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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 10-18 in the reply filed on 11/05/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that “any search for the device would necessarily produce results applicable to the method”. This is not found persuasive because the subject matter of the two identified groups does not completely overlap, and as previously demonstrated in the restriction requirement, different search strategies and classification searching would be required for each group.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 10-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Samadani et al. (US 20160367158 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach a device for detecting a heart rate using a photoplethysmography (PPG) signal with a removed motion artifact, the device comprising: an input device which receives a PPG signal and an acceleration signal (“PPG sensors” and “accelerometer” see [0023]-[0024]); a computing device configured to convert the PPG signal and the acceleration signal into signals in a frequency domain, calculate a difference between the PPG signal and the acceleration signal in the frequency domain to obtain a PPG signal with a removed motion artifact (“processing in the frequency domain” see [0025]), and estimate a heart rate based on the PPG signal with the removed motion artifact (“to obtain heart rate” and “compensate for motion induced noise in the cardiovascular and/or heart rate signal” see [0023]-[0024]); and a storage device configured to store the PPG signal and the acceleration signal (“stored in memory 160” see [0037]).
Regarding claim 11, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 10, wherein the acceleration signal includes an acceleration signal in each of X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions (see [0042]).
Regarding claim 12, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 10, wherein the computing device detrends oscillations of signals that are included in the received PPG signal and change due to breathing and the heart (see [0025]).
Regarding claim 13, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 10, wherein the computing device normalizes the acceleration signal converted into the signal in the frequency domain and unifies a unit with a unit of the PPG signal in the frequency domain (see [0055]).
Regarding claim 14, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 10, wherein the computing device assigns a weight value to the acceleration signal converted into the signal in the frequency domain depending on a speed of a user (see [0055]).
Regarding claim 15, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 10, wherein the computing device estimates the heart rate by selecting a frequency of a signal with a strongest magnitude among PPG signals from which acceleration signals are removed in the frequency domain and then multiplying the selected frequency by a preset value (see [0058]).
Regarding claim 16, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 10, wherein the computing device determines a final heart rate by comparing the estimated heart rate with a heart rate calculated through the other heart rate estimation algorithm (see [0055]).
Regarding claim 17, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 16, wherein the other heart rate estimation algorithm includes an algorithm of estimating a heart rate based on an R-peak of the PPG signal that changes due to systole (see [0055]).
Regarding claim 18, Samadani et al. (‘158) teach the device of claim 16, wherein the computing device determines the final heart rate by calculating a difference value between the estimated heart rate and the heart rate calculated through the other heart rate estimation algorithm, determining the estimated heart rate as the final heart rate when the calculated difference value is less than or equal to a preset threshold value, and determining the heart rate calculated through the other heart rate estimation algorithm as the final heart rate when the calculated difference value is greater than or equal to the preset threshold value (see [0055]).
Conclusion
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/MARK D REMALY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797