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 .
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) 1-10, 12, 14, 15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0324432 Ahmed et al., hereinafter “Ahmed” (cited previously), in view of CN 110742596 Liao et al., hereinafter “Liao”.
Regarding claim 1, Ahmed discloses a sensing arrangement (100) for obtaining data from captured light reflected by, transmitted through, and/or modulated by a body part (110) of a person (Abstract, Para 54, and 72), the sensing arrangement comprising: illumination means (120) arranged to illuminate at least a portion of the body part (110) (Para 54; one or more light emitters); optical sensing means (130) arranged to capture light reflected by and/or transmitted through the body part (110) (Para 54; one or more light detectors); and a control unit (150) (Para 54; a processing module) arranged to determine an identity of the person (Para 176 and 193), determine one or more health parameters from the captured light (Para 54; determine heart rate), obtain, for at least one health parameter, a reference parameter associated with the person from a database (Para 70, 173, and 180), and determine a deviation of at least one health parameter from its corresponding reference parameter (Para 70, 173, and 180).
Ahmed does not disclose wherein the one or more health parameters comprises blood pressure, obtain, for at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure, a reference parameter associated with the person from a database, and determine a deviation of at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure from its corresponding reference parameter.
However, Liao discloses a sensing arrangement that uses light to determine health parameters (Para 7) the arrangement being a wearable device (Para 91; similar to Ahmed) and teaches the one or more health parameters comprises blood pressure (Para 24; “the bio-information can be heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, etc.”), obtain, for at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure, a reference parameter associated with the person from a database (Para 94), and determine a deviation of at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure from its corresponding reference parameter (Para 24 discloses that the bioinformation/biometric data is blood pressure; Para 94 discloses “The controller 30 is also used to compare the detected biometric data with the historical biometric data”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed measuring blood pressure as taught by Liao, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to determine the assessed health status of a user (Liao; Para 94).
Regarding claim 2, Ahmed discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Ahmed does not disclose the control unit (150) is arranged to select one or more health parameters as respective conditional parameters, wherein each conditional parameter is mapped into a range in a predetermined set of ranges, and obtain, for at least one health parameter not selected as a conditional parameter, a reference parameter associated with respective mapped ranges of the one or more conditional parameters.
However, Liao teaches the control unit (150) is arranged to select one or more health parameters as respective conditional parameters (Para 42; bio-information health indicators), wherein each conditional parameter is mapped into a range in a predetermined set of ranges (Para 42; mapped as historical data), and obtain, for at least one health parameter not selected as a conditional parameter, a reference parameter associated with respective mapped ranges of the one or more conditional parameters (Para 42; “the user's heart rate and pulse data are compared with bio-information health indicators”; see also Para 94; “compare the detected biometric data … and biometric health indicators”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed conditional parameters as taught by Liao, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to determine the assessed health status of a user (Liao; Para 94).
Regarding claim 3, Ahmed discloses the one or more health parameters comprise at least heart rate and blood pressure, and wherein at least the heart rate is selected as a conditional parameter (Para 54; determine heart rate).
Regarding claim 4, Ahmed discloses the one or more health parameters, one or more reference parameters, and/or one or more conditional parameters comprise any of heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, breathing rate, body temperature, glucose level, and hemoglobin level (Para 54; heart rate is disclosed).
Regarding claim 5, Ahmed discloses the control unit (150) (Para 54; the processing module) is arranged to determine one or more environmental parameters associated with the environment of measurement conditions (Para 63 and 122), wherein each environmental parameter is mapped into a range in a predetermined set of ranges, and arranged to obtain one or more reference parameters associated with respective mapped ranges of the one or more environmental parameters (Para 127).
Regarding claim 6, Ahmed discloses the one or more environmental parameters comprise any of temperature, humidity, air oxygen concentration, elevation, date, location of the sensing arrangement (100) (Para 63; temperature is disclosed).
Regarding claim 7, Ahmed discloses the control unit (150) is arranged to determine one or more individual parameters associated with the person (Para 139 and 175; age), wherein each individual parameter is mapped into a range in a predetermined set of ranges and arranged to obtain one or more reference parameters associated with respective mapped ranges of the one or more individual parameters (Para 139).
Regarding claim 8, Ahmed discloses the one or more individual parameters comprise any of age, weight, and height (Para 139 and 175; any one of age, weight, and height are disclosed).
Regarding claim 9, Ahmed discloses at least one of the one or more health parameters is determined by analyzing a pulse plethysmograph signal, by analyzing fluorescent light emitted from endogenous molecules (proteins), and/or by analyzing exogenous activation (Para 72 and 244; pulse plethysmograph signal is disclosed).
Regarding claim 10, Ahmed discloses at least one of the one or more reference parameters is associated with a normal condition of the person where he/she is free from illness, disease, and/or infection (Para 122 and 180 disclose a healthy human that exercises so it is inherent that the subject is under normal condition; no illnesses are discussed).
Regarding claim 12, Ahmed discloses the control unit (150) is further arranged to upload at least one of the one or more health parameters to the database (Para 66 and 210).
Regarding claim 14, Ahmed discloses the control unit (150) is arranged to compare the deviation to a predetermined threshold value (Para 180).
Regarding claim 15, Ahmed discloses the control unit (150) is arranged to classify the deviation into a condition by computer-implemented classification model configured to classify the deviation (Para 70).
Regarding claim 19, Ahmed discloses a method for obtaining data from captured light reflected by and/or transmitted through a body part (110) of a person (Abstract, Para 54, and 72), the method comprising illuminating (Sx1) at least a portion of the body part (110) with illumination means (120) (Para 54; one or more light emitters), capturing (Sx2) light reflected by, transmitted through, and/or modulated by the body part (110) with optical sensing means (130) (Para 54; one or more light detectors), determining (Sx3) an identity of the person (Para 176 and 193), determining (Sx4) one or more health parameters from the captured light (Para 54; determine heart rate), obtaining (Sx5), for at least one health parameter, a reference parameter associated with the person from a database (Para 70, 173, and 180), and determining (Sx6) a deviation of at least one health parameter from its corresponding reference parameter (Para 70, 173, and 180).
Ahmed does not disclose wherein the one or more health parameters comprises blood pressure, obtaining (Sx5), for at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure, a reference parameter associated with the person from a database, and determining (Sx6) a deviation of at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure from its corresponding reference parameter.
However, Liao discloses a sensing arrangement that uses light to determine health parameters (Para 7) the arrangement being a wearable device (Para 91; similar to Ahmed) and teaches the one or more health parameters comprises blood pressure (Para 24; “the bio-information can be heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, etc.”), obtaining (Sx5), for at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure, a reference parameter associated with the person from a database (Para 94), and determining (Sx6) a deviation of at least one health parameter comprising blood pressure from its corresponding reference parameter (Para 24 discloses that the bioinformation/biometric data is blood pressure; Para 94 discloses “The controller 30 is also used to compare the detected biometric data with the historical biometric data”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed measuring blood pressure as taught by Liao, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to determine the assessed health status of a user (Liao; Para 94).
Claim(s) 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0324432 Ahmed et al., hereinafter “Ahmed”, in view of CN 110742596 Liao et al., hereinafter “Liao”, further in view of CN 101605495 A Cho et al., hereinafter “Cho” (cited previously).
Regarding claim 11, Ahmed discloses at least one of the one or more reference parameter (Para 122 and 180)
Ahmed does not disclose the one or more reference parameter is associated with a previously known medical condition of the person.
However, Cho discloses a device that utilizes lights and light sensors to measure ECG (Para 11) and teaches the one or more reference parameter is associated with a previously known medical condition of the person (Para 54).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed analyzing data against medical history of an illness as taught by Cho, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to determine if parameters recorded by the device have changed over a longer period of time in order to draw conclusions about the development of existing diseases (Cho; Para 54 and 78).
Claim(s) 13 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0324432 Ahmed et al., hereinafter “Ahmed”, in view of CN 110742596 Liao et al., hereinafter “Liao”, further in view of US 2016/0188831 Kurtz et al., hereinafter “Kurtz” (cited previously).
Regarding claim 13, Ahmed discloses all the limitations of claim 12.
Ahmed does not disclose the reference parameter corresponding to the uploaded health parameter is updated based on the uploaded health parameter.
However, Kurtz discloses a device for capturing images to determine health parameters (Abstract) and teaches the reference parameter corresponding to the uploaded health parameter is updated based on the uploaded health parameter (Para 82 and Figure 5b, elements 420, 450).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed updating the uploaded health parameters as taught by Kurtz, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to update any ongoing trend-line tracking (Kurtz; Para 82).
Regarding claim 18, Ahmed discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Ahmed does not disclose the control unit (150) is arranged to recommend a follow up health test and/or consultation with medical expertise based on the deviation.
However, Kurtz discloses the control unit (150) is arranged to recommend a follow up health test and/or consultation with medical expertise based on the deviation (Para 89).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed recommending a follow up as taught by Kurtz, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to understand a detected meaningful trend or change (Kurtz; Para 89).
Claim(s) 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0324432 Ahmed et al., hereinafter “Ahmed”, in view of CN 110742596 Liao et al., hereinafter “Liao”, further in view of WO 2020/082124 Coles et al., hereinafter “Coles”(cited previously).
Regarding claim 16, Ahmed discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Ahmed does not disclose the identity of the person is determined from biometric identification data of the person obtained from the captured light.
However, Coles discloses capturing images using a camera to be used in a medical setting (Abstract and Para 92) and teaches the identity of the person is determined from biometric identification data of the person obtained from the captured light (Para 9 and 10 and Para 92 discloses that the sensing device is a camera that is a device that captures light).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed biometric identification data as taught by Coles, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to identify a unique human subject (Coles; Para 9).
Claim(s) 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0324432 Ahmed et al., hereinafter “Ahmed”, in view of CN 110742596 Liao et al., hereinafter “Liao”, further in view of CN 2016147659 Hua et al., hereinafter “Hua” (cited previously).
Regarding claim 17, Ahmed discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Ahmed does not disclose the control unit (150) is arranged to recommend an allowance or denial of admittance into an area past the sensing arrangement (100) based on the deviation.
However, Hua discloses a health detection device that uses light and light sensors (Para 13) and teaches the control unit (150) is arranged to recommend an allowance or denial of admittance into an area past the sensing arrangement (100) based on the deviation (Para 4 and 24).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disclosed an allowance or denial of admittance into an area past the sensing arrangement as taught by Hua, in the invention of Ahmed, in order to control the opening of doors based on health checks (Hua; Para 24).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
Examiner thanks the applicant for the clarification of claims 2-3. The U.S.C. 112(b) rejection of claims 2-3 has been withdrawn.
Refer to U.S.C. 103 rejection above for the rejection of the newly amended limitations.
Conclusion
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AYA ZIAD BAKKAR whose telephone number is (313)446-6659. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:30 am - 5:00 pm M-Th.
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/AYA ZIAD BAKKAR/
Examiner, Art Unit 3796
/CARL H LAYNO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3796
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