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 office action is in response to the amendment filed on 10/22/2025. Currently claims 1-13 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pgs. 6-9, filed 10/22/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of:
claim(s) 1-7 and 9-13 rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Krenik in view of Saavedra in view of Baiera
claim(s) 8 rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Krenik in view of Saavedra in view of Baiera in view of Webb
have been fully considered and are persuasive based on the amendments to the claim(s). Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the additional reference of Kramer et al (US 10051970) as outlined below.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krenik et al (US 20150351982) in view of Kramer et al (US 10051970) hereafter known as Kramer in view of Baiera et al (US 20190159950) hereafter known as Baiera.
Independent claim:
Regarding claim 1:
Krenik discloses:
An interactive articulating bedding system configured for caring comfort of an individual [see Fig. 4 and abstract… “Disclosed herein are embodiments of beds and components thereof.”] comprising:
a mattress [see Fig. 4 element 402… “lateral slats 402” and para 119… “It is also possible for embodiments of a bed 103 or slat bed 400 to mimic a conventional spring mattress (which may also be useful if the sleeping position of a bed occupant can't be determined)”];
an adjustable foundation [see Fig. 4 elements 414 and 410] supporting the mattress [see Fig. 4 which shows elements 414 and 410 (i.e. adjustable foundation) supporting element 402 (i.e. mattress)] comprising a linkage assembly [see Fig. 4 element 414 and para 88… “adjustable struts 414. Struts 414 may be of similar design to strut 200 shown in FIG. 2A, strut 201 shown in FIG. 2B, strut 203 shown in FIG. 2C, hydraulic struts, pneumatic struts or other types of struts suitable for use in slat bed 400”] operable to articulate one or more surfaces of the foundation [upper surface of elements 414 are surfaces of the foundation] from a planar configuration to a non-planar configuration [see para 88 “Slat bed 400 may be adjusted so that person 100 is supported by a contour formed by adjustment of the plurality of slats 402 making up slat bed 400.” Supporting the contour is understood to recite changing the surface to a non-planar configuration] and a rigid member of the adjustable foundation [see Fig. 4 element 410 and para 88… “bed frame 410”],
sleep diagnostics comprising a plurality of sensors at different locations within the articulating bedding system configured to measure at least one health condition comprising heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, and/or oxygen level and provide output signals indicative of the at least one health condition [see Fig. 5A element 430 and para 94 in particular… “Motion sensor 430 may be used to sense a heart rate or breathing rate of a person 100 lying on the bed.” Also, please note there are multiple slats each with a sensor. Thus, there are a plurality of sensors at different locations measuring heart rate]; and
a data acquisition device configured to receive the output signals from the sleep diagnostics, wherein the data acquisition device includes a processor and a network interface [see para 131… “Some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may also report the sleeping position, pressure profile, sensor data, or other information collected by the bed to a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system used to collect information from multiple beds that may be in a facility such as a nursing home, hospital, hospice, or other care facility. In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need. Additionally, some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may be programmed or may receive instructions from a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system so that the bed may be controlled remotely by an operator or controlled automatically in response to commands from a computer.” A central computer system that receives reports as recited here is at least a data acquisition device that includes at least a processor and network interface as claimed],
automatically and periodically articulate the adjustable foundation to reposition the individual on the mattress [see para 131… “Accordingly, a program that automatically adjusts sleeping positions may enable a better night sleep such that the person need not or may not wake. Changing sleeping positions may also benefit persons who may be prone to the development of muscle aches, bed sores, or other ailments from sleeping in the same position for too long.” And see para 85… “For example, to avoid bed sores in elderly persons, a bed 103 may encourage a person 100 to roll to a new sleeping position every few hours”],
and process the output signals to determine whether the output signals are below or above a threshold [see para 94 in particular… “Some embodiments may record health data and may even signal alarms if certain health conditions occur (such as heart rate conditions that signal the onset of a heart attack, for example)” Certain heart rate conditions indicates a type of threshold], and
wherein the network interface is configured to receive processed information from the processor and communicate the processed information with a third party related to the at least one health condition [see para 131… “In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need. Additionally, some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may be programmed or may receive instructions from a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system so that the bed may be controlled remotely by an operator or controlled automatically in response to commands from a computer.”]
However, Krenik fails to disclose the adjustable foundation supporting the mattress includes “height adjustable legs”, “and motion activated lights coupled to a rigid member of the adjustable foundation, each of the height adjustable legs comprising an adjustable length configured to be operated independently from the other legs;” or “wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the articulating bedding system to independently adjust the respective adjustable length of one or more of the height adjustable legs upon a command to raise or lower the one or more of the height adjustable legs to reduce or increase to adjust clearance height of the adjustable foundation relative to ground in order to tilt a sleeping surface of the mattress”
Kramer discloses in the analogous art of bedding systems [see Col. 1 lines 5-10… “The present disclosure generally relates to mattress assemblies, and more particularly, to adjustable support legs for foundations for mattress assemblies.”] individual height adjustable legs [see Figs. 7-8 element 60] each with an individual linear motor [see Figs 7-8 element 84] that automatically adjusts the height of each leg based on a controller for the purpose of helping an individual clean under the bed [see Col. 5 lines 30-65… see in particular…. “the support legs 60 can be configured to provide automatic adjustment” and “A linear actuator 84” and “As previously described, all or individual support legs can be connected to a controller (not shown) to adjust the clearance height of the foundation. For example, two of the support legs along the longitudinal length of the foundation 18 can be extended to provide an end user with better access to underneath the foundation such as may be desired when vacuuming underneath the foundation.”]
Baiera discloses in the analogous art of bed related devices [see para 2… “An aspect of the invention involves a bed step stool for assisting a user into and out of bed including opposite sides, a head, and a foot.”] using a lighting system next to the edge of a bed frame with this lighting system including motion detection to illuminate a pathway to help a user enter and exit of a bed [see Fig. 1 element 480 and para 37… “a motion-detecting lighting assembly 480” and para 7… “a motion-detecting lighting assembly illuminates the step assembly upon detected motion of the user; the first support and the second support define a pathway for entry and exit with respect to the bed that is perpendicular with respect to the sides of the bed whereby the user goes between the first support and the second support to step onto the step assembly”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Krenik legs to each have individual linear motors configured to individually adjust the length of the leg automatically based on commands from Krenik’s computer system (i.e. element including the processor) similarly to that disclosed by Kramer (i.e. thereby reciting “height adjustable legs”, “each of the height adjustable legs comprising an adjustable length configured to be operated independently from the other legs”, “wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the articulating bedding system to independently adjust the respective adjustable length of one or more of the height adjustable legs upon a command to raise or lower the one or more of the height adjustable legs to reduce or increase to adjust clearance height of the adjustable foundation relative to ground in order to tilt a sleeping surface of the mattress”) for the purpose of allowing access to an individual to beneath the bed to help an individual clean under the bed.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Krenik in view of Kramer by including a lighting system near the edge of a bed’s frame configured to activate when Krenik in view of Kramer’s motion sensors detect motion similarly to that of Baiera (i.e. thereby reciting “motion activated lights coupled to a rigid member of the adjustable foundation”) to form a pathway into and out of the bed help guide a user safely into and out of the bed.
Regarding claim 2, 4:
See rejection to claim 1 above and para 131 of Krenik [in particular… “In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need. ] which describes the third party as nursing staff (i.e. caretaker) as recited by claim 2. Additionally, as discussed in claim 1 above and para 94 of Krenik [in particular… “Motion sensor 430 may be used to sense a heart rate or breathing rate of a person 100 lying on the bed.”] heart rate is collected (i.e. values associated with the at least one health conditions being monitored) which recites claim 4.
Regarding claims 3, 5-6:
See rejection to claim 1 above and para 94 of Krenik [in particular… “Some embodiments may record health data and may even signal alarms if certain health conditions occur (such as heart rate conditions that signal the onset of a heart attack, for example)”] which discloses recording health data (i.e. creating a history of values) as recited by claim 5 and providing an alarm based on heart rate conditions (i.e health conditions being below or above a threshold value) as recited by claim 3. Additionally, para 131 of Krenik [in particular… “Some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may also report the sleeping position, pressure profile, sensor data, or other information collected by the bed to a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system used to collect information from multiple beds that may be in a facility such as a nursing home, hospital, hospice, or other care facility. In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need.”] discloses all the processed data (understood to include the alarm) is sent to nursing staff which includes both caretaker and emergency services. Thus, claim 6 is understood to be recited as well.
Independent claim:
Regarding claim 7:
Krenik discloses:
A process for monitoring at least one health condition while an individual is sleeping [see para 45… “The present disclosure provides enhanced systems, techniques, and methods for the application of electronic sensing and control to provide enhanced sleeping comfort and health for humans.”], the process comprising:
providing an interactive articulating bedding system [see Fig. 4 and abstract… “Disclosed herein are embodiments of beds and components thereof.”] comprising
a mattress [see Fig. 4 element 402… “lateral slats 402” and para 119… “It is also possible for embodiments of a bed 103 or slat bed 400 to mimic a conventional spring mattress (which may also be useful if the sleeping position of a bed occupant can't be determined)”], an adjustable foundation [see Fig. 4 elements 414 and 410] supporting the mattress [see Fig. 4 which shows elements 414 and 410 (i.e. adjustable foundation) supporting element 402 (i.e. mattress)], a sleep diagnostic system including a plurality of sensors at different locations within the interactive articulating bedding system configured to measure at least one health condition comprising heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and/or oxygen level and provide output signals indicative of the at least one health condition [see Fig. 5A element 430 and para 94 in particular… “Motion sensor 430 may be used to sense a heart rate or breathing rate of a person 100 lying on the bed.” Also, please note there are multiple slats each with a sensor. Thus, there are a plurality of sensors at different locations measuring heart rate] to a data acquisition device including a processor, and a network interface for communicating processed information to a third party [see para 131… “Some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may also report the sleeping position, pressure profile, sensor data, or other information collected by the bed to a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system used to collect information from multiple beds that may be in a facility such as a nursing home, hospital, hospice, or other care facility. In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need. Additionally, some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may be programmed or may receive instructions from a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system so that the bed may be controlled remotely by an operator or controlled automatically in response to commands from a computer.” A central computer system that receives reports as recited here is at least a data acquisition device that includes at least a processor and network interface as claimed];
wherein the adjustable foundation comprises a linkage assembly [see Fig. 4 element 414 and para 88… “adjustable struts 414. Struts 414 may be of similar design to strut 200 shown in FIG. 2A, strut 201 shown in FIG. 2B, strut 203 shown in FIG. 2C, hydraulic struts, pneumatic struts or other types of struts suitable for use in slat bed 400”] operable to articulate one or more surfaces of the adjustable foundation [upper surface of elements 414 are surfaces of the foundation] from a planar configuration to a non-planar configuration [see para 88 “Slat bed 400 may be adjusted so that person 100 is supported by a contour formed by adjustment of the plurality of slats 402 making up slat bed 400.” Supporting the contour is understood to recite changing the surface to a non-planar configuration], a rigid member of the adjustable foundation [see Fig. 4 element 410 and para 88… “bed frame 410”],
automatically and periodically articulating the adjustable foundation to reposition the individual on the mattress [see para 131… “Accordingly, a program that automatically adjusts sleeping positions may enable a better night sleep such that the person need not or may not wake. Changing sleeping positions may also benefit persons who may be prone to the development of muscle aches, bed sores, or other ailments from sleeping in the same position for too long.” And see para 85… “For example, to avoid bed sores in elderly persons, a bed 103 may encourage a person 100 to roll to a new sleeping position every few hours”]; and
communicating processed information related to the at least one health condition from the processor via the network interface to a third party [see para 131… “In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need. Additionally, some embodiments of beds 103 or slat beds 400 may be programmed or may receive instructions from a central computer system, the internet, a cloud computer system, a computer server, or other computer system so that the bed may be controlled remotely by an operator or controlled automatically in response to commands from a computer.”].
However, Krenik fails to disclose the adjustable foundation includes: “height adjustable legs, or “motion activated lights coupled to a rigid member of the adjustable foundation, each of the height adjustable legs comprising an adjustable length configured to be operated independently from the other legs;”. Also, Krenik fails to disclose the steps of “detecting ingress and egress from the interactive bedding system and illuminating an area about the adjustable foundation with the motion activated lights” and “adjusting a height of a sleeping surface of the mattress relative to ground by independently adjusting the respective adjustable length of one or more of the height adjustable legs upon a command to raise or lower the one or more of the height adjustable legs to reduce or increase to adjust clearance height of the adjustable foundation relative to ground in order to tilt a sleeping surface of the mattress”
Kramer discloses in the analogous art of bedding systems [see Col. 1 lines 5-10… “The present disclosure generally relates to mattress assemblies, and more particularly, to adjustable support legs for foundations for mattress assemblies.”] individual height adjustable legs [see Figs. 7-8 element 60] each with an individual linear motor [see Figs 7-8 element 84] that automatically adjusts the height of each leg based on a controller for the purpose of helping an individual clean under the bed [see Col. 5 lines 30-65… see in particular…. “the support legs 60 can be configured to provide automatic adjustment” and “A linear actuator 84” and “As previously described, all or individual support legs can be connected to a controller (not shown) to adjust the clearance height of the foundation. For example, two of the support legs along the longitudinal length of the foundation 18 can be extended to provide an end user with better access to underneath the foundation such as may be desired when vacuuming underneath the foundation.”]
Baiera discloses in the analogous art of bed related devices that employ motion sensing [see para 2… “An aspect of the invention involves a bed step stool for assisting a user into and out of bed including opposite sides, a head, and a foot.”] using a lighting system next to the edge of a bed frame with this lighting system including motion detection to illuminate a pathway to help a user enter and exit of a bed (i.e. “detecting ingress and egress from the interactive bedding system and illuminating an area about the adjustable foundation with the motion activated lights”) [see Fig. 1 element 480 and para 37… “a motion-detecting lighting assembly 480” and para 7… “a motion-detecting lighting assembly illuminates the step assembly upon detected motion of the user; the first support and the second support define a pathway for entry and exit with respect to the bed that is perpendicular with respect to the sides of the bed whereby the user goes between the first support and the second support to step onto the step assembly”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Krenik legs to have individual linear motors configured to individually adjust the length of the leg automatically based on commands from Krenik’s computer system (i.e. element including the processor) similarly to that disclosed by Kramer (i.e. thereby reciting “height adjustable legs”, “each of the height adjustable legs comprising an adjustable length configured to be operated independently from the other legs”, “wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the articulating bedding system to independently adjust the respective adjustable length of one or more of the height adjustable legs upon a command to raise or lower the one or more of the height adjustable legs to reduce or increase to adjust clearance height of the adjustable foundation relative to ground in order to tilt a sleeping surface of the mattress”, “adjusting a height of a sleeping surface of the mattress relative to ground by independently adjusting the respective adjustable length of one or more of the height adjustable legs upon a command to raise or lower the one or more of the height adjustable legs to reduce or increase to adjust clearance height of the adjustable foundation relative to ground in order to tilt a sleeping surface of the mattress”) for the purpose of allowing access to an individual to beneath the bed to help an individual clean under the bed.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Krenik in view of Kramer by including a lighting system near the edge of a bed’s frame configured to activate when Krenik in view of Kramer’s motion sensors detect motion to form a pathway into and out of the bed similarly to that of Baiera (i.e. thereby reciting “motion activated lights coupled to a rigid member of the adjustable foundation” and “detecting ingress and egress from the interactive bedding system and illuminating an area about the adjustable foundation with the motion activated lights”) as this will increase the safety of the device by further helping guide a user safely into and out of the bed.
Regarding claim 8:
See Figs. 16, Col. 3 lines 1-6 [see… “FIG. 16 is an end on perspective view of a foundation frame in accordance with the present disclosure depicting one side raised relative to another side of the foundation frame in accordance with the present disclosure.”] and Col. 8 lines 19-26 [see “selectively raise and lower the adjustable legs corresponding to a side of the foundation frame so as to permit ease in ingress and egress as may be desirable to some end users.”] of Kramer which describes the adjustable legs of Krenik in view of Kramer in view of Baiera as including the feature of adjusting the height along a length dimension as claimed.
Regarding claim 9,
See rejection to claim 7 above which discloses how the motion activated lights comprises a pathway (i.e. illuminating a pathway) as claimed.
Regarding claims 10-11
See rejection to claim 7 above and para 131 of Krenik [in particular… “In this way, the central computer system of such a facility may notify nursing staff if a person has remained in a given position in their bed for too long so that a caregiver may be dispatched to provide care to the person in need.] which describes the third party as nursing staff. Nursing staff are understood to include both caretaker and emergency services reciting claims 10-11.
Regarding claims 12-13:
As discussed in claim 7 above and para 94 of Krenik [in particular… “Motion sensor 430 may be used to sense a heart rate or breathing rate of a person 100 lying on the bed.” and “Some embodiments may record health data and may even signal alarms if certain health conditions occur (such as heart rate conditions that signal the onset of a heart attack, for example)”] heart rate is collected (i.e. the processed information comprises values associated with the at least one health condition) as recited by claim 12 and recording health data (i.e. processed information comprises a history of values over period of time) recites claim 13.
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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SEBASTIAN X LUKJAN
/SXL/Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/NIKETA PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792