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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and amendments regarding the double patenting rejection, see page 8, filed 2/27/2026, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The double patent rejection of claims 1-20 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments amendments regarding the 101 rejection filed 7/27/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant argued that the obtaining a power spectral density is not a mental process and is an improvement to the technical field for separating frequencies. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The claims recite generating a signal representing vibrations and obtaining a power spectral density, which are extrasolution activities of data collection (see MPEP 2106.05(g)). It is well-known in the art that a person of ordinary skill in the art can perform a Fourier transform (obtaining a power spectral density) using pen and paper. The power spectral density, by definition, separates the signal by frequency, which a person could analyze and make determinations about the observed data. The Examiner recommends adding more nonconventional limitations and/or a specific treatment step. The 101 rejection is maintained below.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because of the following analysis:
Step 1: Do the claims recite one of the statutory categories of matter (i.e. method, apparatus, etc.)? YES, claims 1-10 recite a method and claims 11-20 recite an apparatus.
Step 2A Prong 1: Is there an abstract idea involved? YES, the claim language recites a piezoelectric sensor and a processor obtaining a power spectral density of the signal; determining a respiration rate of the subject by identifying a lowest frequency of the power spectral density at which a peak exceeding a predetermined power threshold exists; using the respiration rate as a basis for selecting a portion of the signal; determining a heart rate variability of the subject using the portion of the signal; and evaluating a parasympathetic nervous system response of the subject based on the heart rate variability. These limitations, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in mind or by a person using a pen and paper.
Step 2a Prong 2: Do the claims recite additional elements that integrate the exception into a practical application? NO, the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements when considered both individually and as an ordered combination do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. The processor and piezoelectric sensor are recited at a high level of generality and is recited as performing generic computer functions. i.e., data processing and display. The piezoelectric sensor and the collection of data, including obtaining a power spectral density, are generically recited to amount to nothing more than an insignificant extrasolution activity (see MPEP 2106.05(g)). The elements amount to mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.04(d) and 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, each of the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limitations on practicing the abstract idea.
The respective dependent claims recite limitations that merely further limit the abstract idea, therefore they are also rejected.
Step 2B: Do the additional elements amount to “Significantly More” than the judicial exception?
NO, The emphasized elements cited above do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because these limitations are simply appending well-understood, routine and conventional activities previously known in the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to the judicial exception, e.g., a claim to an abstract idea requiring no more than a generic computer to perform generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine and conventional activities previously known in the industry (see Electric Power Group, 830 F.3d 1350 (Fed. Cir. 2016); Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’I, 110 USPQ2d 1976 (2014)).
In view of the above, the additional elements individually do not amount to significantly more than the above-judicial exception (the abstract idea). Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination (that is, as a whole) adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer, for example, or improves any other technology. There is no indication that the combination of elements permits automation of specific tasks that previously could not be automated. There is no indication that the combination of elements includes a particular solution to a computer-based problem or a particular way to achieve a desired computer-based outcome. Rather, the collective functions of the claimed invention merely provide conventional computer implementation, i.e., the computer is simply a tool to perform the process. Simply appending well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to the judicial exception, e.g., a claim to an abstract idea requiring no more than a generic computer to perform generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine and conventional activities previously known to the industry, as discussed in Alice Corp., 573 U.S. at 225, 110 USPQ2d at 1984 (see MPEP § 2106.05(d)).
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J LAU whose telephone number is (571)272-2317. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5:30 PM.
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/MICHAEL J LAU/Examiner, Art Unit 3796
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