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 . The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions. 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 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. / U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US-20200375455-A1 to Van Tassel et al. (“Van Tassel”) in view of U.S. Patent No. / U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US-20170302557-A1 to BROOKS et al. (“BROOKS”).
As to claim 1, Van Tassel disclose(s) an analyte monitoring system comprising:
a mobile device comprising one or more processors and a memory communicatively coupled with the one or more processors comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to execute an application associated with the analyte monitoring system; (Van Tassel; display device 310; Fig. 3A & 3B; analyte sensor app 330)
and an analyte monitoring system server (Van Tassel; Analyte Sensor System 308; Fig. 3A & 3B;) configured to be communicatively coupled with the application, wherein, when executing the instructions, the application associated with the analyte monitoring system is configured to detect that a communication channel between the application and the analyte monitoring system server is non-responsive (Van Tassel; connection has failed; [0046]) by performing operations comprising:
receiving a notification from the analyte monitoring system server via a notification service server, wherein the notification service server is configured to be communicatively coupled with the application and the analyte monitoring system server; (Van Tassel; heartbeat signal; [0220]; notify the system)
in response to receiving the notification, cancelling output of a first connectivity alert, wherein the output of the first connectivity alert was scheduled prior to receiving the notification; (Van Tassel; predetermined period of time close the connection with no activity; [0046]; cancel the close connection request)
in response to receiving the notification, scheduling output of a second connectivity alert, wherein the second connectivity alert is scheduled to be output at expiration of a timer unless the mobile device receives a second notification from the analyte monitoring system server; (Van Tassel; reset the period of time, e.g. 3 seconds, to close the connection with no activity; [0046]; cancel the close connection request)
determining that the timer has expired; (Van Tassel; inactivity timer; [0441])
and outputting the second connectivity alert, wherein the second connectivity alert indicates that the application has not established a connection with the analyte monitoring system server for a predetermined period of time. (Van Tassel; close the connection if no heartbeat signal is received; [0441])
Van Tassel discloses using the heartbeat to keep a connection alive, and does not expressly disclose using the heartbeat to detect that a communication channel between the application and the analyte monitoring system server is non-responsive.
BROOKS discloses using a heartbeat to determine that a connection is non-responsive. (BROOKS; fig. 3; degraded connection; [0014])
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the heartbeat of BROOKS and the heartbeat of Van Tassel. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings as both are concerned with checking wireless connectivity. Using the heartbeat of BROOKS would allow for connections of Van Tassel to be both check for continued connectivity and degraded performance.
Accordingly, the prior art references teach all of the claimed elements.
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings as all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. “The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results." See MPEP 2141(I) and (III) quoting Supreme Court decision KSR.
As to claim 2, Van Tassel-BROOKS disclose(s) the analyte monitoring system of claim 1, wherein prior to receiving the notification from the analyte monitoring system server, the application is further configured to perform operations further comprising:
receiving a request to establish a schedule for monitoring the communication channel between the application and the analyte monitoring system server; (BROOKS; send enhanced heartbeat message; 320; fig. 3)
and in response to receiving the request, scheduling the output of the first connectivity alert. (BROOKS; start timer; 330; fig. 3)
As to claim 3, Van Tassel-BROOKS disclose(s) the analyte monitoring system of claim 1, wherein an amount of time associated with the timer is based on a user input to the application associated with the analyte monitoring system. (Van Tassel; user preferences; [0204])
As to claim 4, Van Tassel-BROOKS disclose(s) the analyte monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the application is a monitoring application of the analyte monitoring system and wherein, through the application, a first user receives information relating to analyte levels of a second user. (Van Tassel; fig. 1A; the sensor and the monitor are not designated to a particular or same person)
As to claim 6, Van Tassel-BROOKS disclose(s) the analyte monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the application is further configured to perform operations further comprising:
prior to determining that the timer has expired, receiving the second notification from the analyte monitoring system server; ; (Van Tassel; heartbeat signal; [0220]; notify the system)
cancelling output of the second connectivity alert; (Van Tassel; predetermined period of time close the connection with no activity; [0046]; cancel the close connection request)
scheduling output of a third connectivity alert, wherein the third connectivity alert is scheduled to be output at expiration of a second timer unless the mobile device receives a third notification from the analyte monitoring system server. (Van Tassel; reset the period of time, e.g. 3 seconds, to close the connection with no activity; [0046]; cancel the close connection request)
As to claim 7, Van Tassel-BROOKS disclose(s) the analyte monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the application is further configured to perform operations further comprising:
prior to determining that the timer has expired, receiving other data from the analyte monitoring system server; (Van Tassel; receive any other suitable operation that utilizes the connection [0441])
cancelling output of the second connectivity alert; (Van Tassel; predetermined period of time close the connection with no activity; [0046]; cancel the close connection request)
and scheduling output of a third connectivity alert, wherein the third connectivity alert is scheduled to be output at expiration of a second timer unless the mobile device receives a third notification from the analyte monitoring system server. (Van Tassel; reset the period of time, e.g. 3 seconds, to close the connection with no activity; [0046]; cancel the close connection request)
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. / U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US-20200375455-A1 to Van Tassel et al. (“Van Tassel”) in view of U.S. Patent No. / U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US-20170302557-A1 to BROOKS et al. (“BROOKS”).
As to claim 5, Van Tassel-BROOKS disclose(s) the analyte monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the application is further configured to perform operations further comprising, prior to outputting the second connectivity alert, attempting to initiate a communication session with the analyte monitoring system server using the communication channel or a back-up communication channel.
DAS discloses attempting to initiate a communication session with the analyte monitoring system server using the communication channel or a back-up communication channel. (DAS; fig. 5)
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the backup channel of DAS and the connection failure of Van Tassel-BROOKS. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings as both are concerned with wireless connection. Using a backup channel would allow for connections to be more resilient.
Accordingly, the prior art references teach all of the claimed elements.
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings as all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. “The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results." See MPEP 2141(I) and (III) quoting Supreme Court decision KSR.
Conclusion
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/BRYAN Y LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
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