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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to amendments filed 23 February 2026. Claims 1-7, 9-17, and 19-20 were previously pending. Claims 1, 5, 12, and 15 have been amended according to Applicant’s amendments. No new claims have been added or cancelled. Accordingly, claims 1-7, 9-17, 19 and 20 remain pending and under consideration.
Response to Arguments
103 Rejections –
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks pages 7-9, filed 23 February 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-7, 9-17, 19, and 20 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive in part. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. In particular, Applicant’s argument the previously cited art fails to teach the newly amended limitations of “the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source,” is persuasive. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Etzkorn, Roh, Chang, Ryu, and Haartsen (US 2007/0004466 A1). Examiner’s Note: the newly amended limitations of “the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source,” introduces indefiniteness, as further explained in the 35 USC 112(b) rejection below.
As to Applicant’s unpersuasive arguments, Applicant argues on pages 7 & 8 of the remarks that “between Etzkorn and Roh, the Office Action has not identified a wearable device having both volatile and non-volatile memory, or any conditions resulting in data being stored specifically in volatile memory as opposed to non-volatile memory.” Examiner respectfully disagrees. In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
In greater detail, Applicant first argues “Roh does not discuss storing any data in volatile memory as opposed to non-volatile memory.” However, Etzkorn, not Roh, is cited to teach a body-mountable device including volatile and non-volatile memory with data being stored to volatile memory (See Etzkorn, Fig. 1, disclosing an eye-mountable device 110 including controller 150 and which necessarily must store data to be transferred, or in other words, volatile memory, and Reader device 180 which further includes memory 182 and data storage 183, the memory further disclosed at Column 10 lines 12-20, to be computer readable medium including magnetic disk, organic memory, and/or another other volatile or non-volatile storage system and reader device 180 further disclosed at column 10 lines 34-49, to be worn relatively near a wearer’s eye to allow communication such as a necklace, earing, hat, headband, etc.). Accordingly, Etzkorn explicitly discloses that which it was cited for, a wearable (body-mountable) device having both volatile and non-volatile memory with some data stored in volatile memory. Etzkorn is not cited to teach any conditions resulting in data being stored specifically in volatile memory as opposed to non-volatile memory.
Roh is cited to teach the storing of data to memory based on meeting certain conditions (See Roh, [0074] and [0075], disclosing a storage policy used to define sensor data to be stored based on at least one condition, and where the conditions that control storing data may be combined, “condition based on a sensor data value may be a condition that satisfies a value equal to or higher than 25 degrees Celsius” and “a condition based on a sensor data amount” and [0052], “the storage policy may be used to store only data suitable”). Accordingly, Roh teaches the storage of data to memory based on meeting certain conditions and the combination of Etzkorn and Roh discloses a wearable device having both volatile and non-volatile memory and under certain conditions, data being stored specifically in volatile memory.
Applicant further arguments are directed to the newly amended limitation of a first condition based on a power condition of a power source of the body-mountable device, which is disclosed by Haartsen (US 2007/0004466 A1) as further detailed in the rejection below.
Examiner notes there are still recitations of “persistently” in the independent claims and for examination purposes, take their ordinary meaning of saving data to storage of a non-volatile type such that the saved data is available after power has been restored.
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 5-7, 9-17, and 19-20 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. The newly amended limitation of independent claims 5 and 15, “the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source,” and independent claims 12, “the second plurality of conditions including a first condition” introduces indefiniteness as the first condition set includes a first condition and the second condition set includes another first condition causing potential clarity issues. For purposes of examination, Examiner has interpreted the limitations as two different sets of conditions, each set including its own plurality of conditions. Examiner suggests amending to recite “the second condition set including a power condition of the power source.”
Dependent claims 6-7, 9-11, 13-14, 16, 17, and 19-20 depend from and thus inherit the deficiencies of their respective rejected independent claim and are accordingly rejected for the same reason.
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 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.
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 5-7, 10-11, 15-17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Etzkorn et al (US 8880139, hereinafter Etzkorn) in view of Roh et al (US2012/0246261, hereinafter Roh), further in view of Chang et al (US 2003/0120841, hereinafter Chang) in view of Haartsen (US 2007/0004466 A1).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, taking claim 15 as exemplary, Etzkorn discloses a body-mountable device comprising a sensor, a volatile data storage device, a non-volatile data storage device; a power-source, a processor and computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the body-mountable device to obtain sensor data from the sensor (See Etzkorn, Fig. 1, disclosing an eye-mountable device and accompanying reader having a power supply 140, processor 186, memory 182, sensor interface 152 and Col. 10, lines 12-23 disclosing memory for storing sensor data and including instructions for causing the processor to perform processes specified by the stored instructions);
Etzkorn does not disclose determine that each condition in a condition set has been satisfied, the condition set comprising a plurality of conditions, wherein: a first condition of the first condition set comprises a sensor data condition and a second condition of the condition set comprises a condition of the volatile data storage device; and responsive to a determination that each condition in the condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the volatile data storage device otherwise, not store the obtained sensor data in the volatile data storage device; and responsive to a second determination that each condition in a second condition set has been satisfied, the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of a power source, persistently store the obtained sensor data into the non-volatile data storage device, wherein the non-volatile data storage device is configured to store the sensor data when power is unavailable.
However, Roh discloses determine that each condition in a condition set has been satisfied, the condition set comprising a plurality of conditions (See Roh, [0074] and [0075], disclosing a storage policy used to define sensor data to be stored based on at least one condition, and where the conditions that control storing data may be combined, or in other words, a plurality of conditions), wherein a first condition of the first condition set comprises a sensor data condition (See Roh, [0074] and [0075], “a sensor data value” and “condition based on a sensor data value may be a condition that satisfies a value equal to or higher than 25 degrees Celsius”) and a second condition of the condition set comprises a condition of the volatile data storage device (See Roh, [0074], “a condition based on a sensor data amount”, or in other words, sufficient storage space); and responsive to a determination that each condition in the condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the volatile data storage device otherwise, not store the obtained sensor data in the volatile data storage device (See Roh, [0052], “the storage policy may be used to store only data suitable”, or in other words, unsuitable data is discarded).
Etzkorn and Roh are analogous art directed toward body mounted sensor systems for data collection and storage. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to improve the body-mountable sensor device of Etzkorn, with the condition requirements of Roh as storage is a limited resource and therefore filtering sensor data and storing only suitable data can result in storage capacity conservation (See Roh, [0052)
Neither Etzkorn nor Roh discloses and responsive to second determination that each condition in a second condition set has been satisfied, persistently store the obtained sensor data into the non-volatile data storage device, wherein the non-volatile data storage device is configured to store the sensor data when power is unavailable.
However, Chang discloses and responsive to second determination that each condition in a second condition set has been satisfied, persistently store the obtained sensor data into the non-volatile data storage device, wherein the non-volatile data storage device is configured to store the sensor data when power is unavailable (See Chang [0024]-[0029], and [0031], disclosing storage of data to a volatile data buffer and when the amount of data has reached a threshold, transferring the data records from volatile buffer to a non-volatile data storage medium 244 which may be a flash memory card or MMC and can be removed and used for data retrieval).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the body mounted sensor device of Etzkorn and Roh with the storage transfer condition of Chang as data reliability can be improved because data stored to non-volatile memory is secure in the event of loss of power.
None of Etkorn, Roh, or Chang disclose the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source.
However, Haartsen discloses the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source (See Haartsen, [0055], disclosing making a determination of whether battery power levels are sufficient to make a complete data transfer and making the transfer if the power levels are sufficient).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the body mounted sensor device of Etzkorn, Roh, and Chang with the power condition of Haartsen as data storage reliability can be increased by verifying sufficient energy is available before attempting to transfer desired data (See Haartsen, [0055]).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, taking claim 16 as exemplary, Etkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Haartsen disclosed the body mountable device of claim 15 as described hereinabove. Roh further discloses wherein a third condition of the first condition set comprises a power supply condition (See Roh, [0070], disclosing management of received sensor data based on considerations including “disconnection…when a power source is turned off because of full discharge of a battery”).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, taking claim 17 as exemplary, Etzkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Haartsen disclosed the body mountable device of claim 15 as described hereinabove. Roh further discloses wherein a third condition of the first condition set comprises a data transmission condition (See Roh, [0070], disclosing management of received sensor data based on considerations including “when a distance between the sensor platform 202 and the sensor data analyzing apparatus…is too far to communicate with each other through a low-power near field communication technique”).
Regarding claim 10, Etzkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Haartsen disclosed the body-mountable device of claim 5 as described hereinabove. Etzkorn further discloses wherein the sensor data is obtained from a sensor of the body-mountable device (See Etzkorn, Col. 4, lines 14-17, “operate the sensor to perform readings and can operate the antenna to wirelessly communicate the readings”).
Regarding claims 11 and 20, Etzkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Haartsen disclosed the body-mountable device of claim 15 as described hereinabove. Etzkorn further discloses wherein the sensor data comprises an analyte concentration (See Etzkorn, Col. 3, line 32-35, description of Fig. 3 as “example system for electrochemically measuring a tear film concentration”).
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Etzkorn et al (US 8880139, hereinafter Etzkorn) in view of Roh et al (US2012/0246261, hereinafter Roh), in view of Chang et al (US 2003/0120841, hereinafter Chang), further in view of Haartsen (US 2007/0004466 A1), and further in view of Ryu et al (US 20100011168 A1, hereinafter Ryu).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, taking claim 19 as exemplary, Etzkorn in view Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Haartsen disclosed the body-mountable device of claim 15 as described hereinabove. None of Etzkorn, Roh, Chang, or Haartsen further discloses wherein the second condition set comprises a volatile data storage threshold and a non-volatile data storage threshold and wherein the second determination is based on a volatile data storage usage exceeding the volatile data storage threshold, and a non-volatile data storage availability exceeding the non-volatile data storage threshold.
However, Ryu discloses wherein the second condition set comprises a volatile data storage threshold and a non-volatile data storage threshold and wherein the second determination is based on a volatile data storage usage exceeding the volatile data storage threshold, and a non-volatile data storage availability exceeding the non-volatile data storage threshold (See Ryu, [0065] & [0066], disclosing a first condition of checking cache memory capacity and a second condition of available storage capacity of the non-volatile storage apparatus, see [0058] disclosing storage apparatus as disk or non-volatile semiconductor memory apparatus).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the body mounted device Etzkorn, Roh, Chang, and Haartsen with the data storage management technique of Ryu as storage performance and data reliability may be improved as it allows for the volatile memory to continue to provide fast data storage while safely storing older data in nonvolatile memory permanently for future reference.
Claims 1-4 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Etzkorn et al (US 8880139, hereinafter Etzkorn) in view of Roh (US2012/0246261), further in view of Chang et al (US 2003/0120841, hereinafter Chang), further in view of Ryu et al (US 20100011168 A1, hereinafter Ryu), and further in view of Haartsen (US 2007/0004466 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 12, taking claim 12 as exemplary, Etzkorn discloses a body-mountable device comprising a sensor, a volatile data storage, a non-volatile data storage, a power-source, a processor and computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the body-mountable device to obtain sensor data from the sensor (See Etzkorn, Fig. 1, disclosing an eye-mountable device and accompanying reader having a power supply 140, processor 186, memory 182, sensor interface 152 and Col. 10, lines 12-23 disclosing memory for storing sensor data and including instructions for causing the processor to perform processes specified by the stored instructions).
Etzkorn does not disclose responsive to a first determination that each condition in a first condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the volatile data storage, the first condition set comprising a first plurality of conditions, otherwise, discarding the obtained sensor data or overwriting previously stored sensor data; responsive to a second determination that each condition in a second condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the non-volatile data storage, the second condition set comprising a second plurality of conditions, the second plurality of conditions including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source; and otherwise, not persistently store the obtained sensor data in the non-volatile data storage, wherein the non-volatile data storage is configured to store the sensor data when power is unavailable.
However, Roh discloses responsive to a first determination that each condition in a first condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the volatile data storage, the first condition set comprising a first plurality of conditions (See Roh, [0074] and [0075], disclosing a storage policy used to define sensor data to be stored based on at least one condition, and where the conditions that control storing data may be combined, or in other words, a plurality of conditions), otherwise, discarding the obtained sensor data or overwriting previously stored sensor data (See Roh, [0052], “the storage policy may be used to store only data suitable”, or in other words, unsuitable data is discarded).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the body-mountable device of Etzkorn, with the storage requirements of Roh as storage capacity is a limited resource and therefore filtering and storing only suitable sensor data can reduce required data storage space (See Roh [0052]).
The combination of Etzkorn and Roh does not disclose responsive to a second determination that each condition in a second condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the non-volatile storage, the second condition set comprising a second plurality of conditions; and otherwise, not persistently store the obtained sensor data in the non-volatile data storage, wherein the non-volatile data storage is configured to store the sensor data when power is unavailable.
However, Chang discloses responsive to a second determination that each condition in a second condition set has been satisfied, store the obtained sensor data in the non-volatile data storage (See Chang, [0024]-[0029], and [0031], disclosing storage of data to a volatile data buffer and when the amount of data has reached a threshold, transferring the data records from volatile buffer to a non-volatile data storage medium 244 which may be a flash memory card or MMC and can be removed and used for data retrieval), and otherwise, not persistently store the obtained sensor data in the non-volatile data storage, wherein the non-volatile data storage is configured to store the sensor data when power is unavailable (See Chang [0024]-[0029], and [0031], disclosing storage of data to a volatile data buffer and when the amount of data has reached a threshold, transferring the data records from volatile buffer to a non-volatile data storage medium 244 which may be a flash memory card or MMC and can be removed and used for data retrieval).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the body mounted sensor device of Etzkorn and Roh with the storage transfer condition of Chang as data reliability can be improved because data stored to non-volatile memory is secure in the event of loss of power.
None of Etzkorn, Roh, or Chang discloses the second condition set comprising a second plurality of conditions.
However, Ryu discloses the second condition set comprising a second plurality of conditions (See Ryu, [0065] & [0066], disclosing a first condition of checking cache memory capacity and a second condition of available storage capacity of the non-volatile storage apparatus, see [0058] disclosing storage apparatus as disk or non-volatile semiconductor memory apparatus).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the body mounted device Etzkorn, Roh, and Chang, with the data storage management technique of Ryu as storage performance and data reliability may be improved as it allows for the volatile memory to continue to provide fast data storage while safely storing older data in nonvolatile memory permanently for future reference.
None of Etkorn, Roh, Chang, or Ryu disclose the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source.
However, Haartsen discloses the second condition set including a first condition based on a power condition of the power source (See Haartsen, [0055], disclosing making a determination of whether battery power levels are sufficient to make a complete data transfer and making the transfer if the power levels are sufficient).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the body mounted sensor device of Etzkorn, Roh, and Chang with the power condition of Haartsen as data storage reliability can be increased by verifying sufficient energy is available before attempting to transfer desired data (See Haartsen, [0055]).
Regarding claims 2 and 13, taking claim 2 as exemplary, Etzkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Ryu, and further in view of Haartsen exemplarily disclosed the body mountable device of claim 1 as described hereinabove. Ryu further discloses wherein the second condition set comprises a volatile data storage threshold and a non-volatile data storage threshold, and determining whether each condition in a condition set has been satisfied is based on: a volatile usage exceeding the volatile data storage threshold, and a non-volatile data storage availability exceeding the non-volatile data storage threshold (See Ryu [0065] & [0066], disclosing a first condition of checking cache memory capacity and a second condition of available storage capacity of the non-volatile storage apparatus, see [0058] disclosing storage apparatus as disk or non-volatile semiconductor memory apparatus).
Regarding claim 3, Etzkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Ryu, and further in view of Haartsen exemplarily disclosed the body mountable device of claim 12 as described hereinabove. Etzkorn further discloses wherein the sensor data is obtained from a sensor of the body-mountable device (See Etzkorn, Col. 4 lines 11-17, disclosing “embedded in a polymeric material to be contact mounted to an eye…operate the sensor to perform readings and can operate the antenna to wirelessly communicate the readings from the sensor to an external reader via the antenna”).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, taking claim 14 as exemplary, Etzkorn in view of Roh, in view of Chang, further in view of Ryu, and further in view of Haartsen disclosed the body-mountable device of claim 12 as described hereinabove. Etzkorn further discloses wherein the sensor data comprises an analyte concentration (See Etzkorn, Col. 3, line 32-35, description of Fig. 3 as “example system for electrochemically measuring a tear film concentration”).
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.
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/E.H.K/Examiner, Art Unit 2137
/Arpan P. Savla/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2137
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