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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
Subject Matter Free of Prior Art
Claim(s) 1-10 are allowable over prior art because the prior art does not teach or disclose the amended features in the specific manner and combinations recited. However, the claims are still rejected under 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 6-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 6 teaches “A computer-implemented method.” However, the as-filed disclosure does not appear to mention a “computer,” let alone describe a “computer” to implement the aforementioned method. Because no additional information is given, the disclosure fails to provide written description support for the “computer-implemented method.”
Claims 7-10 are rejected as being dependent on claim 6.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more. Based upon consideration of all of the relevant factors with respect to the claims as a whole, the claims are directed to non-statutory subject matter which do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because of the following analysis:
Claim 1 is drawn to a method which is within the four statutory categories (i.e., method). Claim 6 is drawn to a method which is within the four statutory categories (i.e., method).
Independent claim 1 recites… integrating patient health records (PHRs) from electronic health record systems, any other health information systems, biological tests, genetic tests, and patient-generated health data in one or more hospitals and health care organizations; selecting an equal number of target patients with a disease and condition (DAC) and background patients without the DAC; collecting standardized data of any number of health factors of the selected patients in the PHRs; constructing patient graphs connecting patient nodes to patients’ health factor nodes; measuring each health factor node’s connection characteristics for the target patients (TPC) and the background patients (BPC) separately; calculating the connection delta ratio (CDR) using each health factor’s TPC and BPC to provide a relative measure of the importance of a health factor for the DAC; and sorting the health factors by CDR to generate a quantitative distribution of health factors specific to the DAC.
Independent claim 6 recites… defining a target of any health-related event including but not limited to disease or condition diagnosis, medications, procedures, treatments, preventions, and prognosis; constructing patient graphs with patient nodes connected to patients’ health factor nodes using patient health factor data collected for the target; measuring each health factor node’s connection characteristics for target patients (TPC) and background patients (BPC) separately; calculating connection delta ratio (CDR) using each health factor’s TPC and BPC to provide a relative measure of the importance of a health factor for the target; and sorting the health factors by CDR to generate a quantitative distribution of health factors specific to the target.
Under its broadest reasonable interpretation, the limitations noted above, as drafted, covers certain methods of organizing human activity (i.e., managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people…following rules or instructions), but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting a “computer” to implement the method (claim 6), the claim encompasses rules or instructions to collect data (i.e., related to a patient), analyze the collected data, and output relevant information (i.e., significant factors impacting patient health) for a user (i.e., doctor) accordingly. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people, but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claims recite an abstract idea.
Claim 6 recites additional elements (i.e., computer to implement the method). Looking to the specifications, a computer is recited at a high level of generality, such that it amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements individually. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Accordingly, the claims are directed to an abstract idea.
Reevaluated under step 2B, the additional elements noted above do not provide “significantly more” when taken either individually or as an ordered combination. The use of a general purpose computer or computers (i.e., computer) amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components and does not impose any meaningful limitation on the computer implementation of the abstract idea, so it does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements individually. The combination of elements does not indicate a significant improvement to the functioning of a computer or any other technology and their collective functions merely provide a conventional computer implementation of the abstract idea. Furthermore, the additional elements or combination of elements in the claims, other than the abstract idea per se, amount to no more than a recitation of generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use, as the courts have found in Parker v. Flook; similarly, the current invention merely limits the claimed calculations to the healthcare industry which does not impose meaningful limits on the scope of the claim. Therefore, there are no limitations in the claims that transform the judicial exception into a patent eligible application such that the claims amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Dependent claims 2-5, 7-10 include all the limitations of the parent claims and further elaborate on the abstract idea discussed above and incorporated herein.
Claims 2-11, 13-18 further define the analysis and organization of data for the performance of the abstract idea and do not recite any additional elements. Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements individually. Thus, the claims do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and do not provide “significantly more.”
Although the dependent claims add additional limitations, they only serve to further limit the abstract idea by reciting limitations on what the information is and how it is received and used. These information characteristics do not change the fundamental analogy to the abstract idea grouping of “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity,” and, when viewed individually or as a whole, they do not add anything substantial beyond the abstract idea. Furthermore, the combination of elements does not indicate a significant improvement to the functioning of a computer or any other technology. Therefore, the claims when taken as a whole are ineligible for the same reasons as the independent claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0045696 A1 teaches representing patient encounter data as directed graphs whose nodes and edges provide interaction data.
WO 2022/072785 A1 teaches calculating attention weights based on connections between nodes of a knowledge graph.
“Mining health knowledge graph for health risk prediction” teaches identifying strong connections between health factors represented as nodes in a knowledge graph.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Emily Huynh whose telephone number is (571)272-8317. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 8-5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Morgan can be reached on (571) 272-6773. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EMILY HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3683