DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the Appeal Brief filed 11/20/2025
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 .
Claims 1-6, 9-18, 20 and 22-26 are pending. Claims 1, 14 and 20 are independent claims.
In view of the Appeal Brief filed on 11/20/25, PROSECUTION IS HEREBY REOPENED. New Grounds of rejection are set forth below.
To avoid abandonment of the application, appellant must exercise one of the following two options:
(1) file a reply under 37 CFR 1.111 (if this Office action is non-final) or a reply under 37 CFR 1.113 (if this Office action is final); or,
(2) initiate a new appeal by filing a notice of appeal under 37 CFR 41.31 followed by an appeal brief under 37 CFR 41.37. The previously paid notice of appeal fee and appeal brief fee can be applied to the new appeal. If, however, the appeal fees set forth in 37 CFR 41.20 have been increased since they were previously paid, then appellant must pay the difference between the increased fees and the amount previously paid.
A Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) has approved of reopening prosecution by signing below:
/ADAM M QUELER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2172
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.
Claims 1-2, 14-15, 20, 22 and 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah et al (WO 2018172352 A1 thereafter "Atallah"), in view of Zhu (US 20180113987 A1) and further in view of Ceccaldi (US 20200250812 A1, 2020-08-06)
ALLCLAIMS 1-6, 9-18, 20 and 22-26
STARTREJ 1-2, 14-15, 20, 22 and 24-26
Regarding independent claim(s) 1, 14, 20, Atallah disclose(s) a method, comprising: obtaining, by a smart vital device, sensor information indicating one or more health characteristics associated with an individual, wherein the sensor information comprises audio information indicating audio signals from a surrounding environment and temperature information indicating temperature readings from the surrounding environment; [An audio sensor, and a temperature sensor are included in a contextual information sensor to provide information about the environment [See Pg 7, Ln 10-15]. The audio and temperature information are obtained ("obtaining the sensor information") as contextual information by a control unit (smart vital device) [See Pg. 12, Ln 2-6]]
determining, by the smart vital device, one or more health audio characteristics of the individual based on inputting the audio signals into one or more health condition machine learning datasets; [The obtained contextual information (audio signals) are input into a machine learning algorithm (health condition machine learning datasets) in order to classify the environment conditions and heart rate variability [See Pg. 15, Ln 32- Pg. 16, Ln 25]. The audio may be that of an infant [See Pg 8, Ln 3-6]. A skilled artisan would understand that classifying the environment conditions based on the audio signal of the infant and environment would produce an audio class ("health audio characteristics of the individual")]
determining, by the smart vital device, one or more health temperature characteristics of the individual based on the temperature readings from the surrounding environment; [The obtained contextual information (temperature readings) are input into a machine learning algorithm in order to classify the environment conditions and heart rate variability [See Pg. 15, Ln 32 - Pg. 16, Ln 25]. A skilled artisan would understand that classifying the environment conditions for an individual based on the temperature of the environment would produce a temperature class ("health temperature characteristics of the individual")]
determining, by the smart vital device, a plurality of health conditions of the individual based on the one or more health audio characteristics and the one or more health temperature characteristics; ... [Based on the above analysis, the health status (one or more health conditions) of the infant is determined [See Pg. 17, Ln 16-26]]
inputting a health condition dataset comprising the plurality of health conditions determined by the smart vital device into one or more second machine learning datasets to determine a medical condition of the individual (p. 16 ll. 5-8).
outputting, by the smart vital device, the plurality of health conditions and the medical condition of the individual. [The determined health status is output to a user interface [See Pg. 18, Ln 3-7]]
However, Atallah does not disclose that the dataset includes weighting the plurality of conditions. Zhu discloses a health condition data set comprising a plurality of conditions [vital signs] analogous to the health conditions of Atallah, and weights associated with those conditions (para. 186). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art the before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the weigth of Zhu with the conditions of Atallah as it would allow tuning to particular individulas (Zhu, para. 186).
The above combination does not disclose accuracy of the medical condition determination. However, Ceccaldi discloses determining based on input data (analogous to the health conditions, i.e. the input of Atallah) and output data, the degree of accuracy [confidence] associated with the output data (analogous to the medical condition, i.e. the output of Atallah) (para .4)
Ceccaldi also discloses that the data is output along with the output data (para. 15)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art the before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the degree of accuracy of Ceccaldi to the inputs and outputs of the above combination. This would result in determining, by the smart vital device and based on the sensor information/input and the medical condition/output of the above combination, a degree of accuracy associated with the medical condition/output (according to Ceccaldi); and outputting, the degree of accuracy of the condition/output, along with the medical condition of the individual of the above combination.
This would have been desirable because it would allow the user to be more confident in the results which is key in the medical field (Ceccaldi, para 8 and 6).
Regarding dependent claim(s) 2, 15, Atallah does not discloses an external system. Zhu discloses providing the plurality of health data of an individual to an enterprise computing system (backend health service provider, para. 108). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the data of Atallah to the enterprise computing system of Zhu,because it would enable the desirable enablement of various health services as described by Zhu (para. 73)
Regarding dependent claim(s) 22, the above combination is obvious as described in claim 1 above, additionally Ceccaldi discloses the the degree of accuracy is based on a determination of the likelihood that the individual has the medical condition (para. 4)
Regarding dependent claim(s) 24, the claim(s) is/are directed to a method analogous to the method of claim(s) 1 respectively, and is/are thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding dependent claim(s) 25, 26, Atallah/Zhu discloses providing data to an enterprise computing system as described in claim 2 above. It does not teach that the degree of accuracy is sent. However, Ceccaldi that degree of accuaracy is health data associated with a condition akin to Atallah/Zhu. It would be obvious to include the degree of accuracy data in the sent health data of Atallah/Zhu. This would have been desirable because it would allow the user to be more confident in the results which is key in the medical field (Ceccaldi, para 8 and 6).
ENDREJ
Claims 3 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, Zhu, Ceccaldi and further in view of Atallah et al (US 20160235306 ) hereinafter Atallah-306.
STARTREJ 3 and 16
Regarding dependent claim(s) 3, 16, Atallah discloses determining the health conditions of the individual base on a temperature of the individual, not specifically a body part. The above combination does not disclose the temperature information including a body part information. Atallah-306 discloses a system wherein a plurality of temperature sensors are used to determine the temperature of a patient [See ¶-24]. The temperature and position information are used to generate a temperature map the shows temperatures with associated body parts, as shown in Fig 4A [See ¶-41-43]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Ceccaldi’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Atallah-306's temperature mapping. Motivation to do so would be because it would be applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results. The known technique of Atallah-306's temperature mapping would have predictably resulted in allowing users and medical providers accurate information about a user's body temperature.
ENDREJ
Claims 4, 6, 11 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Frank et al (US 20200245873 A1 thereafter "Frank").
STARTREJ 4, 6, 11 and 17
Regarding dependent claim 4, 17, the above combination does not disclose "further comprising: inputting the temperature information into the one or more health condition machine learning datasets to generate temperature data, and wherein determining the plurality of health conditions of the individual is based on the temperature data from the one or more health condition machine learning datasets. "
On the other hand, Frank discloses "further comprising:inputting the temperature information into the one or more health condition machine learning datasets to generate temperature data, and wherein determining the plurality of health conditions of the individual is based on the temperature data from the one or more health condition machine learning datasets. "
Frank discloses a system that uses measured temperature data to determine the core temperature (temperature data) of a user, using a trained model [See ¶-86]. The core temperature is used to determine a respiratory tract infection [See ¶-90-91].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Ceccaldi’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Frank's core temperature calculation.
Motivation to do so would be to monitor coughing and accurately assess the severity of a respiratory tract infection, as taught by Frank [See ¶-15].
Regarding dependent claim(s) 6, the above combination disclose(s) the method of claim 1, wherein the sensor information further comprises a captured image of the individual, … [Atallah, a camera captures contextual information [See Pg. 19, Ln 22-26]]
However, the above combination do(es) not disclose "wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the smart vital device, one or more image characteristics of the individual based on inputting the captured image into the one or more health condition machine learning datasets, and wherein determining the plurality of health conditions is further based on the one or more image characteristics. "
On the other hand, Frank discloses "wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the smart vital device, one or more image characteristics of the individual based on inputting the captured image into the one or more health condition machine learning datasets, and wherein determining the plurality of health conditions is further based on the one or more image characteristics. "
Frank discloses a system wherein infrared images of temperatures are received [See ¶-62, 272]. A machine learning model is used to determine user postures/activities (image characteristics) as feature values [See ¶-202]. Based on the feature values (image characteristics), the system determines the extent of a respiratory tract infection,
i.e. RTI (health conditions) [See ¶-98].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Frank's IR imaging.
Motivation to do so would be to monitor coughing and accurately assess the severity of a respiratory tract infection, as taught by Frank [See ¶-15].
Regarding dependent claim 11, The above combination do(es) not disclose "further comprising:receiving a plurality of audio files indicating coughs and/or sneezes; receiving a plurality of infrared images indicating elevated temperature readings of a plurality of individuals; and training the one or more health condition machine learning datasets based on the plurality of received audio files and the plurality of received infrared images."
On the other hand, Frank discloses "further comprising:receiving a plurality of audio files indicating coughs and/or sneezes; receiving a plurality of infrared images indicating elevated temperature readings of a plurality of individuals; and training the one or more health condition machine learning datasets based on the plurality of received audio files and the plurality of received infrared images."
Frank discloses a system wherein audio of coughing is received [See ¶-70]. Infrared images of temperatures are received [See ¶-62, 272]. The audio data is used to train a machine learning algorithm [See ¶-119]. A machine learning model is trained based on images of various people in known postures [See ¶-202].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Frank's audio and IR imaging.
Motivation to do so would be to monitor coughing and accurately assess the severity of a respiratory tract infection, as taught by Frank [See ¶-15].
ENDREJ
Claims 5 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Trim et al (US 20210074436 A1 thereafter "Trim").
STARTREJ 5 and 18
Regarding dependent claim 5, 18, The above combination do(es) not disclose "wherein the sensor information further comprises humidity information indicating a humidity reading of the surrounding environment, and wherein determining the plurality of health conditions of the individual is further based on the humidity information. "
On the other hand, Trim discloses "wherein the sensor information further comprises humidity information indicating a humidity reading of the surrounding environment, and wherein determining the plurality of health conditions of the individual is further based on the humidity information. "
Trim discloses that IoT sensors may capture humidity of an environment [See ¶-85]. The humidity information is used in machine learning algorithms to determine conditions that contribute to disease spread, and the health status of persons (health conditions) [See ¶-86, 88].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Trim's humidity sensing.
Motivation to do so would be to help determine and control the spread of disease, as taught by Trim [See ¶-14].
ENDREJ
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Criner (US 20160004834 A1).
STARTREJ 9
Regarding dependent claim 9, The above combination do(es) not disclose "wherein each of the plurality of health conditions is in a Boolean format, and wherein each of the plurality of health conditions is associated with a weight from the one or more weights. "
On the other hand, Criner discloses "wherein each of the plurality of health conditions is in a Boolean format, and wherein each of the plurality of health conditions is associated with a weight from the one or more weights. "
Criner discloses a system wherein symptoms are weighted in order to determine the condition of a patient [See ¶-43-44]. Such symptoms may be determined to apply as Yes/No (boolean) shown in Fig 12 [See ¶-55, 59].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Criner's symptom applicability.
Motivation to do so would be to determine a patient's severity of exacerbations, and remotely propose a treatment for the patient, as taught by Criner [See ¶-7].
ENDREJ
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Katz (US 20200066386 A1).
STARTREJ 10
Regarding dependent claim 10, The above combination do(es) not disclose "wherein outputting the plurality of health conditions and the medical condition of the individual comprises providing a vocal notification indicating the medical condition of the individual. "
On the other hand, Katz discloses "wherein outputting the plurality of health conditions and the medical condition of the individual comprises providing a vocal notification indicating the medical condition of the individual. "
Katz discloses a system that uses sensor data to make a medical diagnosis [See
¶-44-47]. The system may output the diagnosis as an audial notification (vocal notification) that indicates the diagnosis [See ¶-47].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Katz's audial notification.
Motivation to do so would be because it would be applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results. The known technique of Katz's audial notification would have predictably resulted in enabling user's to be immediately alerted to a medical diagnosis.
ENDREJ
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Knechtel et al (US 20180144614 A1 thereafter "Knechtel").
STARTREJ 12
Regarding dependent claim 12, The above combination do(es) not disclose "further comprising:determining whether a user device of the individual is within a proximity of the smart vital device; and based on determining the user device is within the proximity of the smart vital device, providing, to the user device, instructions to cause display of the plurality of health conditions and the medical condition of the individual on the user device. "
On the other hand, Knechtel discloses "further comprising:determining whether a user device of the individual is within a proximity of the smart vital device; and based on determining the user device is within the proximity of the smart vital device, providing, to the user device, instructions to cause display of the plurality of health conditions and the medical condition of the individual on the user device. "
Knechtel discloses a system that alerts nearby users of a patient that has a medical need (health conditions) [See ¶-20, 29]. The system determines nearby device(s) based on a location of the patient/user device, and the distance to the patient/user device ("user device is within a proximity of the smart vital device") [See ¶-29, 32]. The nearby device(s) (user device) receives and displays a notification of a medical need of the patient/user device [See ¶-33, 46]. The nearby device includes a processor, and storage device (third non-transitory computer-readable medium) to store instructions [See ¶-47, 51].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Knechtel's nearby user alerting.
Motivation to do so would be to provide support and/or assistance to a user in a timely fashion, as taught by Knechtel [See ¶-21].
ENDREJ
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Knechtel, in view of Jacobs et al (US 20180041518 A1 thereafter "Jacobs").
STARTREJ 13
Regarding dependent claim 13, The above combination does not disclose "further comprising: receiving an indication that the individual has been authenticated by an enterprise computing system, wherein the indication indicates the user device, and wherein determining whether the user device of the individual is within the proximity of the smart vital device is based on the received indication. "
On the other hand, Jacobs discloses "further comprising: receiving an indication that the individual has been authenticated by an enterprise computing system, wherein the indication indicates the user device, and wherein determining whether the user device of the individual is within the proximity of the smart vital device is based on the received indication. "
Jacobs discloses a system where a user of a user device is authenticated by determining their physical location in proximity to an associate (smart vital device) [See ¶-45]. The locations may be determined using GPS or other device means [See ¶-75, 79]. If the user and user device are within proximity to the associate, the user is authenticated [See ¶-83]. Thus the authentication inherently provides proof that the requesting user is within proximity to the associate (smart vital device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination, Knechtel's nearby user alerting to incorporate the teachings of Jacobs' proximity authentication.
Motivation to do so would be to provide improved authentication processes to increase confidence in a user's identity, as taught by Jacobs [See ¶-6].
ENDREJ
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atallah, in view of Zhu, in view of Ceccaldi, in view of Muehlsteff et al (US 20190008465 A1 thereafter "Muehlsteff").
STARTREJ 23
Regarding dependent claim(s) 23, The above combination do(es) not disclose "wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the smart vital device and from a user device, an 11authentication of the individual; and providing, by the smart vital device and to an enterprise computing system, the plurality of health conditions, wherein determining, by the smart vital device, the plurality of health conditions of the individual is further based on receiving, by the smart vital device, the authentication of the individual. "
On the other hand, Muehlsteff discloses "wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the smart vital device and from a user device, an authentication of the individual; and providing, by the smart vital device and to an enterprise computing system, the plurality of health conditions, wherein determining, by the smart vital device, the plurality of health conditions of the individual is further based on receiving, by the smart vital device, the authentication of the individual. "
Muehlsteff discloses a system wherein a portable computing device (smart vital device) may receive identification (authentication) information of a patient from a mobile device/smartwatch (user device) [See ¶-69-70]. The identification information is used to identify the patient and provides a reference to store the patient's medical data, e.g. vital signs (health conditions) within a database (enterprise computing system) [See ¶-72,112-113].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Atallah’s health monitoring system, Zhu’s vital score weighing, Abrol’s condition likelihood determination to incorporate the teachings of Muehlsteff's patient identification.
Motivation to do so would be to provide indicators of patient condition that is more accurate and patient specific, as taught by Muehlsteff [See ¶-115].
ENDREJ
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM M QUELER whose telephone number is (571)272-4140. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9:30AM -6 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Wiley can be reached at 571-272-4150. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ADAM M QUELER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2172