Ex Parte Ballis

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

May 21, 2013

12548850 (P.T.A.B. May. 21, 2013)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
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Ex parte JOSEPH A. BALLIS
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Appeal 2011-013373
Application 12/548,850
Technology Center 3700
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Before ERIC GRIMES, JEFFREY N. FREDMAN, and ERICA A.
FRANKLIN, Administrative Patent Judges.

GRIMES, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON REQUEST FOR REHEARING
Appellant requests rehearing of the decision entered November 16,
2012 (“Decision”). We have considered Appellant’s arguments but are not
persuaded that they show that we misapprehended or overlooked any
relevant issues of fact or law in reaching the conclusions set out in the
Decision. The request for rehearing is denied.
Appellant argues that claim 1 “requires that the detector determines
whether the magnitude of ‘detected electromagnetic interference’ exceeds
the threshold” (Req. Reh’g. 3). Appellant argues that in Meltzer, “the
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Application 12/548,850

2
‘detector’ as defined by the Examiner apparently includes both the correlator
(which receives both the biomedical and the EMI signals) and the
comparator that compares the output of the correlator to the threshold” (id.).
Appellant argues that the “comparison of the output of the correlator to the
threshold … cannot be the required determination of whether the EMI
magnitude exceeds a threshold, because the output of the corellator [sic] is
not a signal indicating the magnitude of the detected interference,” but rather
a signal indicating whether the correlation between the biomedical signal
and the EMI signal is high or low (id. at 3-4).
This argument is unpersuasive. Meltzer discloses that “the signal
channel from the patient’s heart 12 comprises a biomedical signal containing
both cardiac information and an EMI component. The correlator uses the EMI
signal and the biomedical signal to produce a correlation function ... [that]
indicates the relative level of the EMI component of the biomedical signal.”
(Decision 5, FF8.) Meltzer also discloses that the “level of the EMI component
is detected by the threshold detector 32. If the level of the EMI component
exceeds any of one or more predetermined thresholds, the threshold detector ...
provides a signal to microprocessor 21 to initiate ... remedial actions, such as ...
a patient warning signal.” (Decision 5, FF9.)
Thus, contrary to Appellant’s assertions, Meltzer’s correlator indicates
the level of the EMI component of the biomedical signal – in other words, the
magnitude of the detected EMI – and Meltzer’s threshold detector compares the
level of the EMI component to one or more predetermined thresholds. Thus,
the elements named by Meltzer as separate “detector,” “correlator,” and
“threshold detector” elements (Decision 4, FF2) are reasonably interpreted as
together corresponding to the detector of claim 1 that is “coupled to the sensor
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Application 12/548,850

3
and detect[s] electromagnetic interference and provid[es] a signal indicating
the present magnitude of the detected electromagnetic interference.”
Appellant argues that Meltzer does not disclose determining whether
“the magnitude of the detected interference exceeds a threshold” (Req.
Reh’g 3), but has not provided evidence or persuasive reasoning to support
the assertion that detecting “the present magnitude of the detected
electromagnetic interference,” as recited in claim 1, differs from Meltzer’s
detection of the level of the EMI component of the biomedical signal.
TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a).

REHEARING DENIED

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