Office Action 4: Final Rejection (2025-03-06)
Rejection types: 112 - Written Description/Enablement

CLAIMS:
Listing of claims:

Amendments to Claims:

This listing of claims will replace all prior versions, and listings, of claims in the Application.

1\. (Currently Amended) A device for assessing anesthesia of an animal subject in real-time from electroencephalography (EEG) measurements of the animal subject during application of anesthesia, the device comprising:a signal pre-processor comprising a first filter with a first filtering frequency band, a second filter with a second filtering frequency band, and a down-sampler to pre-process sequentially an incoming measured EEG signal from the EEG measurements of the animal subject;wherein the pre-processing comprises:
removing unwanted signals and noise from the incoming measured EEG signal using the first filter and the second filter to generate a filtered incoming measured EEG signal; and
down-sampling the filtered incoming measured EEG signal by the down- sampler to generate a down-sampled filtered incoming measured EEG signal;
an epoch generator configured to generate an epoch signal containing epochs of 1-second epoch duration each and 10% overlapping of consecutive epochs;wherein the epoch generator comprises a two-input multiplexer, an address generator, and a memory;
wherein the two-input multiplexer is configured to:
receive the down-sampled filtered incoming measured EEG signal, a feedback of the epoch signal, and a selector input from the address generator; and generate a multiplexer output from the down-sampled filtered incoming measured EEG signal or the feedback of the epoch signal based on the selector input;
wherein the address generator comprises:

a slow counter configured to generate write addresses, and count from a slow counter start count to a slow counter end count in repeating slow count cycles; and
a fast counter configured to generate read addresses, and count from a fast counter start count to a fast counter end count in repeating fast count cycles that starts after each of the slow count cycles;
wherein the slow counter is further configured to repeat each of the slow count cycles after each of the fast count cycles;
wherein the fast counter is further configured to repeat each of the fast count cycles after each of the slow count cycles;
wherein the address generator is further configured to:generate the selector input to the multiplexer to generate the multiplexer output from the down-sampled filtered incoming measured EEG signal during each of the slow count cycles and from the feedback of the epoch signal during each of the fast count cycles;
wherein the epoch generator is configured to:receive the multiplexer output, the write addresses, and the read addresses;
store the received multiplexer output as data according to the received write addresses; and
retrieve data according to the received read addresses and output the retrieved data as a memory output;
wherein the epoch generator is configured to generate the epoch signal and output the epoch signal from the memory output;
a feature extractor configured to:receive the epoch signal from the epoch generator;
extract a derivative feature of the received epoch signal by computing a mean of accumulated squared-differences among the epochs in the received epoch signal and a derivative of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal; and
extract a variance feature of the received epoch signal by computing a square root of an average squared-deviation of the epochs in the received epoch signal and a variance of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal;

a classifier configured to:perform a feature mapping on the derivative feature and the variance feature to their original values and their squared values; and
set a classification boundary from output of the feature mapping to generate a classifier output for each of the epochs of the received epoch signal, the classifier output being either that the animal subject is awake or that the animal subject is anesthetized;
and a predictor comprising a predictor circuit configured to:accumulate a plurality of the classifier outputs corresponding to the epochs of the epoch signal;
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 and
predict a likelihood of the animal subject being under anesthesia state from the accumulated classifier outputs.

2\. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 1, wherein the first filter of the signal pre- processor is configured to filter the incoming measured EEG signal at the first filtering frequency band to reduce a power-line interference of the incoming measured EEG signal.

3\. (Currently Amended) The system of claim 1, wherein the second filter of the signal pre- processor is configured to low-pass filter the incoming measured EEG signal at the second filtering frequency band to remove signal components in the incoming measured EEG signal that do not fall within \[\[a\]\] an electroencephalography frequency band of interest; and wherein the second filtering frequency band is within 250 Hz.

4\. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 1, wherein the incoming measured EEG signal is down sampled at least ten times after being subjected to the second filter using the down-sampler.

5\. (Canceled)

6\. (Currently Amended) The system of claim 1, wherein the computing of a mean of accumulated squared-differences among the epochs in the received epoch signal comprises:computing a difference between two consecutive epochs of the epochs in the received epoch signal and a square of the difference to obtain a squared difference;
repeating the computation to obtain a squared difference for each pair of consecutive epochs in the received epoch signal;
accumulating all of the squared differences obtained; and
determining the mean of the accumulated squared differences.

7\. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 1, wherein the computing of a square root of an average squared-deviation of the epochs in the received epoch signal comprises:obtaining an absolute epoch value of each of the epochs in the received epoch signal;
accumulating all of the absolute epoch values obtained;
determining a mean of the accumulated absolute epoch values;
computing a difference between each of the absolute epoch values and the mean of the accumulated absolute epoch values and a square of each difference to obtain squared deviations;
computing an average of all of the squared deviations for all of the absolute epoch values;
and computing a square root of the average of all of the squared deviations.

8\. (Canceled)

9\. (Currently Amended) The system of claim 1, wherein the predictor is configured to accumulate the plurality of the determined levels of anesthesia in terms of percentage and constrain an value of each of the determined levels of anesthesia as a decision score between 0 and 1 with respect to a percentage of the anesthesia level of the animal subject, wherein a 100% anesthesia corresponds to the decision score of 1, while a 0% anesthesia corresponds to the decision score of 0.

10\. (Currently Amended) A method for determining depth of anesthesia (DOA) of an animal subject in real-time from electroencephalography (EEG) measurements, the method comprising:detecting and measuring an EEG signal of the animal subject using an EEG electrode;
filtering the EEG signal to remove unwanted signals and noise;
down-sampling the filtered EEG signal for reducing data size and accelerating subsequent processing without losing essential features of the EEG signal for subsequent classification;
generating from the down-sampled EEG signal an epoch signal containing epochs of 1- second epoch duration each and 10% overlapping of consecutive epochs;
extracting a derivative feature of the epoch signal by computing a mean of accumulated squared-differences among the epochs in the epoch signal and a derivative of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal;
extracting a variance feature of the epoch signal by computing a square root of an average squared-deviation of the epochs in the epoch signal and a variance of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal;
mapping the derivative feature and the variance feature to their original values and their squared values to generate mapped derivative features and mapped variance features for enhancing distinguishability of classification boundary and classification accuracy;
generating a classifier output for each of the epochs of the received epoch signal by classifying each of the epochs of the received epoch signal using the mapped derivative feature and the mapped variance feature as either that the animal subject is awake or that the animal subject is anesthetized, the classifier output value is a probability value of the animal subject is under anesthetized state ; and
accumulating a plurality of the classifier output values for consecutive classified epochs and using the plurality of the classifier output values to predict a likelihood of the animal subject being under anesthetized state.

11\. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 10, further comprising: the predicted likelihood of the animal subject being under anesthetized state in a successive epoch is increased if the animal subject has been under anesthetized state continuously in previous consecutive epochs; and

 the predicted likelihood of the animal subject being under anesthetized state in a successive epoch is decreased if the animal subject has been under awake state continuously in previous consecutive epochs.

12\. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 10, further comprising:generating a confident prediction of the animal subject being under awake state if the predicted likelihood of the animal subject being under anesthetized state is at or below 25%; and
generating a confident prediction of the animal subject being under anesthetized state if the predicted likelihood of the animal subject being under anesthetized state isat or above 75%.

13\. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 10, wherein the filtering of the EEG signal to remove unwanted signals and noise comprises:low-pass filtering the EEG signal at a filtering frequency band to remove signal components in the EEG signal that do not fall within \[\[a\]\] an electroencephalography frequency band of interest; and
wherein the filtering frequency band is within 250 Hz.

14\. (Previously Presented) The method of claim 10, wherein the computing of a mean of accumulated squared-differences among different epochs in the epoch signal comprises:computing a difference between two consecutive epochs of the epochs in the epoch signal and a square of the difference to obtain a squared difference;
repeating the computation to obtain a squared difference for each pair of consecutive epochs in the epoch signal;
accumulating all of the squared differences obtained; and
determining the mean of the accumulated squared differences.

15\. (Previously Presented) The method of claim 10, wherein the computing of a square root of an average squared-deviation of the epochs in the epoch signal comprises:obtaining an absolute epoch value of each of the epochs in the epoch signal;

accumulating all of the absolute epoch values obtained;
determining a mean of the accumulated absolute epoch values;
computing a difference between each of the absolute epoch values and the mean of the accumulated absolute epoch values and a square of each difference to obtain squared deviations;
computing an average of all of the squared deviations for all of the absolute epoch values;
and computing a square root of the average of all of the squared deviations.

OFFICE ACTION:
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 .
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 1-4, 6, 7, and 9-15 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. Regarding claim 1, the added limitations of “and a derivative of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal” and “and a variance of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal” render the claim indefinite. In combination with the other elements of their respective limitations, it is unclear what the addition of each of the newly added phrases means. For example, what is meant by “extract a derivative feature of the received epoch signal by computing a mean of accumulated squared-differences among the epochs in the received epoch signal and a derivate of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal”? Are two different features extracted – (1) a derivative feature, and (2) a derivative of each of the epochs? If so, how is the “derivative of each epoch” different than the “derivative feature”? Or, is the derivative feature extracted by the entirety of “computing a mean of accumulated squared-differences among the epochs in the received epoch signal and a derivative of each of the epochs of the received epoch signal”? If the “derivative of each of the epochs” is used to extract the “derivative feature”, it is still unclear how the “derivative of each of the epochs” is different than the “derivative feature”. The same indefiniteness issues apply to the “extract a variance feature” limitation of the claim. Claim 1 further recites generating a classifier output for “each of the epochs of the received epoch signal”. As a single derivative feature and a single variance feature are extracted for each epoch signal (not for each epoch of the epoch signal), it is unclear how a classifier output would be generated for each of the epochs of the epoch signal. It is further unclear how a plurality of the classifier outputs corresponding to the epochs of the epoch signal would be accumulated. With a single extracted derivative feature and a single extracted variance feature, each mapped to their original value and their square value, a classifier would output a single classifier output for the epoch signal as a whole. The same indefiniteness issues are also present in claim 10. Further regarding claim 10, the claim recites classifying each of the epochs using “the mapped derivate feature and the mapped variance feature” (emphasis added). If each epoch is classified using the same mapped derivate feature and the same mapped variance feature, each epoch would be classified exactly the same. Claim 10 also recites the phrase “the classifier output value”, which lacks proper antecedent basis. Regarding claim 3, the phrase “the frequency band is within 250 Hz” renders the claim indefinite. It is unclear what is meant by a frequency band being “within 250 Hz”. The same indefiniteness issue applies to claim 13. Regarding claim 9, the phrases “the plurality of the determined levels of anesthesia” and “[an] a value of each of the determined levels of anesthesia” lack proper antecedent basis. Regarding claim 11, it is unclear what further limitation the claim provides as the claim fails to recite a further step; the claim recites a result of performing the method. Regarding claim 12, it is unclear what the claimed “confident prediction” is. How is the “confident prediction” different than the predicted likelihood of claim 10?
Claims not explicitly rejected above are rejected due to their dependence on a rejected base claim.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejections of the claims have been considered. Regarding rejections of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), current indefiniteness issues within the claims are discussed in paragraph 3 above. While no prior art was found to read on the claims as currently written, the claims are not in condition for allowance due to the indefiniteness issues within the claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Tabassum et al. (Novel Multirate… – previously cited) teaches a device for processing EEG signals, wherein the device comprises a signal pre-processor configured to perform a first filtering technique, a second filtering technique, and a down-sampling technique on acquired EEG signals. Tabassum et al. further teaches use of a two-input multiplexer to process the filtered and down-sampled EEG signals.
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.

APPLICANT REBUTTAL: REMARKSBy the present amendment, claims 1, 3, and 7 have been amended; claims 1-4 and 6-7 are pending.Rejection Under 35 U.S.C. 112 The amendments correct minor 112 deficiencies; no new matter has been added and no new issues have been raised. Withdrawal of the rejection is respectfully requested along with entry of the amendment.Conclusion In view of the above amendments and remarks, it is respectfully submitted that all of the claims now pending in the subject patent application are in condition for allowance; early and favorable action is respectfully requested. The Examiner is requested to contact the undersigned (e-mail is preferred due to time zone differences between U.S. and Taiwan) if she can assist in any way in expediting issuance of a patent.Respectfully submitted, Date: April 10, 2025

NEXT OFFICE ACTION: EXAMINER'S AMENDMENT
An examiner’s amendment to the record appears below. Should the changes and/or additions be unacceptable to applicant, an amendment may be filed as provided by 37 CFR 1.312. To ensure consideration of such an amendment, it MUST be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee.
Authorization for this examiner’s amendment was given in an email from Ms. Margaret Burke on 21 April 2025.
The application has been amended as follows:
Claim 1 has been amended to replace the phrase “set a classification boundary from output of the feature mapping to generate a classifier output for each epoch of the received epoch signal,” with the phrase - - for each epoch of the received epoch signal, set a classification boundary from an output of the respective feature mappings to generate a classifier output for the epoch”.
Claim 1 has been amended to replace the phrase “accumulate a plurality of the classifier outputs corresponding to each epoch of the received epoch signal; and” with the phrase - - accumulate a plurality of the classifier outputs corresponding to the epochs of the received epoch signal; and”.
Claim 7, line 2 has been amended to replace the phrase “each epoch” with the term - - epochs - -.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: None of the prior art teaches or suggests, either alone or in combination a device comprising an epoch generator, wherein the epoch generator comprises a two-input multiplexer, an address generator, and a memory, wherein the two-input multiplexer is configured to receive a down-sampled filtered incoming measured EEG signal, a feedback of an epoch signal, and a selector input from the address generator, and further wherein the address generator is configured to generate the selector input to the multiplexer to generate a multiplexer output from the down-sampler output signal during each of a plurality of slow count cycles and from the feedback of the epoch signal during each of a plurality of fast count cycles, in combination with the other claimed elements..
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee.  Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”