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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-8 in the reply filed on 06/22/2026 is acknowledged. However due to the claim amendments, claims 9-20 are being considered for examination. Claim 2 has been cancelled.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 05/29/2025, 06/22/2026 and 07/10/2026 are being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement filed 01/08/2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. A copy of the Non Patent Literature document “Odorant recognition using biological responses recorded in olfactory bulb of rats” has not been included but is listed in the IDS filed 01/08/2024. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
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.
Claims 1 and 3-20 of the claimed invention are directed to a natural phenomenon (a product of nature) without significantly more.
Claim 1 recites: A scent detection system for detecting volatile chemical compounds comprising: a plurality of animals equipped with: a neural interface configured to record neural activity from an olfactory system or portion thereof; an edge computing device equipped with a local database and wireless communication; and one or multiple server-side databases in a cloud.
The limitation, “a plurality of animals” as drafted, is a naturally occurring phenomenon. The characteristics of these limitations are not markedly different from the product's naturally occurring counterpart in its natural state because the animals are naturally occurring animals. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because merely incorporating a device onto the animal does not modify that the animals are naturally occurring in nature. Further, exciting recording a natural response of the animals brain is a natural phenomenon since the response is naturally occurring. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the limitations are written such that they must include the naturally occurring phenomena to incorporate the neural interface into the claimed subject matter. Dependent claims 3-20 are rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection for independent claim 1 from which they depend.
Claims 12-13 and 19-20 recite: “identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species and identifying an odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal”. The limitations, “a first corresponding glomerulus” and “a second corresponding glomerulus” as drafted, are a naturally occurring phenomenon. The characteristics of these limitations are not markedly different from the product's naturally occurring counterpart in its natural state because the glomerulus are a part of the naturally occurring animals as claimed in claim 1. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because merely incorporating a neural device onto the animal and recording a response of the brain does not modify that the animals are naturally occurring in nature. Further, recording a natural response of the animals brain is a natural phenomenon since the response is naturally occurring. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the limitations are written such that they must include the naturally occurring phenomena to incorporate the neural interface into the claimed subject matter.
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 and 3-20 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.
Claim 1 recites “from an olfactory system or portion thereof”. It is unclear as to what is meant by “or portion thereof”. The claim is indefinite as the “portion thereof” is not defined in the claim nor in the specification. Claims 3-20 are rejected by virtue of dependency on claim 1.
Regarding claim 8, which recites “wherein the plurality of animals are configured to access a global decoding model on the cloud” it is unclear as to how the animals are configured to access a global decoding model on the cloud. Do the animals use the neural interface to access a global decoding model? Further description is needed within the claim to clarify as to how the animals are configured to access a global decoding model on the cloud therefore making the claim indefinite.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 8-11, and 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kozhaya et al. (US 20190090771 A1) herein referred to as “Kozhaya” in view of McDaniel et al. (WO 2019200021 A1) herein referred to as “McDaniel” (see attached).
Regarding claim 1, Kozhaya discloses a scent detection system for detecting volatile chemical compounds (neural monitor device 110, Paragraph [0026], Referring to step S214, a stimulus is presented to a first user via user device 140 to provoke a thought in the first user. The stimulus may be, but is not limited to, visual, auditory, sensory, mechanical, and/or chemical in nature. The stimulus may be tailored to elicit a specific type of emotional response in a first user; e.g. sadness, anger, happiness, sympathy, etc. Further, the stimulus may be tailored to elicit a specific memory, trigger a specific sense, such as vision, hearing, touch, smell, Paragraph [0027]) comprising: a plurality of animals (first and second user’s, Paragraph [0003]) equipped with: a neural interface configured to record neural activity (neural monitor device 110, Paragraph [0026], computer system may include a computing device that presents a first user with a stimulus and monitors and maps the neural activity of the user, Paragraph [0003] and [0012]); an edge computing device equipped wireless communication (computing device may receive the first user’s verbal reaction to the stimulus and map the linguistic data of the first user’s verbal reaction to form a high dimensional vector based on the relationships of the mapped neural activity of the first user and the mapped verbal reaction of the first user, user device 140 may be a desktop computer, a notebook, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a handheld device, a smart-phone, a cellular phone, a television, or any other electronic device, computing system, wired or wireless device, Paragraphs [0003], [0019] and [0073]); and one or multiple server-side databases in a cloud (server 150 interconnected via network 160, cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services, server 150 includes database 152, databased 152 is a collection of data obtained from neural monitor device 110, Paragraphs [0012], [0021]-[0022], [0055]-[0056]).
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose recording signals from an olfactory system or portion thereof, nor an edge computing device equipped with a local database.
McDaniel discloses a neural interface configured to record from an olfactory system or portion thereof (Particles of explosives may bind to the dog ? nose neurons ( olfactory sensory neurons ) which fire electrical signals . The dog may perceive the electrical signal and may tell its handlers . FIG . 41 shows a non - limiting example of an olfactory receptor . The dog's nose neuron may a little sensor sticking on its surface called an odorant receptor . This receptor may only respond to a whole chemical molecule. The whole chemical molecule may be a receptor ligand pair, Paragraph [0094], This electrical signal generated by the cell may be detected by the electrode and transferred to a processor or computer input device , e.g. , a data acquisition board comprising an analog to digital converter, Paragraph [0151]), an edge computing device equipped with a local database (receive one or more electrical signals from one or more electrodes, to generate a pattern of electrical signals, to store pattern of electrical signals or electrical signals in a database, odor code profile may be stored remotely or internally on the database, Paragraphs [0023] and [0265]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including a neural interface configured to record from an olfactory system or portion thereof, and an edge computing device equipped with a local database. The motivation to do so being to provide an efficient system for recording neural activity from the olfactory system to generate a database of odor profile data (McDaniel, Paragraph [0273]-[0287]).
Regarding claim 3, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the system of claim 1.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the edge computing device is configured to convert a local representation of olfactory neural activity into a common coordinate framework.
McDaniel discloses wherein the edge computing device is configured to convert a local representation of olfactory neural activity into a common coordinate framework (odor encoding device may be used to create a universal odor code system. Within the universal odor code system, any odor may be characterized by its unique “olfactory receptor (“hOR”) intensity fingerprint (also referred to as an “odor code profile”; the universal odor system, two different compounds may have the same code if they result in the same odor for a human subject, Paragraphs [0257], [0261]-[0262] and [0292]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the edge computing device is configured to convert a local representation of olfactory neural activity into a common coordinate framework. The motivation to do so being to provide an efficient system for recording neural activity from the olfactory system to generate a database of odor profile data (McDaniel, Paragraph [0273]-[0287]).
Regarding claim 8, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the system of claim 1.
Kozhaya further discloses wherein the plurality of animals are configured to access a global decoding model on the cloud (applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail); thought prediction module 156 then compares the encoded neural activity signals of the second user with all mapped thoughts of the first users, Paragraphs [0040]-[0042], [0064]).
Regarding claim 9, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses a method of detecting volatile chemical compounds using the scent detection system of claim 1 (see claim 1).
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the method comprises: providing a family of anchor odor panels; and aligning individual animal's olfactory neural signatures into a common coordinate framework.
McDaniel discloses a method (universal odor code system encodes an olfactory stimulus into olfactory receptor space as quantitative measures of responses by olfactory receptors, producing an odor code profile, Abstract) comprising: providing a family of anchor odor panels (. In some cases , the odorant receptors comprise OR1A1 , MOR106-1 , OR51E1 , OR10J5 , OR51E2 , MOR9-1 , MOR18-1 , MOR272-1 , MOR31-1 , MOR136-1 ; any fragment thereof , or any com bination thereof, Paragraph [0006], universal odor code system may comprise a database, the database can be stored in computer readable e format, the database may comprise the information regarding a plurality of elements, the element may be a stimulus; hOR space may include any information associated with a hOR. The information related to a hOR may be a code or identity of a hOR, a neural response associated with a hOR; the database may comprise the information regarding a plurality of elements, the element may be a stimulus, the element may be an odorant, each of the plurality of elements may be a compound, each element may trigger one hOR, Paragraphs[0257]-[0259] and [0292]); and aligning individual animal's olfactory neural signatures into a common coordinate framework (odor encoding device may be used to create a universal odor code system, within the universal odor code system any odor may be characterize by its unique olfactory receptor (“hOR”) intensity fingerprint (also referred to an “odor code profile”; the universal odor system two different compounds may have the same code if they result in the same odor for a human subject, Paragraphs [0257], [0261]-[0262] and [0292]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the method comprises: providing a family of anchor odor panels; and aligning individual animal's olfactory neural signatures into a common coordinate framework. The motivation to do so being to provide an efficient system for recording neural activity from the olfactory system to generate a database of odor profile data (McDaniel, Paragraph [0273]-[0287]).
Regarding claim 10, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 9.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the family of anchor odor panels comprises a plurality of anchors.
McDaniel discloses wherein the family of anchor odor panels comprises a plurality of anchors (device may be used to create a universal odor code system . Within the universal odor code system , any odor may be characterized by its unique "olfactory receptor ( "hOR” ) intensity fingerprint (also referred to as an “odor code profile”, Paragraphs [0257]-[0259], and [0292], the odorant receptors comprise OR1A1, MOR106-1, OR51E1, OR10J5, OR51E2, MOR9-1, MOR18-1, MOR272-1, MOR31-1, MOR136-1, Paragraph [0006]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the family of anchor odor panels comprises a plurality of anchors. The motivation to do so being to detect multiple different odors to create a database of odor code profiles (McDaniel, Paragraph [0257]).
Regarding claim 11, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 9.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the common coordinate framework comprises a list of anchors.
McDaniel discloses wherein the common coordinate framework comprises a list of anchors (encoded into a hOR space, the hOR space may include any information associated with a hOR, Paragraph [0258] and [0292]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the common coordinate framework comprises a list of anchors. The motivation to do so being to detect multiple different odors to create a universal odor code system (McDaniel, Paragraph [0257]).
Regarding claim 14, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 9.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises decomposing an olfactory neural activity pattern in a basis spanned by a plurality of anchors.
McDaniel discloses wherein the method further comprises decomposing an olfactory neural activity pattern in a basis spanned by a plurality of anchors (information related to a hOR may be a code or identity of a hOR, a neural response associated with a hOR, or a physiological state associated with an event triggering an hOR, Paragraphs [0257]-[0258] and [0292]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the method further comprises decomposing an olfactory neural activity pattern in a basis spanned by a plurality of anchors. The motivation to do so being to detect multiple different odors to create a universal odor code system (McDaniel, Paragraph [0257]).
Regarding claim 15, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the scent detection system of claim 1 (see claim 1).
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the method comprises: computing scent model weight updates on an edge device in common coordinate framework coordinates; communicating encrypted scent model updates to a cloud; and incorporating scent model updates into cloud-based model in cryptographic space.
McDaniel discloses a method of federated improvement of cloud-based scent decoding machine learning models (uploaded to a cloud-based database, from which it may be accessed and used to train other machine learning-based detection systems at the same site; encoding and decoding an olfactory stimulus, a mapping function is produced using machine learning, Abstract, Paragraphs [0238] and [0254]) wherein the method comprises: computing scent model weight updates on an edge device in common coordinate framework coordinates (odor encoding device may be used to create a universal odor code system. Within the universal odor code system, any odor may be characterized by its "olfactory receptor ("hOR") intensity fingerprint (also referred to as an “odor code profile"); information related to a hOR may be a code or identity of a hOR, a neural response associated with a hOR, or a physiological state associated with an event triggering a hOR; weighting factors, bias values, and threshold values, or other computational parameters of the neural network, may be “taught" or “learned" in a training phase using one or more sets of training data, Paragraphs [0230], [0231] and [0257]); communicating encrypted scent model updates to a cloud (training data generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database, from which it may be accessed and used to train other machine learning-based detection systems at the same site or a different site; sensor device and system test results generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database and used to update the training data set in real time for continuous improvement of sensor device and detection system test performance, Paragraph [0238]); and incorporating scent model updates into cloud-based model in cryptographic space (sensor device and system test results generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database, from which it may be accessed and used to train other machine learning- based detection systems
at the same site; information regarding each one of the plurality of elements may be encrypted and encoded in a code, Paragraph [0238] and [0260]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the method comprises: computing scent model weight updates on an edge device in common coordinate framework coordinates; communicating encrypted scent model updates to a cloud; and incorporating scent model updates into cloud-based model in cryptographic space. The motivation to do so being to train other machine learning based detection systems at the same site (McDaniel, Paragraph [0238]).
Regarding claim 16, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 15.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises acquiring a global model.
McDaniel discloses wherein the method further comprises acquiring a global model (collection of odor code profiles is used as training set to train a machine learning algorithm to produce a mapping function, which may be a regressor or a classifier, depending on context, that predicts, from a test odor code profile, a formula from the collection of elements that produces the odor code profile approximating the odor code profile of the test olfactory stimulus, Paragraph [0253]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the method further comprises acquiring a global model. The motivation to do so being to train a machine learning algorithm to produce a mapping function that predicts a formula from the collection of elements that produces the odor code profile approximating the odor code profile of the test olfactory stimulus (McDaniel, Paragraph [0253]).
Regarding claim 17, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 15.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein a common coordinate framework comprises the common coordinate framework coordinates.
McDaniel discloses wherein a common coordinate framework comprises the common coordinate framework coordinates (encoded into a hOR space. The hOR space may include any information associated with a hOR, Paragraphs [0258] and [0292]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein a common coordinate framework comprises the common coordinate framework coordinates. The motivation to do so being to detect multiple different odors to create a universal odor code system (McDaniel, Paragraph [0257]-[0258]).
Regarding claim 18, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 15.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein: a common coordinate framework comprises the common coordinate framework coordinates; and the common coordinate framework comprises a list of anchors.
McDaniel discloses wherein: a common coordinate framework comprises the common coordinate framework coordinates; and the common coordinate framework comprises a list of anchors (encoded into a hOR space. The hOR space may include any information associated with a hOR, Paragraphs [0258] and [0292]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein: a common coordinate framework comprises the common coordinate framework coordinates; and the common coordinate framework comprises a list of anchors. The motivation to do so being to detect multiple different odors to create a universal odor code system (McDaniel, Paragraph [0257]-[0258]).
Claim(s) 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kozhaya in view of McDaniel further in view of Malik et al. (US 2021/0117780 A1) herein referred to as “Malik”.
Regarding claim 4, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the system of claim 1.
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model.
Malik discloses an edge computing device that comprises a local copy of a global decoding model (client system may receive, from one or more remote servers, a current version of a neural network model comprising a plurality of model parameters, Paragraph [0009]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Malik by including an edge computing device that comprises a local copy of a global decoding model. The motivation to do so being to efficiently train the neural network locally to generate a plurality of updated model parameters (Malik, Paragraph [0009]).
Regarding claim 5, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the system of claim 1.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model and the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model.
McDaniel discloses wherein the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of a model (odor encoding device may be used to create a universal odor code system. Within the universal odor code system, any odor may be characterized by its unique "olfactory receptor ("hOR") intensity fingerprint (also referred to as an “odor code profile"); information related to a hOR may be a code or identity of a hOR, a neural response associated with a hOR, or a physiological state associated with an event triggering a hOR; weighting factors, bias values, and threshold values, or other computational parameters of the neural network, may be "taught" or "learned" in a training phase using one or more sets of training data, Paragraphs [0230], [0231], and [0257]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of a model. The motivation to do so being create a universal odor code system using training data that can updated to update the model (McDaniel, Paragraphs [0230]-[0231] and [0257]).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model; compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model.
Malik discloses an edge computing device that comprises a local copy of a
global decoding model (client system may receive, from one or more remote servers, a current version of a neural network model comprising a plurality of model parameters, Paragraph [0009]); compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model (local data store to generate a plurality of updated model parameters, Paragraph [0009]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Malik by including wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model; compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model. The motivation to do so being to efficiently train the neural network locally to generate a plurality of updated model parameters and execute the model at the edge computer (Malik, Paragraph [0009]).
Regarding claim 6, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the system of claim 1.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model and the edge computing device is configured to: compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model; and upload the updated model to the cloud.
McDaniel discloses the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of a model (odor encoding device may be used to create a universal odor code system. Within the universal odor code system, any odor may be characterized by its unique "olfactory receptor ("hOR") intensity fingerprint (also referred to as an "odor code profile"); information related to a hOR may be a code or identity of a hOR, a neural response associated with a hOR, or a physiological state associated with an event triggering a hOR; weighting factors, bias values, and threshold values, or other computational parameters of the neural network, may be "taught" or "learned" in a training phase using one or more sets of training data, Paragraphs [0230], [0231] and [0257]) and upload the updated to the cloud (training data generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database, from which it may be accessed and used to train other machine learning- based detection systems at the same site or a different site; sensor device and system test results generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database and used to update the training data set in real time for continuous improvement of sensor device and detection system test performance, Paragraph [0238]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of a model and upload the updated to the cloud. The motivation to do so being create a universal odor code system using training data that can updated to update the model (McDaniel, Paragraphs [0230]-[0231] and [0257]).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model; compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model.
Malik discloses an edge computing device that comprises a local copy of a global decoding model (client system may receive, from one or more remote servers, a current version of a neural network model comprising a plurality of model parameters, Paragraph [0009]); compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model (local data store to generate a plurality of updated model parameters, Paragraph [0009]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Malik by including wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model; compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model. The motivation to do so being to efficiently train the neural network locally to generate a plurality of updated model parameters and execute the model at the edge computer (Malik, Paragraph [0009]).
Regarding claim 7, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the system of claim 1.
However Kozhaya does not explicitly disclose wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model and the edge computing device is configured to: compute an update of the global decoding model; upload the updated model to the cloud; and incorporate the updated model into the global decoding model on the cloud.
McDaniel discloses the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of a model (odor encoding device may be used to create a universal odor code system. Within the universal odor code system, any odor may be characterized by its unique "olfactory receptor ("hOR") intensity fingerprint (also referred to as an "odor code profile"); information related to a hOR may be a code or identity of a hOR, a neural response associated with a hOR, or a physiological state associated with an event triggering a hOR; weighting factors, bias values, and threshold values, or other computational parameters of the neural network, may be "taught" or "learned" in a training phase using one or more sets of training data, Paragraphs [0230], [0231] and [0257]) and upload the updated to the cloud (training data generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database, from which it may be accessed and used to train other machine learning- based detection systems at the same site or a different site; sensor device and system test results generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database and used to update the training data set in real time for continuous improvement of sensor device and detection system test performance, Paragraph [0238]), and incorporate the update into the global decoding model on the cloud (sensor device and system test results generated locally may be uploaded to a cloud-based database, from which it may be accessed and used to train other machine learning- based detection systems at the same site; information regarding each one of the plurality of elements may be encrypted and encoded in a code, Paragraphs [0238], [0260]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya to incorporate
the teachings of McDaniel by including wherein the edge computing device is configured to compute an update of a model, upload the updated to the cloud, and incorporate the update into the global decoding model on the cloud. The motivation to do so being create a universal odor code system using training data that can updated to update the model (McDaniel, Paragraphs [0230]-[0231] and [0257]).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model; compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model.
Malik discloses an edge computing device that comprises a local copy of a global decoding model (client system may receive, from one or more remote servers, a current version of a neural network model comprising a plurality of model parameters, Paragraph [0009]); compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model (local data store to generate a plurality of updated model parameters, Paragraph [0009]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Malik by including wherein the edge computing device comprises a local copy of a global decoding model; compute an update of the local copy of the global decoding model. The motivation to do so being to efficiently train the neural network locally to generate a plurality of updated model parameters and execute the model at the edge computer (Malik, Paragraph [0009]).
Claim(s) 12-13 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kozhaya in view of McDaniel further in view of Poltorak et al. (WO 2019133997 A1) herein referred to as “Poltorak” (see attached) further in view of Costanza et al. (US 20160051815 A1) herein referred to as “Costanza”.
Regarding claim 12, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 9.
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of the species.
Poltorak discloses identifying an odor and a first corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a first animal of a species and identifying to odor and a second corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a second animal of the species (brain activity pattern may be acquired through at least one of an electroencephalogram (EEG) and a magnetoencephalogram (EEG); translate the determined spatial brain activity sites of the first subject which represent readiness for the emotion state; a smell, olfactory stimulus, Page 71, lines 12-20; exemplar subject and the target subject may be the same human at different time or different humans or different species, Page 73, lines 7-15 and Page 76, lines 7-24).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Poltorak by including identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of the species. The motivation to do so being to modify the emotional state or mood in a subject (Poltorak, Page 71, lines 6-11).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel and Poltorak does not explicitly disclose an odor nor a corresponding glomerulus of the odor.
Costanzo discloses teaches an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor (recording electrode may be provided for recording one or more bioelectric properties (e.g. electric field properties at the olfactory bulb in the subject; activated odorant receptors 100 is passed to localized regions in the olfactory bulb 120, in particular the projecting nerve fibers have dendrites which synapse onto particular well-defined microregions of the olfactory bulb 120 called glomeruli 1; the nerve endings from the same receptors 100 converge on the same glomerulus, different receptor subtypes (e.g., A, B, and C) connect to or associated with specific glomeruli 130 within localized regions; the information from the receptors creates unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors, Paragraph [0026], [0039], and [0054]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Costanzo by including an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor. The motivation to do so being to create unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors (Costanzo, Paragraph [0026]).
Regarding claim 13, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 9.
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a first species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of a second species, the second species different from the first species.
Poltorak discloses identifying an odor and a first corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a first animal of a species and identifying to odor and a second corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a second animal of a second species (brain activity pattern may be acquired through at least one of an electroencephalogram (EEG) and a magnetoencephalogram (EEG); translate the determined spatial brain activity sites of the first subject which represent readiness for the emotion state; a smell, olfactory stimulus, Page 71, lines 12-20; exemplar subject and the target subject may be the same human at different time or different humans or different species, Page 73, lines 7-15 and Page 76, lines 7-24).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Poltorak by including identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of a second species. The motivation to do so being to modify the emotional state or mood in a subject (Poltorak, Page 71, lines 6-11).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel and Poltorak does not explicitly disclose an odor nor a corresponding glomerulus of the odor.
Costanzo discloses teaches an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor (recording electrode may be provided for recording one or more bioelectric properties (e.g. electric field properties at the olfactory bulb in the subject; activated odorant receptors 100 is passed to localized regions in the olfactory bulb 120, in particular the projecting nerve fibers have dendrites which synapse onto particular well-defined microregions of the olfactory bulb 120 called glomeruli 1; the nerve endings from the same receptors 100 converge on the same glomerulus, different receptor subtypes (e.g., A, B, and C) connect to or associated with specific glomeruli 130 within localized regions; the information from the receptors creates unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors, Paragraph [0026], [0039], and [0054]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Costanzo by including an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor. The motivation to do so being to create unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors (Costanzo, Paragraph [0026]).
Regarding claim 19, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 15.
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of the species.
Poltorak discloses identifying an odor and a first corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a first animal of a species and identifying to odor and a second corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a second animal of the species (brain activity pattern may be acquired through at least one of an electroencephalogram (EEG) and a magnetoencephalogram (EEG); translate the determined spatial brain activity sites of the first subject which represent readiness for the emotion state; a smell, olfactory stimulus, Page 71, lines 12-20; exemplar subject and the target subject may be the same human at different time or different humans or different species, Page 73, lines 7-15 and Page 76, lines 7-24).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Poltorak by including identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of the species. The motivation to do so being to modify the emotional state or mood in a subject (Poltorak, Page 71, lines 6-11).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel and Poltorak does not explicitly disclose an odor nor a corresponding glomerulus of the odor.
Costanzo discloses teaches an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor (recording electrode may be provided for recording one or more bioelectric properties (e.g. electric field properties at the olfactory bulb in the subject; activated odorant receptors 100 is passed to localized regions in the olfactory bulb 120, in particular the projecting nerve fibers have dendrites which synapse onto particular well-defined microregions of the olfactory bulb 120 called glomeruli 1; the nerve endings from the same receptors 100 converge on the same glomerulus, different receptor subtypes (e.g., A, B, and C) connect to or associated with specific glomeruli 130 within localized regions; the information from the receptors creates unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors, Paragraph [0026], [0039], and [0054]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Costanzo by including an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor. The motivation to do so being to create unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors (Costanzo, Paragraph [0026]).
Regarding claim 20, Kozhaya in view of McDaniel discloses the method of claim 15.
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a first species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of a second species, the second species different from the first species.
Poltorak discloses identifying an odor and a first corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a first animal of a species and identifying to odor and a second corresponding spatial brain activity state of the odor for a second animal of a second species (brain activity pattern may be acquired through at least one of an electroencephalogram (EEG) and a magnetoencephalogram (EEG); translate the determined spatial brain activity sites of the first subject which represent readiness for the emotion state; a smell, olfactory stimulus, Page 71, lines 12-20; exemplar subject and the target subject may be the same human at different time or different humans or different species, Page 73, lines 7-15 and Page 76, lines 7-24).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Poltorak by including identifying an odor and a first corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a first animal of a species; and identifying the odor and a second corresponding glomerulus of the odor for a second animal of a second species. The motivation to do so being to modify the emotional state or mood in a subject (Poltorak, Page 71, lines 6-11).
However Kozhaya in view of McDaniel and Poltorak does not explicitly disclose an odor nor a corresponding glomerulus of the odor.
Costanzo discloses teaches an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor (recording electrode may be provided for recording one or more bioelectric properties (e.g. electric field properties at the olfactory bulb in the subject; activated odorant receptors 100 is passed to localized regions in the olfactory bulb 120, in particular the projecting nerve fibers have dendrites which synapse onto particular well-defined microregions of the olfactory bulb 120 called glomeruli 1; the nerve endings from the same receptors 100 converge on the same glomerulus, different receptor subtypes (e.g., A, B, and C) connect to or associated with specific glomeruli 130 within localized regions; the information from the receptors creates unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors, Paragraph [0026], [0039], and [0054]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kozhaya in view of McDaniel to incorporate the teachings of Costanzo by including an odor and a corresponding glomerulus of the odor. The motivation to do so being to create unique spatial neurological activity patterns of neural activity for different odors (Costanzo, Paragraph [0026]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Smith et al. (US 20180110457 A1) discloses an apparatus, module, methods and systems for automated, standardized assessment and analysis of a human olfactory system's odor detection ability as an indicator or predictor of cognitive impairment or change in cognitive health, and Bendfeldt (US 20190042981 A1) discloses an adaptive interface that employs machine learning techniques and neural networks to determine changes in olfactory data.
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/D.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3794
/JOANNE M RODDEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3794
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