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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on February 04, 2025; June 05, 2025; February 24, 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on February 04, 2025 are accepted.
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 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.
Claims 1, 5-10 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shouldice et al. (US 2022/0075050 A1) (“Shouldice”).
Regarding claims 1, 10 and 19, Shouldice discloses An electronic device comprising (Abstract and entire document):
a microphone ([0093], [0126], FIG. 1 and FIG. 14 and associated paragraphs);
memory storing one or more computer programs; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the microphone, and the memory ([0279], [0025 – 0029] and [0099]),
wherein the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: store registration information on breathing sounds of a plurality of users in the memory ([0106], [0097], and [0192]),
based on receiving an audio signal through the microphone, obtain information on a breathing sound of a user based on the audio signal ([0106], [0097], and [0192]),
compare the information on the breathing sound with the registration information ([0106], [0097], and [0192]),
identify at least one user corresponding to the information on the breathing sound among the plurality of users ([0106], [0097], and [0192]), and
based on identifying the at least one user, obtain an analysis result for sleeping states of each of the at least one user based on information corresponding to each of the at least one user in the information on the breathing sound ([0198]).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the analysis result comprises at least one of information on whether the at least one user is sleeping, information on sleep quality of the at least one user, or information on health of the at least one user ([0198]).
Regarding claims 6, 15 and 20, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a transceiver, wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on the analysis result indicating that the at least one user is sleeping, obtain a control signal for controlling an external device, and transmit the control signal to the external device ([0228 – 0229]).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on identifying the at least one user, update the registration information based on the information on the breathing sound ([0106]).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a display, wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on the at least one user not being identified, display a user interface, and based on receiving a user input for registering the information on the breathing sound through the user interface, add the information on the breathing sound to the registration information ([0279], [0316], [0105] permission prior to tracking/identifying).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a sensor, wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on identifying the at least one user, obtain biometric information of the at least one user through the sensor, and obtain the analysis result for the sleeping states of each of the at least one user based on the information corresponding to each of the at least one user and the biometric information ([0095]).
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 2-4 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shouldice in view of Dzhekiev et al. (US 2022/0338756 A1) (“Dzhekiev”).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 1, Shouldice fails to disclose wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on receiving the audio signal, identify a plurality of segments corresponding to the breathing sound of the user in the audio signal, obtain a plurality of first embedding vectors corresponding to each of the plurality of segments, and based on comparing each of the plurality of first embedding vectors with a plurality of second embedding vectors corresponding to the registration information, identify the at least one user.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Dzhekiev teaches wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on receiving the audio signal, identify a plurality of segments corresponding to the breathing sound of the user in the audio signal, obtain a plurality of first embedding vectors corresponding to each of the plurality of segments, and based on comparing each of the plurality of first embedding vectors with a plurality of second embedding vectors corresponding to the registration information, identify the at least one user ([0692 – 0693], and [0715]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the device/method as taught by Shouldice to include wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on receiving the audio signal, identify a plurality of segments corresponding to the breathing sound of the user in the audio signal, obtain a plurality of first embedding vectors corresponding to each of the plurality of segments, and based on comparing each of the plurality of first embedding vectors with a plurality of second embedding vectors corresponding to the registration information, identify the at least one user as taught by Dzhekiev to monitor health ([0658]).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Shouldice as modified discloses The electronic device of claim 2, Shouldice as modified further discloses wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on obtaining the plurality of first embedding vectors, identify distances between locations of each of the plurality of first embedding vectors and a centroid location of embedding vectors corresponding to a first user among the plurality of second embedding vectors in a latent space, and based on the identified distances being smaller than a predetermined threshold distance, identify the first user as the at least one user ([0692 – 0693], and [0715]).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Shouldice discloses The electronic device of claim 2, Shouldice as modified further discloses wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: obtain information on the plurality of segments by inputting the audio signal into a first neural network model trained to distinguish a breathing sound of a user included in an audio signal, obtain the plurality of first embedding vectors by inputting the plurality of segments into a second neural network model trained to convert an input segment into an embedding vector, and obtain the analysis result by inputting the information corresponding to each of the at least one user into a third neural network model trained to identify a sleeping state of a user corresponding to a breathing sound ([0692 – 0693], and [0715]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH A TOMBERS whose telephone number is (571)272-6851. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH 7:00-16:00, F 7:00-11:00(Eastern).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Chen can be reached on 571-272-3672. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH A TOMBERS/ Examiner, Art Unit 3791
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