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 .
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/28/24 were considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-20 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,135137 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they are essentially similar in scope. They are not patentably distinct from each other because In view of the “obviousness-type” double patenting rational enunciated in Georgia Pacific Crop v United States Gypsum Co., 52 USPQ2d 1590, U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit 1999, instant application claims 1-20 and merely define an obvious variation of the invention claimed in the US Patent No. 12,135137 B2.
After analyzing the language of the claims, initially it should be noted that the Patent No. 12,135137 B2, having the same inventive entity. The Assignee in all applications is the same.
Claims 1-20 of the instant application is anticipated by patent claims 1-20 in that claims 1-20 of the patent 12,135137 B2 contains all the limitations of claims 1-20 of the instant application. Claims 1-20 of the instant application therefore is not patently distinct from the earlier patent claims and as such is unpatentable for obvious-type double patenting. In re Berg, 140 F.3d1428, 1431, 46 USPQ2d 1226, 1229 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
A comparison of the independent claims in the instant application and US patent application are shown in the table below.
Instant Application (18/908274)
US Patent No. 12,135,137
1. A method of determining a guest comfort score for a guest staying in a guest room of a plurality of guest rooms
of a hotel facility, the method comprising:
a server determining that the guest room is rented and occupied; the server determining a measure of guest activity in the guest room during a predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied; the server determining a sleep quality score for the guest room, wherein the sleep quality score is based at least in part on the measure of guest activity detected in the guest room during the predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied; and the server sending for display on a display the sleep quality score determined for the guest room.
1. A method of determining a guest comfort score for a guest staying in a guest room of a plurality of guest rooms
of a hotel facility, each of the plurality of guest rooms including a connected thermostat, the method comprising:
a server determining that the guest room is rented and occupied; the server receiving a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room when the guest room is rented and occupied; determining each of two or more partial comfort scores based at least in part on one of more of the plurality of parameters; the server calculating a guest comfort score for the guest room by determining a weighted combination of two or more of the partial comfort scores for times when the guest room is determined to have been rented and occupied; and the server sending for display the guest comfort score calculated for the guest room.
13. A system for determining a guest comfort score for a guest room of a hotel having a plurality of guest rooms, the
system comprising: a hotel network to which each of the plurality of guest rooms are operably coupled to; a server operatively coupled to the hotel network, the server configured to: receive via one or more networks including the hotel
network a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room; determine when the guest room is rented and occupied; determine each of two or more partial comfort scores for the guest room based at least in part on one of more of the plurality of parameters that are received when the guest room is rented and occupied; determine a guest comfort score for the guest room by
determining a weighted combination of two or more of the partial comfort scores; and sending the guest comfort score to a display device for display.
14. A system for determining a sleep quality score for a guest room of a hotel having a plurality of guest rooms, the
system comprising: a hotel network to which each of the plurality of guest rooms are operably coupled; a server operatively coupled to the hotel network, the server configured to: determine when the guest room is rented and occupied; receive via one or more networks including the hotel network a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room; determine a measure of guest activity in the guest room during a predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied based at least in part on one of more of the plurality of parameters that are received from the one or more devices within the guest room; determine a sleep quality score for the guest room, wherein the sleep quality score is based at least in part on the measure of guest activity in the guest
room during the predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied; and send the sleep quality score of the guest room to a
display device for display.
18. A non-transient computer readable medium storing one or more instructions that when executed by one or more
processors cause the one or more processors to: determine that a guest room of a hotel facility is rented and occupied; receive a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room when the guest room is rented and occupied;
determine each of two or more partial comfort scores based at least in part on one of more of the plurality of parameters;
determine a guest comfort score for the guest room by determining a weighted combination of two or more of the partial comfort scores for times when the guest
room is determined to have been rented and occupied; and send for display the guest comfort score determined for the guest room.
18. A non-transient computer readable medium storing one or more instructions that when executed by one or more
processors cause the one or more processors to: determine that a guest room of a hotel facility is rented and occupied; determine a measure of guest activity in the guest room during a predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied; determine a sleep quality score for the guest room, wherein the sleep quality score is based at least in part on the measure of guest activity detected in the guest room during the predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied; and send for display on a display device the sleep quality score
determined for the guest room.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
9. 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.
10. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Viveiros (Viveiros), US publication no. 2020/03383041.
As per claim 1, Viveiros teaches a method of determining a guest comfort score for a guest staying in a guest room of a plurality of guest rooms of a hotel facility [para 67, 70], the method comprising:
a server determining that the guest room is rented and occupied; the server determining a measure of guest activity in the guest room during a predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied [para 61, 62, 66, 67, 103];
the server determining a sleep quality score for the guest room, wherein the sleep quality score is based at least in part on the measure of guest activity detected in the guest room during the predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied [para 61, 62, 66, 67, 70, 74, 103]; and the server sending for display on a display the sleep quality score determined for the guest room [para 67, 68].
Viveiros discloses:
[0062] Moreover, one or more activity metric sensors 130 including Al, A2, A3, A4, andA5 may be installed throughout the sleep space, for detecting or recognizing human activities within the sleep space. It is established that in addition to time and duration of sleep, activities leading up to sleep often affect sleep quality. For example, relaxing activities such as reading and yoga in bed often allow the body and mind to slow down, whereas blue light from electronics such as a smartphone or a tablet can throw one off the circadian rhythm, making falling asleep more difficult. Any data collection device, sensor, or module that detects and measures user activity within the sleep space may be viewed as an activity metric sensor. For example, the activity metric sensor may be a motion sensor or a pressure sensor. User activity may include lying down, sitting, standing still, walking, reading, typing, watching TV, using a mobile computing device, and so forth. In some embodiments, user activities may be categorized relative to objects within the sleeping space. For example, user activities may be further classified into lying down on the bed, lying down on a sofa, sitting on the bed, sitting on the soft, sitting in a chair, standing near a door, standing near a window, reading in bed, and typing on the sofa. In some embodiments, different human actJv1t1es may occur concurrently. For example, the user may lie in bed and read, lie in bed and stretch, sit on the sofa and watch TV, etc.
[0066] In different embodiments, server 150 and database 160 may be located within the sleep space, close to the sleep space, remote from the sleep space, or distributively in the cloud. Server 150 may interact with sleep environment controller 140 to collect sleep metric and activity metric measurements from one or more sleeping environments as disclosed herein, at discrete time intervals over a period of
time such as overnight, over the span of a given number of hours or days, or over discontinuous intervals such as several nights.
[0067] The measured time-series data may be stored in database 160 and analyzed numerically to generate a user report. Such a user report may contain one or more quantitative data points such as the original sleep or activity measurement, and/or may include derived statistics such as user specific statistics and/or population statistics collected over similar sleep environments or similar user cohorts. For example, such a user report may indicate an amount of time the user has spent in the sleeping environment, the percentage of time he or she has spent doing different types of
activities, and physical biometric measurements of the user while doing the recorded activities. In some embodiments, the sleep environment management system may detect a location of the user in the sleep environment or sleep space, and/or continuously record an array of coordinates of the user's location within the sleep environment. For example, the user may be identified as on the bed, in front of the TV,
near the window, or pacing back and forth between a sofa and the bed. Such location information may be provided in the user report. In some embodiments, physical objects within the sleep environment may be moved in response to the identified user's location, and elements of the sleep environment may be adjusted based on the user's location. For example, a scent and an air quality within the sleep environment may be changed in response to the user's location, and a volume of sound produced by a sound machine may change according to user location as well. In some embodiments, sleep metrics and activity metrics of the user may be correlated across time to predict expected behaviours of the user based on analysis of prior behaviours of the user in similar conditions. In some embodiments, sleep metrics and activity metrics of two or more different users may be correlated across time to predict expected behaviours of a given user based on analysis of prior behaviours of other users in similar conditions. Smart recommendations on sleep-related products may also be provided based on the correlations of sleep metrics and activity metrics from the two or more users across time. Furthermore, a user report may be generated over the given period of measurement, or a shorter timespan within the measurement period. The user report may be updated periodically as more sleep metric and/or activity metric data are collected.
[0068] In some embodiments, part or all of such user report is sent back to a user device, where the report is viewable via a user interface, and may be relied on by sleep
environment controller 140 as feedback information for adjusting elements of the sleep environment. For example, if it is determined that the user has high body temperature, or rolling-over frequently in light sleep, a room temperature of the sleeping space may be lowered accordingly to help improve the user's sleep quality. In some embodiments,
controller 140 also serves as the user device. When the user report is generated based on sleep and activity metric measurements from multiple users, this user report may be
viewed as a population report.
[0103] In some embodiments, the sleep system comprises at least a sensor that measures whether the guest has actually stayed in the room. In one embodiment, the sensor is a pressure sensor that measures a minimum amount of depression and a minimum amount of time that the guest spends on the sleep system. In some embodiments, the sensor ties into other data sources and sensors in the room, that together create a holistic picture of the sleep quality, sleep experience, and general experience of the guest with the sleep system. This provides unique insights into the guest, which the system can then correlate with other data about the guest in order to generate a more personalized service plan, as well as additional sales presentation, sales information, or transmit the information to the front desk for service follow-up,
or a sales agent for an in-person pitch. As an added benefit, the system may provide feedback on the quality of the sleep to both the guest and the sleep environment provider, e.g., the hotel management.
As per claim 2, Viveiros teaches the server receiving a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room, wherein the measure of guest activity in the guest room is determined based at least in part on one or more of the plurality of
Parameters [para 60, 64-70, 95].
As per claim 3, Viveiros teaches the server receiving a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room, wherein one of more of the plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room relate to conditions in the
guest room, and wherein the sleep quality score is based at least in part on one of more of the plurality of parameters that relate to conditions in the guest room during the predefined time period at night when the guest room is determined to be rented and occupied [para 60, 64-70,103].
As per claim 4, Viveiros teaches the plurality of parameters comprises one or more of: a parameter that provides a measure of guest interactions with a thermostat of the guest room during the predefined time period at night; a parameter that provides a measure of motion in the guest room during the predefined time period at night; a parameter that provides a measure of changes in ambient light in the guest room during the predefined time period at night; and a parameter that provides a measure of noise in the guest room during the predefined time period at night [para 60, 64-70, 74, 81, 95].
As per claim 5, Viveiros teaches the measure of guest activity in the guest room is based at least in part on a measure of how often the guest interacted with a thermostat of the guest room during the predefined time period at night [para 60, 64-70, 74, 95].
As per claim 6, Viveiros teaches the measure of guest activity in the guest room is based at least in part on a measure of motion in the guest room during the predefined time period at night [para 62, 64-70, 104].
As per claim 7, Viveiros teaches the measure of guest activity in the guest room is based at least in part on a measure of changes in ambient light in the guest room
during the predefined time period at night [para 60, 62, 64-70, 81, 107].
As per claim 8, Viveiros teaches the measure of guest activity in the guest room is based at least in part on: a measure of how often the guest interacted with a
thermostat of the guest room during the predefined time period at night; a measure of motion in the guest room during the predefined time period at night; and a measure of changes in ambient light in the guest room during the predefined time period at night [para 60, 64-70, 77, 81, 95, 107].
As per claim 9, Viveiros teaches the sleep quality score provides an estimate of how well the guest slept in the guest room [para 32, 61, 62, 103, 128].
As per claim 10, Viveiros teaches the server receiving a plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room, wherein one of more of the plurality of parameters from one or more devices within the guest room relate to conditions in the guest room; the server determining two or more partial sleep quality scores based at least in part on two or more of the plurality of parameters from two or more devices within the guest room; and the server determining the sleep quality score based at least in part on the two or more partial sleep quality scores [para 61, 62, 66, 67, 103, 128].
As per claim 11, Viveiros teaches the server sending for concurrent display on a display the sleep quality score for the guest room and a sleep quality score for at least one other guest room of the hotel facility [para 67-69].
As per claim 12, Viveiros teaches the server determining when the sleep quality score is below a sleep quality score threshold; and the server visually distinguishing the guest room on the display when the sleep quality score of the guest room is below the sleep quality score threshold [para 65-68, 87].
As per claim 13, Viveiros teaches the server determining one or more possible root causes for why the sleep quality score of the guest room is below the sleep quality score threshold; and the server sending for display one or more of the possible root causes [para 65-68, 87].
As to claims 14-17 basically are the corresponding elements that are carried out the method of operating step in claims 1-13. Accordingly, claims 14-17 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1-13.
As to claims 18-20 directed to a computer program product storing
instruction to perform the method of steps of claims 1-13 executed by the system.
Therefore, it is rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove.
11. Examiner's note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs and columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety 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 disclosed by the examiner. MPEP 2141.02 VI: “PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS."
2. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Ko, US publication no. 2019/0049139, discloses a hotel guest detection system comprising: an HVAC system; a thermostat communicatively connected to the HVAC
system; at least one processing unit; at least one door sensor; at least one motion sensor; and at least one bed sensor configured to determine whether or not a guest is in a bed; wherein the door sensor, thermostat, and bed sensor are communicatively connected to the processing unit; and wherein the processing unit is configured to manipulate a setting of the thermostat based on measurements obtained from the door sensor, the bed sensor, and the motion sensor to a user comfort configuration.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUN CAO whose telephone number is (571)272-3664. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7:30 am-4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini Shah can be reached on 571-272-2279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHUN CAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 Viveiros is cited by applicant.
Prosecution Insights