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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final, first action on the merits, in response to application filed January 09, 2025. The preliminary amended claims 21-40, are currently pending. Claims 1-20 stand canceled.
Specification
The as filed specification is objected to. The specification fails to disclose CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS.
See 37 CFR 1.78 and MPEP § 211 et seq., applicant must provide application numbers of related applications claiming benefit in the as filed specification.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 01/09/2025 and 02/19/2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper time wise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO internet Web site contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit http://www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application will determine what form should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claim 21-26 and 27-32, are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-6 and 11-16, of the issued U.S. Patent No. 12,225,432. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because, for instance, the limitations of claim 21, - A method, comprising:
receiving Bluetooth® data packets from a plurality of wireless devices disposed in a same spatial region as a hearing device; determining relative directional position information between the hearing device and each of the plurality of wireless devices based on the Bluetooth® data packets; and analyzing the relative directional position information with an artificially intelligent search algorithm to estimate a location of the hearing device in the spatial area. - recited in the instant application is broader and similar enough to be encompassed by the limitations presented in claim 1, of the issued patent No. 12,225,432.
Similarly, the limitations of dependent claims 22-26, recited in the instant case is identically the same recited in claims 2-6, of the issued patent No. 12,225,432.
Similarly, the limitations recited in claim 27, - An apparatus, comprising: at least one wireless transceiver configured to receive Bluetooth® data packets from a plurality of wireless devices disposed in a same spatial region as a hearing device; memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to: determine relative directional position information between the hearing device and each of the plurality of wireless devices based on the Bluetooth® data packets; and
analyze the relative directional position information with an artificially intelligent search algorithm to estimate a location of the hearing device in the spatial area. - recited in the instant application is broader and similar enough to be encompassed by the limitations presented in claim 11, of the issued patent No. 12,225,432. The limitations of dependent claims 28-32 in the instant case are identically the same as those recited in dependent claims 12-16, of the issued patent No. 12,225,432.
The claim 21, 27, analyzed above, show limitations of the claim 21 and 27, in the instant application are broader having similar limitation encompassed by the limitations of claim 1 and 11, of the US Patent No. 12,225,432, as anticipation to all limitations considered is equivalent to obviousness and as such would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the claims similarly recited in the instant application using the claims of US Patent 12,225,432, in order to estimate a location of the hearing device in the spatial area of the instant application. Claims 22-26 and 28-32, show equivalency to claims 2-6 and 12-16, respectively, of the US Patent 12,225,432.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 33-40, are allowable.
Conclusion
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/QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2632.
Prosecution Insights