DETAILED 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 1-8 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 1 and 8 recite the generation of valid data by matching noise-removed data with “pre-stored user information”. It is unclear how this is achieved, whether it generates valid data that’s different from the noise-removed data or if it simply “validates” the noise-removed data. The original disclosure states that this pre-stored user information is user information that is input by the user through the user terminal or from a medical system server and can include personal information such as age, height, and contact information and/or status information, such as weight, body temperature, history of internal and reproductive diseases related to pregnancy, past surgery, and medication user ([0041] of the printed publication).
It’s not clear how this information, individually or as a group, can be used to generate valid data. For example, what kind of “valid data” is generated by factoring in the contact information of the user? Where there is a great deal of confusion and uncertainty as to the proper interpretation of the limitations of a claim, it would not be proper to reject such a claim on the basis of prior art. As stated in In re Steele, 305 F.2d 859, 134 USPQ 292 (CCPA 1962), a rejection should not be based on considerable speculation about the meaning of terms employed in a claim or assumptions that must be made as to the scope of the claims. See MPEP 2173.06.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Vaidayanathan et al. (US2016/0262687) teaches fetal monitoring by receiving motion signals and acoustic signals and determining acoustic signals corresponding to fetal movement ([0015]) and uses motion signals to determine period of maternal activity to remove noise from the data by attenuating or excluding maternal acoustic vibration signals to detect acoustic vibrations associated with fetal movement ([0028]). Christensen et al. (USP #8,911,383) teaches an adhesive patch for monitoring bodily acoustic signals in which a first microphone detects acoustic signals from the body and a second microphone is used to record environmental noise signals and removing the environmental noise recorded from the first microphone (col. 5 lines 37-54). Roham et al. (US 2012/0232398) teaches a wireless fetal monitoring system including acoustic sensors ([0026]) and determining fetal and maternal health information ([0030]).
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CHRISTIAN JANG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3791
/CHRISTIAN JANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791 7/9/26
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