DETAILED ACTION
This final office action is in response to amendments filed on 11/13/25.
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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 11/13/19 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of any patent issuing from US Patent Application 18/307,122 has been reviewed and is NOT accepted. The applicant name listed on the terminal disclaimer does not exactly match the applicant name listed on the 4/11/23 Application Data Sheet because the applicant name listed on the terminal disclaimer uses all capital letters and the applicant name listed on the 4/11/23 Application Data Sheet uses upper case and lower case letters.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pappada, US Patent Application Publication no. 2015/0227710, in view of Kanzaki, US Patent Application Publication no. 2007/0277102.
Regarding claim 1, Pappada discloses a medical support system comprising a processing circuit configured to:
acquire medical data on a specific patient over time [%BVL is tracked over time, paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8];
cause a display to display a display screen on which one or more measurement values in the medical data are displayed [%BVL is displayed, paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8];
detect an alert value that satisfies a determination condition from the one or more measurement values included in the medical data every time the medical data is acquired [determine when %BVL enters into ranges for stages 2, 3 and 4 of shock, paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8]; and
highlight a warning area in which the alert value is displayed on the display screen, and change a depth of a background color of the warning area in accordance with an importance degree relating to the alert value [the background of the %BVL display is color coded by shading when %BVL enters into ranges for stages 2, 3 and 4 of shock, paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8].
Pappada does not disclose changing a depth of a background color for display of medical data based on based on the elapsed time since the medical data was measured. Like Pappada, Kanzaki discloses displaying information for user observation. Kanzaki recognizes that the importance of displayed data decreases as the age of the data increases (i.e. data becomes less important as elapsed time from when the data was new becomes longer) [paragraph 0003]. Kanzaki further recognizes that it would be advantageous to display data in a way that intuitively enables users to recognize the age of the data [paragraphs 0006 and 0038]. Specifically, Kanzaki discloses changing the depth of a background color of displayed information to reflect the age of the displayed data, such that the background color becomes more similar to the information display color (thus deemphasizing the displayed information) as the age of the data increases [paragraphs 0037-0038]. Since it was known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to change background color depth of displayed information to deemphasize the information on the display as it ages, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the Kanzaki teachings to the Pappada display by changing background color depth of displayed medical information to deemphasize the information on the display as it ages in order to intuitively enable users to recognize the age of the data [Kanzaki, paragraphs 0006 and 0038]
Regarding claim 2, Pappada further discloses that the processing circuit is further configured to make the background color of the warning area deeper as the importance degree relating to the alert value increases [the background shading is darkened as the stages of shock increase, Figure 8].
Regarding claim 3, Pappada further discloses that the determination condition is a conditional expression including a threshold value, and the importance degree includes a difference value between the alert value and the threshold value [determine when %BVL enters into ranges for stages 2, 3 and 4 of shock, paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8].
Regarding claim 4, Pappada further discloses that the importance degree includes a set value preset for each item of the medical data [%BVL ranges for stages 2, 3 and 4 of shock, paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8].
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pappada, US Patent Application Publication no. 2015/0227710 and Kanzaki, US Patent Application Publication no. 2007/0277102, in view of Freeman et al., US Patent Application Publication no. 2015/0227710 [Freeman].
Regarding claims 6-8, Pappada further discloses displaying other relevant patient data, such as pulse pressure or hear rate, synchronized to the time range of the %BVL data [paragraphs 0133-0135 and Figure 8]. Pappada and Kanzaki do not disclose displaying the other relevant patient data on the same graph as the %BVL data. Like Pappada and Kanzaki, Freeman discloses a patient medical data monitoring system that displays patient medical data over a time range on a graph. Freeman further discloses that the multiple patient medical data measurements may be displayed on a single graph [Figure 1A and 0063]. Since it was known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to display multiple patient medical data measurements on the same graph, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to display other relevant patient data on the same graph as the %BVL data in Pappada and Kanzaki in order to save display space while allowing a user to view more than one type of patient medical data at a time. Pappada and Freeman do not disclose that the patient medical data items are displayed in different colors and that the shading color is determined based on the different colors. Examiner takes official notice that information displays before the effective filing date of the claimed invention conventionally displayed different types of data items in different colors in order to facilitate differentiation of the different data item types when viewing the display. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to display the different patient medical information using different colors and, thus, control the background shading color based on each of the different colors in Pappada and Freeman in order to facilitate differentiation of the different data item types when viewing the display.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL B YANCHUS III whose telephone number is (571)272-3678. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/PAUL B YANCHUS III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115 February 20, 2026.