with the individual and to transmitting a pressure resulting from the contact of the individual with the receiving surface to the pressure sensor ([0079] There are provided on a seat frame 56 a pair of pressure transducers 60 and 62 that produce respective transducer signals responsive to the pressure applied (coming into contact) to vehicle seat 52);
a computer, a non-transitory memory and a computer program configured to perform a signal processing of a signal delivered by the pressure sensor when subjected to the pressure resulting from the contact of the individual with the receiving surface and to assess the physiological parameter from the signal processing ([0079] There are provided on a seat frame 56 a pair of pressure transducers 60 and 62 that produce respective transducer signals responsive to the pressure applied to vehicle seat 52 (contact of the individual with the receiving surface). The transducer signals are propagated to a processor 65 that computes one or more algorithms (signal processing), as hereinabove described, [0081] As stated, processor 65 employs data from a database memory 75 (non-transitory memory) to compute, in some embodiments, an indication of the presence or absence of a human being on the vehicle seat. In other embodiments, the data from database memory 75 is used to identify certain behavioral characteristics of the human being, such as the level of alertness, [0093] The flexible film sensors provide radio-frequency (RFID) and Wi-Fi signals to a remote user who would monitor the sensors at a control station, such as a computer terminal (a computer), a PDA, or other similar device).
However, Lakshmanan is not relied upon disclosing a deformable test body and a plurality of elemental gauges of high sensitivity connected to the deformable test body and responsive to a deformation of the deformable test body; a computer comprising an acquisition and digitization board, a non-transitory memory and a computer program configured to perform a signal processing of a signal delivered by the pressure sensor; wherein each elemental gauge of the plurality comprises and assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in an electrically insulating ligand and two electrically conductive electrodes having a comb shape and deposited on the assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in a nested interdigitated configuration; and a gauge factor of each elemental gauge is equal or higher to 10.
Hermann teaches a deformable test body and a plurality of elemental gauges of high sensitivity connected to the deformable test body and responsive to a deformation of the deformable test body ([0007] In the strain gauge (elemental gauge) of the present invention the resistive layer comprises metallic or semiconducting nano particles or aggregates thereof which are separated by insulating or semiconducting barriers... When the layer is deformed (deformable test body) due to the application of an external mechanical load, the separation between the nanoparticles changes. Correspondingly, the tunnelling current and thus the resistance of the layer changes (responsive to a deformation of the deformable test body)).
However, Hermann is not relied upon teaching a computer comprising an acquisition and digitization board, a non-transitory memory and a computer program configured to perform a signal processing of a signal delivered by the pressure sensor; wherein each elemental gauge of the plurality comprises and assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in an electrically insulating ligand and two electrically conductive electrodes having a comb shape and deposited on the assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in a nested interdigitated configuration; and a gauge factor of each elemental gauge is equal or higher to 10.
Hwang teaches a computer comprising an acquisition and digitization board, a non-transitory memory and a computer program configured to perform a signal processing of a signal delivered by the pressure sensor ([0065] The signal processor 152 is configured to receive the signals (acquisition) from the amplifier 151 and to digitalize the signals. That is, when the sensing signals are transmitted from the strain gauges 130, the signal processor 152 may digitalize (digitization) the sensing signals and quantify the pressure and shearing force applied to the plurality of beams 120).
However, Hwang is not relied upon teaching wherein each elemental gauge of the plurality comprises and assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in an electrically insulating ligand and two electrically conductive electrodes having a comb shape and deposited on the assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in a nested interdigitated configuration; and a gauge factor of each elemental gauge is equal or higher to 10.
Severac teaches wherein each elemental gauge of the plurality comprises and assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in an electrically insulating ligand and two electrically conductive electrodes having a comb shape and deposited on the assembly of electrically conductive nanoparticles in a nested interdigitated configuration ([0064] the electrodes of a sensor (310) of said tactile Surface are organized in an array of electrodes (571,572) in nested comb arrangements, known as interdigitated arrangements… That phenomenon of conduction by tunnel effect depends on the chemical nature of the ligand, and when the bond between the ligand and the Surface of the nanoparticles is covalent, as for example a metal-O-P bond in the case of a phosphonic acid ligand with ITO nanoparticles, then the length of the ligand molecule has little influence on conduction by tunnel effect between the nanoparticles); and
a gauge factor of each elemental gauge is equal or higher to 10 ([0065] In this exemplary embodiment, the gauge factor reaches the value of 85 (at least 10) on the explored strain range from -1% for compression to 1% pulling strain with resistance R0 of 2430.10 Ohm in the absence of strain).
Lakshmanan and Herman are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of pressure sensing devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a device for assessing the physiological parameters of an individual in temporary contact with the device, as disclosed by Lakshmanan, further including a deformable test body and a plurality of elemental gauges of high sensitivity linked to the test body and responsive to the deformation of the test body as taught by Herman for the purpose of creating high sensitivity gauges (Herman, [0007]).
Lakshmanan and Hwang are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of measuring and detecting pressure. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a device for assessing the physiological parameters of an individual in temporary contact with the device, as disclosed by Lakshmanan, further including a computer comprising an acquisition and digitization board, a non-transitory memory and a computer program configured to perform a signal processing of a signal delivered by the pressure sensor as taught by Hwang for the purpose of processing signals from the strain gauges, amplifying signals to appropriately analyze, and reducing measurement errors (Hwang, [0060]-[0066]).
Lakshmanan and Severac are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of pressure sensing devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a device for assessing the physiological parameters of an individual in temporary contact with the device, as disclosed by Lakshmanan, further including wherein a gauge of the plurality of elemental gauges comprises an assembly of conductive nanoparticles in an insulating ligand, grafted on a substrate as taught by Severac for the purpose of being able to make a strain gauge from weakly conductive nanoparticles (Severac, [0009]).
Regarding Claim 12, Lakshmanan is not relied upon disclosing wherein the gauge factor of each elemental gauge is at least 80.
Severac teaches wherein the gauge factor of each elemental gauge is at least 80 ([0065] In this exemplary embodiment, the gauge factor reaches the value of 85 (at least 80) on the explored strain range from -1% for compression to 1% pulling strain with resistance R0 of 2430.10 Ohm in the absence of strain).
Regarding Claim 13, Lakshmanan is not relied upon disclosing wherein the test body comprises a polycarbonate plate having a thickness less than or equal to 0.5 mm comprising strips delimiting cutouts and positioned so as to intersect by pairs, each elemental gauge of the plurality being positioned at an intersection of a pair of strips.
Hwang teaches wherein the test body comprises a polycarbonate plate having a thickness less than or equal to 0.5 mm comprising strips delimiting cutouts and positioned so as to intersect by pairs, each elemental gauge of the plurality being positioned at an intersection of a pair of strips ([0010] a plurality of beams formed in a lattice shape and having holes for wiring formed at intersections thereof a strain gauge (elemental gauge) attached to each of the plurality of beams for measuring a deformation rate; a frame connected to ends of the lattice shape and formed to surround the plurality of beams; and holes for wirings formed at the intersections of the plurality of beams).
Regarding Claim 14, Lakshmanan is not relied upon disclosing wherein the plurality of elemental gauges comprises at last 12 elemental gauges.
Hwang teaches wherein the pressure sensor comprises 12 elemental gauges ([0010] a strain gauge (elemental gauge) attached to each of the plurality of beams for measuring a deformation rate).
Examiner’s Note: Utilizing 12 elemental gauges is a design choice, as the specification does not make it clear as to why 12 elemental gauges are patentably significant over any other quantity of elemental gauges.
Regarding Claim 15, Lakshmanan discloses wherein the device is of a form of a chair comprising a backrest and a seat and comprising a backrest pressure sensor in the backrest and a seat pressure sensor in the seat ([0079] has a vehicle seat (inherently comprises a backrest) 52 therein, as well as a conventional steering wheel 54. There are provided on a seat frame (part of the backrest) 56 a pair of pressure transducers (backrest sensors) 60 and 62 that produce respective transducer signals responsive to the pressure applied to vehicle seat 52, [0059] the seat cover, cushion, and seat frame combination).
Regarding Claim 17, Lakshmanan discloses wherein the physiological parameter is selected among a heart rate, a breathing rate and a posture variation ([0034] With appropriately chosen and positioned pressure transducers, the heartbeat and breathing signal will be recorded, and with the non linear short-term frequency-selective energy distribution method disclosed herein, [0068] whether the occupant is normally seated or leaning (posture variation) is also of interest).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lakshmanan et al. (US 2007/0103328 A1) in view of Hermann et al. (US 2004/0239475 A1), in view of Hwang et al. (US 2015/0143915 A1), in view of Severac et al. (US 2015/0205481 A1), and in further view of Tucknott et al. (US 4,633,237 A).
Regarding Claim 16, Lakshmanan is not relied upon disclosing wherein the device is of a form of a mattress comprising a sleeping surface and wherein the sleeping surface is the receiving surface.
Tucknott teaches wherein the device is of a form of a mattress comprising a sleeping surface and wherein the sleeping surface is the receiving surface (Abstract The presence of the patient's body upon the mat (14) causes various combinations of the sensors to perceive the presence of the patient's body thereon, Col. 3 Lines 20-30 The present invention is a device for detecting when a patient confined to a bed (mattress comprising a sleeping surface) in an institution such as a hospital or nursing home has, either inadvertently or volitionally, moved to vacate the bed. The device in includes a matrix of sensors which is positionable on the bed to discriminate as to the exact location of the patient, Col. 4 Lines 66-68 The Figure shows a bed (12) on which is positioned a flexible mat (14) which has a matrix (16) of sensors (18) in an overlying relationship… Col. 5 Line 6 woven into the mat (14)).
Lakshmanan and Tucknott are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because both are in the same field of monitoring users in contact with a device through the use of pressure sensors. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a device for assessing the physiological parameters of an individual in temporary contact with the device, as disclosed by Lakshmanan, further including wherein the device is of a form of a mattress comprising a sleeping surface and wherein the sleeping surface is the receiving surface as taught by Tucknott for the purpose of monitoring patients confined to a bed in institutions such as a hospital or nursing home, and determining whether the patient is “safe” in bed, volitionally moved to vacate the bed, or inadvertently moved to vacate the bed (Tucknott, Col. 3 Lines 20-43).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lakshmanan et al. (US 2007/0103328 A1) in view of Hermann et al. (US 2004/0239475 A1), in view of Hwang et al. (US 2015/0143915 A1), in view of Severac et al. (US 2015/0205481 A1), and in further view of Karunaratne et al. (US 9,795,322 B1).
Regarding Claim 18, Lakshmanan is not relied upon disclosing wherein the physiological parameter comprises a blood pressure.
Karunaratne teaches (Col. 9 Lines 33-39 In some embodiments, the system may further comprise health sensors that monitor health indicators such as heart rate, blood pressure, and various hormone levels, and behavioural sen-sors, which may, independently or together with the health sensors, monitor stress levels as well as other salient behav-ioural features).
Lakshmanan and Karunaratne are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because both are in the same field of monitoring users through the use of pressure sensors. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a device for assessing the physiological parameters of an individual in temporary contact with the device, as disclosed by Lakshmanan, further including wherein the physiological parameter comprises a blood pressure as taught by Karunaratne for the purpose of monitoring a health indicator that can be a health hazard associated with a sedentary lifestyle (Karunaratne, Col. 8 Lines 47-67).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kortelainen (US 2010/0249628 A1), in view of Severac et al. (US 2015/0205481 A1).
Regarding Claim 19, Kortelainen discloses a method for assessing a physiological parameter of an individual when the individual is contacting a receiving surface of a device comprising a pressure sensor comprising a plurality of elemental gauges, each elemental gauge ([0011] The present invention is based on a multichannel pressure sensing sensor which may be integrated e.g. into a bed mattress, to collect BCG signal, and heart inter beat interval extracted from this multichannel BCG data with the cepstrum method, [0014] There are a number of various suitable measuring arrangements for pressure sensitive foils, such as force sensing resistors (FSR), deformation of optical fibers, capacitive foils, piezoelectric polymer foil PVDF and electretfoil Emfit. The multichannel pressure sensing sensor is usually a matrix-type, row-type or column-type multi-electrode multi-channel pressure sensing sensor),
the pressure sensor being responsive to a pressure on the receiving surface and delivering a signal to a computer comprising and acquisition and digitization board a non-transitory memory and a computer program configured to processing the signal delivered by the pressure sensor ([0017] he electronics used in the present invention is based on a multichannel signal converter, which can produce multiple digital signals representing a multiple of analogue signals. An example of this kind of a multichannel signal converter is a multichannel A/D converter, [0045] The multichannel pressure sensing sensor in the form of a sheet comprises electrodes 10, which collect BCG signal data. The collected signal data is transferred to a terminal device via signal channels 11 for analyzing and processing. The electrodes 10 are connected to each other with narrow foil stripes 12 having a curved shape. The electrodes 10 cover approximately 50% of the total area of the multichannel pressure sensing sensor. When integrated into a bed mattress, the effective covering area increases as the pressing forces are spatially distributed in a soft tissue), the method comprising steps of:
acquiring and digitizing each signal delivered by each elemental gauges of the pressure sensor and comprising a continuous part and a pseudo-periodic pa ([0013] The BCG is a vital sign in the 1... 20 Hz frequency range which is caused by the mechanical movement of the heart and the pulsating blood flow and it can be recorded, for example, by a pressure sensing sensor from the pressing force of the body. BCG signal includes also respiratory movements, body movement artifacts and external vibration which make the detection of heart IBI more difficult; [0017] The electronics used in the present invention is based on a multichannel signal converter, which can produce multiple digital signals representing a multiple of analogue signals (digitizing a signal); [0050] The first heart IBI result 30.1 with the grey curve is 1.14 seconds and the following heart IBI result 30.2 is 0.96 seconds (difference in time indicates pseudo-periodic part));
over a processing time window comprised between 3 seconds and 60 seconds, deducing from the continuous parts of each signal a time drift to obtain a corrected signal, and deriving a posture of the individual from the corrected signal ([0007] The methods applied with Fourier Transform use longtime windows for Discrete Fourier Trans form (DFT), e.g. 20 seconds (between 3 and 60 seconds), to average the variance in time domain, which also decreases the time resolution and prevents detection of individual heart IBI value, [0047] The Adaptive Window Cepstrum method 23 selects the window length by using the pulse method 21 as the first estimator of the heartbeats. The adaptive window length varies between one and several seconds (time drift) depending on the actual heart rate. The spectrum for the BCG heartbeat signal in the next step 23.2 is composed of the peaks at the harmonic frequencies of the fundamental heart beat frequency, [0055] The above-mentioned embodiments do not restrict the scope of the invention it is possible that the multichannel pressure sensing matrix foil intended to be integrated into a bed mattress is also used to measure other possible features, such as for example the posture (deriving a posture) and movements of the body, and respiration);
during a pre-processing step, extracting a pseudo-periodic part of each signal to remove an influence of movements of the individual ([0016] Advantageously, the method further comprises generating the cardiac component signal by separating the cardiac component signal (heartbeats are inherently pseudo-periodic) from a respiratory component signal);
carrying out a smoothing of the pseudo-periodic part of each signal and assessing a respiratory frequency of the individual by a time distance between two peaks in the smoothed pseudo-periodic parts of the signals;
filtering by a bandpass filter with cut-off frequencies of 0.5 Hz and 20 Hz the pseudo-periodic part of each signal obtained by the pre-processing step to obtain a filtered signal; selecting a filtered signal coming from an elemental gauge of the plurality and having a best signal-to-noise ratio ([0013] The BCG is a vital sign in the 1... 20 Hz frequency range which is caused by the mechanical movement of the heart and the pulsating blood flow and it can be recorded (.5 Hz outside of the frequency range is not patentably significant to overcome the prior art)); and
exploring the selected filtered signal by a sliding window and detecting in such a window 2 patterns corresponding to heart beats and the time distance between these patterns for assessing a heart rate ([0011] by applying Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) for short time windows (sliding windows) including at least one pair (two patterns) of consecutive heart beats).
However, Kortelainen is not relied upon disclosing having a gauge factor of at least 10.
Kortelainen and Severac are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because Kortelainen utilizes the tactile surface manufactured by Severac. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a method for assessing a state of stress of an individual, as disclosed by Kortelainen, further including each elemental gauge having a gauge factor of at least 10 as taught by Severac for the purpose of having a very sensitive strain gauge (Severac, [0065]).
Claims 20 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kortelainen (US 2010/0249628 A1), in view of Severac et al. (US 2015/0205481 A1).
Regarding Claim 20, Kortelainen is not relied upon disclosing wherein the time drift is estimated ([0050] The first heart IBI result 30.1 with the grey curve is 1.14 seconds and the following heart IBI result 30.2 is 0.96 seconds (time drift). Variance of the DFT spectrum estimate is high, and averaging between the consequent time windows would impair the time resolution of the analysis and is not suitable for a nonstationary signal like BCG).
However, Kortelainen is not relied upon disclosing wherein the time drift is estimated by a linear regression each signal over the time window and deducing a line from each signal.
Borkholder teaches wherein the time drift is estimated by a linear regression each signal over the time window and deducing a line from each signal ([0076] determining weight and posture from BCG sensor readings includes the following steps: preprocessing of sensor readings, including mean reduction, scaling, data transformation to adjust for skewness in data; exploring higher order relations between sensor readings and output (weight); performing linear regression for estimating weight, and logistic regression for predicting posture on a training dataset containing sensor readings and subjects' weight and posture, [0086] This table can be created by correlating specific BCG features directly (or with a time offset (time drift)) to the simultaneous aortic valve opening gold standard measurement).
Kortelainen and Borkholder are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of measuring a ballistocardiographic signal of a human body. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention of a method for assessing a physiological parameter of an individual when the individual is contacting a receiving surface of a device comprising a pressure sensor comprising a plurality of elemental gauges, as disclosed by Kortelainen, further including wherein the time drift is estimated by a linear regression each signal over the time window and deducing a line from each signal as taught by Borkholder for the purpose of accurate estimation of weight and posture (Borkholder, [0076]).
Regarding Claim 21, Kortelainen is not relied upon disclosing wherein the posture is assessed by comparing an evolution of the corrected signal of each elemental gauges of the sensor over successive time windows.
Borkholder teaches wherein the posture is assessed by comparing an evolution of the corrected signal of each elemental gauges of the sensor over successive time windows ([0070] By measuring each sensor independently, the present method can use algorithms to estimate the posture and extract a more accurate and reliable BCG, [0071] The use of multiple, e.g., four, independent sensors enable posture determination to assist in accurate determination of weight, [0086] this table can be created by correlating specific BCG features directly (or with a time offset) to the simultaneous aortic valve opening gold standard measurement. The time offset could be a constant (successive time windows), or an equation based on physiologic intervals such as heart rate, or a combination of the two. The specific BCG features can be from the BCG itself, or from a transformed BCG such as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. derivatives or integrals. The subject sits on the seat containing the BCG sensors while measuring the time of aortic valve opening. This can be repeated for multiple postures (from upright to full leaning forward as when resting elbows on knees) with known angles between the torso and the seating platform. In one example, the time of aortic valve opening can be determined through transthoracic echocardiography captures of pulse wave Doppler, tissue strain, and aortic valve imaging measured simultaneously and time synchronized with the BCG (evolution of corrected signal)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ouwerkerk et al. (EP 3,594,962 A1) teaches a device, system, and method for determining the stress level of a user.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAMID TARIQ HAFIZ whose telephone number is (571) 272-4629. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM, Monday through Thursday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kang Hu can be reached at 571-270-1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HAMID TARIQ HAFIZ/
Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/ROBERT J UTAMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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