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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment and RCE filed, 22 April 2026, of application filed, with the above serial number, on 10 August 2022 in which claims 1, 3-4, 8-11 have been amended and claims 5-6 cancelled. Claims 1-4, 7-11 are pending in the application.
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, 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Neagle (hereinafter “Neagle”, 2018/0358117) in view of Castagna (hereinafter “Castagna”, 2006/0196928).
As per Claim 1, Neagle discloses an information processing apparatus comprising:
a memory (at least paragraph 18); and
a processor (at least paragraph 18, 21), wherein the processor is configured to:
receive address information representing an address of a pharmacy institution that has received a prescription medicine (at least paragraph 44-45, 50, 52; pharmacy selection and patient medicine prescriptions stored in database; pharmacy information may also be stored in the system as well; the prescription is electronically transmitted to the pharmacy);
store the address information representing the address of the pharmacy institution that has received the prescription medicine in the memory (at least paragraph 44-45, 50, 52; pharmacy selection and patient medicine prescriptions stored in database; pharmacy information may also be stored in the system as well; the prescription is electronically transmitted to the pharmacy);
in a case where an abnormality is detected in biological information acquired from a patient, access the information in the memory to identify the address information representing the address of the pharmacy institution, and automatically perform transmission of identification information of the patient and information including the fact that the abnormality is detected in the biological information to the identified address represented by the address information (at least paragraph 68; the detection of a dangerous spike in blood pressure data being monitored by a cuff device worn by the patient. The actionable data engine 238 may then issue an alert or notification to, for example, the patient, the patient's care team, which may include, e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacist, home caregiver, social worker, case manager, and family members),
wherein the [data] to be transmitted to the identified address represented by the address information further includes data of the prescription medicine, and information of requesting a recheck of a prescription content of the prescription medicine (at least paragraph 50-51; eg. receiving the refill information and prescription received being checked for possible interactions and ineffective history and against other current medications for the same pharmacy stored in the system filling the refill).
Neagle fails to disclose such fax receiving the prescription medicine as image data and previous fax transmission, storing such fax information as a past transmission history information, and which the prescription medicine is previously transmitted in the past. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Castagna. Castagna discloses, in an analogous art, a pharmacist reviews the changes since last dispensing of medicine (prescription) and the patient schedule, the pharmacist checks the drug interaction between the new medication and the currently taken medication, pharmacist determines if it is manageable based on the medication schedule and patient's ability to handle the monitoring of this interaction, a Medication Recording System to be used as a reminding tool for renewal/refill of medication, wherein the reminding tool can be e-mail, fax, computer notification to the pharmacist, wherein faxes inherently transmit image data to the destination as printed (at least paragraph 77-79).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Castagna’s faxed refill of image of medication even after an interaction or abnormality to the pharmacist with Neagle as Castagna teaches it being well know using fax for repeated requests to a pharmacist of the medication, particularly for when patients are being monitored for interaction or abnormalities of medication and new medications.
As per Claim 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: in the case where the abnormality is detected in biological information acquired from the patient, include the biological information acquired from the patient in the information to be transmitted to the address represented by the address information (at least paragraph 68; the detection of a dangerous spike in blood pressure data being monitored by a cuff device worn by the patient. The actionable data engine 238 may then issue an alert or notification to, for example, the patient, the patient's care team, which may include, e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacist, home caregiver, social worker, case manager, and family members).
As per Claim 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: in the case where the abnormality is detected in biological information acquired from the patient, include the image data as information on the prescription content of the prescription medicine in the information to be transmitted to the address represented by the address information (at least paragraph 68; the actionable data engine 238 may issue an alert when it detects incompatible medication being prescribed and fulfilled at a pharmacy; Castagna par. 79 for fax image data).
As per Claim 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to: in the case where the abnormality is detected in biological information acquired from the patient, include the image data as information on the prescription content of the prescription medicine in the information to be transmitted to the address represented by the address information (at least paragraph 68; the actionable data engine 238 may issue an alert when it detects incompatible medication being prescribed and fulfilled at a pharmacy; Castagna par. 79 for fax image data).
As per Claim 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: in the case where the abnormality is detected in biological information acquired from the patient, refer to the past transmission history information to transmit the identification information of the patient and the information including the fact that the abnormality is detected in the biological information to an address with a latest transmission date and time among addresses to which a prescription has been transmitted in the past (at least paragraph 35, 51, 58, 68; medication module 39 maintains data about the patient's current medicines, details about the medicines, medical history, compliance data, reminders, ineffective medicines for the patient, medical allergies, and side effects associated with any current and past medicines; detects incompatible medication being prescribed and fulfilled at a pharmacy).
As per Claim 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: acquire the address information representing the address of the pharmacy institution that has received the prescription medicine from another system (at least paragraph 18-21, 44-45, 50, 52; databases).
As per Claim 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to: acquire information on the prescription content of the prescription medicine from the another system together with the address information representing the address of the pharmacy institution that has received the prescription medicine, store the acquired information in the memory, and in the case where the abnormality is detected in biological information acquired from the patient, transmit information including the information on the prescription content of the prescription medicine to the address represented by the address information (at least paragraph 64; eg. reconcile prescription data 232 to make sure that the data is synchronized with information that resides with pharmacies; at least paragraph 68; the detection of a dangerous spike in blood pressure data being monitored by a cuff device worn by the patient. The actionable data engine 238 may then issue an alert or notification to, for example, the patient, the patient's care team, which may include, e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacist, home caregiver, social worker, case manager, and family members)).
Claims 10-11 do not, in substance, add or define any additional limitations over claim 1 and therefore are rejected for similar reasons, supra. Claims 10 and 11 are CRM and method claims corresponding to claim 1 and are rejected in the same manner with respect to claim 1 above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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. Further, with regard to 4. the arguments are directed to pharmacy investigation of medicine being correct and contacting the user to stop taking the medicine, a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is indicated in PTO form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY TODD whose telephone number is (303)297-4763. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5 MST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Nicholas Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY TODD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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