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 .
Status of Claims
This action is in response to the reply filed 4/8/2026.
Claims 1-10 (Group I) were elected without traverse and claims 11-15 are withdrawn. on 4/8/2026
Claims 1-10 are currently pending and have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
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 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as based on a disclosure which is not enabling. The disclosure does not enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without knowing how to “predict[ing] an amount of energy necessary for the transmission of the data package based on the one or more network parameters”, which is/are critical or essential to the practice of the invention but not included in the claim(s). See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (CCPA 1976). The specification recites that based on thresholds of parameters and the energy precited value, the energy available for upload is calculated (paragraphs 71-90, Table 5), however the specification is silent as to how the energy predicted value is calculated.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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 6-8 and therefore its dependent claims 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 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: how determining whether a data package comprising the health-related data is ready to be transmitted from the device. The specification is silent as to how the determination is made, and it is unclear how the determination is calculated. It is also unclear how the data is “ready” as it is not defined in the specification.
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: predict[ing] an amount of energy necessary for the transmission of the data package based on the one or more network parameters. The specification is silent as to how the energy predicted value is calculated based on the network parameters, creating a “black box” scenario.
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) 1-5, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lodato (US 9,724,042 B1) in view of Medeiros (US 11,839,446 B2).
CLAIM 1-
Lodato teaches the limitations of:
A wireless health monitoring device adapted for intermittent data transmission with controlled energy consumption, the device comprising: (Lodato teaches a wearable fitness monitor (i.e., wireless health monitoring device) that transmits data based on battery charge level (i.e., energy consumption) (col 5 lines 40-50, col 9 lines 50-67 & col 10 lines 1-20, Figure 1)
a data module configured to generate and/or collect health-related data associated with at least one user over a period of time; (Lodato teaches that biometric data (i.e., health-related data for the user) is collected twice a day (i.e., period of time) by a data collection imitation (i.e., data module) (col 5 lines 45-65, col 6 lines 1-24, col 5 lines 19-40, Figure 3, col 7 lines 41-51))
a communication unit operatively connected to the data module, the communication unit being configured to wirelessly transmit health-related data over a network to a remote destination; (Lodato teaches that the system is communicatively linked to wirelessly transmit the data over a network through a cloud (i.e., remotely) (col 6 lines 24-44, col 8 lines 54-64, Figure 3, col 7 lines 41-51))
a constrained energy source operatively connected to the data module and the communication unit for storing and providing electrical energy thereto; (Lodato teaches a battery (i.e., constrained energy source as defined in the specification paragraph 42) that is part of the system that connects and communicates data to the health engine (Figure 3, Figure 4, col 9 lines 4-67, col 7 lines 41-51))
Lodato does not explicitly teach, however Medeiros teaches:
a controller operatively connected to the data module, the constrained energy source, and the communication unit, (Medeiros teaches a controller that determines which parameter data to communicate and is connected on the device with the battery and the wireless communication network (col 4 lines 1-16, col 2 lines 1-10 & lines 64-67, Figure 1, col 4 lines 19-35))
wherein the controller comprises a memory storing machine readable instructions and one or more processors that, when executing the machine-readable instructions, are configured to perform a pre-transmission assessment operation comprising one or more of the following: (Medeiros teaches that the controller includes a memory with instructions and a processor that performs analysis of the data using parameters before the transmission is sent by not transmitting redundant data (col 4 lines 18-67, col 2 lines 51-65, col 5 lines 36-55, Figure 2))
determine whether a data package comprising the health-related data is ready to be transmitted from the device; (Medeiros teaches that it filters the signals to remove artifact (i.e., unusable data) and determines if the transmission should be transmitted (col 4 lines 1-40))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the wearable health monitoring system of Lodato with the health monitoring system that includes filtering parameter data before transmission with the motivation of improving battery life of the system by removing redundant transmissions (see: Medeiros, column 2).
CLAIM 2-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 1. Regarding claim 2, Lodato further teaches:
wherein the data module comprises a physiological sensor associated with the user and wherein the health-related data comprises physiological sensor data collected by the physiological sensor (Lodato teaches that the system includes a biometric (physiological) sensor that obtains biometric measurements of the physiological condition of the wearer (col 2 lines 40-62))
CLAIM 3-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 1. Regarding claim 3, Lodato further teaches:
wherein the physiological sensor comprises an electrocardiography sensor configured to be worn by the user (Lodato teaches contacts (i.e., sensors) that obtain electrocardiogram capture from the wearer, the contacts are attached to the wearable device as shown in Figure 1 (col 3 lines 1-50, Figure 1)
CLAIM 4-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 1. Regarding claim 4, Lodato further teaches:
wherein the constrained energy source comprises a battery (Lodato teaches a battery (i.e., constrained energy source) that is part of the system that connects and communicates data to the health engine (Figure 3, Figure 4, col 9 lines 4-67, col 7 lines 41-51))
CLAIM 5-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 1. Regarding claim 5, Medeiros further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to wirelessly transmit the data package from the device via the communication unit over the network or to delay the transmission based on an outcome of the pre-transmission assessment operation (Medeiros teaches that the system including the processors determine to wirelessly transmit the data from the system over the network and filters the signals to remove artifact (i.e., unusable data) and determines if the transmission should be transmitted (col 4 lines 1-40, Figure 1))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the wearable health monitoring system of Lodato with the health monitoring system that includes filtering parameter data before transmission with the motivation of improving battery life of the system by removing redundant transmissions (see: Medeiros, column 2).
CLAIM 9-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 1. Regarding claim 9, Lodato further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to extract the one or more network parameters having predictive value related to energy consumption by the device based on current network conditions by: connecting the health monitoring device to the wireless network via the communication unit; and determining the one or more parameters based on the network conditions detected after connecting the health monitoring device to the wireless network; (Lodato teaches a wearable fitness monitor (i.e., wireless health monitoring device) that transmits data based on battery charge level (i.e., energy consumption) through communication with a network and determines the parameters of energy needed to transmit the data so that the sampling rate is reduced when it is determined that the energy level is low (col 5 lines 40-50, col 9 lines 50-67 & col 10 lines 1-20, Figure 1, col 2 lines 40-67)
wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of an amount of energy consumed by the device during the connecting step (Lodato teaches that the available energy is determined by the battery fuel gauge of the system and reduces the sampling parameters based on device consumption (col 9 lines 50-67))
CLAIM 10-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 1. Regarding claim 9, Medeiros further teaches:
wherein the transmission readiness determination for the data package comprising the health-related data is based on one or more predetermined conditions, and the one or more processors are further configured to activate the communication unit (Medeiros teaches that the system processor communicates with the network and performs analysis of the data using parameters before the transmission is sent by not transmitting redundant data (i.e., predetermined conditions) (col 4 lines 18-67, col 2 lines 51-65, col 5 lines 36-55, Figure 2))
and initiate the pre-transmission assessment operation when the one or more predetermined conditions are met. (Medeiros teaches that it filters the signals to remove artifact (i.e., unusable data) and determines if the transmission should be transmitted (col 4 lines 1-40))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the wearable health monitoring system of Lodato with the health monitoring system that includes filtering parameter data before transmission with the motivation of improving battery life of the system by removing redundant transmissions (see: Medeiros, column 2).
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lodato (US 9,724,042 B1) in view of Medeiros (US 11,839,446 B2) and further in view of Lalouani (US 2022/0359070 A1).
CLAIM 6-
Lodato in view of Medeiros teaches the limitations of claim 5. Regarding claim 6, Lodato in view of Medeiros does not explicitly teach, however Lalouani teaches:
wherein the pre-transmission assessment operation further comprises predicting an amount of energy necessary for the transmission of the data package based on the one or more network parameters; (Lalouani teaches predicting energy optimization to optimize transmissions so that they are transmitted based on threshold variations (i.e., parameters) so that the number of transmissions are reduced by determining amounts of bits per sample (i.e., higher bits have higher energy) (para [0027-34, 0038, 0041, 0084, 0066, 0099]))
and wherein an outcome of the pre- transmission assessment operation comprises generating instructions to the one of more processors to proceed with the transmission of the data package when the predicted amount of energy is less than or equal to an energy threshold, or to delay the transmission of the data package when the predicted amount of energy exceeds the energy threshold, (Lalouani avoids transmissions if it is not energy efficient based on a threshold but does transmit data that meets bit size and energy optimization (i.e., which reads on how the specification calculates the energy based on Table 5 of the specification) (para [0027-46, 0084, 0066, 0093., 0098-99]))
wherein the energy threshold is based at least in part on the amount of energy available for the transmission of the data package within the constrained energy source (Lalouani accounts for the energy capacity of the battery capacity of the system when calculating the thresholds for energy efficiency (para [0098-99, 0093, 0027]))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the wearable health monitoring system with filtering parameter data of Lodato in view of Medeiros with the wearable sensor energy efficient data collection of Lalouani with the motivation of pack sensor data efficiently to create more energy efficiency (see: Lalouani, abstract, paragraph 27).
CLAIM 7-
Lodato in view of Medeiros and further in view of Lalouani teaches the limitations of claim 6. Regarding claim 7, Lalouani further teaches:
wherein the energy threshold is further based at least in part on an acuity level of the health-related data in the data package (Lalouani teaches that the data is transmitted based on bits, and the lowest amount of bits that can still transmit the data sufficiently (i.e., acuity) ((para [0027-46, 0084, 0064-66, 0093, 0098-99]))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the wearable health monitoring system with filtering parameter data of Lodato in view of Medeiros with the wearable sensor energy efficient data collection of Lalouani with the motivation of pack sensor data efficiently to create more energy efficiency (see: Lalouani, abstract, paragraph 27).
CLAIM 8-
Lodato in view of Medeiros and further in view of Lalouani teaches the limitations of claim 6. Regarding claim 8, Lalouani further teaches:
wherein the amount of energy necessary for the transmission of the data package is predicted based on the one or more network parameters (Lalouani teaches predicting energy optimization to optimize transmissions so that they are transmitted based on threshold variations (i.e., parameters) so that the number of transmissions are reduced by determining amounts of bits per sample (i.e., higher bits have higher energy) (para [0027-34, 0038, 0041, 0084, 0066, 0099]))
using a trained machine learning model, the trained machine learning model comprising one or more of a neural network (Lalouani teaches the use of a machine learning model trained to analyze the data samples, including a neural network (para [0027, 0040]))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the wearable health monitoring system with filtering parameter data of Lodato in view of Medeiros with the wearable sensor energy efficient data collection of Lalouani with the motivation of pack sensor data efficiently to create more energy efficiency (see: Lalouani, abstract, paragraph 27).
Conclusion
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/KIMBERLY A. SASS/Examiner, Art Unit 3686
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