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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 – 13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. With regard to claims 1 and 15, “the apparatus” is indicated to comprise sensor and wireless receiver elements; it is unclear which of these is referred to by indicating “wherein the apparatus is configured to … analyze or display” as neither of these (sensor or receiver components) is generally considered to be configured to perform these functions. With regard to claim 7, the relationship between “a transmitter” as indicated in the dependent claim and “a transmitter” of claim 1 is unclear.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 – 5 and 12 – 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rayer (USPGPub 2022/0257131 – cited by Applicant). Rayer (Figure 1) teach a sensor system comprising consumable (paragraph [0038]) and wearable (paragraph [0039]) subcomponents. Rayer discloses further details of the consumable and wearable portions of the system (paragraphs [0040] – [0042]). Examiner notes that claims 14 and 15 are directed to respective subcomponents of the system of claim 1. Additionally, Rayer teach measurement data that is collected (paragraphs [0045] – [0048]); readout/display of output information (paragraphs [0052] – [0055]); use of optical sensing elements (paragraph [0061]); the manner of data collection via an access window when the consumable and wearable components are connected (paragraphs [0063] - [0065]); and measured physiological parameters of interest (Figure 2; paragraphs [0069] – [0072]).
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) 6 - 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rayer as applied to claim 1 above. Rayer recognizes that the measuring patch requires power to perform its measurements (paragraph [0084] – [0086]), but does not particularly teach the use of a contract free rechargeable arrangement. However, use of such elements was well known at the time of the invention, and thus it would have been within the skill level of the art to modify Rayer to incorporate known components, including a contact free recharging arrangement, since it has generally been held to be within the skill level of the art to use known elements in their intended manner. Similarly, Rayer indicate that data is provided between the consumable and wearable components, but they do not particularly teach that a telemetry element is utilized for the data exchange. However, without a showing of criticality or unexpected results it would have been obvious to modify Rayer to provide telemetry elements in the components, consistent with known uses of such structures. Likewise, use of machine learning models for processing physiological signals was known at the time of the invention and it would be within the skill level of the art to implement Rayer with processing relying on such models.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC FRANK WINAKUR whose telephone number is (571)272-4736. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9 am - 6 pm.
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/ERIC F WINAKUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791