DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a final action for application number 18/401,211 in response to an amendment filed on 05/04/2026; the original application was filed on 02/23/2024.
Claims 1-17 and 19-21 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1 is an independent claims.
Claims 17 has been cancelled.
Claim 21 is new.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments in the instant Amendment, filed on 05/04/2026, with respect to limitations listed below, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments: (Guzik does not describe or suggest a process of detecting and/or determining whether one or more of these body-worn devices 106 is or is not a safety-critical device. Therefore, Guzik fails to describe or suggest "detecting whether the at least one secondary device is a safety-critical secondary device")
The Examiner disagrees with the Applicants. The Examiner respectfully submits that Guzik et al. teaches a safety-critical device (the body-worn device 106(1) may be a holster sensing device that is attached to a gun 110 or a holster 112 for the gun 110, such that the holster sensing device may detect whether the gun 110 is holstered in or unholstered from the holster 112, The body-worn device 106(2) may be a biometric monitor (e.g., a smartwatch) that monitors the vital signs of the law enforcement officer 102, such as body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, The body-worn device 106(3) may be a smartphone that is carried by the law enforcement officer 102. The body-worn device 106(4) may be a radio that the law enforcement officer 102 uses to communicate with a network operations center, “All these devices are safety-critical devices, Paragraph 23). Guzik et al. further teaches detecting/determining whether the device is safety-critical, see Paragraph 23 (detecting the device dislocation of a body-worn device using powered and non-powered dislocation sensors), Paragraph 26 (the events that are detected or recorded by the sensors may include the holster sensing device 106(1) detecting that a gun 110 of the law enforcement officer 102 is unholstered or holstered, an accelerometer in the smartphone 106(3) detecting that the officer is running, walking, or remaining still for a predetermined time period, the biometric monitor 106(2) detecting that the heart rate of law enforcement officer 102 exceeding or falling below a predetermined rate threshold, an impact sensor in the ballistic vest 108 detecting an impact), Paragraph 22 (The body-worn device may be equipped with dislocation sensors. For example, a holster sensing device may be equipped with a dislocation sensor that detects whether the holster sensing device is properly attached to a gun or the holster, in addition to a sensor that detects whether a gun is in or out of the holster).
The Examiner respectfully suggests that the claim be further amended and details in the specification be incorporated to distinguish the claimed invention over prior art of record. Should the Applicant desire an interview to further clarify the claim interpretation/rejections, please contact the Examiner at 571-270-1921 to schedule an interview.
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.
Claims 1-17 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guzik et al. (US A1) in view of Patel et al. (US 2006/0161213 A1).
Regarding claim 1, a method for operating a portable electronic primary device and at least one secondary device, [Figure 1, wherein a primary user device 104 and multiple second devices 108, 106], comprising:
establishing a communication link between the primary device and the at least one secondary device, [the user device 600 may be the body-worn hub 104. The body-worn hub 104 may be equipped with communication interfaces 602, a set of electrically conductive coupling ports 604, a battery 606, one or more processors 608, device hardware 610, and memory 612. The communication interfaces 602 may include one or more short-range wireless communication transceivers (e.g., Bluetooth, UWB, Wi-Fi transceivers, and/or so forth), and/or one or more long-range wireless communication transceivers (e.g., cellular, satellite, and/or so forth), (Guzik et al., Paragraph 57)],
detecting whether the at least one secondary device is a safety-critical secondary device, [The body-worn device 106(1)-106(N) may include various devices that are carried by the law enforcement officer 102. For example, the body-worn device 106(1) may be a holster sensing device that is attached to a gun 110 or a holster 112 for the gun 110, such that the holster sensing device may detect whether the gun 110 is holstered in or unholstered from the holster 112. The body-worn device 106(2) may be a biometric monitor (e.g., a smartwatch) that monitors the vital signs of the law enforcement officer 102, such as body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. The body-worn device 106(3) may be a smartphone that is carried by the law enforcement officer 102, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 23)],
Guzik et al. fails to explicitly indicate that when it is detected that the at least one secondary device is the safety-critical secondary device, monitoring the communication link and generating an error signal as soon as the communication link is interrupted,
Patel et al. teaches that a fail-safe programming data may be implemented by the IMD when a communication failure is detected. A telemetry link monitoring module is included in microprocessor 74 for monitoring uplink and downlink telemetry signal strength during a remote programming session, (Patel et al., Paragraph 36), A fail-safe response may include notifying a person of the communication failure during the programming session, (Patel et al., Paragraph 18),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Guzik et al. by including that when it is detected that the at least one secondary device is the safety-critical secondary device, monitoring the communication link and generating an error signal as soon as the communication link is interrupted, (Patel et al., Paragraph 18), in order to ensure that a communication network link and a telemetry link existing between a centralized programmer and a remote IMD meets a minimum set of safety requirements during transfer of programming data, (Patel et al., Paragraph 17).
Regarding claim 2, the method according to claim 1, wherein detecting whether the at least one secondary device is the safety-critical secondary device includes comparing the at least one secondary device with a secondary device list including a plurality of safety-critical secondary devices to be monitored, [The environment 100 may include a law enforcement officer 102 that is equipped with a body-worn hub 104 and multiple body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N), (Guzik et al., Paragraph 23)].
Regarding claim 3, the method according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one secondary device includes at least two secondary devices, [The environment 100 may include a law enforcement officer 102 that is equipped with a body-worn hub 104 and multiple body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N), (Guzik et al., Paragraph 23)],
and a plurality of communication links between the primary device and the at least two secondary devices are established, [the body-worn hub 104 may establish short-range wireless communication links 122(1)-122(N) with the body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N), respectively, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 25)].
Regarding claim 4, the method according to claim 3, that wherein, when at least one secondary device of the at least two secondary devices is detected as the safety-critical secondary device and at least one other secondary device of the at least two secondary devices is detected as a non-safety-critical secondary device, only the communication link for the at least one secondary device detected as the safety-critical secondary device is monitored, [a fail-safe programming data may be implemented by the IMD when a communication failure is detected. A telemetry link monitoring module is included in microprocessor 74 for monitoring uplink and downlink telemetry signal strength during a remote programming session, (Patel et al., Paragraph 36)].
Regarding claim 5, the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary device is and/or includes a portable device, [law enforcement agencies are increasingly mandating that their police officers carry and use portable recording devices, such as a body camera, to record their interactions with the public, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 1)].
Regarding claim 6, the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary device includes: a safety suit; a helmet; a gas sensor; a toolbox; a Smart Watch; and/or a Barcode Scanner, Smart Glass, and/or Thermal Scanner for Critical Business Operation, [Figure 1, Ref # 106, 108, 110 and 112].
Regarding claim 7, the method according to claim 1, wherein the communication link is wired, [The signals may be sent by the body-worn sensor to the body-worn hub via a wired communication connection or a wireless communication connection, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 3)].
Regarding claim 8, the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the error signal includes alerting a supervisor of the primary device different from a user, [the body-worn hub may send an event notification regarding the dislocation event to a vehicle hub or a server at a network operations center (NOC). In another example, the body-worn hub may trigger another body-worn device that is a smartphone to display a notification that the body-worn device is detached on a display of the smartphone, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 4)].
Regarding claim 9, the method according to claim 1, further comprising, after detection of a disconnection of the at least one secondary device detected as the safety-critical secondary device: transmitting, via the primary device, the error signal to an external control center, [The body-worn device 106(4) may be a radio that the law enforcement officer 102 uses to communicate with a network operations center (NOC) 114, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 23)],
and blocking, via the primary device, provision of all user functions, except critical functions, on the primary device, [if the presentation control link 40 is interrupted, programmer system logic 38 will issue a termination notification to telemetry system 34 to cause a fail-safe mechanism to occur, such as causing temporary programmed values to be aborted and permanent programmed values to be restored, (Patel et al., Paragraph 47)].
Regarding claim 10, the method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of establishing the communication link, detecting whether the at least one secondary device is the safety-critical secondary device, and monitoring the communication link are carried out automatically each time the primary device is switched on by a user, [to promote safe and secure remote programming, the invention provides communication status monitoring to ensure that a communication network link and a telemetry link existing between a centralized programmer and a remote IMD meets a minimum set of safety requirements during transfer of programming data. The invention provides for the display of the communication status to a user and provides a fail-safe response should the communication status not meet the safety requirements, (Patel et al., Paragraph 17)].
Regarding claim 11, the method according to claim 10, further comprising interrupting and/or at least temporarily stopping a switch-on process of the primary device when the communication link between the primary device and the at least one secondary device that is detected as the safety-critical secondary device cannot be established, [if the presentation control link 40 is interrupted, programmer system logic 38 will issue a termination notification to telemetry system 34 to cause a fail-safe mechanism to occur, such as causing temporary programmed values to be aborted and permanent programmed values to be restored, (Patel et al., Paragraph 47)].
Regarding claim 12, the method according to claim 1, further comprising, following monitoring the communication link and generating the error signal, informing a user that (i) the safety-critical secondary device has not been detected and/or (ii) too few safety-critical secondary devices have been detected and that a communication link between the primary device and the safety-critical secondary device has not been established, [messages used to alert the user to communication link, telemetry, programming, and/or interrogation status or conditions, (Patel et al., Paragraph 39)].
Regarding claim 13, the method according to claim 1, further comprising: displaying the error signal via the primary device, and/or playing back the error signal acoustically and/or haptically, [the body-worn hub may trigger another body-worn device that is a smartphone to display a notification that the body-worn device is detached on a display of the smartphone, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 4)].
Regarding claim 14, an arrangement, comprising: an electronic primary device, [Guzik et al., Figure 1, Ref # 104], and at least one secondary device, [Guzik et al., Figure 1, Ref # 106], wherein the primary device and the at least one secondary device are configured and coordinated such that a communication link is establishable between the primary device and the at least one secondary device, [Guzik et al., Figure 1, Ref # 122 and 124],
and wherein the primary device and the at least one secondary device are set up and/or programmed for carrying out the method according to claim 1, [Patel et al., Paragraph 6].
Regarding claim 15, the arrangement according to claim 14, wherein: the primary device is a cell phone, [Guzik et al., Figure 1, Ref # 106(3)], and the at least one secondary device is and/or includes a portable device, [Guzik et al., Figure 1, Ref # 106(N)],
Regarding claim 16, the arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the at least one secondary device includes: a safety suit; a helmet; a gas sensor; a toolbox; a Smart Watch; a barcode Scanner; a smart glass, and/or thermal scanner, [Figure 1, Ref # 106, 108, 110 and 112].
Regarding claim 17, the arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the communication link is wired and/or wireless, [The signals may be sent by the body-worn sensor to the body-worn hub via a wired communication connection or a wireless communication connection, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 3)].
Regarding claim 19, the method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting the error signal to an external control center, [The body-worn device 106(4) may be a radio that the law enforcement officer 102 uses to communicate with a network operations center (NOC) 114, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 23)].
Regarding claim 20, the method according to claim 1, further comprising blocking provision of all user functions, except critical functions, on the primary device when the communication link is interrupted, [if the presentation control link 40 is interrupted, programmer system logic 38 will issue a termination notification to telemetry system 34 to cause a fail-safe mechanism to occur, such as causing temporary programmed values to be aborted and permanent programmed values to be restored, (Patel et al., Paragraph 47)].
Regarding claim 21, the method according to claim 1, further comprising, when it is detected that the at least one secondary device is the safety-critical secondary device, classifying the communication link between the primary device and the at least one secondary device as safety-critical, [the body-worn hub 104 may establish short-range wireless communication links 122(1)-122(N) with the body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N), respectively. The body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N) and the body-worn hub 104 may use the short-range wireless communications links 122(1)-122(N) to exchange communication. For example, the body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N) may use the short-range wireless communications links 122(1)-122(N) to send event notifications of events detected or recorded by the sensors of the body-worn devices 106(1)-106(N) to the body-worn hub 104, (Guzik et al., Paragraph 25)].
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shukri Taha whose telephone number is 571-270-1921. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30am-5pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached on 571-272-3905.
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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