DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 2-21 are pending.
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2-9, 11-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Al-Ali [US 20030181798] in view of Moon et al. [US 20110066051].
As to claim 2. Al-Ali discloses A wireless patient monitoring system configured to be coupled to a patient, the system comprising:
a wireless monitor, [fig. 4A, 0030] sensor module 400, including:
a base, [fig. 4A, 0030] case 412; and
a removable component, [fig. 4B, 0030] module 460, including a memory, [0031] the module can download software, which requires the module to have a memory;
a strap, [fig. 4A, 0030] wrist strap 411, for securing the wireless monitor to the patient, [fig. 4A, 0030], wherein a portion of the strap is configured to engage with the base, [fig. 4A];
an optical sensor, [figs. 3, 8, 0048] pulse oximetry sensor using LEDs, configured to obtain photoplethysmographs, [0048] providing a plethysmograph signal, the optical sensor including at least one emitter configured to emit light and at least one detector configured to detect said light after attenuation by tissue of the patient, [0048] every received wireless signal is attenuated by the medium it passes through, said photoplethysmographs responsive to said detected light, [0048] basic operation of a pulse oximeter, and
wherein the base further includes one or more outlets for coupling to one or more sensors including the optical sensor, [figs. 4, 6, 0030, 0038] module connector 414 and sensor interface 610, and
wherein the wireless monitor includes a wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit sensor data from the optical sensor, [fig. 6, 0038] transmitter 650.
Al-Ali fails to explicitly disclose wherein the removable component configured to removably engage with the base, wherein the strap engages with the base by passing through an opening on the base.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the strap 90 threads through openings in the housing 106 of the transceiver 72, [0078].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the strap can be replaced if it breaks without replacing the whole system.
As to claim 3. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the removable component further comprises a user input device, [0030] keys to control operational mode.
As to claim 4. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 3, wherein the removable component further comprises a display screen, [fig. 4A, 0030] display 415.
Al-Ali fails to disclose wherein the display screen is the user input device.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver comprises a display 73 that is a touch panel, [0078, 0104].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can be implemented with a display that can function as an input module to reduce the components needed for having a minimal unit.
As to claim 5. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 3, wherein the user input device is a touch pad such that the patient can tap the user input device to select a feature.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver comprises a display 73 that is a touch panel, [0078].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can be implemented with a display that can function as an input module to reduce the components needed for having a minimal unit.
As to claim 6. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 5, wherein the patient can swipe on the touch pad in different directions to change selections.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver comprises a display 73 that is a touch panel, [0078, 0104].
Moon fails to explicitly disclose wherein the touch panel can accept a swipe as an input.
Touch panels are known to have an input method selected from only a touch or a touch and a swipe.
One of ordinary skill in the art can easily select one from the two types of touch panel types as nothing but a design choice for providing the user with an input method that can have multiple types of input features.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the touch panel of Moon can be made to be a touch panel with a swipe input method as nothing but selecting from a finite available types of touch panels to allow the user have a minimal device with an input method that can accept a plurality type of input types.
As to claim 7. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the strap is a wrist band, [fig. 4A, 0030].
As to claim 8. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the strap comprises a connector for connecting the strap to the base, [fig. 4A, 0030] module mounted to the wrist strap.
As to claim 9. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, further comprising an accelerometer to detect patient movement.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver comprises an accelerometer 14a to determine when a patient is falling, [fig. 1, 0059].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can detect a patient fall.
As to claim 11. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, further comprising an alert system to provide an alert, [0003] audible indicator.
Al-Ali fails to disclose wherein the alert is provided when the patient is falling.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver comprises an accelerometer 14a to determine when a patient is falling and provide an alert, [fig. 1, 0059].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can detect a patient fall.
As to claim 12. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to transmit the sensor data over cellular telephony.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver can communicate through cellular wireless networks, [0027].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can communicate using available communication protocols.
As to claim 13. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to transmit the sensor data over Wi-Fi.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the transceiver can communicate through 802.11 communication protocol, [0027].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can communicate using available communication protocols.
As to claim 14. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to perform at least some front-end processing, [0038] transmitter 650 processes signal before transmitting.
As to claim 15. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the memory is configured to store wireless communication information, [0062] the transmitter 1350 in combination with the multiplexer and encoder 1340 transmitting on multiple frequency channels, which requires the encoder 1340 to store the multiple baseband frequency signal parameters.
As to claim 16. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the removable component comprises a battery, [0026].
As to claim 17. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the wireless monitor further comprises a processor, [fig. 6, 0038] signal processor 630.
As to claim 18. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to at least partially process the photoplethysmographs received from the optical sensor, [0040] generates a parameter signal 632, to at least partially determine one or more physiological measurements to be displayed on a display, [0030].
As to claim 19. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors further comprise an acoustic sensor.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the system can include an acoustic sensor, [0015].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can measure additional physiological parameters of the patient.
As to claim 20. Al-Ali discloses The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors further comprise a blood measurement device, [0048].
As to claim 21. Al-Ali fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors further comprise an ECG sensor.
Moon teaches body-worn vital monitor comprising a removable transceiver 72 mounted to a wrist of a patient using a flexible strap 90, [fig. 4A, 0073]; wherein the system further includes an ECG sensor 16, [fig. 1, 0056].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Al-Ali with that of Moon so that the transceiver can measure additional physiological parameters of the patient.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Al-Ali in view of Moon as applied to claim 2, further in view of Gao et al. [US 20090069642].
As to claim 10. the combination of Al-Ali and Moon fails to disclose The wireless patient monitoring system of Claim 2, further comprising a gyroscope to detect patient movement.
Gao teaches a wearable wireless patient data monitoring device comprising a patient monitor 100, [fig. 1A, 0029], that can be worn on the patient’s arm as a wrist strap, [0046], comprising a gyroscope, [0030], as a position sensor, [0078].
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of the combination of Al-Ali and Moon with that of Gao so that the sensor can be used to track the position of the user.
Conclusion
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/Benyam Haile/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688