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 Non-final action for application number 18/401,211 in response to an original application filed on 02/23/2024.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1 is an independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 02/23/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-20 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 at least one of is and 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 at least one of: a safety suit; a helmet; a gas sensor; a toolbox; a Smart Watch; and at least one of a Barcode Scanner, Smart Glass, and 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, at least one of: 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 at least one of interrupting and at least temporarily stopping a switch-on process 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 at least one of (i) the safety-critical secondary device has not been detected and (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 at least one of: displaying the error signal via the primary device, and playing back the error signal at least one of acoustically and 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 at least one of set up and 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 at least one of is and 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 at least one of: a safety suit; a helmet; a gas sensor; a toolbox; a Smart Watch; and at least one of a Barcode Scanner, Smart Glass, and Thermal Scanner for Critical Business Operation, [Figure 1, Ref # 106, 108, 110 and 112].
Regarding claim 17, the arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the communication link is at least one of wired and 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 18, the method according to claim 1, wherein the communication link is 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)].
Conclusion
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478