DETAILED ACTION
Claim Interpretation
Claim 1 recites numerous steps that are performed only upon satisfaction of a condition, specifically the following: “when the unreceived biometric information exists, outputting an indicator”; “when the user command … is inputted, a non-receipt request message is generated”; “when the user command for rejecting … is inputted or when a user command is not inputted within a set time …, deleting the displayed indicator”; “when the receipt confirmation message is a receipt failure message …, deleting … biometric information stored in the storage module except for the unreceived biometric information”; and “when a next non-receipt communication cycle occurs after the deleting, transmitting … the unreceived biometric information”.
The broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met. Ex parte Schulhauser, Appeal No. 2013-007847 (PTAB Apr. 28, 2016); MPEP 2111.04(II).
Because the broadest reasonable construction of claim 1 encompasses an embodiment in which no unreceived biometric information exists, no user command is entered, and no receipt failure message is generated, the above-identified conditional steps are not required to be performed to meet the claim.
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 and 6-8 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the user command for rejecting the reception of unreceived biometric information" in lines 21-22. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the biometric information stored in the sensor transmitter" in lines 13-14. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites “outputting an indicator” in line 15 but subsequently refers to “the time when the indicator is displayed” and the “displayed indicator” in lines 22-23. It is unclear whether the outputting and displaying are intended to be the same act.
Claim 1 recites that “when the non-receipt biometric information message has been received … terminating communication with the sensor transmitter” and then subsequently recites that “wherein a receipt confirmation message indicating whether the non-receipt biometric information has been successfully received … is transmitted to the sensor transmitter”, making it indefinite as to the order of operations.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-4, and 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reihman et al. (US 2017/0124350) in view of Ecoff (US 2014/0107449).
As to claim 1, Reihman teaches a method for transmitting and receiving biometric information between a sensor transmitter configured to be attachable to a body part of a user ([0044] – system 100 including on-skin sensor assembly 101 fastened to skin and including transmitter/sensor electronics unit 104) and measure the biometric information of the user ([0048]) and a communication terminal configured to receive the biometric information from the sensor transmitter ([0031] – receiver), the method comprising: generating, by the sensor transmitter, a biometric information message including the biometric information measured through a measurement sensor and transmitting the biometric information message to the communication terminal at every regular communication cycle ([0068] – transmission of sensor data at a scheduled transmission); and by the communication terminal, at every non-receipt communication cycle, determining whether the biometric information unreceived by the communication terminal among the biometric information stored in the sensor transmitter exists ([0132] – biometric information unreceived is stored as backfill data); when the unreceived biometric information exists, outputting an indicator for informing that the unreceived biometric information exists ([0091] – generate a notification for a request to consent to backfill); and in response to the indicator, determining whether a user command for requesting the unreceived biometric information is inputted (905,908), wherein when the user command for requesting the unreceived biometric information is inputted (905), a non-receipt request message is generated and transmitted to the sensor transmitter ([0091]), wherein when the user command for rejecting the reception of unreceived biometric information is inputted or when a user command is not inputted within a set time from the time when the indicator is displayed, by the communication terminal, deleting the displayed indicator ([0085] – notification may disappear after the user acknowledges the notification or after a predetermined amount of time), determining whether a non-receipt biometric information message including unreceived biometric information has been received from the sensor transmitter by the communication terminal during a first communication interval assigned to the non-receipt communication cycle (Fig. 12 – T_Active, data communication 4160/4260; [0132] – backfill data is sent at 4160/4260; [0132] – when sensor system is not able to transmit data it stores it as backfill data, thus it determines, within the interval, whether the transfer has completed); when the non-receipt biometric information message has been received by the communication terminal during the first communication interval or when the first communication interval ends, terminating communication with the sensor transmitter (Fig. 12 – Tinactive -– after the data transfer has been completed, the communication with the transmitter is terminated); wherein a receipt confirmation message indicating whether the non-receipt biometric information message has been successfully received during the first communication interval is transmitted to the sensor transmitter ([0101] – receiver sends an acknowledgement message to the transmitter confirming receipt of data); by the sensor transmitter, determining whether or not the unreceived biometric information has been successfully transmitted to the communication terminal based on the receipt confirmation message ([0101] – the acknowledgment allows the transmitter to track which packets were successfully received by the receiver; [0098] – the data stored includes information on a quantity of times a glucose value has been attempted to be transmitted to a receiver); wherein the non-receipt communication cycle is greater than the regular communication cycle ([0135] – Tactive is taught to be only between 20-40 seconds, while the non-receipt communication cycle could be significantly longer ([0032] – an hour in this example).
Reihman does not teach that when the receipt confirmation message is a receipt failure message indicating that the unreceived biometric information has not been successfully received by the communication terminal, deleting, from a storage module of the sensor transmitter, biometric information stored in the storage module except for the unreceived biometric information; and when a next non-receipt communication cycle occurs after the deleting, transmitting, to the communication terminal, the unreceived biometric information; Reihman does teach that backfilled data that is saved can be sent in subsequent transmission windows ([0103]).
Ecoff teaches data transmissions between medical devices such as a blood glucose measurement device (Abs) and teaches that when an acknowledgment message is received, the counter is reset, and stored blood glucose values is erased from memory ([0055]) but when an acknowledgment is not received, the counter is incremented by one ([0056]) and the CGM stores blood glucose values from the lost data packets for later retrieval ([0057]). Ecoff teaches that the measures unsuccessfully transmitted in one beacon period is transmitted in a subsequent beacon period ([0066]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to modify Reihman with Ecoff to save only the data that is verified not to have been received by the receiver, to free up storage for data known not to have been delivery for subsequent retrying, to ensure that there is enough storage space for the unreceived data.
As to claim 2, Reihman teaches the biometric information message includes an identifier of the biometric information ([0098]).
As to claim 3, Reihman teaches the non-receipt request message includes one or more identifiers of the biometric information unreceived from the sensor transmitter during the non-receipt communication cycle ([0099]).
As to claim 4, Reihman teaches the non-receipt communication cycle is less than a storage period from a time point when the biometric information is generated by the sensor transmitter to a time point when the biometric information is deleted from the sensor transmitter ([0110] – backfilling may be limited to only a current session, which establishes a finite storage period after which stored data is no longer available. Examiner further notes that a non-receipt communication cycle being less than a storage period is obvious, if not necessary inherent, as having the non-receipt communication cycle be greater than a storage period would result in data being purged before it could even be requested, which would defeat the whole purpose of having a backfill mechanism).
As to claim 6, Reihman teaches when the communication terminal receives the biometric information message from the sensor transmitter during the non-receipt communication cycle, determining whether an identifier of the received biometric information is consecutively continued from an identifier of last biometric information stored last to the communication terminal based on the identifier of the biometric information ([0099] – the receiver maintains a database of glucose values including the time stamps associated with the values and ignores redundant sensor data which indicates a comparison of each identifier against what the receiver already holds); when the identifier of the received biometric information is not consecutively continued from the identifier of the last biometric information, determining one or more identifiers of unreceived biometric information between the received biometric information and the identifier of the last biometric information ([0103] – 1100 requesting backfill data with the request including an indication or an index of specific times where sensor data is missing); and when the non-receipt communication cycle ends, generating the non-receipt request message including the one or more identifiers of the unreceived biometric information (1100).
As to claim 7, Reihman teaches sorting the biometric information received from the sensor transmitter by the communication terminal during the non-receipt communication cycle in order of identifiers of the received biometric information ([0072] – configured to request sensor data in chronological order); determining whether one or more identifiers of unreceived biometric information exists based on the identifiers of the sorted biometric information ([0099]); and when the non-receipt communication cycle ends, generating the non-receipt request message including the one or more identifiers of the unreceived biometric information (1100).
As to claim 8, Reihman teaches determining whether the biometric information message has been received by the communication terminal during a second communication interval assigned to the regular communication cycle (Fig. 12 – within each scheduled session, the analyte value is transmitted during the active period Tactive; [0132] – if data transmission does not occur, data is stored as backfill; accordingly, the system is able to determine whether the biometric information has been received); and when the biometric information message has been received by the communication terminal during the second communication interval or when the second communication interval ends, terminating communication with the sensor transmitter (Fig. 12 – Tinactive), wherein when receipt of the biometric information message for the second communication interval succeeds or when the receipt of the biometric information message for the first communication interval fails, the communication with the sensor transmitter is terminated without a receipt confirmation message ([0132] – after the data communication is completed, the data connection is terminated and no acknowledgement is recited).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 CHRISTIAN JANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3820. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (7-3:30 EST).
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CHRISTIAN JANG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3791
/CHRISTIAN JANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791 8/6/26
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