DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
This communication is in response to the amendment submitted May 18, 2026. Claims 10 – 11 are amended. Claims 1 – 9 were previously cancelled. Claims 10 – 25 are pending.
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 Objections
The objection to Claim 25 is withdrawn based upon the amendment submitted May 18, 2026.
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.
Claim(s) 10 – 18 and 20 – 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harr et al., herein after Harr (U.S. Publication Number 2015/0305073 A1) in view of Wiesner et al., herein after Wiesner (U.S. Publication Number 2015/0070187 A1) further in view of Augustin et al., herein after Augustin (Augustin, A., Yi, J., & Townsley, W. M. (2016). A Study of LoRa: Long Range & Low Power Networks for the Internet of Things. Sensors, 16(1466), pp 1-18)).
Claim 10 (Currently Amended). Harr teaches a method for communicating information between a plurality of medical pump devices and at least one communication device (figures 4 and 5 discloses medical device data and a communication device), the method comprising:
communicating between a server and at least one communication device (paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or has access to a transceiver for communication with the relay modules over the WWAN, the medical device data received by the inbound web server over the WWAN is forwarded to a secure data storage server),
communicating between at least one medical pump device and at least one gateway connected to the server via a network connection (Figure 1; paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or otherwise has access to a transceiver for communication with the relay modules over the WWAN, an outbound web server is configured to receive and qualify data retrieval requests submitted by one or more remote monitoring devices over a broad-band network (e.g. the internet) to request associated medical device data to be retrieved from the secure data storage server), and
communicating between the at least one medical pump device and the at least one communication device, the at least one medical pump device communicating directly with the at least one gateway via a low power wide area network connection (paragraph 22 discloses providing a direct physical linkage or docking of the pump with the wireless module charging base, and the charging base can have the alternate ability to receive power for wireless communication via the direct link to the pump in an ambulatory situation, indicating a pump in direct communication with the network; paragraph 57 discloses that associated with each medical device (e.g. medical pump device) is an interface circuit that includes a transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals in a facility oriented wireless network such as a Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks or “LR-WPAN”, ZIGBEE network, or other low-power personal area networks such as the low power Bluetooth networks).
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
over a low power wide area network (page 4, section 2.2. discloses the basic architecture of a LoRaWAN network includes end-devices using LoRa with LoRaWAN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expand the method of Harr to further include independently provide a quantification and evaluation of the performance of LoRA and LoRaWAN, and based on the analysis and performance evaluation, propose possible solutions for performance enhancement as disclosed by Augustin.
One of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to expand the method of Harr in this way as LoRaWAN provides a medium access control mechanism, enabling many end-devices to communicate with a gateway using the LoRa modulation; the LoRa modulation is proprietary, whereas the LoRaWAN is an open standard being developed by the LoRa Alliance (Augustin: page 4).
Harr and Augustin fail to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Wiesner as cited:
the communicating between the at least one communication device and the server being independent of the low power wide area network connection (Figure 1c illustrates a medical device in direct contact with the patient device; paragraph 75 discloses one or more wireless patient devices in communication with one or more relay modules and/or medical device, indicating direct communication between the patient device and the medical device, as shown in figure 1c), and
the communicating between the at least one medical pump device and the at least one communication device being independent of the low power wide area network connection (paragraph 75 discloses one or more wireless patient devices in communication with one or more relay modules and/or medical device, indicating direct communication between the patient device and the medical device, as shown in figure 1c, which indicates communication independent of the LoRaWan, as the patient device (reference character 17) is in direct communication with the medical device (reference character 10)),
the at least one communication device not part of the low power wide area network and connectable via at least a different network technology than a low power wide area technology used with the low power wide area network to the server and to the at least one medical pump device (paragraph 76 discloses an inbound web server that has access to a transceiver for communicating with the relay modules over the WWAN. Medical device data received by the inbound web server over the WWAN is forwarded to a secure data storage server, which is configured for example to log the received data in association with identification information of the associated medical devices).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expand the method of Harr and Augustin to further include systems and methods for communicating between a series of medical devices and remote monitoring devices utilizing a wireless relay module for receiving communications from and transmitting communication to, a medical device as disclosed by Wiesner.
One of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to expand the method of Harr and Augustin in this way to provide a network architecture for centralized monitoring of medical devices using relay networks and/or internet accessible wireless communications networks having emergency call functionality to provide a secondary level of protection, and enables the approximate location of the monitored medical devices (Wiesner: paragraph 57).
Claim 11 (Currently Amended). Harr teaches a system for communicating information between a plurality of medical pump devices and at least one communication device, the system comprising:
a server to which at least one communication device is connectable (Figure 1; paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or otherwise has access to a transceiver for communication with the relay modules over the WWAN, an outbound web server is configured to receive and qualify data retrieval requests submitted by one or more remote monitoring devices over a broad-band network (e.g. the internet) to request associated medical device data to be retrieved from the secure data storage server),
at least one gateway connected to the server via a network connection (Figure 1; paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or otherwise has access to a transceiver for communication with the relay modules over the WWAN, an outbound web server is configured to receive and qualify data retrieval requests submitted by one or more remote monitoring devices over a broad-band network (e.g. the internet) to request associated medical device data to be retrieved from the secure data storage server), and
at least one medical pump device, the at least one medical pump device is connected directly to the at least one gateway via a low power wide area network connection (paragraph 22 discloses providing a direct physical linkage or docking of the pump with the wireless module charging base, and the charging base can have the alternate ability to receive power for wireless communication via the direct link to the pump in an ambulatory situation, indicating a pump in direct communication with the network; paragraph 57 discloses that associated with each medical device (e.g. medical pump device) is an interface circuit that includes a transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals in a facility oriented wireless network such as a Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks or “LR-WPAN”, ZIGBEE network, or other low-power personal area networks such as the low power Bluetooth networks, and that the interface circuit may be contained within or disposed external to the medical device).
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
over a low power wide area network (page 4, section 2.2. discloses the basic architecture of a LoRaWAN network includes end-devices using LoRa with LoRaWAN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expand the method of Harr to further include independently provide a quantification and evaluation of the performance of LoRA and LoRaWAN, and based on the analysis and performance evaluation, propose possible solutions for performance enhancement as disclosed by Augustin.
One of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to expand the method of Harr in this way as LoRaWAN provides a medium access control mechanism, enabling many end-devices to communicate with a gateway using the LoRa modulation; the LoRa modulation is proprietary, whereas the LoRaWAN is an open standard being developed by the LoRa Alliance (Augustin: page 4).
Harr and Augustin fail to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Wiesner as cited:
the at least one communication device being connectable to the server independent of the low power wide area network and being connectable to the at least one medical pump device independent of a low power wide area network (paragraph 75 discloses one or more wireless patient devices in communication with one or more relay modules and/or medical device, indicating direct communication between the patient device and the medical device, as shown in figure 1c, which indicates communication independent of the LoRaWan, as the patient device (reference character 17) is in direct communication with the medical device (reference character 10));
the at least one communication device not part of the low power wide area network and connectable via at least a different network technology than a low power wide area technology used with the low power wide area network to the server and to the at least one medical pump device (paragraph 76 discloses an inbound web server that has access to a transceiver for communicating with the relay modules over the WWAN. Medical device data received by the inbound web server over the WWAN is forwarded to a secure data storage server, which is configured for example to log the received data in association with identification information of the associated medical devices).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 12 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, Wiesner teach the system according to claim 11.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the low power wide area network connection is a LoRaWAN connection (page 4, section 2.2. discloses the basic architecture of a LoRaWAN network includes end-devices using LoRa with LoRaWAN).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 13 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the system according to claim 11. Harr teaches a system wherein the at least one medical pump device comprises a first communication module for establishing the low power wide area network connection to the at least one gateway (Figure 1; paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or otherwise has access to a transceiver for communication with the relay modules over the WWAN, an outbound web server is configured to receive and qualify data retrieval requests submitted by one or more remote monitoring devices over a broad-band network (e.g. the internet) to request associated medical device data to be retrieved from the secure data storage server).
Claim 14 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, Wiesner teach the system according to claim 13. Harr teaches a system wherein the at least one medical pump device comprises a second communication module for establishing a communication connection to the at least one communication device (Figure 4 discloses transmitting medical device data to a second relay module; paragraph 69 discloses the processor determines whether a second relay module is accessible via the WLAN or WPAN, if the WWAN is not accessible by the transceiver of the first relay module).
Claim 15 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, Wiesner teach the system according to claim 14. Harr discloses wherein the communication connection is a Bluetooth Low Energy connection (paragraph 57 discloses Bluetooth networks).
Claim 16 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, Wiesner teach the system according to claim 14. Harr teaches a system wherein the at least one medical pump device comprises a third communication module for generating localization information (paragraph 74 discloses if the second relay module is inaccessible, the process may be repeated to search for a third relay module).
Claim 17 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, Wiesner teach the system according to claim 11. Harr discloses a system wherein the at least one medical pump device is located at a remote location from the at least one communication device (paragraph 15 discloses the wireless communication module of the docking station enables wireless communication with one or all of: a local hospital network, an intranet, an internet, and/or a remote device; paragraph 26 discloses the feeding pump may contain a wireless transmitter for communicating data, such as operating parameters and/or status, to a remote monitor over a wireless communication link, preferably utilizing cellular telephony technology to permit remote monitoring of certain pump diagnostics).
Claim 18 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, Wiesner teach the system according to claim 11. Harr teaches a system wherein the server is accessible via a web application using a communication device comprising a computer device or a mobile communication device (paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or otherwise has access to a transceiver for communicating with the relay modules over the WWAN).
Claim 20 (Previously Presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the system according to claim 11.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the low power wide area network connection is a long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) (page 4, section 2.2. discloses the basic architecture of a LoRaWAN network includes end-devices using LoRa with LoRaWAN).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 21 (Previously Presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the system according to claim 20.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the low power wide area network has a range of up to 40 km (page 3, paragraph 1 discloses Sigfox (a LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) has a coverage area of 30 – 50 km in rural areas, thus encompassing the 40 km claimed).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 22 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the system according to claim 20.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the low power wide area network operates around 868 MHz or around 915 MHz (page 4, paragraph 2 discloses the LoRa physical layer allows for long-range, low power and low throughput communications, and operates on the 433-, 868-, or 915 MHz bands, depending on the region in which it is deployed).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 23 (Previously Presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the method according to claim 10.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the low power wide area network connection is via a long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) (page 4, section 2.2. discloses the basic architecture of a LoRaWAN network includes end-devices using LoRa with LoRaWAN).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 24 (Previously Presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the method according to claim 23.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the long-range wide area network has a range of up to 40 km (page 16, Conclusion discloses LoRa can offer satisfactory network coverage up to 3 km in a suburban area with dense residential dwellings, where the 3 km is included in the range claimed).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim 25 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the method according to claim 23.
Harr fails to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Augustin as cited:
wherein the long-range wide area network operates around 868 MHz or around 915 MHz (page 4, paragraph 2 discloses the LoRa physical layer allows for long-range, low power and low throughput communications, and operates on the 433-, 868-, or 915 MHz bands, depending on the region in which it is deployed).
The motivation to combine the teachings of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner is discussed in the rejection of claim 10, and incorporated herein.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harr et al., herein after Harr (U.S. Publication Number 2015/0305073 A1) in view of Wiesner et al., herein after Wiesner (U.S. Publication Number 2015/0070187 A1) further in view of Augustin et al., herein after Augustin (Augustin, A., Yi, J., & Townsley, W. M. (2016). A Study of LoRa: Long Range & Low Power Networks for the Internet of Things. Sensors, 16(1466), pp 1-18)) further in view of Blomquist (U.S. Publication Number 2005/0246416 A1) and Kamen et al., herein after Kamen (U.S. Publication Number 2013/0191513 A1).
Claim 19 (previously presented). Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner teach the system according to claim 18. Harr teaches a system wherein the web application (paragraph 59 discloses an inbound web server that incorporates or otherwise has access to a transceiver for communicating with the relay modules over the WWAN) is configured to provide information relating to:
alarm conditions of the at least one medical pump device (Figures 4 and 5 disclose issuing an alarm notification by the First Relay Module).
delivery operations carried out by the at least one medical pump device (paragraph 11 discloses a centralized medical information monitoring system capable of configuring medical devices according to associations with patients and individual sites; paragraph 12 discloses the pump may contain a receiver for receiving data such as operating parameter instructions, general operating conditions, and/or commands).
Harr and Augustin fail to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Wiesner as cited:
patient information (paragraph 83 discloses patient identification data from a patient in proximity to the device the uniquely identifies the patient using one of a variety of commercially available sensors).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expand the method of Harr and Augustin to further include systems and methods for communicating between a series of medical devices and remote monitoring devices utilizing a wireless relay module for receiving communications from and transmitting communication to, a medical device as disclosed by Wiesner.
One of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to expand the method of Harr and Augustin in this way to provide a network architecture for centralized monitoring of medical devices using relay networks and/or internet accessible wireless communications networks having emergency call functionality to provide a secondary level of protection, and enables the approximate location of the monitored medical devices (Wiesner: paragraph 57).
Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner fail to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Blomquist as cited:
maintenance information of the at least one medical pump device, pump settings and/or localization information of the at least one medical pump device (paragraph 26 discloses the pump server stores a variety of data including scheduled maintenance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expand the method of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner to further include a server for medical devices, including a web browser process for communicating with a remote device and a pump interface process for communicating with a medical device as disclosed by Blomquist.
One of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to expand the method of Harr, Augustin, and Wiesner in this to enable the programmable devices to remotely interface with the medical pumps and other medical devices (Blomquist: paragraph 35).
Harr, Augustin, Wiesner, and Blomquist fail to explicitly teach the following limitations met by Kamen as cited:
treatment compliance information of delivery operations carried out by the at least one medical pump device (paragraph 530 discloses caregiver authorization can be used to ensure a particular treatment is being given to the correct patient and/or to provide compliance with given regulations).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expand the method of Harr, Augustin, Wiesner, and Blomquist to further include an electronic patient care system in which a module may provide an infusion pump with patient treatment parameters, such as infusion settings including an infusion rate or infusion pressure, and receive from it various operating parameters as disclosed by Kamen.
One of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to expand the method of Harr, Augustin, Wiesner, and Blomquist in this to improve the process of providing comprehensive care to patients including ordering and delivering medical treatments (Kamen: paragraph 26).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed May 18, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant’s arguments have been addressed in the order in which they were presented.
The Applicant argues Harr nor Wiesner disclose the at least one communication device is not part of the low power wide area network and is connectable via at least a different network technology than a low power wide area technology used with the low power wide area network to the server and to the at least one medical pump device. The Examiner respectfully submits new paragraphs and citations of the prior art has been recited. Wiesner discloses an inbound web server that has access to a transceiver for communicating with the relay modules over the WWAN, where the WWAN is interpret. Medical device data received by the inbound web server over the WWAN is forwarded to a secure data storage server, which is configured for example to log the received data in association with identification information of the associated medical devices (paragraph 76). Suitable WWAN may include networks based on a Global System for Mobile Connnunications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular network or associated with the 2G, 3G, 3G Long Term Evolution, 4G, WiMAX cellular wireless standards of the International Telecommunication Union Radio communication Sector (ITU-R). Additional suitable WWANs include metropolitan area networks (MANs), campus area networks (CANs), local area networks (LANs), home area networks (HANs), personal area networks (PANs) and body area networks (BANs) (paragraph 82). Thus, Applicant’s argument is not persuasive and the rejection is maintained.
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 KRISTINE K RAPILLO whose telephone number is (571)270-3325. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 - 4 pm.
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/K.K.R/Examiner, Art Unit 3682 /ROBERT A SOREY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3682
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