DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 09/15/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responsive to the RCE amendment filed 15 September 2025. As per the amendment: claims 1, 4-5, 8-11, 13-14, 16-19, and 21-22 have been amended and no new claims have been added or cancelled. Thus, claims 1-2, 4-6, 8-14, and 16-23 are presently pending and under examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 8-10 of Remarks, filed 09/15/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) independent claims 1, 14, and 17 under Briscoe in view of Liu have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Song (KR 2020/0055633 A), hereinafter Song.
Applicant has amended independent claims 1, 14, and 17 to partially incorporate the subject matter of dependent claim 9, specifically the claims have been amended to include the limitation of “the garment comprises a garment identifier (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment…a processor configured to: confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period”. Applicant further argues that Kaib fails to explicitly disclose that a humidity sensor is part of the ID sensor and a confirmation of the likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed based on the liquid contact status information from the humidity sensor.
Without acquiescing to applicant’s arguments regarding Kaib and merely to expediate prosecution of the application, Examiner has instead used Song (KR 2020/0055633 A) and De Donno, Danilo, et al. "A long-range computational RFID tag for temperature and acceleration sensing applications." Progress in Electromagnetics Research C 45 (2013): 223-235. to teach the amended limitations in the claims.
Examiner would also like to note that in response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “two-step determination or confirmation process involving an ID tag sensor”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Therefore, claims 1-2, 4-6, 8-14, and 16-23 remain rejected, as shown in detail 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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 12, 14, 17-18, 20, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Briscoe (US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0329055, previously cited), hereinafter Briscoe in view of Liu (CN109034060, previously cited), hereinafter Liu, and further in view of Song (KR 2020/0055633 A), hereinafter Song.
Regarding claim 1, Briscoe discloses a patient monitoring system (Figure 1: wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) system), comprising:
a support structure comprising a garment configured to be worn by a patient (Fig. 1: support structure 170);
a plurality of patient parameter electrodes configured to contact the patient's skin when the patient is wearing the garment (Fig. 1: electrodes 104, 108);
an energy storage system (Fig. 2: energy storage module 250);
a patient monitoring device configured to receive one or more patient parameters via the plurality of patient parameter electrodes when the patient is wearing the garment (Fig. 2: sensing electrodes 209); and
a processor (Fig. 2: processor 230) configured to:
track a trend of a heart rate of the patient over a plurality of historical time periods (Par. 51: “the local parameter is a trend that can be detected in a monitored physiological parameter of patient 282. A trend can be detected by comparing values of parameters at different times over short and long terms. Parameters whose detected trends can particularly help a cardiac rehabilitation program include: … d) heart rate trending”),
provide an indication regarding the garment change or wash status based on the confirmation that the garment has been changed or washed (Par. 124: “Event markers could be used to indicate when fit is degrading over time with wear. Since this typically correlates to wearing the garment, it could be used as a “wash” reminder to the user/wearer. Washing the garment would then return the garment to its standard state to address such degrading.”),
determine whether to provide therapy to the patient based on the one or more patient parameters (Par. 50: “Patient physiological parameters may include, for example and without limitation, those physiological parameters that can be of any help in detecting (by the WCD system) of whether or not the patient is in need of a shock or other intervention or assistance”), and
cause the energy storage system to deliver one or more therapeutic shocks to the patient responsive to a determination that the therapy should be provided to the patient (Par. 31: “A WCD system according to some embodiments can be configured to defibrillate the patient who is wearing the designated parts of the WCD system. Defibrillating can be by the WCD system delivering an electrical charge to the patient's body in the form of an electric shock”).
Briscoe does not disclose wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment; a processor configured to: based on the tracked trend of the heart rate, determine a likelihood whether the garment has been changed or washed after a predetermined period of use by the patient, confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag.
However, Liu, in the same field of endeavor of wearable monitoring devices, discloses “In this embodiment, intelligent wearable device in the step 105 obtaining the original data model obtained in the searching in the step 104 obtain HRV related parameter corresponding to the wearing state, specifically the wearing state can be worn or not worn” (Par. 90). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include heart rate variability (a measure determined by heart rate over time, i.e. a trend of heart rate) to determine a wearing state, as taught as suggested by Liu, for the purpose of “saving electricity, and stopping collecting electrocardiogram signal, so as to avoid statistical data deviation caused by error of electrocardio signal collection” if the device is not being worn (Par. 90).
Briscoe in view of Liu, alone or in combination, fail to teach wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment and confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag.
However, Song teaches a clothing management system using an RFID wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information ([00018] “an RFID clothing having an embedded RFID tag”, [0045]-[0046] “the RFID reader (200) receives data transmitted from the IC chip constituting the RFID tag through the operation of the RFID tag. The data stored in the IC chip above corresponds to the size, unique identification code, wearer information, gender, serial number, date of last washing, number of entry and exit, etc. of the RFID clothing (100).”), and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment ([0019] “the RFID clothing of the clothing management system using FID according to the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned purpose is characterized by having a water sensor connected to the RFID tag that detects that washing has been performed when it comes into contact with water for a predetermined period of time, and transmitting information on whether washing is completed when passing through the RFID reader.”) and confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag ([0043] “Additionally, the RFID garment (100) has a water sensor connected to the RFID tag formed on its surface. When the water sensor is in contact with water for a predetermined period of time, it determines that washing has been completed and transmits washing completion information along with the date to the IC chip of the RFID tag. Then, when the RFID tag passes through the RFID reader (200), the IC chip transmits washing completion information.”) provide an indication regarding the garment change or wash status based on the confirmation that the garment has been changed or washed ([0019] “transmitting information on whether washing is completed when passing through the RFID reader.”).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Briscoe and Liu to incorporate the teachings of Song to have the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment and confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag, as these prior art references are directed to wearable garments. One would be motivated to do this to determine whether to wash the garment or destroy the garment, as recognized by Song ([0022]).
Regarding claim 2, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses the system further comprising a defibrillator system (defibrillator 100, [0035] “defibrillator 100 can be considered coupled to support structure 170 directly”) coupled with the patient monitoring device, the defibrillator system comprising:
a plurality of defibrillator electrodes configured to be in electrical contact with the patient's skin when the patient is wearing the garment and when the defibrillator system is delivering the therapy to the patient (Fig. 1: defibrillation electrodes 104, 108); and
wherein the energy storage system is coupled with the plurality of defibrillator electrodes (Fig. 1: external defibrillator 100, electrode leads 105).
Regarding claim 4, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 2 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses wherein the processor is a part of the defibrillator system (Fig. 2: external defibrillator 200, processor 230).
Regarding claim 5, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses wherein the processor is a part of the patient monitoring device (Par. 40: “One or both of the devices 190/195 may be incorporated in the outside monitoring device 180 and/or the external defibrillator 100, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the outside monitoring device 180 and/or the external defibrillator 100 to facilitate storage/communication of the data collected regarding the parameter(s) and/or input(s) discussed herein. In an embodiment, the storage device 190 may include a processor”).
Regarding claim 6, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses wherein the processor is external to the patient monitoring device (Fig. 1: outside monitoring device 180, storage device 190; Par: 40: “the storage device 190 may include a processor”).
Regarding claim 9, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 8 (as shown above). Briscoe and Liu, alone or in combination, fail to teach the ID tag reader is configured to read the liquid contact status information stored in the garment ID tag.
However, Song teaches the ID tag reader is configured to read the liquid contact status information stored in the garment ID tag ([0043] “Additionally, the RFID garment (100) has a water sensor connected to the RFID tag formed on its surface. When the water sensor is in contact with water for a predetermined period of time, it determines that washing has been completed and transmits washing completion information along with the date to the IC chip of the RFID tag. Then, when the RFID tag passes through the RFID reader (200), the IC chip transmits washing completion information.”).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Briscoe and Liu to incorporate the teachings of Song to have the ID tag reader configured to read the liquid contact status information stored in the garment ID tag, as these prior art references are directed to wearable garments. One would be motivated to do this to determine whether to wash the garment or destroy the garment, as recognized by Song ([0022]).
Regarding claim 12, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses the system further comprising a communication module configured to transmit the one or more patient parameters to the processor (Fig. 1: communication device 195; Fig. 2: communication module 290).
Regarding claim 14, Briscoe discloses a remote patient data platform ([0024]), comprising:
a processor and a memory coupled with the processor (Fig. 2: processor 230, memory 238); and
a communication module (Fig. 2: communication module 290) wherein the processor is configured to:
receive the information regarding one or more patient parameters of a patient monitoring system via the communication module, (Par. 49: “Monitoring device 281 can sense or monitor patient parameters such as patient physiological parameters, system parameters and/or environmental parameters, all of which can be called patient data”), the patient monitoring system comprising a garment configured to be worn by a patient during use (Fig. 3: support structure 370);
track a trend of a heart rate of a patient over a plurality of historical time periods based on the received information (Par. 51: “the local parameter is a trend that can be detected in a monitored physiological parameter of patient 282. A trend can be detected by comparing values of parameters at different times over short and long terms. Parameters whose detected trends can particularly help a cardiac rehabilitation program include: … d) heart rate trending”);
provide an indication regarding the garment change or wash status based on the confirmation that the garment has been changed or washed (Par. 121-124: “In one or more embodiments, the event marker data is analyzed to determine one or more conditions as follows:… Event markers could be used to indicate when fit is degrading over time with wear. Since this typically correlates to wearing the garment, it could be used as a “wash” reminder to the user/wearer.”);
determine whether to provide therapy to the patient based on the one or more patient parameters (Par. 50: “Patient physiological parameters may include, for example and without limitation, those physiological parameters that can be of any help in detecting (by the WCD system) of whether or not the patient is in need of a shock or other intervention or assistance”); and
cause an energy storage system to deliver one or more therapeutic shocks to the patient responsive to a determination that the therapy should be provided to the patient (Par. 31: “A WCD system according to some embodiments can be configured to defibrillate the patient who is wearing the designated parts of the WCD system. Defibrillating can be by the WCD system delivering an electrical charge to the patient's body in the form of an electric shock”).
Briscoe does not disclose wherein:
wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid status information of the garment
based on the tracked trend of the heart rate, determine a likelihood whether the garment has been changed or washed after a predetermined period of use by the patient;
confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag
However, Liu, in the same field of endeavor of wearable monitoring devices, discloses “In this embodiment, intelligent wearable device in the step 105 obtaining the original data model obtained in the searching in the step 104 obtain HRV related parameter corresponding to the wearing state, specifically the wearing state can be worn or not worn” (Par. 90). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include heart rate variability (a measure determined by heart rate over time, i.e. a trend of heart rate) to determine a wearing state, as taught as suggested by Liu, for the purpose of “saving electricity, and stopping collecting electrocardiogram signal, so as to avoid statistical data deviation caused by error of electrocardio signal collection” if the device is not being worn (Par. 90).
Briscoe and Liu, alone or in combination, fail to explicitly disclose wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid status information of the garment and confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag.
However, Song teaches a clothing management system using an RFID wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information ([00018] “an RFID clothing having an embedded RFID tag”, [0045]-[0046] “the RFID reader (200) receives data transmitted from the IC chip constituting the RFID tag through the operation of the RFID tag. The data stored in the IC chip above corresponds to the size, unique identification code, wearer information, gender, serial number, date of last washing, number of entry and exit, etc. of the RFID clothing (100).”), and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment ([0019] “the RFID clothing of the clothing management system using FID according to the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned purpose is characterized by having a water sensor connected to the RFID tag that detects that washing has been performed when it comes into contact with water for a predetermined period of time, and transmitting information on whether washing is completed when passing through the RFID reader.”) and confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag ([0043] “Additionally, the RFID garment (100) has a water sensor connected to the RFID tag formed on its surface. When the water sensor is in contact with water for a predetermined period of time, it determines that washing has been completed and transmits washing completion information along with the date to the IC chip of the RFID tag. Then, when the RFID tag passes through the RFID reader (200), the IC chip transmits washing completion information.”) provide an indication regarding the garment change or wash status based on the confirmation that the garment has been changed or washed ([0019] “transmitting information on whether washing is completed when passing through the RFID reader.”).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Briscoe and Liu to incorporate the teachings of Song to have the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment and confirm the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag, as these prior art references are directed to wearable garments. One would be motivated to do this to determine whether to wash the garment or destroy the garment, as recognized by Song ([0022]).
Regarding claim 17, Briscoe discloses a method to determine whether a garment has been changed or washed (Abstract: “Methods, apparatus, and systems relating to a Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator (WCD) system capable of logging event data and/or broadcasting state changes and/or system status information to external clients are described.”), the method comprising:
receiving one or more patient parameters via a plurality of patient parameter electrodes when a patient is wearing the garment (Par. 49: “Monitoring device 281 can sense or monitor patient parameters such as patient physiological parameters, system parameters and/or environmental parameters, all of which can be called patient data”);
tracking one or more usage trends of the patient's use of a patient monitoring system based at least on the one or more patient parameters, wherein tracking the one or more usage trends comprises tracking a trend of a heart rate of the patient over a plurality of historical time periods (Par. 51: “the local parameter is a trend that can be detected in a monitored physiological parameter of patient 282. A trend can be detected by comparing values of parameters at different times over short and long terms. Parameters whose detected trends can particularly help a cardiac rehabilitation program include: … d) heart rate trending”; Par. 152: “Example 9 includes the WCD system of example 1, wherein the event marker data comprises: a time stamp associated with an occurrence time of each of the one or more event markers, an event identifier, patient heart rhythm, patient activity, patient wear statistics, current running state, current running activity, state changes, alert button activity, or overall device status.”);
providing an indication regarding the garment change or wash status based on the confirmation that the garment has been changed or washed (Par. 121-124: “In one or more embodiments, the event marker data is analyzed to determine one or more conditions as follows:… Event markers could be used to indicate when fit is degrading over time with wear. Since this typically correlates to wearing the garment, it could be used as a “wash” reminder to the user/wearer.”);
determining whether to provide therapy to the patient based on the one or more patient parameters (Par. 50: “Patient physiological parameters may include, for example and without limitation, those physiological parameters that can be of any help in detecting (by the WCD system) of whether or not the patient is in need of a shock or other intervention or assistance”); and
causing an energy storage system to deliver one or more therapeutic shocks to the patient responsive to determining that the therapy should be provided to the patient (Par. 31: “A WCD system according to some embodiments can be configured to defibrillate the patient who is wearing the designated parts of the WCD system. Defibrillating can be by the WCD system delivering an electrical charge to the patient's body in the form of an electric shock”)t.
Briscoe does not disclose wherein:
wherein the garment comprises a garment identifier (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment
based on the tracked trend of the heart rate, determining a likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after a predetermined period of use by the patient
confirming the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag
However, Liu, in the same field of endeavor of wearable monitoring devices, discloses “In this embodiment, intelligent wearable device in the step 105 obtaining the original data model obtained in the searching in the step 104 obtain HRV related parameter corresponding to the wearing state, specifically the wearing state can be worn or not worn” (Par. 90). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include heart rate variability (a measure determined by heart rate over time, i.e. a trend of heart rate) to determine a wearing state, as taught as suggested by Liu, for the purpose of “saving electricity, and stopping collecting electrocardiogram signal, so as to avoid statistical data deviation caused by error of electrocardio signal collection” if the device is not being worn (Par. 90).
Briscoe and Liu, alone or in combination, fail to teach wherein the garment comprises a garment identifier (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment and confirming the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag.
However, Song (KR 20200055633 A) teaches a clothing management system using an RFID wherein the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information ([00018] “an RFID clothing having an embedded RFID tag”, [0045]-[0046] “the RFID reader (200) receives data transmitted from the IC chip constituting the RFID tag through the operation of the RFID tag. The data stored in the IC chip above corresponds to the size, unique identification code, wearer information, gender, serial number, date of last washing, number of entry and exit, etc. of the RFID clothing (100).”), and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment ([0019] “the RFID clothing of the clothing management system using FID according to the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned purpose is characterized by having a water sensor connected to the RFID tag that detects that washing has been performed when it comes into contact with water for a predetermined period of time, and transmitting information on whether washing is completed when passing through the RFID reader.”) and confirming the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag ([0043] “Additionally, the RFID garment (100) has a water sensor connected to the RFID tag formed on its surface. When the water sensor is in contact with water for a predetermined period of time, it determines that washing has been completed and transmits washing completion information along with the date to the IC chip of the RFID tag. Then, when the RFID tag passes through the RFID reader (200), the IC chip transmits washing completion information.”) provide an indication regarding the garment change or wash status based on the confirmation that the garment has been changed or washed ([0019] “transmitting information on whether washing is completed when passing through the RFID reader.”).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Briscoe and Liu to incorporate the teachings of Song to have the garment comprises a garment identified (ID) tag configured to store garment identification information, and wherein the garment ID tag comprises at least a liquid contact sensor configured to determine and store liquid contact status information of the garment and confirming the determined likelihood that the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient, based on the determined liquid contact status information received from the liquid contact sensor of the garment ID tag, as these prior art references are directed to wearable garments. One would be motivated to do this to determine whether to wash the garment or destroy the garment, as recognized by Song ([0022]).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 and the method of claim 17(as shown above). Briscoe and Liu, alone or in combination, fail to explicitly teach the system further comprising:
an ID tag reader to read the garment identification information from the garment ID tag, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient based at least in part on the garment identification information.
However, Song teaches an ID tag reader (RFID reader 200) to read the garment identification information from the garment ID tag ([0045] “the RFID reader (200) receives data transmitted from the IC chip constituting the RFID tag through the operation of the RFID tag.”), wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by that patient based at least in part on the garment identification information ([0043] “the RFID garment (100) has a water sensor connected to the RFID tag formed on its surface. When the water sensor is in contact with water for a predetermined period of time, it determines that washing has been completed and transmits washing completion information along with the date to the IC chip of the RFID tag. Then, when the RFID tag passes through the RFID reader (200), the IC chip transmits washing completion information.”, [0046]-[0054]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Briscoe in view of Liu to incorporate the teachings of Song to include an ID tag reader to read the garment identification information from the garment ID tag, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient based at least in part on the garment identification information, as these prior art references are directed to wearable garments. One would be motivated to do this to determine whether to wash the garment or destroy the garment, as recognized by Song ([0022]).
Regarding claim 20, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the method of claim 17 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses the method further comprising: transmitting the garment change or wash status to a remote device coupled with the patient monitoring system (Par. 81-82: “The storage device may be provided in a component attached directly to the support structure 402 (such as a hub) or in a device electrically coupled to the structure such as an external defibrillator 404. The stored data is then transmitted either directly or via another device (such as a mobile device 406) to a network (such as the Internet 408, the cloud 410, etc.).”; Par. 121: “Event markers could be used to indicate when fit is degrading over time with wear. Since this typically correlates to wearing the garment, it could be used as a “wash” reminder to the user/wearer.”)
Regarding claim 23, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient data platform of claim 14 (as shown above). Briscoe further discloses wherein the tracked heart rate comprises at least one of a maximum heart rate, a minimum heart rate, or an average heart rate (Par. 51: “A trend can be detected by comparing values of parameters at different times over short and/or long terms. Parameters whose detected trends can particularly help a cardiac rehabilitation program include: … b) heart rate variability at rest or during exercise; c) heart rate profile during exercise and measurement of activity vigor, such as from the profile of an accelerometer signal and informed from adaptive rate pacemaker technology; d) heart rate trending;”).
Claim(s) 10, 16, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song as applied to claims 8 and 17 above, in view of Kaib (US Patent Application Publication No. 20170181703, previously cited). and further in view of De Donno, Danilo, et al. "A long-range computational RFID tag for temperature and acceleration sensing applications." Progress in Electromagnetics Research C 45 (2013): 223-235., hereinafter De Donno.
Regarding claim 10, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 8 (as shown above).
Briscoe, Liu, and Song, alone or in combination, fail to teach the garment ID tag further comprises a temperature sensor and is configured to store temperature information obtained by the temperature sensor; the ID tag reader is configured to read the temperature information stored in the garment ID tag; and the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been washed further based, at least in part on the stored temperature information.
However, Kaib teaches a temperature sensor and the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been washed further based, at least in part on the stored temperature information ([0134] “The garment monitoring sensors 324 can include any combination of a temperature sensor 326, a humidity sensor 328, a strain sensor 330, and a tear sensor 332, among others. The garment monitoring component 170 is configured to receive information from the garment monitoring sensors 324 to determine a condition (e.g., an environmental condition) and/or a state of the garment (110 of FIG. 1). For example, the garment monitoring component 170 can use information received from the garment monitoring sensors 324 to determine that the garment 110 is in or has been in a laundering environment”).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Briscoe, Liu, and Song to incorporate the teachings of Kaib to have a temperature sensor and the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been washed further based, at least in part on the stored temperature information, as these prior art references are directed to garment monitoring devices. One would be motivated to do this as the temperature will help determine if the garment has been laundered, as recognized by Kaib ([0034]).
Briscoe, Liu, Song, and Kaib, alone or in combination, fail to teach the garment ID tag further comprises a temperature sensor and is configured to store temperature information obtained by the temperature sensor; the ID tag reader is configured to read the temperature information stored in the garment ID tag.
However, De Donno teaches a sensor-enabled radio frequency identification (RFID) tags which comprises a temperature sensor (Figure 1, pg. 225, 1.Introduction: “The device is fabricated using off-the-shelf low-cost discrete components on an FR4 substrate (see Fig. 1) and is equipped with microcontroller unit (MCU), temperature sensor) and can be used for temperature monitoring (pg. 255, 1. Introduction), as sensor data can be transferred and directly accessible to RFID Gen2 readers (pg. 226, 2. Design and Implementation).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted Song’s and Kaib’s identification tags to with the RFID tag of De Donno comprising of a temperature sensor, as these prior art references are directed to RFID tags and sensor monitoring. One would be motivated do this integrating sensors into an RFID tag allows for sensing dynamic environmental data in combination with identification information, allowing for a more complete picture of the application or process.
Regarding claims 16 and 19, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the remote patient data platform of claim 14 and the method of claim 17(as shown above). Briscoe, Liu, and Song, alone or in combination, fail to teach wherein the processor is configured to: determine whether the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient based at least in part, on temperature information, acceleration information, or a combination thereof, obtained from the garment ID tag.
However, Kaib teaches wherein the processor is configured to: determine whether the garment has been changed or washed after the predetermined period of use by the patient based at least in part, on temperature information ([0134] “The garment monitoring sensors 324 can include any combination of a temperature sensor 326, a humidity sensor 328, a strain sensor 330, and a tear sensor 332, among others. The garment monitoring component 170 is configured to receive information from the garment monitoring sensors 324 to determine a condition (e.g., an environmental condition) and/or a state of the garment (110 of FIG. 1). For example, the garment monitoring component 170 can use information received from the garment monitoring sensors 324 to determine that the garment 110 is in or has been in a laundering environment”, [0034] “the two or more measured values are temperature values measured by a temperature sensor, and the determination of whether the garment has been laundered according to the predetermined schedule is based on whether any of the temperature values meets a predetermined threshold.”).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Briscoe, Liu, and Song to incorporate the teachings of Kaib to have a temperature sensor and the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been washed further based, at least in part on the stored temperature information, as these prior art references are directed to garment monitoring devices. One would be motivated to do this as the temperature will help determine if the garment has been laundered, as recognized by Kaib ([0034]).
Briscoe, Liu, Song, and Kaib, alone or in combination, fail to teach wherein the temperature information, acceleration information, or a combination thereof, is obtained from the garment ID tag.
However, De Donno teaches a sensor-enabled radio frequency identification (RFID) tags which comprises a temperature sensor (Figure 1, pg. 225, 1.Introduction: “The device is fabricated using off-the-shelf low-cost discrete components on an FR4 substrate (see Fig. 1) and is equipped with microcontroller unit (MCU), temperature sensor) and can be used for temperature monitoring (pg. 255, 1. Introduction), as sensor data can be transferred and directly accessible to RFID Gen2 readers (pg. 226, 2. Design and Implementation).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted Song’s and Kaib’s identification tags with the RFID tag of De Donno comprising of a temperature sensor, as these prior art references are directed to RFID tags and sensor monitoring. One would be motivated do this integrating sensors into an RFID tag allows for sensing dynamic environmental data in combination with identification information, allowing for a more complete picture of the application or process.
Claim(s) 13 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song, and further in view of Kaib (US Patent Application Publication No. 20170181703, previously cited).
Regarding claim 13, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 (as shown above). Briscoe in view of Liu does not disclose wherein the processor is configured to:
determine whether the garment has been changed or washed; and
clear the indication regarding garment change or wash status in response to a user input, or in response to the determination that the garment has been changed or washed.
However, Kaib, in the same field of endeavor of wearable defibrillators, discloses wherein the processor is configured to:
determine whether the garment has been changed (Par. 106) or washed (Par. 142); and
clear the indication regarding the garment change or wash status in response to a user (Par. 208).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include an ID tag disposed in the garment and an ID tag reader, as taught and suggested by Kaib, in order to “identify the garment 110 based on the one or more values provided by the garment identification component (e.g., the RFID tag 150) and determine when particular garments are associated/disassociated with the controller” (Par. 102).
Regarding claim 22, Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 8 (as shown above). Kaib further discloses wherein the garment ID tag comprises a radio-frequency ID (RFID) tag with an identifier (Par. 102: “An RFID tag 150 of the garment identification component can provide identity information to an RFID reader 160 when the RFID tag 150 is in proximity to the RFID reader 160.”).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song, in view of Kessler (US Patent No. 11,384,467, previously cited) and further in view of De Donno, Danilo, et al. "A long-range computational RFID tag for temperature and acceleration sensing applications." Progress in Electromagnetics Research C 45 (2013): 223-235., hereinafter De Donno.
Regarding claim 11, Briscoe in view of Liu, in further view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 8 (as shown above). Briscoe, Liu, and Song, alone or in combination, fails to explicitly teach wherein the garment ID tag comprises an accelerometer and is configured to store acceleration information obtained by the accelerometer; the ID tag reader is configured to read the acceleration information stored in the garment ID tag; and the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been washed based at least in part on the acceleration information.
However, Kessler, in the same field of endeavor of wearable sensors teaches wherein:
an accelerometer (Fig. 1a: textile piece device 11; Fig. 1b: sensor 114; Col. 13, lines 40-42: “For example, sensor 114 is an acceleration sensor, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, an optical sensor and/or a chemical sensor (e.g. a pH sensor).”); and
the processor is configured to determine whether the garment has been washed based at least in part on the acceleration information (Fig. 2b: sending textile piece information from textile piece device to a device other than the textile piece device 301, detection and/or determination of a treatment parameter value before and/or during a treatment cycle of the textile piece 302).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include an accelerometer with the garment ID tag, as taught and suggested by Kessler, for the purpose of “detect and/or determine a value of a washing parameter before and/or during a washing cycle of the textile piece” (Col. 3, lines 6-8).
Briscoe, Liu, Song, and Kessler, alone or in combination, fail to teach wherein the garment ID tag comprises an accelerometer and is configured to store acceleration information obtained by the accelerometer; the ID tag reader is configured to read the acceleration information stored in the garment ID tag.
However, De Donno teaches a sensor-enabled radio frequency identification (RFID) tags which comprises a temperature sensor (Figure 1, pg. 225, 1.Introduction: “The device is fabricated using off-the-shelf low-cost discrete components on an FR4 substrate (see Fig. 1) and is equipped with microcontroller unit (MCU), temperature sensor, 3-axis accelerometer…”) and can be used for acceleration monitoring (pg. 255, 1. Introduction), as sensor data can be transferred and directly accessible to RFID Gen2 readers (pg. 226, 2. Design and Implementation).
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted Song’s identification tags to with the RFID tag of De Donno comprising of an accelerometer, as these prior art references are directed to RFID tags and sensor monitoring. One would be motivated do this integrating sensors into an RFID tag allows for sensing dynamic environmental data in combination with identification information, allowing for a more complete picture of the application or process.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Briscoe in view of Liu in view of Song, and further in view of Martin (US Patent Application Publication No. 20140103116, previously cited).
Regarding claim 21, Briscoe in view of Liu, further in view of Song teaches the patient monitoring system of claim 1 (as shown above). Briscoe, Liu, and Song, alone or in combination, fail to explicitly teach wherein the garment comprises a receptacle, and wherein the garment ID tag is disposed within the receptacle.
However, Martin, in the same field of endeavor of RFID garment tags, discloses “a tag assembly including a receptacle or casing for receiving the RFID tag” (Par. 7). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include a receptacle for the garment ID tag, as taught and suggested by Martin, for the purpose of “hold[ing] the RFID tag firmly in place to maintain a relatively consistent electromagnetic coupling between the primary antenna associated with the RFID tag and a secondary antenna associated with a flexible surface such as textile or fabric” (Par. 7) which allows the coupling to be “substantially maintained throughout many washing cycles of service life of a fabric item” (Par. 7).
Conclusion
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/ATTIYA SAYYADA HUSSAINI/Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/NIKETA PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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