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 reply to the claims filed on 16 September 2025. Claims 1, 11-12, and 19 were amended. Claim 10 was canceled. Claims 5, 7, 13-14, 18, 20-21, and 28-36 were previously canceled. Claims 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, and 22-27 are currently pending and have been examined.
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 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, and 22-27 are rejected under 35 USC § 101
Step 1: Is the claim to a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter?
Claims 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, and 22-27 fall within one or more statutory categories. Claims 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, and 22-27 fall within the category of a machine.
Step 2A Prong One: Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon?
Claims 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, and 22-27 recite an abstract idea. Representative claim 1 recites:
… acquire event data corresponding to an individual; and
fuses the acquired event data …;
generates at least one data-informed care insight of the individual based on the fused data … based on the at least a portion of the acquired event data, wherein the data-informed care insight comprises at least one of a diagnosis, clinical decision support, medical intervention corrective action and patient action plan; and
…[shares] the data-informed care insight to the at least one of the individual, caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station.
Therefore, the claim as a whole is directed to “monitoring health,” which is an abstract idea because it is method of organizing human activity. “Monitoring health” is considered to be a method of organizing human activity because it is an example of managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions). The broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims include the interaction between a monitored individual and caregiver. Alternatively, the claims are considered to recite a mental process because the broadest reasonable interpretation includes concepts capable of being performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion).
Step 2A Prong Two: Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, claim 1 recites the following additional element(s):
a plurality of sensors;
a wearable electronic device signally cooperative with the plurality of sensors and comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing machine code thereon;
at least one processor signally coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium;
a user interface comprising at least one of a microphone, a speaker and a help button; and
a wireless communication module configured to establish bidirectional signal communication between the user interface and a wireless network over a plurality of wireless communication protocols at least one of which comprises a cellular-based low power wide area network protocol;
the use of at least one of an embedded library and a software module that form a portion of the machine code;
an embedded edge machine learning model;
executes a communication sequence with a signally cooperative device that is associated with at least one of the individual, a caregiver, a family member, a call center and a monitoring station using at least one of the user interface and the wireless communication module, where in the event the response is transmitted to at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station, it is done so over the wireless network using the cellular-based low power wide area network protocol.
The additional elements individually or in combination do not integrate the exception into a practical application. The additional elements with respect to the communication over networks between various devices merely adds insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (see MPEP 2106.05(g)). The other additional element amount to merely reciting the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?
Claim 1 does not include additional elements, considered individually or in combination, that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element(s), individually and in combination, with respect to the communication over networks between various devices recite well-understood, routine, and conventional activity (MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), particularly, the example of receiving and transmitting data over a network). Further, the other additional element amount to merely reciting the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, claim 1 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 2 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the wireless communication module defines a hybrid wireless communication module comprising: at least a wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof receives the event data in the form of location data based on a beacon signal; and
a wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof transmits over the cellular-based low power wide area network.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 2 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 3 recites the method of claim 2, wherein:
the wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof receives the event data in the form of location data based on a beacon signal comprises a BLE chipset.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 3 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 4 recites the method of claim 2, wherein:
the wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof transmits over the cellular-based low power wide area network is configured to transmit using at least one of an LTE-M protocol and an NB-IoT protocol.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 4 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 6 recites the method of claim 4, wherein:
the cellular-based low power wide area network operates using 5G-based connection.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 6 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 8 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the wearable electronic device is selected from the group consisting of a wrist-worn band, an ankle-worn band, an article of clothing, a bandage, a pair of eyeglasses, a necklace or pendant, a clothing-affixable pin, a clothing-affixable patch, a subcutaneous implant and combinations thereof.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 8 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 9 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
at least a portion of the acquired event data is sensed by at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, an altimeter, a motion detector and an inertial measurement unit.
This merely further limits the abstract idea of claim 1 discussed above and does not provide further additional elements. Therefore, claim 9 is considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 11 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the embedded edge machine learning model is trained to derive indicia of activity of the individual comprising at least one of a fall and movement.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 11 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 12 recites the method of claim 11, wherein:
the indicia of activity comprises a determination of whether the individual suffered a fall event based on at least one of location data, environmental data, activity data and physiological data.
This merely further limits the abstract idea of claim 1 discussed above and does not provide further additional elements. Therefore, claim 12 is considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 15 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the plurality of sensors comprise at least one of a physiological sensor, an environmental sensor and an activity sensor.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 15 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 16 recites the method of claim 15, wherein:
the physiological sensor comprises at least one of a heart rate sensor, a breathing rate sensor, a temperature sensor, a respiration sensor, a pulse oximetry sensor, a respiratory rate sensor, an oxygen saturation sensor, an electrocardiogram sensor, a cardiac output index sensor, a systematic pressure sensor, a systematic systolic arterial pressure sensor, a systematic diastolic arterial pressure sensor, a systematic mean arterial pressure sensor, a central venous pressure sensor, a pulmonary pressure sensor, a pulmonary systolic arterial pressure sensor, a pulmonary diastolic arterial pressure sensor and a pulmonary mean arterial pressure sensor.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 16 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 17 recites the method of claim 15, wherein:
the environmental sensor comprises at least one of an ambient temperature sensor, an ambient pressure sensor, an ambient humidity sensor, a carbon monoxide sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor, a natural gas sensor, a poison gas sensor, a smoke detector, an ambient light sensor, a motion sensor and a microphone.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 17 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 19 recites the method of claim 15, wherein:
the wearable electronic device uses a portion of the machine code to execute at least one of an inference and a prediction either of which with an embedded edge machine learning model based on the at least a portion of the acquired event data.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 19 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 22 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the at least one input through the user interface comprises at least one of a request and a response from the individual.
This merely further limits the abstract idea of claim 1 discussed above and does not provide further additional elements. Therefore, claim 22 is considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 23 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the at least one input through the user interface comprises at least one of a request and a response from at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station.
This merely further limits the abstract idea of claim 1 discussed above and does not provide further additional elements. Therefore, claim 23 is considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 24 recites the method of claim 1, wherein:
the wireless communication module is further configured to receive the event data in the form of location detection data through wireless communication with at least one of a beacon, GNSS, WiFi and a base station the latter of which is using the cellular-based low power wide area network protocol.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 24 is ineligible.
Dependent claim 25 recites the method of claim 24, wherein:
the location detection data comprises geofence data.
This merely further limits the abstract idea of claim 1 discussed above and does not provide further additional elements. Therefore, claim 25 is considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 26 recites the method of claim 25, wherein:
the wearable electronic device sends out an alert through the wireless communication module to at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station when the individual wanders beyond a designated space associated with the geofence.
This merely further limits the abstract idea of claim 1 discussed above and does not provide further additional elements. Therefore, claim 26 is considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 27 recites the method of claim 24, wherein:
the location detection data through wireless communication with the WiFi comprises at least one of WiFi scanning, WiFi indoor positioning, WiFi fingerprinting and WiFi real-time location.
The additional elements present in this claim merely recites the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). These types of additional elements are not enough to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Accordingly, claim 27 is ineligible.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, and 22-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rothman et al. (U.S. 2018/0247713), hereinafter “Rothman,” in view of Ramesh et al. (U.S. 2019/0046037), hereinafter “Ramesh,” And further in view of Shapiro et al. (U.S. 2019/0208363), hereinafter “Shapiro.”
Regarding Claim 1, Rothman discloses a mobile request for assistance system comprising:
a plurality of sensors configured to acquire event data corresponding to an individual (See Rothman [0021] system can include a wearable wrist device. [0022] the wearable device can include at least some sensors.); and
a wearable electronic device signally cooperative with the plurality of sensors (See Rothman [0021] system can include a wearable wrist device. [0022] the wearable device can include at least some sensors.) and comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing machine code thereon (See Rothman [0202] the system can include instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and a processor that executes the instructions.);
at least one processor signally coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium (See Rothman [0202] the system can include instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and a processor that executes the instructions.);
a user interface comprising at least one of a microphone, a speaker and a help button (See Rothman [0025] the system can include the use of a microphone and a speaker or interacting with the user. [0033] the system can include call buttons, including for contacting a nursing station.); and
a wireless communication module configured to establish bidirectional signal communication between the user interface and a wireless network over a plurality of wireless communication protocols … (See Rothman [0027] the system can include multiple modalities of wireless communication.), wherein the wearable electronic device, upon receipt of at least one input through the user interface (See Rothman [0025] the system can receive input via the microphone. [0040] system can use patient input as part of generating health scores, health score graphs, alerts, and recommendations.):
fuses the acquired event data through the use of at least one of an embedded library and a software module that form a portion of the machine code (See Rothman [0026] the system can receive location data from sensors. [0040] the system can process the self-assessment inputs along with other inputs to generate health scores, health score graphs, alerts, and recommendations.);
generates at least one data-informed care insight of the individual based on the fused data … based on the at least a portion of the acquired event data (See Rothman [0040] the system can process the self-assessment inputs along with other inputs to generate health scores, health score graphs, alerts, and recommendations. See also [0052].)…, wherein the data-informed care insight comprises at least one of a diagnosis, clinical decision support, medical intervention corrective action and patient action plan (See Rothman [0052] the system can make recommendations regarding future health care of the patient. The recommendations may include a suggested course of action for the patient including suggested tests or procedures to be considered.); and
executes a communication sequence with a signally cooperative device that is associated with at least one of the individual, a caregiver, a family member, a call center and a monitoring station using at least one of the user interface and the wireless communication module (See Rothman [0033] the system can include call buttons, including for contacting a nursing station. [0039] recipients of the health score system outputs can include caregivers, caseworkers, family members, or friends/neighbors. The patient may also be a direct recipient of the health score outputs.), wherein the communication sequence comprises the transmission of the data-informed care insight to the at least one of the individual, caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station (See Rothman [0039] recipients of the health score system outputs can include caregivers, caseworkers, family members, or friends/neighbors. The patient may also be a direct recipient of the health score outputs.).
Rothman does not disclose:
[generates the at least one insight] through an embedded edge machine learning model;
at least one of [the plurality of wireless communication protocols] comprises a cellular-based low power wide area network protocol,
where in the event the response is transmitted to at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station, it is done so over the wireless network using the cellular-based low power wide area network protocol.
Ramesh teaches:
[generates the at least one insight] through an embedded edge machine learning model (See Ramesh [0183] system includes direct transmission from the IoT smart-edge (at the patient end) to the physician, compression reduces data sizes for transmission from the IoT gateway to the cloud, and classification techniques bring in the power of machine learning to aid in diagnosis utilizing large amounts of data at the cloud. [0283] IoT based smart edge architecture for remote health monitoring, in which we have migrated the medical domain-based smarts into the IoT smart edge.).
The system of Ramesh is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to remotely monitoring patient health. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include edge machine learning as taught by Ramesh. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to generate computationally simpler but clinically interpretable patient health motifs and alerts for prompt and direct transmission from the IoT smart-edge (at the patient end) to the physician, reduce data sizes for transmission from the IoT gateway to the cloud, and bring in the power of machine learning to aid in diagnosis utilizing large amounts of data at the cloud (see Ramesh [0183]).
Shapiro teaches:
at least one of [the plurality of wireless communication protocols] comprises a cellular-based low power wide area network protocol (See Shapiro [0070] the system can use a cellular NB-IoT module for wireless communications, which is an example of a LPWAN.),
where in the event the response is transmitted to at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station, it is done so over the wireless network using the cellular-based low power wide area network protocol (See Shapiro [0070] the system can use a cellular NB-IoT module for wireless communications, which is an example of a LPWAN.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 2, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the wireless communication module defines a hybrid wireless communication module comprising: at least a wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof receives the event data in the form of location data based on a beacon signal; and
a wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof transmits over the cellular-based low power wide area network.
Shapiro teaches:
the wireless communication module defines a hybrid wireless communication module comprising: at least a wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof receives the event data in the form of location data based on a beacon signal 9See Shapiro [0113] the system can use beacons for collection location data.); and
a wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof transmits over the cellular-based low power wide area network (See Shapiro [0070] the system can use a cellular NB-IoT module for wireless communications, which is an example of a LPWAN.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 3, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 2 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof receives the event data in the form of location data based on a beacon signal comprises a BLE chipset (See Rothman [0027] system can include at least BLE wireless communication.).
Regarding claim 4, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 2 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof transmits over the cellular-based low power wide area network is configured to transmit using at least one of an LTE-M protocol and an NB-IoT protocol.
Shapiro teaches:
the wireless communication sub-module that during operation thereof transmits over the cellular-based low power wide area network is configured to transmit using at least one of an LTE-M protocol and an NB-IoT protocol (See Shapiro [0070] the system can use a cellular NB-IoT module for wireless communications, which is an example of a LPWAN.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 6, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 4 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the cellular-based low power wide area network operates using 5G-based connection.
Shapiro teaches:
the cellular-based low power wide area network operates using 5G-based connection (See Shapiro [0070] the system can use cellular capabilities including 5G.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 8, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the wearable electronic device is selected from the group consisting of a wrist-worn band, an ankle-worn band, an article of clothing, a bandage, a pair of eyeglasses, a necklace or pendant, a clothing-affixable pin, a clothing-affixable patch, a subcutaneous implant and combinations thereof (See Rothman [0021] system can include a wearable wrist device.).
Regarding claim 9, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
at least a portion of the acquired event data is sensed by at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, an altimeter, a motion detector and an inertial measurement unit (See Rothman [0026] system can include at least a magnetometer, an accelerometer, and/or a gyroscope.).
Regarding claim 11, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
[the system can] derive indicia of activity of the individual comprising at least one of a fall and movement (See Rothman [0095] the system can predict or detect a fall. See also [0159].).
Rothman does not disclose:
the embedded edge machine learning model is trained to derive indicia of activity of the individual comprising at least one of a fall and movement.
Ramesh teaches:
the embedded edge machine learning model is trained to derive indicia of activity of the individual comprising at least one of a fall and movement (See Ramesh [0183] system includes direct transmission from the IoT smart-edge (at the patient end) to the physician, compression reduces data sizes for transmission from the IoT gateway to the cloud, and classification techniques bring in the power of machine learning to aid in diagnosis utilizing large amounts of data at the cloud. [0283] IoT based smart edge architecture for remote health monitoring, in which we have migrated the medical domain-based smarts into the IoT smart edge.).
The system of Ramesh is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to remotely monitoring patient health. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include edge machine learning as taught by Ramesh. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to generate computationally simpler but clinically interpretable patient health motifs and alerts for prompt and direct transmission from the IoT smart-edge (at the patient end) to the physician, reduce data sizes for transmission from the IoT gateway to the cloud, and bring in the power of machine learning to aid in diagnosis utilizing large amounts of data at the cloud (see Ramesh [0183]).
Regarding claim 12, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 11 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the indicia of activity comprises a determination of whether the individual suffered a fall event (See Rothman [0095] the system can predict or detect a fall. See also [0159].) based on at least one of location data, environmental data, activity data and physiological data (See Rothman [0159] detection and confirmation of an incapacitating fall event may be supported by sensor measurements received from the wearable sensor device or from associated data analytics.).
Regarding claim 15, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the plurality of sensors comprise at least one of a physiological sensor, an environmental sensor and an activity sensor (See Rothman [0023] system can include at least a pulse oximeter. This is a physiological sensor. [0047] system can include data collected from motion sensors and light sensors. These are considered to be environmental sensors. system can include at least a magnetometer, an accelerometer, and/or a gyroscope. These are activity sensors.).
Regarding claim 16, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 15 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the physiological sensor comprises at least one of a heart rate sensor, a breathing rate sensor, a temperature sensor, a respiration sensor, a pulse oximetry sensor, a respiratory rate sensor, an oxygen saturation sensor, an electrocardiogram sensor, a cardiac output index sensor, a systematic pressure sensor, a systematic systolic arterial pressure sensor, a systematic diastolic arterial pressure sensor, a systematic mean arterial pressure sensor, a central venous pressure sensor, a pulmonary pressure sensor, a pulmonary systolic arterial pressure sensor, a pulmonary diastolic arterial pressure sensor and a pulmonary mean arterial pressure sensor (See Rothman [0023] system can include at least a pulse oximeter.).
Regarding claim 17, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 15 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the environmental sensor comprises at least one of an ambient temperature sensor, an ambient pressure sensor, an ambient humidity sensor, a carbon monoxide sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor, a natural gas sensor, a poison gas sensor, a smoke detector, an ambient light sensor, a motion sensor and a microphone (See Rothman [0047] system can include data collected from motion sensors and light sensors.) .
Regarding claim 19, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 15 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the wearable electronic device uses a portion of the machine code to execute an inference using an embedded edge machine learning model based on the at least a portion of the acquired event data.
Ramesh teaches:
the wearable electronic device uses a portion of the machine code to execute an inference using an embedded edge machine learning model based on the at least a portion of the acquired event data (See Ramesh [0183] system includes direct transmission from the IoT smart-edge (at the patient end) to the physician, compression reduces data sizes for transmission from the IoT gateway to the cloud, and classification techniques bring in the power of machine learning to aid in diagnosis utilizing large amounts of data at the cloud. [0283] IoT based smart edge architecture for remote health monitoring, in which we have migrated the medical domain-based smarts into the IoT smart edge.).
The system of Ramesh is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to remotely monitoring patient health. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include edge machine learning as taught by Ramesh. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to generate computationally simpler but clinically interpretable patient health motifs and alerts for prompt and direct transmission from the IoT smart-edge (at the patient end) to the physician, reduce data sizes for transmission from the IoT gateway to the cloud, and bring in the power of machine learning to aid in diagnosis utilizing large amounts of data at the cloud (see Ramesh [0183]).
Regarding claim 22, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the at least one input through the user interface comprises at least one of a request and a response from the individual (See Rothman [0038] patient query responses, may be collected for processing by the health score system. [0039] recipients of the health score system outputs can include caregivers, caseworkers, family members, or friends/neighbors. The patient may also be a direct recipient of the health score outputs.).
Regarding claim 23, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the at least one input through the user interface comprises at least one of a request and a response from at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station (See Rothman [0039] The recipients (including caregivers, caseworkers, family members, or friends/neighbors) may use the provided health score system outputs to influence the patient data collection specification. [0048] The collected patient data may also be in the form of one or more caregiver reports. The caregiver reports may be provided by individuals such as home healthcare, nurses, technicians, physicians, caseworkers, friends, family, or neighbors.).
Regarding claim 24, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 1 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the wireless communication module is further configured to receive the event data in the form of location detection data through wireless communication with at least one of a beacon, GNSS, WiFi and a base station the latter of which is using the cellular-based low power wide area network protocol.
Shapiro teaches:
the wireless communication module is further configured to receive the event data in the form of location detection data through wireless communication with at least one of a beacon, GNSS, WiFi and a base station the latter of which is using the cellular-based low power wide area network protocol (See Shapiro [0113] the system can use beacons for collection location data. [0070] the system can use a cellular NB-IoT module for wireless communications, which is an example of a LPWAN.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 25, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 24 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the location detection data comprises geofence data.
Shapiro teaches:
the location detection data comprises geofence data (See Shapiro [0173] beacons may be distributed throughout a given location or geographical region, and together they may function to generate a perimeter, or layers of perimeters, surrounding the designated location or geographical region. [0198] the system can include an alarm for when the monitored devices leaves a certain pre-defined perimeter. This meets the broadest reasonable interpretation of geofence data.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 26, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 25 as discussed above. Rothman further discloses a system, wherein:
the wearable electronic device sends out an alert through the wireless communication module to at least one of the caregiver, family member, call center and monitoring station (See Rothman [0039] recipients of the health score system outputs can include caregivers, caseworkers, family members, or friends/neighbors. The patient may also be a direct recipient of the health score outputs.).
Rothman does not disclose:
when the individual wanders beyond a designated space associated with the geofence.
Shapiro teaches:
when the individual wanders beyond a designated space associated with the geofence (See Shapiro [0173] beacons may be distributed throughout a given location or geographical region, and together they may function to generate a perimeter, or layers of perimeters, surrounding the designated location or geographical region. [0198] the system can include an alarm for when the monitored devices leaves a certain pre-defined perimeter. This meets the broadest reasonable interpretation of geofence data.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Regarding claim 27, Rothman in view of Ramesh and Shapiro discloses the system of claim 24 as discussed above. Rothman does not further disclose a system, wherein:
the location detection data through wireless communication with the WiFi comprises at least one of WiFi scanning, WiFi indoor positioning, WiFi fingerprinting and WiFi real-time location.
Shapiro teaches:
the location detection data through wireless communication with the WiFi comprises at least one of WiFi scanning, WiFi indoor positioning, WiFi fingerprinting and WiFi real-time location (See Shapiro [0089] the system can use WiFi networks to determine location. This includes the detection of MAC addresses and signal strength of a radio signal to determine the distance between the devices. This meets the broadest reasonable interpretation of WiFi scanning.).
The system of Shapiro is applicable to the disclosure of Rothman in view of Ramesh as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to using wearable devices to track and collect patient data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rothman to include the computing and networking technologies as taught by Shapiro. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Rothman in order to implement the use of devices that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, mobile, and have a long lasting battery life (see Shapiro [0006]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 16 September 2025, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. §101 rejection of the claims, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the claims integrated into a practical application because they recite a particular treatment or prophylaxis (see Applicant Remarks pages 2-3). This is not persuasive. The treatment is not “particular” as discussed in MPEP 2106.04(d)(2), but broadly states that the data fusion in the claims result in a “care insight.” The treatment or prophylaxis limitation must be "particular," i.e., specifically identified in the claims (see MPEP 2106.04(d)(2)).The treatment recited in the claims is not particular, but instead is a general recitation that the claimed system will recommend an appropriate treatment, without any particulars as to what that treatment entails. This is not enough to amount to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Therefore, the claims remain rejected as being directed to ineligible subject matter.
Applicant's arguments filed 16 September 2025, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. §103 rejection of the claims, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejection is made in view of the newly cited Ramesh reference.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Sobol (U.S. 2016/0139273) discloses a system and method for using wireless, wearable devices to monitor location and health of a patient.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/B.L.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3684
/Shahid Merchant/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3684