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 Amendment
The amendment filed on 12/09/2025 has been entered. Claim 4 has been amended. Claims 1-3 and 5 have been cancelled. Claims 6-8 have been added. Claims 4 and 6-8 remain pending.
The previously raised objections for Claim 4 are withdrawn because the issues have been properly corrected.
Response to Arguments
In Pages 4-5 of Remarks, Applicant argues that Hong and/or Hall fail to teach the features of amended Claim 4 of “determines the presence or absence …, detects the biological information …, wherein the AC component is …”.
The argument regarding the above feature of “determines the presence or absence …” is moot in view of the new grounds of rejection which relies on Joe to disclose these features in the claim.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the argument regarding the feature of “detects the biological information …, wherein the AC component is …” (Para 4, Page 5 of Remarks). Hong discloses the removal of DC offset from PPG signal before analyzing the signal for physiological information (Para 0171-0172). More details are in the section of 35 USC 103 below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 08/31/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JP2023-141509 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“a control device that controls the laser blood flow sensor” in Claim 4.
A review of the Specification discloses that the corresponding structure for the control device to “control the laser blood flow sensor” is formed of “stabilization circuit 33” and “constant current driving circuit 50” shown in Fig. 3 (the upper part of the figure shows the connection of the control device and the two circuits) and in Para 0021.
Because this claim limitation is being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it is being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this limitation interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation to avoid it being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation recites sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because the claim recites “the control device determines presence or absence of a human body” in Line 6, “a first mode that determines the presence or absence of the human body” in Line 10, and “the control device determines the presence or absence of a human body” in Lines 14-15, which can arguably be interpreted to positively recite human body. The underlined parts in the above recited phrases should be changed to “is configured to determine presence or absence of a human body”.
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 4 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hall et al (US 20200289000 A1; hereafter Hall), in view of Hong et al (US 20140275852 A1; hereafter Hong), and further in view of Joe et al (US 20200146630 A1; hereafter Joe).
With regard to Claim 4, Hall discloses a sensor device, comprising:
a laser blood flow sensor that acquires biological information comprising blood flow information of a user (Hall, Para 0047; “the toilet is configured with sensors to help determine pulse wave velocity (PWV). PWV is the velocity at which blood pressure pulse propagates through the circulatory system.”).
Hall does not explicitly and clearly disclose:
a control device that controls the laser blood flow sensor,
wherein the control device determines presence or absence of a human body, based on additional information acquired by the laser blood flow sensor, other than the biological information,
wherein the control device comprises:
a first mode that determines the presence or absence of the human body based on the additional information, and
a second mode that detects the biological information, in a case where it is determined that the human body is present in the first mode, and
wherein the control device:
determines the presence or absence of the human body based on the additional information comprising a direct current (DC) component of light that is received by the laser blood flow sensor, in the first mode, and
detects the biological information based on an alternating current (AC) component of light that is received by the laser blood flow sensor, in the second mode,
wherein the AC component is provided by removing only the DC component from the light.
Hong in the same field of endeavor discloses:
a control device that controls the laser blood flow sensor (Hong, Para 0039; “The control logic is configured to: (a) operate the heart rate monitor … ”),
wherein the control device determines presence or absence of a human body (Hong, Para 0039; “… a second mode configured to detect near proximity of the wearable fitness monitoring device to a user's skin …”), based on additional information acquired by the laser blood flow sensor, other than the biological information (Hong, Para 0427; “While the heart rate monitor operates in different modes, all modes involve emitting light pulses and detecting the same pulses after they interact with the user's tissues. The different modes may employ different light pulses and/or different processes for interpreting detected pulses.” Here the disclosure suggests that the disclosed second mode can be based on additional acquisition that is different from the disclosed first mode),
wherein the control device comprises:
a first mode that determines the presence or absence of the human body based on the additional information (Hong, Para 0039; “… a second mode configured to detect near proximity of the wearable fitness monitoring device to a user's skin …”; Para 0427; “The different modes may employ different light pulses and/or different processes for interpreting detected pulses.”), and
a second mode that detects the biological information, in a case where it is determined that the human body is present in the first mode (Hong, Para 0040; “… upon determining via the worn detection mode that the wearable fitness monitoring device is proximate to the user's skin, operate the heart rate monitor in a first mode configured to determine one or more characteristics of the user's heartbeat waveform.”), and
wherein the control device:
determines the presence or absence of the human body based on the additional information, in the first mode (Hong, Para 0039; “… a second mode configured to detect near proximity of the wearable fitness monitoring device to a user's skin …”; Para 0427; “While the heart rate monitor operates in different modes, all modes involve emitting light pulses and detecting the same pulses after they interact with the user's tissues.”), and
detects the biological information based on an alternating current (AC) component of light that is received by the laser blood flow sensor, in the second mode (Hong, Para 0170; “circuit topologies such as those already described herein (e.g. a sample-and-hold circuit) remove the DC and low frequency components of the signal and help resolve the AC component related to heart rate and/or respiration.”),
wherein the AC component is provided by removing only the DC component from the light (Hong, Para 0172; “… a signal (voltage or current, depending on the specific sensor implementation) may be subtracted from the raw PPG signal to remove any bias in the raw PPG signal and therefore increase the gain or amplification of the PPG signal that contains heart rate (or other circulatory parameters such as heart rate variability) information … a constant voltage may be subtracted from the PPG signal to remove the DC offset …”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hall, as suggested by Hong, in order to use a control device to determine absence or presence of human body based on information from the sensor, and when a human body is present, to determine biological information based on AC component of the sensor’s signal. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification for the benefit of improved energy efficiency by activating physiologic measurement only when a device is worn and simplified design of device by determining the worn state and the physiologic information using information acquired from a single sensor (Hong, Para 0420; “FIG. 18A shows a process flow chart according to some embodiments of the disclosure, where a wearable fitness monitoring device having the heart rate monitor operates in different modes in energy efficient ways.”).
Hall and Hong do not clearly and explicitly disclose determining the presence or absence of human body based on additional information comprising a direct current (DC) component of light that is received by a sensor.
Joe in the same field of endeavor discloses determining the presence or absence of human body based on additional information comprising a direct current (DC) component of light that is received by a sensor (Joe, Para 0208; “Referring to FIGS. 11A and 11B, it can be seen that as the wearing state of the electronic device on the users wrist becomes tight (i.e., as the distance between the electronic device and the skin is reduced) when the electronic device measures the PPG signals under the above experimental conditions, the ratio of an AC signal value to a DC signal value and the magnitude of an AC signal increase.” This disclosure indicates that information comprising DC signal value can be used to determine whether the device is close to user’s skin or not, which based on Specification, Para 0018, corresponds to “presence or absence of a human body” of Application). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hall and Hong, as suggested by Joe, in order to determine attachment of device to human body based on information comprising a direct current component of received signal. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification for the benefit of reduced cost and higher efficiency by using a same acquired signal for both physiologic monitoring and verifying worn-state of a device.
With regard to Claim 6, Hall, Hong and Joe disclose the sensor device according to Claim 4, but do not explicitly and clearly disclose wherein the control device further:
intermittently drives the laser blood flow sensor, in the first mode, and
continuously drives the laser blood flow sensor, in the second mode.
Hong further discloses wherein the control device further:
intermittently drives the laser blood flow sensor, in the first mode (Hong, Para 0135; “In response to detecting or determining that the biometric monitoring device is not attached to, disposed on, and/or being worn by a user, the biometric monitoring device (or selected portions thereof) may implement or be placed in a low power mode of operation. … Upon such a determination, the device may reduce its power consumption -- for example, by "disabling" or adjusting the operating conditions of the stress and/or heart rate detection sensors and/or circuitry … the biometric monitoring device may periodically determine (e.g., once per second) if the operating conditions of the stress and/or heart rate detection sensors and/or associated circuitry should be restored to a normal operating condition … ”); and
continuously drives the laser blood flow sensor, in the second mode (Hong, Para 0427; “the heart rate data stream may operate continuously in a first mode, while the probing stream operates periodically in a second mode. For instance, the probing data stream may operate for 120 ms every 1000 ms (one second).”) (Hong, Fig. 18C shows the light pulses that are emitted intermittently (“the probing stream”) and continuously (“HR data stream”)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hall, Hong and Joe, as further suggested by Hong, in order to intermittently determine the presence or absence of a human body and when a body is present, continuously determine physiologic information. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification for the benefit of improved energy efficiency by detecting the worn state in a less frequent manner than physiologic measurement.
With regard to Claim 7, Hall, Hong and Joe disclose the sensor device according to Claim 4, including determining the presence or absence of a human body based on the additional information. Hall further discloses employing the additional information to determine a human body posture (As discussed for Claim 4 above, Hong discloses determining the presence of human body based on additional information acquired by light sensor. Hall further discloses in Para 0038; “… a user … sits down on seat 120 … While the user is using the toilet, PPG sensors 122 monitor the user's upper legs …”. Hence, for a sensor of Hong integrated into a toilet seat of Hall, what is determined by the additional information acquired is a user’s upper legs sitting on the seat, and such sitting is a body posture. This agrees with Application’s disclosure in Para 0032; “… a mode that determines whether or not a user has a posture for detecting biological information thereof. For example, a first mode is a mode that determines whether or not a user is seated on a toilet seat 11”).
With regard to Claim 8, Hall, Hong and Joe disclose the sensor device according to Claim 4 as discussed above. Hall further discloses a toilet system, comprising: a toilet; a toilet seat device that is placed on an upper part of the toilet (Hall, Abstract; “The system includes a toilet with a bowl adapted to receive excreta from the user and a processor. The toilet includes a seat with weight and PPG sensors.”); and the sensor device is comprised by the toilet seat device (Hall, Abstract; “The toilet includes a seat with weight and PPG sensors.”).
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 LEI ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7172. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm E.T..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pascal Bui-Pho can be reached at (571) 272-2714. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/L.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 3798
/PASCAL M BUI PHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3798