DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 20 February 2026 has been entered.
Claims 103-132 are pending in the present application. Claims 103, 107-110 were amended in the response filed 20 February 2026. Claims 1-102 have status cancelled.
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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 103-132 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Gaffield US Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0323055 A1 in view of Preum et al. CognitiveEMS: a cognitive assistant system for emergency medical services and Lewis et al. US Patent Application Publication Number 2012/0197665 A1.
The applied reference has a common applicant with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Regarding claim 103, Gaffield et al. teaches the following:
A cloud-based emergency medical services (EMS) computing system [note: Abstract, “Techniques for charting a medical event are disclosed. In one embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a system for charting a medical event, comprising a processor communicably coupled to a database and to a patient charting system”; Figure 1] comprising:
A patient charting system [note: paragraph 0069 PCS; paragraph 0072 dispatch environment];
a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system configured to provide dispatch information to the patient data charting system …for an encounter between a patient and EMS personnel, the dispatch information including identification information for the patient and an indication of whether a type of transport service is an interfacility transport … [note: Figure 1, (102); paragraph 0072, “Enterprise environment 102 may be a hospital and/or dispatch environment”; paragraph 0058, system indicates “type of service”; paragraph 0066 “is an ambulance or other EMS vehicle” (i.e. system indicates types of transport)];
wherein the patient data charting system configured to: communicatively couple with the CAD system [note: Figure 1 (104) patient monitoring system; paragraph 0067],
access an electronic patient care record (ePCR) comprising a plurality of ePCR data fields for the encounter between the patient and the EMS personnel, the plurality of ePCR data fields including a type of transport service field [note: paragraph 0068, “The PCS 104 can be a device used by the EMS technician 114 to generate records and/or notes about the patient’s 116 condition and/or treatments applied”, can be a cloud-implemented device; see paragraphs 0066, 0004 ambulance, 0090 means for adding additional fields, 0094 specific data fields, 0106 means for customization, 0089 data field customization];
receive the dispatch information from the CAD system [note: Figure 1, (102) enterprise environment (i.e. dispatch environment); paragraph 0069 patient charting device 104 may receive, organize, share, distribute, and display data from each device; paragraph 0072 dispatch environment]., and
automatically populate at least a portion of the plurality of ePCR data fields with the dispatch information, the populated ePCR data fields including a type of transport service field populated with the indication received from the CAD system, of whether the type of transport service is the interfacility transport [note: paragraph 0007, processors; paragraph 0068, “interactive data entry interface”; paragraph 0089, system includes data fields; paragraph 0091, means for populating patient chart during a medical event; Figure 4; paragraph 0118, various modifications and additions may be implemented].
Although Gaffield et al. teach the invention as cited including a plurality of ePCR fields they do not explicitly use the term transport field. Gaffield et al. does teach additional data fields may be implemented to customize chart and indicating transport information such as an ambulance or other EMS vehicle [see paragraph 0066; and paragraph 0059]. However, Preum et al. further teach a rules engine and means for “dynamic customization of data fields”. means for defining system. The fields may be defined to enhance operational effects [note: page 52 section 2.1 Cognitive assistant systems, and page 54 section 3.4.2 Rule Engine]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the effective filing data to have combined the cited references since they are both directed toward EMS and optimized capturing of patients data during a health event.
Although Gaffield and Preum et al. teach the invention as cited above, Garfield does not explicitly use the term computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. However they do indicate that the system is a dispatch environment. Further Lewis et al. describes the dispatch as a computer-aided dispatch used within the data processing arts to communicate information remotely and locally [note: abstract, figure 1 (18) CAD; paragraph 0046 CAD module may be implemented on the same platform or separately; paragraph 0052 used to receive and transmit data; paragraph 0043 CAD allows for data transmission and storage; also se paragraphs 0030, 0034-0035]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the effective filing data to have combined the cited references since they are all directed toward EMS and optimized capturing of patients data during a health event. Lewis et al. further describes the capabilities of a dispatch in a dispatch environment.
Claim 104: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein:
the CAD system is configured to receive at least a portion of the dispatch information via an emergency call for an emergency event; and the encounter is responsive to the emergency event [note: paragraph 0003 911 call; paragraph 0005 emergency event; also see paragraphs 0058, 0068, 0087, 0092].
Claim 105 : The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the dispatch information received from the CAD system includes a time and a location of an emergency event [note: paragraph 0088, processing module may retrieve additional data using health data exchange].
Claim 106: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 105, wherein the location of the emergency event indicates a floor of a multistory building [note: paragraph 0089 templates may be customized].
Claim 107: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the dispatch information received from the CAD system includes one or more of information characterizing … [note: paragraph 0060, additional data may be implemented (customization); paragraph 0091 additional data may populate the chart].
Claim 108: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the dispatch information includes one or more of: a call source … [note: paragraph 0091 additional data may populate the chart].
Claim 109:: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the dispatch information received from the CAD system includes at least one of: a designation … [note: paragraph 0091 additional data may populate the chart; paragraph 0066, global positioning system; paragraph 0064 system performs advanced management].
Claim 110: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the dispatch information comprises one or more of a receipt time of an emergency call, a dispatch time of the EMS personnel, a delay time between the receipt time and the dispatch time, an on-scene arrival time, a patient side arrival time, an in route to hospital time, or a door-to-balloon time [note: paragraph 0097, medical event information].
Claim 111: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 110, wherein the patient data charting system is further configured to generate a timeline that includes durations for a plurality of segments of the encounter based on the dispatch information [note: paragraph 0097 medical event information].
Claim 112: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 111, wherein the timeline comprises a graphical timeline or a list format timeline [note: paragraph 0097; and paragraph 0102, means for adapting view]..
Claim 113: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 111, wherein the timeline indicates average EMS system performance times and EMS system performance goals [note: paragraph 0097 and 0102, adapting views]..
Claim 114: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the patient data charting system … information that is based at least in part on: a global positioning system location device associated with a transport vehicle; or an on-scene computing device associated with the encounter [note: paragraph 0066, global positioning systems; paragraph 0059 automatically populate].
Claim 115: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the dispatch information received from the CAD system includes information characterizing triage tasks that were directed by a dispatcher before the EMS personnel encountered the patient [note: paragraph 0064 performs advanced data management].
Claim 116: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the patient data charting system is further configured to: communicatively couple with a medical records database remotely located from the encounter; receive patient medical information from the medical records database; and populate at least one of the plurality of epoch data fields based on the patient medical information [note: Figure 1; paragraph 0067 system connects to various devices].
Claim 117: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 116, wherein the patient medical information comprises one or more of medication information, chronic condition information, physician information, or historical treatment information [note: paragraph 0075].
Claim 118: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the patient data charting system is configured to: identify a medical facility destination for the patient based on information in at least one of the plurality of ePCR data fields; and
communicatively couple with at least one server associated with the medical facility destination [note: Figure 1]..
Claim 119: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 118, wherein the patient data charting system is configured to provide patient information from at least a portion of the plurality of ePCR data fields to the medical facility destination [note: Figure 1; paragraphs 0087, 0089-0091]..
Claim 120: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 118, wherein the patient data charting system is configured to: receive patient medical information from the at least one server; and populate at least one of the plurality of ePCR data fields based on the received patient medical information [note: Figure 1; and paragraphs 0087, 0089-0091].
Claim 121: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein:
the patient data charting system comprises an on-scene computing device configured to communicatively couple to at least one medical device associated with the encounter between the patient and the EMS personnel; the on-scene computing device is configured to receive patient data from the at least one medical device; and the patient data charting system is configured to populate at least one of the plurality of ePCR data fields based on the patient data received from the at least one medical device [note: Figure 1].
Claim 122: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 121, wherein the on-scene computing device comprises one or more of a smartphone, a tablet, or a wearable computing device [note: paragraph 0064 multiple different devices].
Claim 123: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 121, wherein the at least one medical device is a patient monitor/defibrillator [note: paragraph 0067, patient monitoring device may be a defibrillator].
Claim 124: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 123, wherein the at least one of the plurality of ePCR data fields comprises a vital sign data field [note: paragraph 0067-0068].
Claim 125:: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 123, wherein the patient data comprises one or more of an ECG trace, blood pressure, respiration rate, heart rate, pulse oxygen level, or an ultrasound image [note: paragraph 0067-0068].
Claim 126: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 123, wherein the patient data comprises therapy delivery data [note: paragraph 0067-0068].
Claim 127: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 126, wherein the therapy delivery data comprises one or more of medication delivery data, chest compression data, or defibrillation shock delivery data [note: paragraph 0067].
Claim 128: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 123, wherein the at least one of the plurality of ePCR data fields is in a cardiac arrest data section of the ePCR [note: paragraph 0067; paragraph 0089 customizable templates].
Claim 129: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 121, wherein the at least one medical device is one of a patient monitor, an automated external defibrillator, a trauma kit, an automated compression device, or a ventilation device [note: paragraph 0067; paragraph 0089 customizable templates].
Claim 130: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the patient data charting system is further configured to populate at least one of the plurality of ePCR data fields with an inferred value based on the dispatch information [note: paragraph 0067; paragraph 0089 customizable templates].
Claim 131: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the patient data charting system is further configured to: identify an unpopulated ePCR data field of the plurality of ePCR data fields, wherein the unpopulated ePCR data field is associated with at least one populated ePCR data field of the plurality of ePCR data fields; and
generate a caregiver prompt comprising a request for a data field value for the unpopulated ePCR data field [note: paragraph 0032 prompts; paragraph 0067; paragraph 0089 customizable templates; paragraph 0110 means for prompts].
Claim 132:: The cloud-based EMS computing system of Claim 103, wherein the ePCR is National Emergency Medical Services Information System compliant [note: paragraph 0088, health data exchange standards].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 103-132 have been considered but are moot in view of the new rejection. Note newly added reference Lewis et al. further illustrates the dispatch as a computer-aided dispatch.
ARGUMENT: Claim 103 has been amended the prior art does not teach a computer-aided dispatch and a type of transport service as claimed. The claims have been amended to overcome obviousness-type double patenting rejection.
RESPONSE: The amendment overcomes the obviousness-type double patenting rejection. However, a new reference is cited for teaching a dispatch as a computer-aided dispatch. Gaffield combined with Preum et al. allow for transport field note citations above in the Office Action.
ARGUMENT: Gaffield does not teach automatically populating a patient transport information field of an ePCR with patient transport information received from a CAD system...
RESPONSE: Gaffield combined with cited references provide for the feature. Gaffield teaches automatically populating fields of a patient charting application and allows for customization, see paragraph 0059, “patient charting information is automatically populated”, also parameters may be adjusted see paragraphs 0060-0061.Garrfield allows for various types of fields and teaches a plurality of fields, see paragraph 0089 system includes data fields
Conclusion
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/GRETA L ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2163