DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The action is in response to the application filed on 09/07/2023.
Election/Restrictions
In response to the Requirement for Restriction/Election of Species dated 09/24/2025, Applicant has cancelled Group II claims (claims 11-17). As such the Requirement for Restriction/Election of Species is moot.
Claims 1-10, 18-27 are pending and examined below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 7 and 24 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 7 and 24, the claims recite the limitation “…an algorithm for analyzing the light received at the optical component…”; however, the Specification fails to recite any algorithm. As such the claims fail to comply with the written description requirement.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8, 18-23, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20210235172 A1 ()hereinafter referred to as “Wohlschlager”).
Regarding claims 1 and 18, Wohlschlager, a health system incorporating wireless communication devices, teaches a wearable device/method (as shown in Figure 1), comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code (paragraph [0084]); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories (paragraph [0043], [0070]) and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the wearable device to:
receive, from a charging unit coupled with the wearable device, an electrical input for charging a battery of the wearable device (paragraph [0075]);
activate, while the wearable device is coupled with the charging unit, one or more optical components of the wearable device (sensor can be a blood oxygen sensor (which has a light emitter and detector); paragraph [0022]; activates sensors for calibration purposes; paragraphs [0017], [0065]);
generate a first signal based at least in part on light received at an optical component of the one or more optical components of the wearable device (sensor can be a blood oxygen sensor (which has a light emitter and detector); paragraph [0022]; activates sensors for calibration purposes; paragraphs [0017], [0065]);
measure a performance metric associated with the wearable device and based at least in part on the first signal, wherein the performance metric comprises one or both of an average of a signal strength of the first signal or an average variation of the signal strength of the first signal (“in an embodiment the controller is configured to, if operated in the first mode, determine a variation value being indicative of a variation of average signal strength values, wherein a respective average signal strength value is the average of the signal strength values between an increase of the signal strength values having a slope being larger than a predefined slope threshold”; paragraphs [0017], [0065]); and
transmit a second signal indicating the performance metric to a user device associated with the wearable device (paragraphs [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding claims 2 and 19, Wohlschlager teaches wherein, the one or more optical components comprise one or more light emitting components and one or more photodetectors (paragraph [0022]) and to activate the one or more optical components, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the wearable device to:
transmit, using a light-emitting component of the one or more light-emitting components of the wearable device, the light (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0065]); and
receive, using a first photodetector of the one or more photodetectors of the wearable device, the light, wherein generating the first signal is based at least in part on the light received at the first photodetector (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0065]).
Regarding claims 3 and 20, Wohlschlager teaches wherein the charging unit comprises one or more light-emitting components and the one or more optical components comprises one or more photodetectors, and wherein generating the first signal is based at least in part on the light transmitted from the one or more light-emitting components of the charging unit and received at the one or more photodetectors of the wearable device (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]).
Regarding claims 4 and 21, Wohlschlager teaches wherein to activate the one or more optical components, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the wearable device to: receive, using a second photodetector of the one or more photodetectors of the wearable device, the light; generate a third signal based at least in part on the light received at the second photodetector (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]); and measure a second performance metric associated with the wearable device based at least in part on the third signal, wherein the second performance metric comprises one or both of an average of a signal strength of the third signal or an average variation of the signal strength of the third signal (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]; transmit signals; paragraphs [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding claim 5 and 22, Wohlschlager teaches wherein the charging unit comprises one or more photodetectors and the one or more optical components comprise one or more light-emitting components and the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the wearable device to: transmit, using a light-emitting component of the one or more light-emitting components of the wearable device, second light (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]); and receive, from the charging unit, a third signal indicating a second performance metric associated with the wearable device based at least in part on a second signal, the second performance metric comprising one or both of an average of a signal strength of the second signal or an average variation of the signal strength of the second signal, wherein the second signal is based on the second light received by a photodetector of the one or more photodetectors of the charging unit (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]; transmit signals; paragraphs [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding claim 6 and 23, Wohlschlager teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to further cause the wearable device to:receive, based at least in part on transmitting the second signal, a third signal from the user device instructing the wearable device to adjust one or more measurement parameters associated with the wearable device (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]; transmit signals; paragraphs [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding claim 8 and 25, Wohlschlager teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to further cause the wearable device to:acquire physiological data associated with a user of the wearable device via the wearable device based at least in part on the third signal (paragraphs [0017], [0022], [0064]-[0065]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 9-10, 24, 26-27 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABID A MUSTANSIR whose telephone number is (408)918-7647. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10 am to 6 pm Pacific Time.
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/ABID A MUSTANSIR/ Examiner, Art Unit 3791