Patent Application 15777231 - DEVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING VITAL

Title: DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING VITAL SIGN INFORMATION OF A SUBJECT

Application Information

Invention Title: DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING VITAL SIGN INFORMATION OF A SUBJECT
Application Number: 15777231
Submission Date: 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z
Effective Filing Date: 2018-05-18T00:00:00.000Z
Filing Date: 2018-05-18T00:00:00.000Z
National Class: 600
National Sub-Class: 479000
Examiner Employee Number: 83307
Art Unit: 3798
Tech Center: 3700

Rejection Summary

102 Rejections: 0
103 Rejections: 3

Cited Patents

The following patents were cited in the rejection:

US 0029320🔗

Office Action Text

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 .

Examiner’s Note
The submitted amendment filed on December 30, 2024 does not appear to be compliant as the claims do not appear to be amended from the latest submitted claim set filed on August 7, 2023. For example, in claim 1, in line 9, the limitation “filter unit” is striked out and the limitation “filtrator configured” inserted therefor. However, claim 1 of the last claim set did not recite a “filter unit” but rather referred to a “first filtrator”. Additionally, Claim 17 appears to have the wrong status as it is currently presented as “Previously Presented” whereas it was previously cancelled in the last submitted claim set filed on August 7, 2023. In order to expedite prosecution, the 12/30/24 claim set has been entered and it has been assumed that claim 17 is cancelled.

Claim Objections
Claims 1, 14 and 16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, in line 7, -- at least two --- should be inserted before “detection signals”.
In claim 14, in line 7, -- at least two --- should be inserted before “detection signals”.
In claim 16, in line 7, -- at least two --- should be inserted before “detection signals”.
Appropriate correction is required.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.

The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.

Claims 1-3, 8, 10-11, 13-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the first vital signal" in lines 25-26. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "said second vital sign signal" in lines 35-36. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 14 recites the limitation "said second vital sign signal" in the last two lines of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "said second vital sign signal" in the last line. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.

Claim(s) 1, 8, 13-14 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over De Haan (WO 2013/038326) in view of De Haan’2014 (“Improved motion robustness of remote-PPG by using the blood volume pulse signature”, 2014), as previously cited by Applicant.
With regards to claims 1, 13, 14 and 16, De Haan discloses a method, system and device for determining vital sign information of a subject, said device comprising:
an input interface (28) for obtaining at least two detection signals (data stream comprising “continuous or discrete time-based characteristic signal”) derived from detected electromagnetic radiation (14; reflected electromagnetic radiation which comprises discrete time-based characteristic signal) transmitted through or reflected from a skin region (52) of a subject (12), wherein each detection signal includes wavelength-dependent reflection or transmission information in a different wavelength channel (i.e. referring to red, green, blue, infrared signal components), and wherein at least one of the detection signals comprise a motion artifact (“disturbing signal portion” representative of an objection motion portion) (pg. 4, line 29-pg. 5, line 3, referring to the interface for receiving a data stream derivable from electromagnetic radiation reflected by a remote object, the data stream comprising a continuous or discrete time-based characteristic signal including physiological information and disturbing signal portion; pg. 6, lines 12-16, referring to the data stream comprising a data sequence, e.g. a series of image frames comprising color information, such as RGB images (i.e. red, green, blue images, which correspond to wavelength-dependent reflection/transmission information in different wavelength channels) and the data stream can correspond to data already captured and stored in advance, wherein in such a case, the interface (28) simultaneously receives the at least two detection signals (i.e. discrete time-based signals); pg. 17, lines 24-30, referring to electromagnetic radiation (14) reflected from a human (12); pg. 18, lines 1-15, 22-23, referring to input signals, “namely an input data stream” is recorded in advance and stored/buffered, wherein the data stream (26) comprising continuous or discrete characteristic signal can be detected to an interface (28); pg. 19, lines 12-19, referring to the interface (28), decomposition means (32), the processing means (36), the composition means (40) and the analyzing means (44) being embodied by a common processing unit (48) which has a single processor or multiple processors; Figures 1-2, 4 and 10);
a first filtrator (i.e. a filter element in the decomposition means (32)) configured for filtering said at least two detection signals to obtain at least two first bandwidth-limited detection signals (i.e. 34a, 34b) (pg. 7, line 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to the decomposition means comprising a band pass filtering means for suppressing a selected non-indicative frequency component of the characteristic signal and/or for enhancing a selected indicative frequency component of the characteristic signal; pg. 18, lines 24-29, referring to a decomposition means (32) splitting the data stream (26,30) into several sub-bands 34a, 34b, 34c, wherein the sub-bands can represent pre-defined frequency portions of the data stream (26, 30), wherein the decomposition means (32) can comprise and/or utilize several filters, including band pass filters; Figures 1, 4 and 10);
a second filtrator (pg. 7, lines 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to utilizing first predetermined fixed sub bands of the heart range range 40 BPM-220BPM, which can then be further split into two or more complementary sub bands via the use of band pass filters (i.e. “second filtrator” which provides a different bandwidth-filtering than the “first filtrator” which provides a range of 40BPM-220BPM, for example)), wherein a combination of band pass filtering and band split filtering can improve the signal detection, “For instance, a combination of a fixed band pass filter passing a certain band and at least two further fixed filters splitting the pass band can considerably enhance the desired signals in the (re)composed optimized processed signal [which, as set forth above, is computed based on a weighted combination of the first and second set of selected color variations/”difference components”; further referring to respective frequency bands which are applicable to heart rate detection and respiration rate, wherein the frequency range for respiration rate (i.e. 0.1 Hz-1Hz) is within the frequency range appropriate for heart beat measurement (i.e. 0.5 Hz-3.5Hz) [i.e. second set of the selected color variations includes a frequency range of said second vital sign signal]; pg. 28, lines 18-30, referring to the “several filters 90, 94” which can comprise band pass filters or band split filters, wherein one of the ”several filters” corresponds to the “second filtrator”; pg. 33, lines 23-29, referring to the sub-band signal 169 being composed by taking into account the weighted sub band difference components (162a, 162b), wherein the composed sub band signal 169 is indicative of the desired signals heart rate or heart rate variability, wherein 162a, 162b underwent both the first and second filters/”filtrators”; pg. 7, line 1-pg. 8, line 12, referring to post-filtering of the composed optimized processed signal and the use of a combination of band pass filtering and band split filtering, which encompasses using a “second filtrator; Figure 10);
a weight computator (“weighting means” which can be comprised “between the converter means and the extractor means”; 100) configured for computing weights (pg. 14, lines 9-28, referring to the weighting means for weighting the at least two difference components so as to derive weighted optimized sub band portions from the transferred optimized sub band portions under consideration of at least two weighted difference components, wherein the “signal of interest” is derived under consideration of a weighted sum (or difference) of the at least two difference signals”; pg. 27, line 31-pg. 28, line 15, referring to applying a weighting function to at least two difference components, wherein the weight can be selected in order to minimize the variance of the vital signal of interest and wherein “In this way, overall disturbances can be removed from the desired signal to a certain extent”, thereby the heart rate, for example, can be computed to have reduced distortions; pg. 28, see Eq. 6, which is a weighted combination of a first set of different components/”selected color variations”; pg. 29, lines 4-7, referring to the “weighting means 100”; pg. 33, referring to step 168, wherein deviation values are utilized for carrying out a weighting function, the weighting applied to the sub band difference components (162a, 162b), wherein a sub band signal 169 can be composed taking into account the weighted sub band difference components (162a, 162b) and “The composed (sub band) signal 169 is highly indicative of the desired signals, e.g., heart rate or heart rate variability”; pg. 5, lines 20-29, referring to the filtered characteristic signal being analyzed for desired vital signals expected to be at least partially present in the filtered portions, wherein the signal processing can focus on the pre-determined sub band wherein for each sub band out-of-band disturbances are no longer significant and the desired signal can correspond to heart beat or respiration rate, for example, wherein it is assumed that the desired signal is at least substantially comprised in one of the at least two defined sub bands; pg. 7, lines 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to respective frequency bands which are applicable to heart rate detection and respiration rate, wherein the frequency range for respiration rate (i.e. 0.1 Hz-1Hz) is within the frequency range appropriate for heart beat measurement (i.e. 0.5 Hz-3.5Hz); Figures 4, 10);
a vital sign signal computator (40,44; Figures 1 and 10) configured for either:
(i)(a) computing a first vital sign having reduced distortions from a weighted combination of the weight vector and the at least two first bandwidth-limited detection signals and (i)(b) transmitting the first vital sign to the second filtrator for a filtering of the first vital signal to obtain a second vital sign different from the first vital sign (pg. 19, lines 3-11, referring to the analyzing means (44) which can be adapted for further processing of the optimized processed signal 42 for detection of heart rate, etc.; pg. 33, lines 23-29, referring to the sub-band signal 169 being composed by taking into account the weighted sub band difference components (162a, 162b), wherein the composed sub band signal 169 is indicative of the desired signals heart rate or heart rate variability, and thus vital sign information, such as heart rate, can be determined from said second vital sign signal (i.e. composed sub band signal 169 which is indicative of heart rate); alternatively, see pg. 33, line 23-pg. 34, line 14, wherein the vital sign signal (178), such as respiration rate, etc [see pg. 6, line 31-pg. 7, line 9; pg. 34, lines 11-14], can be calculated at step 174 from the optimized processed signal (172); Figures 1, 4 and 10, note that the difference components are derived from the said at least two first bandwidth-limited detection signals; pg. 7, line 1-pg. 8, line 12, referring to post-filtering of the composed optimized processed signal and the use of a combination of band pass filtering and band split filtering, which encompasses using a “second filtrator”; Figure 10); or
(ii)(a) receiving at least two second bandwidth-limited detection signals obtained from a filtering of the two detection signals by the second filtrator and (ii)(b) computing the second vital sign from a weighted combination of the weight vector and the at least two second bandwidth-limited detection signals (pg. 7, lines 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to utilizing first predetermined fixed sub bands of the heart range range 40 BPM-220BPM, which can then be further split into two or more complementary sub bands (i.e. “at least two second bandwidth-limited detection signals) via the use of band pass filters (i.e. “second filtrator” which provides a different bandwidth-filtering than the “first filtrator” which provides a range of 40BPM-220BPM, for example)), wherein a combination of band pass filtering and band split filtering can improve the signal detection, “For instance, a combination of a fixed band pass filter passing a certain band and at least two further fixed filters splitting the pass band can considerably enhance the desired signals in the (re)composed optimized processed signal [which, as set forth above, is computed based on a weighted combination of the first and second set of selected color variations/”difference components”; further referring to respective frequency bands which are applicable to heart rate detection and respiration rate, wherein the frequency range for respiration rate (i.e. 0.1 Hz-1Hz) is within the frequency range appropriate for heart beat measurement (i.e. 0.5 Hz-3.5Hz) [i.e. second set of the selected color variations includes a frequency range of said second vital sign signal]; pg. 28, lines 18-30, referring to the “several filters 90, 94” which can comprise band pass filters or band split filters, wherein one of the ”several filters” corresponds to the “second filtrator”; pg. 33, lines 23-29, referring to the sub-band signal 169 being composed by taking into account the weighted sub band difference components (162a, 162b), wherein the composed sub band signal 169 is indicative of the desired signals heart rate or heart rate variability, wherein 162a, 162b underwent both the first and second filters/”filtrators”, and thus the “second vital sign signal” can correspond to the heart rate; alternatively, see pg. 33, line 23-pg. 34, line 14, wherein the vital sign signal (178), such as respiration rate, etc [see pg. 6, line 31-pg. 7, line 9; pg. 34, lines 11-14], can be calculated at step 174 from the optimized processed signal (172) which is ultimately derived by carrying out a weighting function at step 168; Figures 1, 4 and 10); and
a vital sign determinator (44) for determining vital sign information from said second vital sign signal (pg. 19, lines 3-11, referring to the analyzing means (44) which can be adapted for further processing of the optimized processed signal 42 for detection of heart rate, etc.; pg. 33, lines 23-29, referring to the sub-band signal 169 being composed by taking into account the weighted sub band difference components (162a, 162b), wherein the composed sub band signal 169 is indicative of the desired signals heart rate or heart rate variability, and thus vital sign information, such as heart rate, can be determined from said second vital sign signal (i.e. composed sub band signal 169 which is indicative of heart rate); alternatively, see pg. 33, line 23-pg. 34, line 14, wherein the vital sign signal (178), such as respiration rate, etc [see pg. 6, line 31-pg. 7, line 9; pg. 34, lines 11-14], can be calculated at step 174 from the optimized processed signal (172); Figures 1, 4 and 10).
However, De Haan does not specifically disclose that the computation of the weights comprises computing a weight vector based on a blood pulse vector and the at least two first bandwidth-limited detection signals.
De Haan’2014 discloses performing remote PPG for contact-free monitoring of the blood volume pulse using a color camera, wherein an rPPG algorithm with a much better motion robustness is designed (Abstract). A blood volume pulse vector and a linear combination of the normalized RGB signals Cn can be used to calculate a weight vector, wherein the RGB signals are band-passed filtered (Abstract; pg. 1916, first paragraph, referring to the band-passed filtered versions of R,G and B being used; pg. 1919, Section 2.2, see Eqs. 10 and 11).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the computation of the weights of the above combined references comprise computing a weight vector based on a blood pulse vector and the at least two first bandwidth-limited detection signals, as taught by De Haan’2014, in order to provide much better motion robustness (Abstract).
Additionally, with regards to claim 13, De Haan discloses that their system further comprises a detector (24) for detecting electromagnetic radiation transmitted through or reflected from a skin region of the subject and for deriving at least two detection signals from the detected electromagnetic radiation, wherein each detection signal of the at least two detection signals includes wavelength-dependent reflection or transmission information in a different wavelength channel (pg. 17, line 24-pg. 18, line 17, referring to the sensor means (24), which corresponds to a camera to capture information belonging to at least a spectral component of electromagnetic radiation; Figures 1, 4, 10) and a device as claimed in claim 1 [see rejection of claim 1] for determining respiration information from said derived at least two detection signals (see rejection of claim 1; pg. 18, lines 16-17, referring to the vital sign 20 allowing several conclusions concerning respiratory rate, etc.).
With regards to claim 8, De Haan discloses that said second filtrator is configured to let at least the frequency range of a subject’s respiration signal and/or Mayer waves pass and suppress at least the frequency range of a subject’s pulse signal (pg. 7, line 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to enhancing the desired signals in the (re)composed optimized processed signal, wherein bandwidth filtering at a frequency range of 0.1 Hz-1Hz can be applied to enhance a respiration rate measurement and/or bandwidth filtering at a frequency range of 0.05Hz-0.2Hz can be applied to enhance a Traube-Hering-Mayer wave, wherein either filtering would suppress at least a portion of the frequency (i.e. 0.5Hz-3.5Hz) for measurement of a subject’s pulse/heart beat signal).

Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over De Haan in view of De Haan’2014 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Watson et al. (US Pub No. 2012/0029320).
With regards to claim 2, as discussed above, the above combined references meet the limitations of claim 1. Further, De Haan discloses that said first filtrator is configured to let at least the frequency range of a subject’s pulse rate (i.e. heart rate) pass (pg. 7, line 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to the use of filters for enhancing a signal component at a bandwidth between 0.5 Hz-3.5Hz which is an appropriate range for heart beat measurement, etc.).
However, the above combined references do not specifically disclose that the first filtrator is configured to suppress a DC component.
Watson et al. disclose applying multiple signal processing techniques to a set of signals in order to determine information about a physiological system of a human subject, wherein physiological parameters, such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, etc., can be calculated (Abstract; paragraphs [0017], [0045]). A first set of processing operations include filtering using any suitable filtering technique, wherein such filters, such as filters that remove components, such as a DC component, that may later be ignored by further processing or analysis steps, may advantageously reduce computation time and memory requirements (Abstract; paragraph [0092]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the first filtrator of the above combined references be configured to suppress a DC component, as taught by Watson et al., in order to advantageously reduce computation time and memory requirements (paragraph [0092]).
With regards to claim 3, De Haan discloses that said first filtrator is configured to additionally let the frequency range of a subject’s respiration and/or Mayer waves pass (pg. 7, line 1-pg. 8, line 7, referring to the use of filters for enhancing a signal component at a bandwidth including frequency values between 0.1Hz-1Hz for respiration rate measurements and frequency values between 0.05 Hz-0.2Hz for the detection of Traube-Hering-Mayer waves).

Claim(s) 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over De Haan in view of De Haan’2014 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of De Haan’104 (WO 2014/024104).
With regards to claim 10, as discussed above, the above combined references meet the limitations of claim 1. However, they do not specifically disclose that the device is configured to compute a number of second vital sign signals, each from a different set of at least two detection signals derived from detected electromagnetic radiation transmitted through or reflected from different skin regions of the subject, and wherein said vital sign determinator is configured to determine the vital sign information from a combination of said number of second vital sign signals
De Haan’104 discloses a device for extracting physiological information from remotely detected electromagnetic radiation emitted or reflected by a subject (pg. 4, lines 7-9; Abstract; Figure 1). The sequence representing the region of interest is spatially divided or split into at least two sub-sequences representing respective portions, and the invention comprises portion-by-portion processing the portions, so as to extract sub-signals (i.e. a number of second vital sign signals) indicative of the desired vital signal, and eventually, combining the respective sub-signals into a resulting enhanced signal (pg. 4, lines 23-30, note that the vital sign information is determined from a combination of said number of second vital sign signals (“sub-signals”)); Figures 1, 3-4, 9). This results in an enhanced signal which can significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the resulting extracted signals, and further allows relatively clean signal subsets to be enhanced, while distorted signal subsets can be attenuated or even skipped (pg. 4, lines 23-30; pg. 5, lines 19-33).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the device of the above combined references be further configured to compute a number of second vital sign signals, each from a different set of at least two detection signals derived from detected electromagnetic radiation transmitted through or reflected from different skin regions of the subject, and wherein said vital sign determinator is configured to determine the vital sign information from a combination of said number of second vital sign signals, as taught by De Haan’104, in order to allow enhancement of relatively clean signal subsets and attenuate or skip distorted signal subsets, thereby significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio in the resulting extracted signals (pg. 4, lines 23-30; pg. 5, lines 19-33).
With regards to claim 11, as discussed above, the above combined references meet the limitations of claim 1. However, the above combined references do not specifically disclose that said input interface is configured to obtain different sets of at least two detection signals derived from detected electromagnetic radiation transmitted through or reflected from different skin regions of the subject, wherein said weight computator is configured to compute the weight vector per each different set of at least two detection signals, wherein said vital sign signal computator is configured to obtain or compute the second vital signal per each different set of at least two detection signals.
De Haan’104 discloses a device for extracting physiological information from remotely detected electromagnetic radiation emitted or reflected by a subject (pg. 4, lines 7-9; Abstract; Figure 1). The device comprises an interface for receiving a data stream derived from detected electromagnetic radiation, the data stream comprising a sequence of signal samples representing a region of interest exhibiting a characteristic signal including physiological information indicative of at least one at least partially periodic vital signal, wherein a partitioning unit is configured for selectively partitioning the sequence of signal samples into at least two distinct sub-sequences of defined signal subsets (i.e. different sets of at least two detection signals) representing spatial sub-regions of the region of interest (pg. 4, lines 10-22). The sequence representing the region of interest is spatially divided or split into at least two sub-sequences representing respective portions, and the invention comprises portion-by-portion processing the portions, so as to extract sub-signals (i.e. a number of second vital sign signals) indicative of the desired vital signal, and eventually, combining the respective sub-signals into a resulting enhanced signal (pg. 4, lines 23-30, note that the vital sign information is determined from a combination of said number of second vital sign signals (“sub-signals”)); Figures 1, 3-4, 9). The extracted characteristic sub-signals can be distinctly treated in the combining unit, wherein the extracted characteristic sub-signals can be weighted or biased when generating the enhanced characteristic signal, wherein prominence can be given to characteristic sub-signals which are considered to comprise a satisfying or even better signal-to-noise ratio (pg. 5, lines 19-33, note that weights are computed per set of the at least two detection signals). The enhanced characteristic signal can be generated under consideration of a weighted average of the characteristic sub-signals (pg. 6, lines 9-32). This results in an enhanced signal which can significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the resulting extracted signals, and further allows relatively clean signal subsets to be enhanced, while distorted signal subsets can be attenuated or even skipped (pg. 4, lines 23-30; pg. 5, lines 19-33).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the input interface of the above combined references be configured to obtain different sets of at least two detection signals derived from detected electromagnetic radiation transmitted through or reflected from different skin regions of the subject, wherein said weight computator of the above combined references is further configured to compute the weight vector per each different set of at least two detection signals, wherein said vital sign signal computator is configured to obtain or compute the second vital sign per each different set of at least two detection signals, as taught by De Haan’104, in order to allow enhancement of relatively clean signal subsets and attenuate or skip distorted signal subsets, thereby significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio in the resulting extracted signals (pg. 4, lines 23-30; pg. 5, lines 19-33).

Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3, 8, 10-11, 13-14 and 16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. De Haan’2014 has been introduced to teach a weight computator that is configured for computing a weight vector based on a blood pulse vector and the at least two first bandwidth-limited detection signals.
With regards to Applicant’s assertion that the previously applied references do not teach the vital sign signal computator as claimed without specifying how the references do not teach the limitation, Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references. Examiner respectfully refers Applicant to the above rejection of claim 1, etc. for an explanation as to how previously applied De Haan does teach the vital sign signal computator as claimed.

Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATHERINE L FERNANDEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-1957. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM (ET).
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/KATHERINE L FERNANDEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3798