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 .
Applicant’s preliminary amendments filed on 09/25/2024 are acknowledged.
Claims 16-30 are pending for examination. Claims 1-15 are cancelled.
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 16-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to judicial exceptions of abstract idea without significantly more. Claims 16-30 recite a method, a system and a controller, which fall within one of statutory categories (i.e. process/ machine) (Step 1: YES).
Step 2A Prong One analysis: Claim 16 recites “pre-processing said lung sound data obtaining denoised lung sound data; separating the denoised lung sound data into a crackle signal including discontinuous adventitious sounds and a continuous breathing signal, said breathing signal including said inspiration breathing sounds and said expiration breathing sounds; for every breathing cycle of the at least one breathing cycle, determining a starting time point and an end time point of the inspiration phase and of the expiration phase; for the inspiration phase of every breathing cycle of the at least one breathing cycle, determining an inspiration power of the breathing signal and of the crackle signal for at least one predetermined frequency range; for the expiration phase of every breathing cycle of the at least one breathing cycle, determining an expiration power of the breathing signal and of the crackle signal for at least one predetermined frequency range; determining a degree of respiratory airflow based on said inspiration power of the breathing signal, said expiration power of the breathing signal, said inspiration power of the crackle signal and/or said expiration power of the crackle signal for at least one predetermined frequency range”. The claims involve calculation/ determination of parameter(s) constitutes an abstract idea of mathematical relationships/ calculations and/or mental process, which fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (Mathematical Concepts) (Step 2A Prong One: YES).
Step 2A Prong Two analysis: Claim 16 does not recite any element. Dependent claim 27 recites “a respiratory sound recording device”, “a controller” and “a memory”. Dependent claim 28 recites “a controller”. Dependent claim 28 recites “at least one processor” and “at least one memory”. Dependent claims 29 and 30 recite “a computer”. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because there is no improvement or change in the function of the device (see at least MPEP 2106.05(a), (f) and (g)). And the “obtaining lung sound data (claim 16)” and “a respiratory sound recording device” (claim 27) are considered as data gathering steps to be insignificant extra-solution activity. And/ or the abstract idea (mental process) is directed as being performed 1) on a generic computer, or 2) in a computer environment, or 3) is merely using a computer as a tool to perform the concept (see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2).III.C) “(Step 2A Prong Two: YES).
Step 2B: The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional element(s), when considered separately and in combination, are associated with data gathering steps of insignificant extra-solution activity (see MPEP 2106.05(g)) and 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 2106.05(f)) and do not improve the functioning of a computer, e.g. an improvement in the application of the mathematical relationship in determining the parameter(s), which is, itself, an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(a)). The claims merely cover the collection of data obtained from known and existing technology and then using the data to make a correlation for parameter(s) (Step 2B: No). The dependent claims 17-30 further limit the judicial exception and/or are reciting elements that are well understood, routine, and conventional. Therefore claims 16-30 are not patent eligible under 35 USC 101
Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims are directed to signal per se, which does not fall into the categories of “process”, “machine”, “manufacture” and “composition of matter”. In regard to to claim 30, the claim recites the limitation, “A computer readable storage medium”, which directs the claim to “computer readable medium having computer readable code”. The broadest reasonable interpretation of this phrase includes non-transitory embodiments, such as memory elements (ROM, RAM) and memory media (CDs) as well as transitory embodiments, such as carrier waves encoded with the software steps. However, transitory forms of signals are not statutory (In re Nuijten, 84 USPQ2d 1495). A claim that covers both statutory and non-statutory embodiments embraces subject matter that is improperly directed to non-statutory subject matter. Applicant can amend the limitation to "A non-transitory computer readable storage medium” to overcome the rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Murphy (USPN 6,139,505) teaches a method and an apparatus for analyzing, displaying and diagnosing lung sounds comprises a sound recording device (elements 102, Fig. 1) and a computer (element 110, Figs. 1-2), wherein the computer is configured to identify and counting the number and time of occurrence of adventitious sounds, such as wheezes, rhonchi and crackles, and categorizing the identified crackles as fine, medium or coarse and performing other quantitative analysis, such as the ratio of duration of inspiration to expiration and statistical analysis of the intensity of the recorded sounds (Col 3 lines 36-44). Atashbar et al. (USPGPUB 2019/0298269) teaches a multichannel stethographic system (Figs. 1-10) comprises stethoscopes for collecting lung, heart and trachea sounds (elements 4, 5A, 5B, 24, 25A, 25B, Figs. 1-5) and a computer with software (element 10, Figs. 1-4) configured to analyze the sound data to identify sound features including respiratory/ inspiration and expiration/ ratio (step 216, Fig. 29 and [0089]) and adventitious sounds including one or more of wheeze, rhonchi, squawk, coarse crackle and fine crackle are extracted, with their corresponding frequency… inspiration lag and lead time, expiration time delay, crackle transmission coefficient and symmetry coefficient… The feature extraction may be based on time expanded waveform analysis, frequency waveform analysis and time-frequency waveform analysis ([0089])
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/CHU CHUAN LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791
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