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 .
The set of claim filed on 4/18/2024 is being considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to estimating LV filling pressure of the heart of a human without significantly more. The claims (1, 11, 14) recite(s):
(a) use the imaging data to obtain cardiac markers including an estimate of LA reservoir strain and an estimate of the time constant of LV isovolumic pressure decay, and use the patient specific parameters directly or to determine additional cardiac markers including systolic pressure and BMI;
(b) determine an estimate of the minimum LV diastolic pressure as a summation of a value derived from each of the cardiac markers multiplied by a corresponding constant of proportionality and added to a constant value, wherein the constant value and the various constants of proportionality have been derived from a statistical analysis of historic patient data
(c) estimate the peak pressure drop during early diastole between left atrium over left ventricle and hence obtaining a maximum difference between the LA pressure and LV pressure;
(d) calculate an estimate of LV filling pressure as the sum of values from step (b) and step (c) above.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the steps for “receiving”, “estimating”, “calculating” data amount(s) to nothing more than routine data collection and/or insignificant extra-solution activity, i.e. the mere collection of data (regardless of the source of said data) is NOT an inventive concept.
Without additional limitations, a process that employs mathematical algorithms to manipulate existing information to generate additional information is not patent eligible. If a claim is directed essentially to a method of calculating/estimating, using a mathematical formula, even if the solution is for a specific purpose, the claimed method is nonstatutory.
Additionally, even though the information provided to the user may in fact be “actionable information”, this does not change the fact that it is still merely information and the instant claims do not require any structural and/or positive process limitations that occur outside of a computer environment. Therefore, the “intended use” of the information by the user does not have any limiting effect on the claimed device and does not amount to “significantly more” than the abstract idea.
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because:
With regard to the associated "computer program product", and "imaging system", as set forth above, these are recited at a high level of generality and perform nothing more than well-understood, routine, and conventional activities previously known to the industry. Similarly, the claimed “data processing device” is nothing more than a nominal recitation of a computer covering an abstract concept, which is insufficient to make a claim patent eligible.
Claims 2-10 and 15-16 are rejected for the same reasons because they depend on claim 1, 11 and 14.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOEL F BRUTUS whose telephone number is (571)270-3847. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Sat, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
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/JOEL F BRUTUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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