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.
1. Claim(s) 1-9, 12-14, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shouldice (US 20230173221 A1) in view of Blair (US 6575895 B1).
In regards to claim 1, Shouldice discloses a system, comprising:
a wearable device comprising one or more sensors configured to measure physiological data from a user (Par. 0013 and 0071 teaches a wearable device having sensors) ;
a user device communicatively coupled with the wearable device (Par. 0129 discloses that the wearable device can be in communication with a phone/tablet/computer/etc. i.e. a user device); and
one or more processors communicatively coupled with the user device, the wearable device, or both (Par. 0015 discloses the system comprising processors), wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
receive, from the wearable device, first physiological data measured from the user via the wearable device during a first time interval (Par. 0071 teaches the sensor data can be gathered at different timescales, i.e. intervals);
compute one or more sleep stages of the user during the first time interval based at least in part on the first physiological data, wherein the one or more sleep stages of the user comprises at least a first sleep cycle (Par. 0071 teaches using the sensor data to determine sleep stages and Par. 0117 teaches determining sleep cycles of the sleep stages);
detect, based at least in part on the first physiological data, that the user has woken up within a first threshold duration from an end of the first sleep cycle (Par. 0281 discloses determining that a user is awake based on a threshold analysis of the sleep session cycles);
generate a signal to cause a graphical user interface (GUI) of the user device associated with the wearable device to display information (Par. 0235 teaches the user device having a GUI).
While Shouldice does disclose helping the user remember dreams (Par. 0130), they do not disclose wherein the system is used for dream regeneration, wherein the GUI can prompt the user to input one or more characteristics associated with a dream based at least in part on detecting the user has woken up, and generate, using a generative artificial intelligence model, one or more of a visual representation, a textual representation, or an auditory representation of the dream based at least in part on the one or more characteristics input by the user (Shouldice does disclose using artificial intelligence in their system for making predictions or models or providing user data; however, they do not teach this specifically being done to regenerate dreams).
However, in the same field of endeavor, Blair discloses a sleep analysis system (Abstract) that can regenerate the users dreams (Abstract) by prompting the user once they are awake to voice record a description of their dream and then have the system regenerate that dream via a recording, i.e. auditory (Col 3, lines 64-Col 4), in order to enable a user to investigate his or her nightly dream activity with little or no loss in the restorative process of a good night's sleep (Col. 1, lines 13-15).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have taken the teachings of Shouldice and modified them by having the system, prompt the user to record their dreams for replay, as taught and suggested by Blair, in order to enable a user to investigate his or her nightly dream activity with little or no loss in the restorative process of a good night's sleep (Col. 1, lines 13-15 of Blair).
In regards to claim 2, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
generate a signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, an external device, or any combination thereof, to generate an alarm to wake the user within the first threshold duration from the end of the first sleep cycle, wherein the alarm is an auditory alarm, a haptic alarm, a visual alarm, or any combination thereof, and wherein detecting that the user has woken up is based at least in part on generation of the alarm (Par. 0011 and 0130 if Shouldice teach using an alarm to wake the subject at the right time within the sleep cycle/stages. Par. 0250 of Shouldice discloses the alarm clock can play a sound)
In regards to claim 3, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 2, wherein the first sleep cycle is a random eye movement (REM) cycle (Par. 0072 and 0194 of Shoulsiceteaches REM sleep as a sleep cycle), and wherein, to generate the signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, the external device, or any combination thereof, to generate the alarm, the one or more processors are further configured to: generate the signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, the external device, or any combination thereof, to generate the alarm based at least in part on identifying that the user is within the first threshold duration of the end of the REM cycle, based at least in part on a first duration of the REM cycle being within a second threshold duration of an average REM cycle duration of the user, based at least in part on the first duration of the REM cycle exceeding a third threshold duration, or any combination thereof (Par. 0130 and 0178 of Shouldice teaches that the user to woke up during the appropriate stage of REM sleep by using threshold analysis)
In regards to claim 4, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 3, wherein identifying that the user is within the first threshold duration of the end of the REM cycle is based at least in part on the first physiological data (Par. 0185-0187 teach the threshold can be determined based on user events, i.e. physiological data)
In regards to claim 5, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from the wearable device, second physiological data measured from the user via the wearable device during a second time interval prior to the first time interval (Par. 0071 of Shouldice teaches the sensor data can be gathered at different timescales, i.e. different intervals intervals); wherein generating the signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, the external device, or any combination thereof, to generate the alarm is based at least in part on a difference between at least a portion of the first physiological data and at least a portion of the second physiological data exceeding a threshold (Par. 0011 of Shouldice discloses having the alarm go off at different times based on analysis from the sleep stages and the user data).
In regards to claim 6, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from an external device, brain wave data, wherein generating the signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, the external device, or any combination thereof, to generate the alarm is based at least in part on a frequency of the brain wave data exceeding a threshold (Par. 0071 of Shouldice teaches taking in brain activity as part of the user data/events and Par. 0185-0187 of Shouldice teach the threshold used for the alarm can be determined based on user events).
In regards to claim 7, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: automatically cause the GUI of the user device associated with the wearable device to display the information prompting the user to input one or more characteristics based at least in part on generating the signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, an external device, or any combination thereof, to generate the alarm (Par. 0169 of Shouldice teach inputting characteristics of the user, such as age, gender, etc. for the alarm system).
In regards to claim 8, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 2, wherein generating the signal to cause the wearable device, the user device, an external device, or any combination thereof, to generate the alarm is based at least in part on satisfaction of one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more criteria are based at least in part on sleep data associated with the user during a previous night, activity data associated with the user during a previous day, the user being within a second threshold duration of an average wake up time of the user, the user activating a dream characterization feature, the user enabling an alarm feature, or any combination thereof (Par. 0178 teaches the alarm generation can be based on where the user is in terms of their sleep stages, i.e. threshold comparison).
In regards to claim 9, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, via the user device, the wearable device, or both, a user input indicating the one or more characteristics associated with the dream, wherein the user input is a textual input, a verbal input, or both (Col 3-4 of Blair teaches the user verbally inputting, see rejection applied to claim 1)
In regards to claims 12-13, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: cause the GUI of the user device associated with the wearable device to display second information prompting the user to input feedback associated with the one or more of the visual representation, the textual representation, or the auditory representation, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: generate, using the generative artificial intelligence model, one or more of a second visual representation, a second textual representation, or a second auditory representation of the dream based on the feedback input by the user associated with the one or more of the visual representation, the textual representation, or the auditory representation (The combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair teach there being a GUI that a user can input dream information into and have a playback of this dream activity. Since the combined teachings have the same structure/functions of the claimed invention, they would be capable of generating a prompt to get feedback from the user and of generating more than one representation of the dream. Intended use/functional language does not require that reference specifically teach the intended use of the element. A recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim.)
In regards to claim 14, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 1, wherein generating the one or more of the visual representation, the textual representation, or the auditory representation of the dream is based at least in part on one or more characteristics associated with the user (Par. 0169 of Shouldice teach inputting characteristics of the user into the system).
In regards to claim 16, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, via the wearable device, the user device, or both, a user input indicating that the user has dreamt, wherein causing the GUI of the user device associated with the wearable device to display the information prompting the user to input one or more characteristics is based at least in part on receiving the user input (Par. 0114 of Shouldice teaches determining/asking if a user has dreamt in their REM sleep stage)
In regards to claim 17, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair as applied to claim 1 disclose the system of claim 1, wherein detecting the user has woken up is based at least in part on the first physiological data indicating that the user is awake (Par. 0281 of Shouldice).
2. Claim(s) 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shouldice and Blair and in further view of Youngblood (US 20210386964 A1).
In regards to claims 10-11, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair disclose the system of claim 9, except for wherein the textual input is associated with one or more tags selected from a plurality of tags, and wherein the plurality of tags comprise textual tags, visual tags, auditory tags, or any combination thereof, wherein the plurality of tags are based at least in part on one or more previous characterizations input by the user, the physiological data from the user, a lifestyle of the user, one or more characteristics associated with the user, one or more current events, one or more activities performed by the user during a previous day, or any combination thereof (Col 16, lines 43-57 teach the user input being stored as textual data.
While the combination of Shouldice and Blair teach recording and storing dream data as textual data – see Col 16 of Blair, they do not teach where the data is then tagged based on characteristics of the data. However, in the same field of endeavor, Youngblood teaches a system for analyzing sleep cycles and stages (Abstract and Par. 0127) wherein the all data is tagged and stored based on identifiers, i.e. characteristics, (Par. 0383) in order to make it easier to find and look at specific data.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have taken the teachings of Shouldice and Blair and modified them by having the system tag the data, as taught and suggested by Youngblood, in order to make it easier to find and look at specific data.
3. Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shouldice and Blair and in further view of Schredl (NPL, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities).
In regards to claims 15, the combined teachings of Shouldice and Blair disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify a plurality of dream occurrences based at least in part on a plurality of characterizations input by the user, wherein the plurality of characterizations are associated with the plurality of dream occurrences; identify one or more trends associated with the user dreaming based at least in part on one or more relationships between the plurality of dream occurrences and a plurality of physiological data; and cause a graphical user interface (GUI) of the user device associated with the wearable device to display information associated with the one or more trends.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Schredl teaches a dream analysis study (Abstract) wherein the subject inputs what their daily activities, i.e. characteristics, are and then also inputs what their dreams were, showing a correlation/trend which is that what you do in your day will often transfer to your dreams (Section 3.3) this analysis being done in order to help someone understand their dreaming state more.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have taken the teachings of Shouldice and Blair and modified them by having the system determine if there is a trend in your dreams vs your activity, as taught and suggested by Schredl, in order to help someone understand their dreaming state more.
Conclusion
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/S.L.C./ Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/NIKETA PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792