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 .
Remarks
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/804,448 filed on 08-14-2024.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/04/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 08-14-2024 are acceptable.
Claim Interpretation Under 35 USC § 112
No claim elements in this application are presumed to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
As to claim 1, the claim recites “…generate instructions to cause a pump to perform periodic pressure adjustments to account for pressure changes due to temperature changes…” which is indefinite as the claim only requires pressure data and it is unclear how any pressure data or a change in pressure, can be attributed to temperature as opposed to a user on the mattress. It is noted that applicant’s specification provides no support for this recitation and only provides support for e.g. [0005] Pressure readings of the mattress can be captured while the temperature adjustments are being made. Thus either the temperature is required or the pressure is required in conjunction with some other data such as the activation of a heater or a temperature.
For the purpose of examination the “…generate instructions to cause a pump to perform periodic pressure adjustments to account for pressure changes due to temperature changes…” will be interpreted as merely reading a pressure using a sensor or transducer since pressure and temperature of a gas are related.
Claims 2-17 are rejected via dependency.
Claim 2 is indefinite as “controller stops operating to cause a temperature adjustment to a microclimate of the bed system” lacks antecedent basis, i.e. the controller never started operating to cause a temperature adjustment nor does the claim require the ability to do so, therefore it is unclear what the metes and bounds of the claim are, i.e. is the ability to cause a temperature adjustment required.
Claim 3 is indefinite for the same reason as claim 2.
Claim 4 is indefinite for a similar reason as claim 2, i.e. the controller never started operating to cause a temperature adjustment nor does the claim require the ability to do so, therefore it is unclear what the metes and bounds of the claim are, i.e. is the ability to cause a temperature adjustment required.
Claim 5 is indefinite for a similar reason as claim 4, i.e. the controller never started operating to cause a temperature adjustment nor does the claim require the ability to do so, therefore it is unclear what the metes and bounds of the claim are, i.e. is the ability to cause a temperature adjustment required.
Claim 8 is indefinite for a similar reason as claim 4, i.e. the controller never started operating to cause a temperature adjustment nor does the claim require the ability to do so, therefore it is unclear what the metes and bounds of the claim are, i.e. is the ability to cause a temperature adjustment required.
Claim 18 recites “…determine an air-change-value based on the aggregated data to represent a change in mass…” and is considered indefinite as it is unclear what ‘mass’ refers to, the bed, the user or something else.
Claims 19-20 are rejected via dependency.
NOTE: any prior art rejection provided below is made as best understood in view of the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) issues above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2024/0016301, hereinafter D1.
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As to claim 1.
D1 discloses a bed system (fig. 3) comprising:
a mattress (302); at least one sensor (pressure transducer 146, fig. 2) configured to measure pressure readings in the mattress ([0043]-[0044]); and
a controller (controller 124 includes processor 134) in communication with the at least one sensor (fig. 2), the controller configured to:
receive, from the at least one sensor, sensor data indicating pressure readings of the mattress ([0043] pressure transducer 146 can send pressure readings to the processor 136 via the A/D converter 140);
generate instructions to cause a pump to perform periodic pressure adjustments to account for pressure changes due to temperature changes (fig. 19 shows reading of pressure and adjusting to correct; this can happen periodically or continuously, [0187]; also fig. 20);
aggregate data reflecting the periodic pressure adjustments (fig. 20 receive pressure readings 2006, the use of plural readings is considered ‘aggregation’ and the specification as filed does not provide a special definition to thwart this interpretation);
determine an air-change-value (2012), based on the aggregate data reflecting the periodic pressure adjustments (the readings are a source of the input to 2012 thus are “based”); and generate instructions to cause the pump to execute a corrective pressure adjustment to the mattress based on the air-change-value (2012-2018).
As to claim 6.
D1 discloses wherein generating the instructions to cause the pump to execute the corrective pressure adjustment (2118 in fig. 21) further comprises: determining when the bed system is unoccupied (2302); and instructing the pump to execute the corrective pressure adjustment (2304) a threshold amount of time after determining that the bed system is unoccupied (2306, 2308, 2310).
As to claim 7.
D1 discloses wherein determining when the bed system is unoccupied comprises detecting a bed-exit event by a user of the bed system ([0231] user not in bed).
(continued)
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 of this title, 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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of US 2024/0032860, hereinafter D2.
As to claim 9.
D1 does not explicitly disclose the following which is taught by D2:
wherein determining when a bed system is unoccupied is based on temperature changes that are detected, by a temperature sensor, in a mattress ([0170] temperature data collected from at least one temperature sensor (refer to the temperature sensors 906 in FIGS. 9A-B) located on a surface of a mattress can be collected and used in combination with pressure data collected from pressure sensors (refer to the pressure sensor 902 in FIG. 9A) to determine whether a user is lying on the bed (e.g., bed presence) or not (e.g., bed absence).
An invention is obvious where some teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference or to combine prior art reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teachings of D2 to modify D1 for the purpose of providing accurate detection of a user or occupant because inert objects (e.g. a suitcase) do not provide heat.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 10-17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 18 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
[claim 8] wherein determining when the bed system is unoccupied comprises determining that the controller is no longer operating to cause a temperature adjustment to a microclimate of the bed system;
[claim 10] wherein aggregating the data is performed, by the controller, after detection of a bed-exit event by a user of the bed system;
[claim 11] wherein the data reflecting the periodic pressure adjustments reflects a total mass of air added or removed during the periodic pressure adjustments;
[claim 12] wherein generating the instructions to cause the pump to execute the corrective pressure adjustment further comprises generating instructions that cause the pump to return a total mass of air in at least one air chamber of the mattress to be substantially equal to a mass of air that was in the at least one air chamber before the controller generated instructions to cause the pump to perform the periodic pressure adjustments;
[claim 13] wherein generating the instructions to cause the pump to execute the corrective pressure adjustment further comprises increasing pressure in one or more air chambers to a pressure value that is greater than an initial pressure value prior to the temperature changes;
[claim 14] wherein the periodic pressure adjustments are responsive to at least one of (i) an increase in pressure in one or more air chambers resulting from blowing warm air through a layer of the mattress or (ii) a decrease in pressure in the one or more air chambers resulting from blowing or drawing cooling air through the mattress;
[claim 16] wherein the pressure readings are captured, by the at least one sensor, whenever a pressure adjustment is made to the mattress responsive to the controller operating to cause the temperature changes;
[claim 17] wherein a difference in pressure is determined as a total amount of pressure that was added to or removed from the mattress during the periodic pressure adjustments
The prior art does not teach or fairly suggest the limitations of claims 8 and 10-17.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record on the attached PTOL-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as each further discloses a state of the art.
The examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record in the body of this action for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. Applicant should consider the entire prior art as applicable as to the limitations of the claims. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the response, to consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or pointed out by the examiner.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to J. T. Newton, Esq. whose telephone number is (313)446-4899. The examiner can normally be reached 0700-1500 M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SPE Justin Mikowski can be reached at (571) 272-8525. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J. T. Newton/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3673 14 January 2026
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