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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-20) in the reply filed on 3/18/26 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 6-14 and 18-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 6, “data.” should be amended to –data;-- . Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milluzzi et al. (US 12342794) in view of Falbaum (US 5778825).
For claims 1, 6, 15 and 18, Milluzzi et al. teach a system comprising:
an enrichment object (135) comprising a sensor;
at least one a processor (260); and
a memory in communication with the processor and the at least one sensor, and having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, is configured to cause the system to:
analyze sensor data received in real time from the sensor;
and generate a behavioral profile based, at least in part, on the analyzed sensor data (see “SUMMARY”, columns 5, 15, and 16).
As described above, Milluzzi et al. disclose most of the claimed invention except for mentioning the use of magnetic sensors.
Falbaum teaches that it is old and well known in the art of enrichment device for animals to use magnetic sensors (see [0028]) in order to detect and respond to animals’ movement and/or behavior.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system of Milluzzi et al. so as to include the use of magnetic sensors, in a similar manner as taught in Falbaum, in order to detect and respond to animals’ movement and/or behavior.
For claims 2 and 6, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Milluzzi et al.) further teach wherein the sensor data is received in real time in response to a user interacting with the enrichment object (see “SUMMARY”, columns 5, 15, and 16).
For claims 3 and 6, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Falbaum) further teach the use of multiple magnetic sensors (see [0028]).
For claims 4, 6 and 16, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Milluzzi et al.) further teach wherein the memory, when executed by the processor, is further configured to cause the system to:
transmit a signal to an imaging device in an environment comprising the enrichment object to initiate or terminate video data collection (see columns 7 and 12).
For claims 5, 6 and 17, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Milluzzi et al.) further teach wherein the memory, when executed by the processor, is further configured to cause the system to:
transmit a signal to an environmental stimulus (equivalent to “a treat”) in an environment comprising the enrichment object (see column 7).
For claim 7, as described above, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum disclose most of the claimed invention except for mentioning: 1) the use of a plurality of enrichment objects and 2) the state data comprises mechanical or electrical failures of a corresponding enrichment object in the plurality of enrichment objects. Regarding 1), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system of Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum so as to provide an additional enrichment objects where it is needed, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routing skill in the art. Regarding 2), an Official Notice is taken that having mechanical or electrical failure correspondents in pet enrichment objects is a well known technique used in the art in order to trigger maintenance alerts and to ensure continuous safe operation of the pet enrichment object. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system of Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum so as to provide mechanical or electrical failure correspondents in order to trigger maintenance alerts and to ensure continuous safe operation of the pet enrichment object.
For claims 8, 12 and 18, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum further teach wherein the at least one enrichment object is a silicone enrichment object (see [0012] of Falbaum) further comprising at least one accelerometer (240 and see columns 2 and 7 of Milluzzi et al.), at least one gyroscope, or at least one barometer (see columns 2 and 7 of Milluzzi et al.).
For claims 9, 12 and 20, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum wherein: the sensor data is additionally received from the at least one accelerometer (240 and see columns 2 and 7 of Milluzzi et al.), the at least one gyroscope, or the at least one barometer; the sensor data is automatically segmented; and the sensor data is analyzed using a machine learning model (425 and see columns 12 and 17 of Milluzzi et al.) by:
automatically detecting activities in the sensor data associated with the user interacting with the at least one enrichment object, wherein the sensor data is segmented based on the detected activities; and
generating the behavioral profile using the machine learning model by detecting patterns between the sensor data and the detected activities (see columns 5 and 15 of Milluzzi et al.).
For claim 10, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Falbaum) further teach wherein: the machine learning model is configured to dynamically generate a visual (equivalent to “camera device” 255) of the sensor data; and the memory, when executed by the at least one processor, is further configured to cause the system to: transmit in real time the sensor data or the visual of the sensor data to an external device.
For claim 11, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Falbaum) further teach wherein a level of work readiness of the user is determined based on the behavioral profile of the user by comparing patterns of play in the behavioral profile to a current state of play (see columns 11 and 14).
For claim 13, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Falbaum) further teach wherein: the user is interacting with the at least one enrichment object in an environment; and the at least one signal is based on a bite pressure or a movement (see columns 3 and 8) of the at least one enrichment object from the user.
For claim 14, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Falbaum) further teach wherein the at least one signal marks a location of the environment for a handler of the user (equivalent to “GPS”, see column 1).
For claim 19, Milluzzi et al. as modified by Falbaum (emphasis on Falbaum) further teach wherein the enrichment object further comprising comprises: charging hardware configured to enable wireless charging of the at least one sensor through the silicone shell (see [0013] and [0014]).
Conclusion
Note, although the examiner recites certain excerpts for the prior art, MPEP 2141.02 VI states “PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS”.
The prior arts Lau Caruso et al. (US 2023/0225290) and Gibbs (US 2020/0404886) teach an animal behavioral training system.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRINH T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6906. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:00-3:30.
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/TRINH T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3644
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