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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 December 10, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
In the amendment filed on December 10, 2025, the following has occurred: claim(s) 1, 9, 17 have been amended. Now, claim(s) 1-2, 4-18, 20-22, 24 are pending.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-18, 20-22 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C.101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 1-2 and 4-8: Step 2A Prong One
Claim 1 recite(s)
gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds;
determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of: volume information for the one or more audible alarms; volatility information for the one or more audible alarms; bias information for the one or more audible alarms; persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and stationary information for the one or more audible alarms;
generating a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment;
generating a simulation of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded and generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds;
gathering information concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions, and wherein the wellbeing of one or more of: a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff; and an alarm-loading of the one or more medical staff;
allowing a user to select a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information, thus defining a selected viewing lens, wherein the available viewing lenses include one or more of: a macro level viewing lens; a facility level viewing lens; a unit level viewing lens; a cohort level viewing lens; and
displaying at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens
These limitations, as drafted, given the broadest reasonable interpretation, managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) that constitute Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity, but for the recitation of generic computer components and generally linking the abstract idea to a technical environment. That is, other than reciting “a computing device”, “…, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…from a datasource…” to perform these functions, nothing in the claim precludes the limitations from practically being performed by a human following rules or instructions. For example, but for the “a computing device”, “a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device”, “datasource” language, the “gathering” functions in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to acquire information concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment and information about medical professionals within a medical institution. Similarly, but for the “a computing device” language, the “processing” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based on predetermined information variables. Similarly, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…” language, the “generating” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to determine a level for device thresholds and determine a simulation including a level of the one or more device thresholds to determine alarms. Similarly, but for the “a computing device”, “datasource” language, the “enabling” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to allow another user to select a viewing lens. Finally, but for the “a computing device”, “datasource” language, the “rendering” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to show another user a portion of the gathered information. The claims recite steps that could be accomplished by a specialist identifying alarms within a hospital and displaying the alarm information to another person. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people of the limitation but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, these claims recite an abstract idea.
Claims 2 and 4-8 incorporate the abstract idea identified above and recite additional limitations that expand on the abstract idea. For example, claim 2 includes the abstract idea identified above and further describes the plurality of viewing lenses. Similarly, claims 4 and 7-8 include the abstract idea identified above and further describe the gathered information. Finally, claims 5-6 include the abstract idea identified above and further describe the displaying step. Therefore, these claims merely further define information that could be observed by a user and follow rules or instructions to determine wellbeing of medical professionals. Therefore, these claims recite limitations that fall into the Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity grouping of abstract ideas.
Claims 1-2 and 4-8: Step 2A Prong Two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the remaining elements amount to no more than general purpose computer components programmed to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the abstract idea to a technical environment.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the “a computing device”, “…a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “a datasource” are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., “Examples of computing device 12 may include, but are not limited to: a personal computer, a server computer, a series of server computers, a mini computer, a mainframe computer, or a cloud-based computing platform.” in Specification in Paragraph [0035], “Datasource 54 may include any device that is capable of storing information concerning the one or more medical professionals (e.g., user 236) of the one or more medical institutions (e.g., hospital 246...or a portion thereof), examples of which may include but are not limited to an employment database, a spreadsheet, a storage device, etc.” in Specification Paragraph [00267].) As set forth in the MPEP 2106.04(d) "merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer" is an example of when an abstract idea has not been integrated into a practical application. Claims 1-2 and 4-8, directly or indirectly, recite the following generic computer component, "a datasource."
Additionally, the claims recite “including acoustically monitoring the medical environment to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment”, “…, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device…”, “processing the one or more audible alarms to…” at a high degree of generality, amount no more than generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technical environment. The recitation is also similar to adding the words “apply it” to the abstract idea. As set forth in MPEP 2106.05(f), merely reciting the words “apply it” or an equivalent, is an example of when an abstract idea has not been integrated into a practical application.
Claims 1-2 and 4-8: Step 2B
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a computer configured to perform above identified functions amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. See Alice 573 U.S. at 223 ("mere recitation of a generic computer cannot transform a patent-ineligible abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.")
Additionally, storing and retrieving data from memory is recognized as well-understood, routine, and conventional activity of a general- purpose computing device (Versata Dev. Group, Inc. v. SAP Am., Inc., 793 F.3d 1306, 1334, 115 USPQ2d 1681, 1701 (Fed. Cir. 2015)) as is displaying results of a rudimentary analysis (TLI Communications, 823 F.3d at 612-13, 118 USPQ2d at 1747-48). Merely adding well-understood, routine, and conventional activity of a general- purpose computing device to a judicial exception is insufficient to transform the claim into patent-eligibility.
Additionally, generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technological environment does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea (See MPEP 2106.05(h) and Affinity Labs of Texas v. DirectTV, LLC, 838 F.3d 1253, 120 USP12d 1201 (Fed. Cir. 2016)). The claims are not patent eligible.
Claims 9-16: Step 2A Prong One
Claim 9 recite(s)
gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds;
determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of: volume information for the one or more audible alarms; volatility information for the one or more audible alarms; bias information for the one or more audible alarms; persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and stationary information for the one or more audible alarms;
generating a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment;
generating a simulation of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded and generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds;
gathering information concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions, and wherein the wellbeing of one or more of: a fatigue level of the one or more medical staff; a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff; and an alarm-loading of the one or more medical staff;
allowing a user to select a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information, thus defining a selected viewing lens, wherein the available viewing lenses include one or more of: a macro level viewing lens; a facility level viewing lens; a unit level viewing lens; a cohort level viewing lens; and
displaying at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens
These limitations, as drafted, given the broadest reasonable interpretation, managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) that constitute Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity, but for the recitation of generic computer components and generally linking the abstract idea to a technical environment. That is, other than reciting “a processor”, “…, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device,…”, …a graphical user interface display of…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…from a datasource…” to perform these functions, nothing in the claim precludes the limitations from practically being performed by a human following rules or instructions or in the mind of a user. For example, but for the “a processor”, “…a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device…”, “datasource” language, the “gathering” functions in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to acquire information concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment and information about medical professionals within a medical institution. Similarly, but for the “a processor” language, the “processing” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based on predetermined information variables. Similarly, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…” language, the “generating” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to determine a level for device thresholds and determine a simulation including a level of the one or more device thresholds to determine alarms. Similarly, but for the “a processor”, “datasource” language, the “enabling” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to allow another user to select a viewing lens. Finally, but for the “a processor”, “datasource” language, the “rendering” function in the context of this claim encompasses a user following instructions to show another user a portion of the gathered information. The claims recite steps that could be accomplished by a specialist identifying alarms within a hospital and displaying the alarm information to another person. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people of the limitation but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, these claims recite an abstract idea.
Claims 10-16 incorporate the abstract idea identified above and recite additional limitations that expand on the abstract idea. For example, claim 10 includes the abstract idea identified above and further describes the plurality of viewing lenses. Similarly, claims 11-12 and 15-16 include the abstract idea identified above and further describe the gathered information. Finally, claims 13-14 include the abstract idea identified above and further describe the displaying step. Therefore, these claims merely further define information that could be observed by a user and follow rules or instructions to determine wellbeing of medical professionals. Therefore, these claims recite limitations that fall into the Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity grouping of abstract ideas.
Claims 9-16: Step 2A Prong Two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the remaining elements amount to no more than general purpose computer components programmed to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the abstract idea to a technical environment.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the “a processor”, “…a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “…a graphical user interface display of…”, “a datasource” are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., “Datasource 54 may include any device that is capable of storing information concerning the one or more medical professionals (e.g., user 236) of the one or more medical institutions (e.g., hospital 246...or a portion thereof), examples of which may include but are not limited to an employment database, a spreadsheet, a storage device, etc.” in Specification Paragraph [00267], “These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer / special purpose computer / other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.” in Specification Paragraph [00314].) As set forth in the MPEP 2106.04(d) "merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer" is an example of when an abstract idea has not been integrated into a practical application. Claims 9-16, directly or indirectly, recite the following generic computer component, "a processor" and "a datasource."
Additionally, the claims recite “including acoustically monitoring the medical environment to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment”, “…, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device…”, “processing the one or more audible alarms to…” at a high degree of generality, amount no more than generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technical environment. The recitation is also similar to adding the words “apply it” to the abstract idea. As set forth in MPEP 2106.05(f), merely reciting the words “apply it” or an equivalent, is an example of when an abstract idea has not been integrated into a practical application.
Claims 9-16: Step 2B
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a computer configured to perform above identified functions amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. See Alice 573 U.S. at 223 ("mere recitation of a generic computer cannot transform a patent-ineligible abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.")
Additionally, storing and retrieving data from memory is recognized as well-understood, routine, and conventional activity of a general- purpose computing device (Versata Dev. Group, Inc. v. SAP Am., Inc., 793 F.3d 1306, 1334, 115 USPQ2d 1681, 1701 (Fed. Cir. 2015)) as is displaying results of a rudimentary analysis (TLI Communications, 823 F.3d at 612-13, 118 USPQ2d at 1747-48). Merely adding well-understood, routine, and conventional activity of a general- purpose computing device to a judicial exception is insufficient to transform the claim into patent-eligibility.
Additionally, generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technological environment does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea (See MPEP 2016.05(h) and Affinity Labs of Texas v. DirectTV, LLC, 838 F.3d 1253, 120 USP12d 1201 (Fed. Cir. 2016)). The claims are not patent eligible.
Claims 17-18, 20-22, and 24 recite similar steps to those outlined above. Each of these steps, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, cover managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people. The addition in claim 17 of "a processor and memory" is recited at a high-level of generality and does integrate this judicial exception into a practical application. The addition of "wherein the gathered information concerns, at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions, and wherein the wellbeing of the one or more medical staff is based, at least in part, upon a quantity and/or an authenticity of bedside device alarms to which the one or more medical staff were subjected" into the independent claim of 17 recites additional limitations that expand on the abstract idea.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2, 4-18, 20-22, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McKeown et al. (U.S. Patent Pre-Grant Publication No. 2010/0100427) in view of Vasist et al. (U.S. Patent Pre-Grant Publication No. 2023/0049981) in further view of Neubauer (U.S. Patent Publication No. 11,380,186).
As per independent claim 1, McKeown discloses a computer-implemented method executed on a computing device, comprising:
generating a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded and generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds (See Paragraph [0165]: An alert issued through the user interface may include a configurable visual indication on a computer display such as a pop-up window, or other visual notification, and the alert may include a configurable audible aspect as well that may play through a speaker system of the computer through which the user interface is accessed, which the Examiner is interpreting a pop-up window to encompass a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded as the alerts may be issued based on a range of criteria and may be context specific, and interpreting a configurable audible aspect as well that may play through a speaker system of the computer to encompass generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds);
enabling a user to select a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information, thus defining a selected viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: An individual can be selected in the performance tab and upon selecting an individual a snapshot of the individual's profile can be displayed, which the Examiner is interpreting selecting the tab to encompass selecting a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information as another option would be to select the team as a whole), wherein the available viewing lenses include one or more of:
a macro level viewing lens;
a facility level viewing lens (See Paragraphs [0203]-[0204], [0208], and [0211]: A succession/career path tab in a human resource management system may comprise access to an organization chart and number of successors, the number of successors is the number of other employees who could replace the employee should they leave the organization, which the Examiner is interpreting an organization to encompass a facility and an organization chart and number of successors to encompass viewing at a facility level);
a unit level viewing lens;
a cohort level viewing lens; and
rendering at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: Selecting an individual in any of the tabs of the human resource management system may bring up a snapshot of the individual profile, which the Examiner is interpreting the snapshot of the individual profile to encompass rendering at least a portion of the gathered information.)
While McKeown teaches the method as described above, McKeown may not explicitly teach a computer-implemented method, executed on a computing device, comprising:
generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment;
gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions, and wherein the wellbeing of one or more of:
a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff; and
an alarm-loading of the one or more medical staff.
Vasist teaches a method for
generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded (See Paragraph [0065]: An indicator of “high” indicates that the current workload on the caregiver breaches a first predetermined threshold, which the Examiner is interpreting an indicator of “high” to encompass a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded) and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment (See Paragraphs [0050]-[0059]: The assistive tool may detect when a physiological parameter of the subject breaches a threshold, and generate an alarm in response to the breach, which the Examiner is interpreting generate an alarm to encompass generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment as the assistive tool is in the vicinity of the caregiver);
gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information (See Paragraphs [0039], [0077]-[0080], [0084]-[0087]: The proposed concepts can be employed in any clinical environment, such as a hospital or care home, in which information of a subject is to be provided to a clinician, embodiments are particularly advantageous in intensive care units, as these environments may provide a large amount of monitoring data for a caregiver to assess and interpret, information of a caregiver (e.g. their role, experience level, training level or responsibilities) can be used in the prediction or estimation of the caregiver workload, which the Examiner is interpreting the monitoring data to encompass information sources, interpreting hospital to encompass medical institution, interpreting the caregiver to encompass medical professionals), wherein the gathered information concerns at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions (See Paragraphs [0064]-[0070]: The caregiver burden information indicates a current workload (i.e. burden) of the caregiver, and a workload represents a cognitive and/or physical availability of the subject, e.g. representing a level of burnout, fatigue, time availability and/or other similar factors, which the Examiner is interpreting workload to encompass a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions, and the Examiner is interpreting including the data concerning the one or more alarms to be encompassed when combined with Stump described below), and wherein the wellbeing of one or more of:
a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff (See Paragraphs [0074]-[0075]: Identification of the subjects under the responsibility of the caregiver may be derived, for instance, from a duty roster (indicating currently responsibly caregivers) and/or image/video data (which may indicate which caregivers are attending which subjects), which the Examiner is interpreting identification of the subjects under the responsibility of the caregiver to encompass a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff); and
an alarm-loading of the one or more medical staff (See Paragraphs [0059], [0104]: Yet other examples of elements that could be used as or to derive information quantity data include a type and/or number of alarm settings; an amount of (available) patient data relevant to the current patient state, which the Examiner is interpreting a type and/or number of alarm settings, which the Examiner is interpreting a number of alarm settings.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to modify the method of McKeown to include generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment; gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions, and wherein the wellbeing of one or more of: a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff; and an alarm-loading of the one or more medical staff as taught by Vasist to identify healthcare professionals and fatigue level. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify McKeown with Vasist with the motivation of reducing a chance that important information will be overlooked (See Background of the Invention of Vasist in Paragraph [0005]).
While McKeown/Vasist discloses the method as described above, McKeown/Vasist may not explicitly teach gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device, to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds; and
processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of:
volume information for the one or more audible alarms;
volatility information for the one or more audible alarms;
bias information for the one or more audible alarms;
persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and
stationary information for the one or more audible alarms.
Neubauer teaches a method for gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device (See col. 13, ll. 14-25: The Alarm Management System comprises a second application that is installed locally on the personal device, which the Examiner is interpreting the personal device to encompass a handheld electronic device (See col. 10, ll. 58-65: The alert content information is sent to a clinician’s personal device, e.g. mobile phone)) and a dedicated network device (See col. 10, ll. 53-67, col. 11, ll. 1-34: The Alarm Management System is implemented as a virtual device, e.g., on a hospital server, which the Examiner is interpreting a virtual device to encompass a dedicated network device), to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment (See col. 13, ll. 14-40, col. 27, ll. 62-67, col. 28, ll. 1-42: Dynamic attributes provide context to clinicians to facilitate determining when a monitor alarm is associated with a true clinical event, when a more urgent response is required to address an alarm associated with lack of monitoring or reliability of monitoring, which the Examiner is interpreting the dynamic attributes to encompass gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, and the microphone is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or absence of a particular cause of an alarm (col. 13, ll. 14-40) to encompass generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment), processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment (See col. 13, ll. 14-40: A microphone or video surveillance camera is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or the lack of presence of a particular cause of an alarm to help determine the appropriate sub-priority or to determine the alarm can be suppressed, which the Examiner is interpreting the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence by a microphone to encompass processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment (Bedside alarms are described in col. 18, ll. 63-67, col. 19, ll. 1-16)), wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices (See col. 19, ll. 1-16: The medical device will emit an audible alert at the time of sending the alarm), and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds (See col. 34, ll. 15-24: If the first sub-priority exceeds a threshold, an audible alert to be sounded in the patient room, which the Examiner is interpreting a threshold to encompass one or more device thresholds); and
processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon (See col. 13, ll. 14-40: A microphone or video surveillance camera is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or the lack of presence of a particular cause of an alarm to help determine the appropriate sub-priority or to determine the alarm can be suppressed, which the Examiner is interpreting the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence by a microphone to encompass processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms (Bedside alarms are described in col. 18, ll. 63-67, col. 19, ll. 1-16)), at least in part, one or more of:
volume information for the one or more audible alarms;
volatility information for the one or more audible alarms;
bias information for the one or more audible alarms;
persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and
stationary information for the one or more audible alarms ((See col. 13, ll. 59-67, col. 14, ll. 1-12: The method discloses the ability of a staff member to determine the urgency of responding to an alarm and the amount of delay time they have before responding to an alarm, content provided to a personal deice or the display screen for an in-room Alarm Management System for an original alert includes the original sub-priority, the time remaining until the sub-priority is escalated, which the Examiner is interpreting determine the urgency of responding to an alarm to encompass stationary information for the one or more audible alarms as stationary is described in the Applicant’s Specification in Paragraph [00256] as “Stationary: Lastly, measuring whether the signal is unchanged over a timespan is important for understanding whether statistics are changing or not. The signal needs to show stationarity across recent history, e.g., the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test is satisfied across a high percentage of samples in recent history.”, as escalation is dictated by time in col. 13, ll. 14-24.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to modify the method of McKeown/Vasist to include gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device, to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds; and processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of: volume information for the one or more audible alarms; volatility information for the one or more audible alarms; bias information for the one or more audible alarms; persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and stationary information for the one or more audible alarms as taught by Neubauer. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify McKeown/Vasist with Neubauer with the motivation of reducing alarm fatigue while maintaining patient safety (See Detailed Description of Neubauer in col. 8, ll. 63-65).
As per claim 2, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the method of claim 1 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein the plurality of available viewing lenses includes an individual level viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: Selecting an individual in the performance tab to encompass an individual viewing lens.)
Claim(s) 10 mirrors claim 2 only within a different statutory category, and is rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
As per claim 4, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the method of claim 1 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein the wellbeing of one or more medical staff concerns an attrition potential of the one or more medical staff (See Paragraph [0211]: The snapshot can display flight risk, loss impact, and likely reasons for leaving, which the Examiner is interpreting the likely reasons for leaving and loss impact to encompass an attrition potential of the one or more medical staff.)
As per claim 5, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the method of claim 1 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein rendering at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens includes:
graphically indicating information concerning a wellbeing of at least a portion of the one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions (See Paragraph [0064]: The platform may provide a rich user experience through an intuitive and interactive user interface that is centered on the user's experience, using a combination of textual and graphical means to present information relevant to the user's job, which the Examiner is interpreting graphical means to present information relevant to the user's job to encompass graphically indicating information concerning a wellbeing of at least a portion of the one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions as the user's job could be to identify employee health.)
Claim(s) 13 and 21 mirror claim 5 only within different statutory categories, and are rejected for the same reasons as claim 5.
As per claim 6, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the method of claim 1 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein rendering at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens includes:
providing time-based information concerning a wellbeing of at least a portion of the one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions (See Paragraph [0089]: A simplified embodiment of effective dating, effective dating may enable changes made to each domain object to be associated with an effective date and displaying the information on an X-Y chart, which the Examiner is interpreting the domain object to encompass time-based information concerning a wellbeing.)
Claim(s) 14 and 22 mirror claim 6 only within only within different statutory categories, and are rejected for the same reasons as claim 6.
As per claim 7, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the method of claim 1 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein a wellbeing of the one or more medical staff is based, at least in part, upon a quantity and/or the authenticity of alarms to which the one or more medical staff were subjected (See Paragraph [0165]: Alerts may be issued based on a range of criteria and the alerts may be context specific so that an alert issued through the user interface may be context specific so that an alert issued through the user interface may be based at least in part on the current activity of the user, which the Examiner is interpreting the alerts to encompass alarms and the context specific to encompass the authenticity of alarms.)
Claim 15 mirrors claim 7 only within different statutory categories, and is rejected for the same reason as claim 7.
As per claim 8, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the method of claim 1 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein a wellbeing of a particular medical staff is reviewable via an individual level viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: Selecting an individual in the performance tab to encompass an individual viewing lens.)
Claim(s) 16 and 24 mirror claim 8 only within different statutory categories, and are rejected for the same reasons as claim 8.
As per independent claim 9, McKeown discloses a computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor (See Paragraph [0263]: The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory), cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
generating a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded and generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds (See Paragraph [0165]: An alert issued through the user interface may include a configurable visual indication on a computer display such as a pop-up window, or other visual notification, and the alert may include a configurable audible aspect as well that may play through a speaker system of the computer through which the user interface is accessed, which the Examiner is interpreting a pop-up window to encompass a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded as the alerts may be issued based on a range of criteria and may be context specific, and interpreting a configurable audible aspect as well that may play through a speaker system of the computer to encompass generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds);
enabling a user to select a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information, thus defining a selected viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: An individual can be selected in the performance tab and upon selecting an individual a snapshot of the individual's profile can be displayed, which the Examiner is interpreting selecting the tab to encompass selecting a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information as another option would be to select the team as a whole), wherein the available viewing lenses include one or more of:
a macro level viewing lens;
a facility level viewing lens (See Paragraphs [0203]-[0204], [0208], and [0211]: A succession/career path tab in a human resource management system may comprise access to an organization chart and number of successors, the number of successors is the number of other employees who could replace the employee should they leave the organization, which the Examiner is interpreting an organization to encompass a facility and an organization chart and number of successors to encompass viewing at a facility level); a unit level viewing lens;
a cohort level viewing lens; and
rendering at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: Selecting an individual in any of the tabs of the human resource management system may bring up a snapshot of the individual profile, which the Examiner is interpreting the snapshot of the individual profile to encompass rendering at least a portion of the gathered information.)
While McKeown teaches the computer program product as described above, McKeown may not explicitly teach generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment;
gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information.
Vasist teaches a computer program product for
generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded (See Paragraph [0065]: An indicator of “high” indicates that the current workload on the caregiver breaches a first predetermined threshold, which the Examiner is interpreting an indicator of “high” to encompass a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded) and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment (See Paragraphs [0050]-[0059]: The assistive tool may detect when a physiological parameter of the subject breaches a threshold, and generate an alarm in response to the breach, which the Examiner is interpreting generate an alarm to encompass generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment as the assistive tool is in the vicinity of the caregiver);
gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information (See Paragraphs [0039], [0077]-[0080], [0084]-[0087], [0143]-[0144]: The proposed concepts can be employed in any clinical environment, such as a hospital or care home, in which information of a subject is to be provided to a clinician, embodiments are particularly advantageous in intensive care units, as these environments may provide a large amount of monitoring data for a caregiver to assess and interpret, information of a caregiver (e.g. their role, experience level, training level or responsibilities) can be used in the prediction or estimation of the caregiver workload, and alerts can be modified based on the recommended level of assistance, which the Examiner is interpreting the monitoring data to encompass information sources, interpreting hospital to encompass medical institution, interpreting the caregiver to encompass medical professionals, and a large amount of monitoring data for a caregiver to assess and interpret, information of a caregiver to encompass data concerning the one or more alarms when combined with McKeown's disclosure of alerts.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to modify the computer program product of McKeown to include generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment; gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information as taught by Vasist to identify healthcare professionals and fatigue level. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify McKeown with Vasist with the motivation of reducing a chance that important information will be overlooked (See Background of the Invention of Vasist in Paragraph [0005]).
While McKeown/Vasist discloses the computer program product as described above, McKeown/Vasist may not explicitly teach gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device, to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds; and
processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of:
volume information for the one or more audible alarms;
volatility information for the one or more audible alarms;
bias information for the one or more audible alarms;
persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and
stationary information for the one or more audible alarms.
Neubauer teaches a computer program product for gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device (See col. 13, ll. 14-25: The Alarm Management System comprises a second application that is installed locally on the personal device, which the Examiner is interpreting the personal device to encompass a handheld electronic device (See col. 10, ll. 58-65: The alert content information is sent to a clinician’s personal device, e.g. mobile phone)) and a dedicated network device (See col. 10, ll. 53-67, col. 11, ll. 1-34: The Alarm Management System is implemented as a virtual device, e.g., on a hospital server, which the Examiner is interpreting a virtual device to encompass a dedicated network device), to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment (See col. 13, ll. 14-40, col. 27, ll. 62-67, col. 28, ll. 1-42: Dynamic attributes provide context to clinicians to facilitate determining when a monitor alarm is associated with a true clinical event, when a more urgent response is required to address an alarm associated with lack of monitoring or reliability of monitoring, which the Examiner is interpreting the dynamic attributes to encompass gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, and the microphone is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or absence of a particular cause of an alarm (col. 13, ll. 14-40) to encompass generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment), processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment (See col. 13, ll. 14-40: A microphone or video surveillance camera is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or the lack of presence of a particular cause of an alarm to help determine the appropriate sub-priority or to determine the alarm can be suppressed, which the Examiner is interpreting the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence by a microphone to encompass processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment (Bedside alarms are described in col. 18, ll. 63-67, col. 19, ll. 1-16)), wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices (See col. 19, ll. 1-16: The medical device will emit an audible alert at the time of sending the alarm), and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds (See col. 34, ll. 15-24: If the first sub-priority exceeds a threshold, an audible alert to be sounded in the patient room, which the Examiner is interpreting a threshold to encompass one or more device thresholds); and
processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon (See col. 13, ll. 14-40: A microphone or video surveillance camera is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or the lack of presence of a particular cause of an alarm to help determine the appropriate sub-priority or to determine the alarm can be suppressed, which the Examiner is interpreting the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence by a microphone to encompass processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms (Bedside alarms are described in col. 18, ll. 63-67, col. 19, ll. 1-16)), at least in part, one or more of:
volume information for the one or more audible alarms;
volatility information for the one or more audible alarms;
bias information for the one or more audible alarms;
persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and
stationary information for the one or more audible alarms (See col. 13, ll. 59-67, col. 14, ll. 1-12: The method discloses the ability of a staff member to determine the urgency of responding to an alarm and the amount of delay time they have before responding to an alarm, content provided to a personal deice or the display screen for an in-room Alarm Management System for an original alert includes the original sub-priority, the time remaining until the sub-priority is escalated, which the Examiner is interpreting determine the urgency of responding to an alarm to encompass stationary information for the one or more audible alarms as stationary is described in the Applicant’s Specification in Paragraph [00256] as “Stationary: Lastly, measuring whether the signal is unchanged over a timespan is important for understanding whether statistics are changing or not. The signal needs to show stationarity across recent history, e.g., the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test is satisfied across a high percentage of samples in recent history.”, as escalation is dictated by time in col. 13, ll. 14-24.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to modify the computer program product of McKeown/Vasist to include gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device, to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds; and processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of: volume information for the one or more audible alarms; volatility information for the one or more audible alarms; bias information for the one or more audible alarms; persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and stationary information for the one or more audible alarms as taught by Neubauer. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify McKeown/Vasist with Neubauer with the motivation of reducing alarm fatigue while maintaining patient safety (See Detailed Description of Neubauer in col. 8, ll. 63-65).
As per claim 11, McKeown/Vasist/Stump discloses the computer program product of claim 9 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein the gathered information concerns, at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions (See Paragraph [0149]: The applications may help the HR administrative and executive team assess various trends and indicators pertaining to employees' health, finance, workflow, and career, which the Examiner is interpreting employees' health to encompass a wellbeing of one or more medical staff.)
As per claim 12, McKeown/Vasist/Stump discloses the computer program product of claims 9 and 11 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein the wellbeing of one or more medical staff concerns one or more of:
an attrition potential of the one or more medical staff (See Paragraph [0149]: The applications may help the HR administrative and executive team assess various trends and indicators pertaining to employees' health, finance, workflow, and career, which the Examiner is interpreting employees' health to encompass a wellbeing of one or more medical staff);
a fatigue level of the one or more medical staff;
a patient-loading of the one or more medical staff; and
an alarm-loading of the one or more medical staff.
Claim(s) 20 mirrors claim 12 only within a different statutory category, and is rejected for the same reasons as claim 4.
As per independent claim 17, McKeown discloses a computing system comprising:
a processor and memory configured to perform operations (See Paragraph [0263]: The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory) comprising:
generating a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded and generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds (See Paragraph [0165]: An alert issued through the user interface may include a configurable visual indication on a computer display such as a pop-up window, or other visual notification, and the alert may include a configurable audible aspect as well that may play through a speaker system of the computer through which the user interface is accessed, which the Examiner is interpreting a pop-up window to encompass a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded as the alerts may be issued based on a range of criteria and may be context specific, and interpreting a configurable audible aspect as well that may play through a speaker system of the computer to encompass generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds);
[…] wherein the wellbeing of the one or more medical staff is based, at least in part, upon a quantity and/or an authenticity of bedside device alarms to which the one or more medical staff were subjected (See Paragraphs [0165] and [0259]: Alerts may be issued based on a range of criteria and the alerts may be context specific so that an alert issued through the user interface may be context specific so that an alert issued through the user interface may be based at least in part on the current activity of the user, and the methods, programs codes, and instructions may be implemented on or through mobile devices, mobile devices could be placed bedside to which the one or more medical staff were subjected, which the Examiner is interpreting the alerts to encompass alarms and the context specific to encompass an authenticity of bedside alarms when combined with Neubauer’s disclosure of bedside alarms below);
enabling a user to select a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information, thus defining a selected viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: An individual can be selected in the performance tab and upon selecting an individual a snapshot of the individual's profile can be displayed, which the Examiner is interpreting selecting the tab to encompass selecting a viewing lens from a plurality of available viewing lenses through which to display the gathered information as another option would be to select the team as a whole); and
rendering at least a portion of the gathered information based, at least in part, upon the selected viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: Selecting an individual in any of the tabs of the human resource management system may bring up a snapshot of the individual profile, which the Examiner is interpreting the snapshot of the individual profile to encompass rendering at least a portion of the gathered information.)
While McKeown teaches wherein the wellbeing of the one or more medical staff is based, at least in part, upon a quantity and/or an authenticity of bedside device alarms to which the one or more medical staff were subjected as described above, McKeown may not explicitly teach generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment;
gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns, at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions.
Vasist teaches a system for generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded (See Paragraph [0065]: An indicator of “high” indicates that the current workload on the caregiver breaches a first predetermined threshold, which the Examiner is interpreting an indicator of “high” to encompass a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded) and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment (See Paragraphs [0050]-[0059]: The assistive tool may detect when a physiological parameter of the subject breaches a threshold, and generate an alarm in response to the breach, which the Examiner is interpreting generate an alarm to encompass generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment as the assistive tool is in the vicinity of the caregiver);
gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns, at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions (See Paragraphs [0039], [0077]-[0080], [0084]-[0087]: The proposed concepts can be employed in any clinical environment, such as a hospital or care home, in which information of a subject is to be provided to a clinician, embodiments are particularly advantageous in intensive care units, as these environments may provide a large amount of monitoring data for a caregiver to assess and interpret, information of a caregiver (e.g. their role, experience level, training level or responsibilities) can be used in the prediction or estimation of the caregiver workload, which the Examiner is interpreting the monitoring data to encompass information sources, interpreting hospital to encompass medical institution, interpreting the caregiver to encompass medical professionals, and a large amount of monitoring data for a caregiver to assess and interpret, information of a caregiver to encompass data concerning the one or more alarms when combined with McKeown's disclosure of alerts), and wherein the wellbeing of the one or more medical staff is based, at least in part, upon a quantity and/or an authenticity of bedside device alarms to which the one or more medical staff were subjected.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to modify the system of McKeown to include generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment; gathering information from a datasource concerning one or more medical professionals within one or more medical institutions and including the data concerning the one or more alarms, thus defining gathered information, wherein the gathered information concerns, at least in part, a wellbeing of one or more medical staff of the one or more medical institutions as taught by Vasist to identify healthcare professionals and fatigue level. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify McKeown with Vasist with the motivation of reducing a chance that important information will be overlooked (See Background of the Invention of Vasist in Paragraph [0005]).
While McKeown/Vasist discloses the system as described above, McKeown/Vasist may not explicitly teach gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device, to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds; and
processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon, at least in part, one or more of:
volume information for the one or more audible alarms;
volatility information for the one or more audible alarms;
bias information for the one or more audible alarms;
persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and
stationary information for the one or more audible alarms.
Neubauer teaches a system for gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device (See col. 13, ll. 14-25: The Alarm Management System comprises a second application that is installed locally on the personal device, which the Examiner is interpreting the personal device to encompass a handheld electronic device (See col. 10, ll. 58-65: The alert content information is sent to a clinician’s personal device, e.g. mobile phone)) and a dedicated network device (See col. 10, ll. 53-67, col. 11, ll. 1-34: The Alarm Management System is implemented as a virtual device, e.g., on a hospital server, which the Examiner is interpreting a virtual device to encompass a dedicated network device), to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment (See col. 13, ll. 14-40, col. 27, ll. 62-67, col. 28, ll. 1-42: Dynamic attributes provide context to clinicians to facilitate determining when a monitor alarm is associated with a true clinical event, when a more urgent response is required to address an alarm associated with lack of monitoring or reliability of monitoring, which the Examiner is interpreting the dynamic attributes to encompass gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, and the microphone is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or absence of a particular cause of an alarm (col. 13, ll. 14-40) to encompass generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment), processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment (See col. 13, ll. 14-40: A microphone or video surveillance camera is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or the lack of presence of a particular cause of an alarm to help determine the appropriate sub-priority or to determine the alarm can be suppressed, which the Examiner is interpreting the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence by a microphone to encompass processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment (Bedside alarms are described in col. 18, ll. 63-67, col. 19, ll. 1-16)), wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices (See col. 19, ll. 1-16: The medical device will emit an audible alert at the time of sending the alarm), and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds (See col. 34, ll. 15-24: If the first sub-priority exceeds a threshold, an audible alert to be sounded in the patient room, which the Examiner is interpreting a threshold to encompass one or more device thresholds); and
processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon (See col. 13, ll. 14-40: A microphone or video surveillance camera is used to detect patient actions that assist the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence or the lack of presence of a particular cause of an alarm to help determine the appropriate sub-priority or to determine the alarm can be suppressed, which the Examiner is interpreting the Alarm Management Application to verify the presence by a microphone to encompass processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms (Bedside alarms are described in col. 18, ll. 63-67, col. 19, ll. 1-16)), at least in part, one or more of:
volume information for the one or more audible alarms;
volatility information for the one or more audible alarms;
bias information for the one or more audible alarms;
persistence information for the one or more audible alarms; and
stationary information for the one or more audible alarms (See col. 13, ll. 59-67, col. 14, ll. 1-12: The method discloses the ability of a staff member to determine the urgency of responding to an alarm and the amount of delay time they have before responding to an alarm, content provided to a personal deice or the display screen for an in-room Alarm Management System for an original alert includes the original sub-priority, the time remaining until the sub-priority is escalated, which the Examiner is interpreting determine the urgency of responding to an alarm to encompass stationary information for the one or more audible alarms as stationary is described in the Applicant’s Specification in Paragraph [00256] as “Stationary: Lastly, measuring whether the signal is unchanged over a timespan is important for understanding whether statistics are changing or not. The signal needs to show stationarity across recent history, e.g., the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test is satisfied across a high percentage of samples in recent history.”, as escalation is dictated by time in col. 13, ll. 14-24.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to modify the system of McKeown/Vasist to include gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds, and processing the one or more audible alarms to determine an authenticity of the one or more audible alarms based upon stationary information for the one or more audible alarms as taught by Neubauer. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify McKeown/Vasist with Neubauer with the motivation of reducing alarm fatigue while maintaining patient safety (See Detailed Description of Neubauer in col. 8, ll. 63-65).
As per claim 18, McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer discloses the system of claim 17 as described above. McKeown further teaches wherein the plurality of available viewing lenses includes one or more of:
a macro level viewing lens;
a facility level viewing lens;
a unit level viewing lens;
a cohort level viewing lens; and
an individual level viewing lens (See Paragraph [0203]: Selecting an individual in the performance tab to encompass an individual viewing lens.)
Response to Arguments
In the Remarks filed on December 10, 2025, the Applicant argues that the newly amended and/or added claims overcome the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection(s) and 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection(s). The Examiner does not acknowledge that the newly added and/or amended claims overcome the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection(s) and 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection(s).
The Applicant argues that:
(1) without conceding the assertions that the claims are directed toward and abstract idea, as discussed in detail below, the independent claims have been amended to recite additional features. As such, the amended independent claims are not believed to be directed toward an abstract idea. Additionally to any extent that the amended independent claims could be considered to include an abstract idea, Applicant respectfully submits that any such abstract idea is integrated into a practical application thereof. Accordingly, Applicant respectfully requests that this rejection be withdrawn;
(2) independent claim 1 has been amended, in relevant part, to recite "gathering data concerning one or more alarms within a medical environment including acoustically monitoring the medical environment, via one or more of an application installed on a handheld electronic device and a dedicated network device, to generate an acoustic signal indicative of audio within the medical environment, processing the acoustic signal to identify one or more audible alarms within the medical environment, wherein the one or more audible alarms within the medical environment originate from one or more devices, and are based upon, at least in part, one or more device thresholds;" "generating a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds are currently being exceeded and generating alarms within at least a portion of the medical environment;" and "generating a simulation including a graphical user interface display of a level at which the one or more device thresholds would be exceeded and generate alarms at one or more adjusted thresholds." Applicant respectfully submits that the combination of cited references is not understood, and has not been asserted, to disclose such features. In consideration of the foregoing, Applicant respectfully submits that amended independent claim 1 is in condition for allowance. As independent claims 9 and 17 have been amended to recite similar features as claim 1, Applicant respectfully submits that independent claims 9 and 17 are also believed to be in condition for allowance. Because the remaining claims ultimately depend upon one of claims 1, 9, and 17, the remaining claims are also believed to be in condition for allowance. Accordingly, withdrawal of the rejections under 35 U.S.C. §103 is respectfully requested.
In response to argument (1), the Examiner does not find the Applicant’s argument(s) persuasive. The Examiner maintains that the limitations, as drafted, given the broadest reasonable interpretation, managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) that constitute Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity, but for the recitation of generic computer components and generally linking the abstract idea to a technical environment. The Examiner does not acknowledge that the abstract idea is integrated into a practical application. The 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection(s) stand.
In response to argument (2), the Examiner does not find the Applicant’s argument(s) persuasive. The Examiner maintains that the combination of McKeown/Vasist/Neubauer encompasses the newly amended independent claims 1, 9, and 17 as described above in the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection(s). The 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection(s) stand.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chung et al. (U.S. Patent Pre-Grant Publication No. 2022/0301677), describes a dynamic, customizable, and manage user interface that supports a coaching environment of a mobile application for caregivers.
Porter et al. (U.S. Patent Pre-Grant Publication No. 2015/0081487), describes a system for automatically tracking employee hours and can determine the current location of the employee.
Kamaldeep et al. (“Towards a Secure Internet of Things: A Comprehensive Study of Second Line Defense Mechanisms”), describes an Internet of Things (IoT) exemplifies a large network of sensing and actuating devices that have penetrated into the physical world enabling new applications like smart homes, intelligent transportation, smart healthcare and smart cities.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bennett S Erickson whose telephone number is (571)270-3690. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 9:00am - 5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Morgan can be reached at (571) 272-6773. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Bennett Stephen Erickson/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3683