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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 28 April 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responsive to the RCE comprising the amendments from the after final amendment filed 13 April 2026. As per the amendment: claim 22 has been amended and no claims have been added or cancelled. Thus claims, 22-23, 26-27, 29-37, and 39-44 are presently pending and under examination.
Response to Arguments
Response to Arguments Regarding 35 USC 103
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 6-9 of After Final Amendment, filed 13 April 2026, with respect to 35 USC 103 rejection of independent claim 22 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection of claims 22-23, 26-27, 29-37, and 39-44 has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 22-23, 26-27, 29-37, and 39-44 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1:
Claim 22 is directed to a method of providing care to a patient wearing a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD), which is within the four statutory categories.
Step 2A, Prong One:
Claim 22 recites the limitations of:
A method of providing care to a patient wearing a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD), the method comprising:
receiving, by a patient communication device, patient data from a communication module of the WCD, the patient data corresponding to one or more signals sensed by the WCD;
transmitting the patient data from the patient communication device to a remote monitoring system;
determining, by the patient communication device, that the patient data meets one or more predetermined notification criteria;and
responsive to determining by the patient communication device that the patient data meets the one or more predetermined notification criteria, selecting, by the patient communication device, a notification from a notifications library stored in the patient communication device based on the one or more predetermined notification criteria, and transmitting, by the patient communication device, the selected notification to a designated caregiver communication device,
wherein the designated caregiver communication device determines a type of situation associated with the patient and a location of the patient communication device from the notification, and
wherein the designated caregiver communication device determines one or more instructions using a database that stores default instruction options, based on the type of situation determined from the notification, the one or more instructions comprising at least one of instructions to check one or more of vital signs and to administer CPR for the patient. (emphasis added)
These above limitations, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, are directed to mental processes, mathematical operations, and certain methods of organizing human activity because they recite managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (i.e. social activities, teachings, and following rules or instructions – in this case the displaying patient information and instructions to a caregiver based on the information meeting a criteria).
Step 2A, Prong Two:
Claim 22 only recites the additional limitations of “a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD)”, “patient communication device”, “remote monitoring system”, “communication module”, and “designated caregiver communication device”. These additional elements are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e. most generic computer and medical communication systems would be known to have these components for general computations, processing, transmitting, communication, and outputting sensed data), and they amount to no more than mere applying the abstract idea by the use of a general-purpose computer.
The claims further includes the limitations of “check one or more of vital signs” and “administer CPR for the patient” is not defining a “particular treatment” as required to be considered a practical application. According to MPEP 2106.04(d)(2), “The treatment or prophylaxis limitation must be “particular,” i.e., specifically identified so that it does not encompass all applications of the judicial exception(s).” These elements do not amount to significantly more as they are merely extra-solution activity to display instructions.
Step 2B:
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to the integration of the judicial exception into a practical application (Step 2A – Prong Two), the limitations are merely implementing the abstract idea on general-purpose computer and medical communication systems to carry out the process electronically instead of by hand.
Dependent claims 23, 26-27, 29-37 and 44 merely describe the type of information, instruction, or notification that is displayed (i.e. nonfunctional descriptive material).
Dependent claims 39-43 include additional elements that merely provide extra-solution activity of transmitting and displaying information.
Therefore, claims 22-23, 26-27, 29-37, and 39-44 are rejected under 35 USC 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22-23, 26-27, 29-37, and 39-44 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office Action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The instant invention in claim 22 is directed to a method for providing care to a patient wearing a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD).
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 6-9 of After Final Amendment Remarks, filed 13 April 2026, with respect to 35 USC rejections of independent claim 22 under Seese et al. (WO 2023/150749 A1) in view of Medema et al. (EP 3357534 B1) in view of Stadler et al. (US 2022/0280047 A1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection of independent claim 22 has been withdrawn and determined to be allowable over the prior art.
Additionally, the Examiner also agrees with the arguments that the applied references, alone or in any proper combination, do not disclose or suggest the subject matter recited by Applicant’s claims and there would have been no apparent reason that would have caused one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the systems and the processes by the applied references to arrive at the claimed subject matter, specifically the limitation of: selecting, by the patient communication device, a notification from a notifications library stored in the patient communication device based on the one or more predetermined notification criteria (emphasis added).
Claims 23, 26-27, 29-37, and 39-44 depend from and thus further limit claim 1, and therefore are also allowed.
Conclusion
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/ATTIYA SAYYADA HUSSAINI/Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/NIKETA PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792
