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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 113, 140, & 460. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-6, 8-11, & 47-51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1:
Claims 1-6 and 8-11 recite a method is a process.
Claim 47-51 recite implantable component of an implantable medical device system and therefore is a product.
Therefore, the claims fall within the statutory categories.
Step 2A, Prong 1:
Claims 1 and 47 recite following limitations:
“receiving a plurality of wireless streams” and
“mixing the plurality of wireless streams”
The limitations, as drafted, describe a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, includes performance of the limitation in the mind except for the recitation of “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system” and “wireless sources” in claims 1 and “memory” and “one or more processors” in claim 47. The limitation of “wireless sources” is not providing any of the method steps being performed but rather is the source of wireless streams being provided to be received by “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system.” For the limitation of “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system”, the specification discloses that the implantable component comprises memory for storing data and one or more processors in [0006] of the USPGPub. version. Therefore, all “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system”, “memory”, and “one or more processors” recited at a high level of generality would be nothing more than a generic computer. That is, other than reciting that “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system”, “memory”, and “one or more processors” (nothing more than a generic computer) are performing these tasks, nothing in the claim precludes the steps from practically being performed in the human mind or being considered as methods of organizing human activity. MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(II) states that the sub-grouping "managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people" include social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions and MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(III) states that the courts consider a mental process (thinking) that "can be performed in the human mind, or by a human using a pen and paper" to be an abstract idea. For example, aside from the recitations of “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system”, “memory”, and “one or more processors” language, the claims encompass a person simultaneously listening to music, a timer or alarm, and alert to the sounds of children playing in the next room. These are all wireless signals from different sources that the human mind receives and mixes based on a number of logic rules depending upon the intent and attention of the person performing the mental activity.
Step 2A Prong 2:
The claims recite “an implantable component of an implantable medical device system”, “memory”, and “one or more processors” to perform the abstract steps. These limitations read on a computer implemented system and method and are recited at a high level of generality, i.e., as a generic processor, performing a generic computer function of processing data. This generic processor limitation is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, this additional limitation does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Step 2B:
As discussed with respect to Step 2A Prong Two, the additional elements in the claim amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The same analysis applies here in 2B, i.e., mere instructions to apply an exception on a generic computer cannot integrate a judicial except into a practical application at Step 2A or provide an inventive concept in Step 2B.
Under 2019 PEG, a conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A should be re-evaluated in Step 2B to determine if it is more than what is well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. The specification in [0167] does not provide any indication that the computer is anything other than a generic, off-the-shelf computer component. Court decisions cited in MPEP 2106.05(d)(II) indicate that computer‐implemented processes not to be significantly more than an abstract idea (and thus ineligible) where the claim, as a whole, amounts to nothing more than generic computer functions merely used to implement an abstract idea, such as an idea that could be done by a human analog (i.e., by hand or by merely thinking). Accordingly, a conclusion that the generic computer functions merely being used to implement an abstract idea is well-understood, routine, conventional activity is supported under Berkheimer Option 2.
Dependent claims 2-6, 8-11, and 48-51 further limit the abstract idea already indicated in independent claim 1 and they are ineligible for the same reasons provided for claim 1 above. Limitations “log- compressed channel envelopes…” in claim 9 and further limitations of mixing rules in claim 8 are directed to mathematical concepts. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(I).
For these reasons, there is no inventive concept in the claims and thus they are ineligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(g)(1) during the course of an interference conducted under section 135 or section 291, another inventor involved therein establishes, to the extent permitted in section 104, that before such person’s invention thereof the invention was made by such other inventor and not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed, or (2) before such person’s invention thereof, the invention was made in this country by another inventor who had not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of invention under this subsection, there shall be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other.
Claims 1-6 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. PGPUB No. 2015/0003653 to Recker (herein after referred to as Recker).
Regarding claim 1, Recker teaches a method (Fig. 1-5 and [0038]) comprising: receiving a plurality of wireless streams by an implantable component of an implantable medical device system (102 in Fig. 1 and “hearing assistance devices generally, such as cochlear implant type hearing devices” in [0043]) from a plurality of wireless sources (501A-N in Fig. 5, "multiple streaming sources 501A-N" in [0036], "streaming source via a wireless link to receive the streamed audio signal" in [0006]); and mixing the plurality of wireless streams to generate stimulation signals for use in stimulating a recipient of the implantable medical device system (643 in Fig. 6 and “multiple audio signals are streamed from multiple streaming sources…the selected one or more audio signals are streamed” in [0040]).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Recker teaches wherein the plurality of wireless streams include a plurality of wireless stimulation audio signal streams (“Streaming source 101 is configured to produce an audio signal and stream the audio signal to hearing aid set 102 via a wireless link 106” in [0023]).
Regarding claim 4 and 5, Recker teaches wherein the mixing comprises: converting each wireless stream of the plurality of wireless streams to signal data for each wireless stream; (216 and 217 in Fig. 2 and "Streaming source 201 includes a processing circuit 216 that produces an audio signal and a streaming circuit 217 that streams the audio signal" in [0024]) mixing the signal data for each wireless stream based on one or more mixing rules (643 in Fig. 6 and “one or more of the multiple audio signals may be selected to be each enhanced using the position of the hearing aid” in [0040]) to generate the stimulation signals for use in stimulating the recipient of the implantable medical device system (645 in Fig. 6 and “the output sounds are produced using the multiple audio signals.” in [0041]); wherein signal data is mixed in an audio signal domain (645 in Fig. 6 and “the output sounds are produced using the multiple audio signals.” in [0041]).
Regarding claim 6, Recker teaches wherein the converting includes decoding each wireless stream of the plurality of wireless streams to generate the signal data for each wireless stream (102 and 106 in Fig. 1 and “Hearing aid set 102 is a wireless hearing aid set configured to receive the streamed audio signal, process the streamed audio signal to produce output sounds, and transmit the output sounds to a hearing aid wearer” in [0023]).
Regarding claim 10, Recker teachers wherein the mixing comprises mixing signal data for audio received by the implantable component along with the signal data for each wireless stream based on the one or more mixing rules (643 in Fig. 6) configured for the implantable component to generate the stimulation signals for use in stimulating the recipient of the implantable medical device system (645 in Fig. 6 and “At 645, the output sounds are produced using the audio signal.” in [0041]).
Regarding Claim 11, Recker teachers wherein the mixing comprises: mixing the signal data for each wireless stream based on the one or more mixing rules to generate first mixed output signals; (501A-N, and 502 in Fig. 5, "multiple streaming sources 501A-N” and “Hearing aid set 502 receives and processes the streamed audio signals and produces output sounds such that the hearing aid wearer may hear sounds from different sources simultaneously" in [0036]); performing one or more signal processing operations of the first mixed output signals to generate processed signals; (643 in Fig. 6 and “At 643, the audio signal is enhanced using the position of the hearing aid set relative to the streaming source such that output sounds include a spatialization effect allowing the hearing aid wearer to locate the streaming source” in [0040]) and mixing the processed signals with one or more wireless streams to generate the stimulation signals for use in stimulating the recipient of the implantable medical device system (321L, 322L, and 323L in Fig. 3 and “Processing circuit 323L processes the sounds received by microphone 321L and/or the streamed audio signal received by wireless communication circuit 322L to produce a left output sound of the output sounds. Receiver 324L transmits the left output sound to the left ear canal of the hearing aid wearer.” in [0026].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 7 & 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Recker in view of U.S. PGPUB No. 2018/0376257 to Swanson (herein after referred to as Swanson).
Regarding claim 7, Recker teaches the limitations of claim 6 as set forth above. Recker further discloses that the hearing assist devices suitable for applying their method includes cochlear implants, “which may employ electrodes to transmit sound to the patient” in [0002].
However, Recker does not teach wherein the signal data for each wireless stream comprises current levels corresponding to stimulation signals associated with each wireless stream for stimulating electrodes of a stimulating assembly of the implantable component.
Swanson teaches techniques for addressing impulse sounds in an auditory prosthesis (abstract). The auditory prosthesis comprises: one or more sound input elements configured to receive an audio signal; and a sound processor configured to convert the audio signal into one or more output signals for use in delivering electrical stimulation to a recipient, wherein the sound processor comprises at least one impulse-aware gain system configured to detect an impulse sound within the audio signal and to apply a time-variable gain to the audio signal, where the time-variable gain is decoupled from energy that is part of the impulse sound ([0007]). The auditory prosthesis of Swanson includes stimulator unit 132 is configured to utilize the encoded data signals to generate electrical stimulation (e.g., current) for delivery to the recipient's cochlea via one or more of the electrodes 138 in [0035] (the signal data for each wireless stream comprises current levels corresponding to stimulation signals associated with each wireless stream for stimulating electrodes of a stimulating assembly of the implantable component). In this way, cochlear implant 100 electrically stimulates the recipient's auditory nerve cells, bypassing absent or defective hair cells that normally transduce acoustic vibrations into neural activity, in a manner that causes the recipient to perceive one or more components of the received sound signals ([0035]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the instant application to utilize the electrical stimulation techniques taught by Swanson in the device and method of Recker in order to electrically stimulate a recipient's auditory nerve cells, bypassing absent or defective hair cells that normally transduce acoustic vibrations into neural activity.
Claims 9, 24-34, & 47-51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Recker in view of U.S. PGPUB 2015/0148928 to Malsbary (herein after referred to as Malsbary).
Regarding claim 9, Recker teaches the limitations of claim 4 as set forth above. Recker further discloses “Wireless communication technology such as Bluetooth provides hearing assistance devices with capability of wirelessly connecting to telephones, television sets, computers, music players, and other devices with audio output using a streaming device” in [0003] and that “spatialization effects may become more important to the hearing aid wearer with advanced technology allowing multiple audio signals to be simultaneously streamed to the hearing aid set” in [0021].
However, Recker does not teach wherein the one or more mixing rules include one or more of: a mixing rule indicating that the plurality of wireless streams are to be mixed by selecting a maximum current level from the signal data generated for each wireless stream for each of an electrode of a stimulating assembly of the implantable component; a mixing rule indicating interleaving signal data generated for each wireless stream; a mixing rule indicating calculating a weighted sum of current levels contained in the signal data for each wireless stream for each of an electrode of a stimulating assembly of the implantable component; a mixing rule indicating mixing current levels for each of an electrode of a stimulating assembly of the implantable component based on a priority corresponding to a type of each wireless stream; or a mixing rule indicating mixing current levels contained in the signal data for each wireless stream based on one or more psychoacoustic masking rules.
Malsbary teaches an audio output device that utilizes policies to concurrently handle multiple audio streams from different source devices (title and abstract). Conventional network-connected speakers receive wireless audio streams from other devices on a network ([0002]). Typically, such speakers accept an audio stream from only one source device at a time. Under conventional approaches, if a second audio stream is sent to a speaker over a local wireless connection, the speaker fails, or stops receiving the first audio stream in order to receive the second audio stream ([0002]). Malsbary further teaches that the combined audio stream can have different forms, depending on the selected policy (or set of policies) that are being implemented ([0051]). For example, the output component 240 can include audio segmentation logic which stitches or interleaves each audio stream into a single combined stream that includes components from each audio stream provided in sequence or series (101, 103, 105 in Fig. 1, 241 in Fig. 2 and [0052]), which reads on the claimed limitation of “wherein the one or more mixing rules include a mixing rule indicating interleaving signal data generated for each wireless stream.”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the instant application to use computer memory and the various signal mixing and stimulation as taught by Malsbary in the method and device of Recker to concurrently handle multiple audio streams from different source devices.
Regarding claims 24 and 47, Recker teaches an implantable medical device in stimulating a recipient of the implantable medical device (102 in Fig.s 1-5, and “Hearing assistance devices include a variety of devices such as assistive listening devices, cochlear implants and hearing aids.” in [0002]); including a processor (104, 216 and 323 in Fig. 1-3) that can receive, from a first and second external device, a first and second indication of a first and second signal (106 in Fig. 1 and 506 in Fig. 5 and “In various embodiments, Bluetooth and/or another suitable wireless communication technology may be used for communication over wireless link 106.” in [0023]. Examiner notes that a wireless communications protocol such as Bluetooth would necessarily involve providing an indication of the signal that included information on the signal type.); contemporaneously receive the first signal from the first external device and the second signal from the second external device ((501A-N in Fig. 5 and 643 in Fig. 6 and “multiple audio signals are streamed from multiple streaming sources…the selected one or more audio signals are streamed” in [0040]); and stimulate the recipient using the first signal and the second signal (646 in Fig. 6 “At 646, the output sounds are transmitted to the ear canals of the hearing aid wearer using the hearing aid set.” In [0041]).
However, Recker does not teach one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media comprising instructions/memory for storing data.
Malsbary teaches an audio output device that utilizes policies to concurrently handle multiple audio streams from different source devices as set forth above including one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media comprising instructions ([0021] and [0023])/memory for storing data (125 in Fig. 1 and “the audio output device 110 includes… a memory 125” in [0026]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the instant application to use computer memory as taught by Malsbary in the method and device of Recker to implement audio mixing steps using a computer.
Regarding claim 25-27, Recker teaches wherein the first indication and the second indication indicate a type of the first signal and the second signal wherein the type indicates an audio signal further comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: receive from at least one of the first external device or the second external device protocol type information, protocol version information (106 in Fig. 1 and 506 in Fig. 5 and “In various embodiments, Bluetooth and/or another suitable wireless communication technology may be used for communication over wireless link 106.” in [0023].) Examiner notes that a wireless communications protocol such as Bluetooth would necessarily involve providing an indication of the signal that included information on the audio signal type and communicating protocol and version information.).
Regarding claim 28, Recker teaches further comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: receive from a third external device, a third indication of a third signal for use by the implantable medical device in stimulating the recipient; (506A-N in Fig. 5 and “hearing assistance system 500 … includes multiple streaming sources 501A-N. System 500 is capable of handling multiple audio streams” in [0036]) and contemporaneously receive the first signal from the first external device, the second signal from the second external device, and the third signal from the third external device (643 in Fig. 6 and “multiple audio signals are streamed from multiple streaming sources…the selected one or more audio signals are streamed” in [0040]).
Regarding claim 29-30, Recker does not teach wherein to stimulate the recipient includes stimulating the recipient using the first signal and the third signal and ignoring the second signal.
Malsbary teaches wherein to stimulate the recipient includes stimulating the recipient using the first signal and the third signal and ignoring the second signal (384 in Fig. 3 and “mute or raise the volume of one audio stream relative to another (384) … when three or more audio streams are received, the individual audio streams can be muted or lowered, raised or subjected to fading or other affects.” in [0065-0066]) wherein ignoring the second signal is based on one or more of a user setting, a location, a time of day, or a type of the second signal (380 in Fig. 3 and “Variations to the volume setting of a given policy can be made based on user input.” in [0053]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the instant application to use computer memory and the various signal mixing and stimulation as taught by Malsbary in the method and device of Recker to concurrently handle multiple audio streams from different source devices.
Regarding claim 31, Recker teaches wherein to stimulate the recipient using the first signal and the second signal includes combining the first signal and the second signal to generate a stimulation signal for stimulating the recipient (645 in Fig. 6 and “the output sounds are produced using the multiple audio signals.” in [0041]).
Regarding claim 32-33, Recker teaches wherein the first signal and the second signal are received by the implantable medical device via one or more wireless communication protocols (106 in Fig. 1 and “Bluetooth and/or another suitable wireless communication technology may be used for communication over wireless link 106.” in [0023]) via different channels of a same wireless communication protocol (506A-N in Fig. 5 and “System 500 is capable of handling multiple audio streams, i.e., audio signals streamed from streaming devices 501A-N to a hearing aid set 502, simultaneously.” in [0036]).
Regarding claim 34, Recker teaches wherein at least one of the first signal or the second signal is an audio signal (106 in Fig. 1 and “Streaming source 101 is configured to produce an audio signal and stream the audio signal to hearing aid set 102 via a wireless link 106.” in [0023]).
Regarding claims 48-49, Recker teaches wherein the plurality of wireless streams include a plurality of wireless audio signal stimulation signal streams (506A-N in Fig. 5 and “hearing assistance system 500 … includes multiple streaming sources 501A-N. System 500 is capable of handling multiple audio streams” in [0036]).
Regarding claim 50-51, Recker teaches wherein to mix the plurality of wireless streams, the one or more processors are further configured to: convert each wireless stream of the plurality of wireless streams to signal data for each wireless stream (644 and 645 in Fig. 6 and “Hearing aid set 502 receives and processes the streamed audio signals and produces output sounds” in [0036]); mix the signal data for each wireless stream based on one or more mixing rules configured for the implantable component to generate the stimulation signals for use in stimulating the recipient of the implantable medical device system wherein signal data is mixed in an audio signal domain (643 in Fig. 6 and “At 643, the audio signal is enhanced using the position of the hearing aid set relative to the streaming source such that output sounds include a spatialization effect” in [0040]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20190082275 A1, published 2019-03-14
Abstract – “A hearing assistive device having an input transducer, a processor, an output transducer, further comprising a wireless transceiver, an attenuator and an audio stream analyzer… The invention further provides a method of operating a hearing assisting device.”
Technical Background – “The present invention relates to hearing assisting devices. The invention, more particularly, relates to a method for handling streamed audio in a hearing assisting device, and an audio signal for use with the method and the hearing assisting device” including discussion of various signal processing techniques that can be used in hearing assisting devices
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM P ADAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-0136. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-6pm M-Th.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Unsu Jung can be reached at (571)272-8506. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/W.P.A./ Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/UNSU JUNG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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