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 .
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.
Claims 1-17 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.
Claims 1-17 are drawn to a method and an apparatus, which is/are statutory categories of invention (Step 1: YES).
Independent claim 1 recites a step (A) of accessing a plurality of content provided for purpose of prescribing customized digital content and inducing formation of behavioral habits are constructed while being classified into emotional category content, cognitive category content, and behavioral category content; and a step (B) of determining content to be recommended to the user according to a mental health profile of the user, including at least one of a mental health situation, a mental illness, and a mental health symptom of the user, and, wherein the step (B) includes, selecting emotional content, cognitive content, and behavioral content to be recommended to the user by emotional content category, cognitive content category, and behavioral content category among the plurality of content according to the mental health profile of the user; and determining a recommendation order of the emotional content, the cognitive content, and the behavioral content according to the mental health profile of the user and according to the recommendation order.
Independent claim 10 recites a plurality of content provided for purpose of prescribing customized digital content and inducing formation of behavioral habits are classified into emotional category content, cognitive category content, and behavioral category content; and determine content to be recommended to the user according to a mental health profile of the user, including at least one of a mental health situation, a mental illness, and a mental health symptom of the user, and, select emotional content, cognitive content, and behavioral content to be recommended to the user by emotional content category, cognitive content category, and behavioral content category among the plurality of content according to the mental health profile of the user; and determine a recommendation order of the emotional content, the cognitive content, and the behavioral content according to the mental health profile of the user and according to the recommendation order.
The respective dependent claims 2-9 and 11-17, but for the inclusion of the additional elements specifically addressed below, provide recitations further limiting the invention of the independent claim(s).
Said recited limitations, as drafted, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, cover certain methods of organizing human activity, as reflected in the specification, which states that the disclosure to an invention “that prescribes user-customized digital content based on the emotion-cognition-behavior theory and induces the formation of behavioral habits for mental health management” (see: specification paragraph 1). If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. The present claims cover certain methods of organizing human activity because they address a problem where “there are various types of symptoms and mental illnesses related to mental health, and different types of users need customized services for mental health management” and current “apps are not based on medical knowledge related to mental health and simply provide content capable of providing mental comfort or causing emotional changes” (see: specification paragraph 3). The recited limitations address such problems by “prescribe[ing] customized digital content for users based on the emotion-cognition-behavior theory and induce the formation of behavioral habits for mental health management…enable[ing] users to manage their own mental health without time and space constraints through self-healthcare, and to practice and make a habit of preventing and continuously managing mental illness…provid[ing] customized mental health management services to various users by providing steady treatment and management to patients with mental illness to provide symptom relief and mental stability, providing screening for mental illness, in-depth checkup, comfort and sympathy, and solutions for recovery to high-risk users, and helping general users form lifestyle habits, strengthen motivation, and recognize the need for mental health management” (see: specification paragraph 4-6). Accordingly, the claims recite an abstract idea(s) (Step 2A Prong One: YES).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The claims are abstract but for the inclusion of the additional elements including an “by a content delivery unit, a content database in which…by the content delivery unit…providing the content to a user terminal of the user…providing the content to the user terminal…” (claim 1), “providing the one or more emotional content, the one or more cognitive content, and the one or more behavioral content to the user terminal…” (claims 2 and 3), “providing…a mission for mental health management to the user, and providing a raffle ticket for the user…using the user terminal; providing one or more mental health hero characters of a plurality of predetermined mental health hero characters to the user terminal…providing a reward to the user…” (claim 8), “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon a computer program…” (claim 9), “A self-care mental health management apparatus…a content database constructed such that…a content delivery unit configured to…provide the content to a user terminal of the user, wherein the content delivery unit is configured to:…provide the content to the user terminal…” (claim 10), “provide the one or more emotional content, the one or more cognitive content, and the one or more behavioral content to the user terminal…” (claims 11 and 12), and “provide a mission for mental health management to the user, and providing a raffle ticket for the user…using the user terminal, provide one or more mental health hero characters of a plurality of predetermined mental health hero characters to the user terminal…provide a reward to the user…” (claim 17), which are additional elements that are recited at a high level of generality (e.g., the “content database” is configured though no more than a statement than that a pluriaty of content is “in” said database; the “content delivery unit” performs functions though no more than a statement than that said function are performed “by” said content delivery unit, or that said content delivery unit is “configured to” perform said functions; the “user terminal” is configured through no more than a statement than that data is to be provided “to” said user terminal or for a user when “using” said user terminal; the “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” is configured though no more than a statement than that method steps are to be “execut[ed]” according to “a computer program” reordered thereon) such that they amount to no more than mere instruction to apply the exception using generic computer elements. See: MPEP 2106.05(f).
The combination of these additional elements is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer elements. Accordingly, even in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea(s) into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea(s). Accordingly, the claims are directed to an abstract idea(s) (Step 2A Prong Two: NO).
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea(s) into a practical application, using the additional elements to perform the abstract idea(s) amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic components. Mere instructions to apply an exception using generic components cannot provide an inventive concept. See MPEP 2106.05(f).
Further, though not necessary for the purposes of rejection, it is noted that the concepts of receiving or transmitting data over a network, such as using the Internet to gather data, and storing and retrieving information in memory, have been identified by the courts as well-understood, routine, and conventional activities. See: MPEP 2106.05(d)(II).
Viewing the limitations as an ordered combination, the claims simply instruct the additional elements to implement the concept described above in the identification of abstract idea(s) with routine, conventional activity specified at a high level of generality in a particular technological environment. Hence, the claims as a whole, considering the additional elements individually and as an ordered combination, do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea(s) (Step 2B: NO).
Dependent claim(s) 2-9 and 11-17, when analyzed as a whole, considering the additional elements individually and/or as an ordered combination, are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the additional recited limitation(s) fail(s) to establish that the claim(s) is/are not directed to an abstract idea(s) without significantly more. These claims fail to remedy the deficiencies of their parent claims above, and are therefore rejected for at least the same rationale as applied to their parent claims above, and incorporated herein.
CLAIM INTERPRETATION IN VIEW OF 35 USC § 112
Use of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph). The presumption that 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph) is invoked is rebutted when the function is recited with sufficient structure, material, or acts within the claim itself to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph). The presumption that 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph) is not invoked is rebutted when the claim element recites function but fails to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or acts to perform that function.
Claim elements in this application that use the word “means” (or “step for”) are presumed to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Similarly, claim elements that do not use the word “means” (or “step for”) are presumed not to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
The claim limitations of that have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, correspond to structure described in the specification as follows:
The “unit” described in originally filed specification paragraph 106 corresponds to claimed “content delivery unit”, and is understood in view of the following: “As used throughout this specification, '~ unit' is a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and may refer to, for example, a software component, FPGA, or a hardware component. The functions provided by the '~unit' may be performed separately by multiple components, or may be integrated with other 15 additional components. The '~unit' of this specification is not necessarily limited to software or hardware, and may be configured to be on an addressable storage medium, or may be configured to play one or more processors”.
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not intend to have the claim limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112 , sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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, 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.
Claim(s) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0028529 to Paull in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0207814 to Jain.
As per claim 1, Paull teaches a self-care mental health management method for prescribing customized digital content for mental health management of a user and inducing formation of mental health-related behavioral habits of the user,
a step (A) of accessing, by a content delivery unit (see: Paull, Fig. 1A, ele. 110; and paragraph 94, is met by online system including a computing system such as a server), a content database in which a plurality of content provided for purpose of prescribing customized digital content and inducing formation of behavioral habits are constructed (see: Paull, Fig. 1A, ele. 114; and paragraph 85, 89, 180, 213, is met by content storage component, and digital content associated with adaptive interventions, where the content storage components can be organized according to specific data structures such as with relational, colunmar, correlation, or other suitable architecture, where content related to topics relevant to user’s issues such as anxiety and depression and stress, and including information about physiological responses of anxiety and their relationship with thoughts and behaviors); and
a step (B) of determining, by the content delivery unit, content to be recommended to the user according to a mental health profile of the user, including at least one of a mental health situation, a mental illness, and a mental health symptom of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 208; and paragraph 119, 127, 145, and 154-155, is met by processing the patient profile and pre-assessment data to generate patient condition data, wherein the patient condition data includes an identification of the patient's condition, condition sub-type and/or condition severity, wherein the patient profile and pre-assessment data includes behavioral data, environmental stress data, emotional data, cognitive data of the patient, and can identify mental health statuses of the patient, in relation to conditions associated with anxiety, associated with depression, associated with social behavior, where the intervention regimen can be configured to improve mental health states of the patient in a timely and adaptive manner), and providing the content to a user terminal of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 1A, ele. 120; Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 95, 173, and 246, is met by client device, such as a mobile computing device, to deliver the behavioral therapy and/or adaptive interventions generated and/or stored by the online system to patients),
wherein the step (B) includes,
selecting emotional content, cognitive content, and behavioral content to be recommended to the user among the plurality of content according to the mental health profile of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 212; and paragraph 127, 133, 162, and 173, is met by processing the patient profile and pre-assessment data and the patient condition data to generate a personalized intervention regimen for the patient, wherein the personalized intervention regimen defines one or more interactive therapy modules to be administered to the patient in a manner tailored to the patient's needs, where the user data includes behavioral data, emotional data, and cognitive data); and
determining a recommendation order of the emotional content, the cognitive content, and the behavioral content according to the mental health profile of the user and providing the content to the user terminal according to the recommendation order (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 260, 350-351, and 366, is met by administering the one or more interactive therapy modules to the patient according to the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient).
Paull fails to specifically teach the content of the database while being classified into emotional category content, cognitive category content, and behavioral category content such that recommendations selections are made by emotional content category, cognitive content category, and behavioral content category; however, Jain teaches a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health (meets emotional category), anxiety and depression management (meets cognitive category), and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments (meets behavioral category) (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was field to modify the organization of the digital content associated with adaptive interventions as taught by Paull to include content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health, anxiety and depression management, and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments as taught by Jain with the motivation of improving different aspects of a user’s health and/or assist a user to reach a goal (see: Jain, paragraph 166-167).
As per claim 2, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 1, and further teach:
wherein the step (B) includes: selecting one or more emotional content to be recommended to the user based on the mental health profile of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 212; and paragraph 127, 133, 162, and 173, is met by processing the patient profile and pre-assessment data and the patient condition data to generate a personalized intervention regimen for the patient, wherein the personalized intervention regimen defines one or more interactive therapy modules to be administered to the patient in a manner tailored to the patient's needs, where the user data includes behavioral data, emotional data, and cognitive data), and determining a recommendation order of the one or more emotional content (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 260, 350-351, and 366, is met by the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient);
selecting one or more cognitive content to be recommended to the user based on the mental health profile of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 212; and paragraph 127, 133, 162, and 173, is met by processing the patient profile and pre-assessment data and the patient condition data to generate a personalized intervention regimen for the patient, wherein the personalized intervention regimen defines one or more interactive therapy modules to be administered to the patient in a manner tailored to the patient's needs, where the user data includes behavioral data, emotional data, and cognitive data), and determining a recommendation order of the one or more cognitive content (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 260, 350-351, and 366, is met by the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient);
selecting one or more behavioral content to be recommended to the user based on the mental health profile of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 212; and paragraph 127, 133, 162, and 173, is met by processing the patient profile and pre-assessment data and the patient condition data to generate a personalized intervention regimen for the patient, wherein the personalized intervention regimen defines one or more interactive therapy modules to be administered to the patient in a manner tailored to the patient's needs, where the user data includes behavioral data, emotional data, and cognitive data), and determining a recommendation order of the one or more behavioral content (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 260, 350-351, and 366, is met by the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient); and
sequentially providing the one or more emotional content, the one or more cognitive content, and the one or more behavioral content to the user terminal according to the recommendation orders (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 260, 350-351, and 366, is met by administering the one or more interactive therapy modules to the patient according to the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient).
Paull fails to specifically teach that recommendations selections are made from among a plurality of emotional category content, from among a plurality of cognitive category content, and from among a plurality of behavioral category content; however, Jain teaches a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health (meets emotional category), anxiety and depression management (meets cognitive category), and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments (meets behavioral category) (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was field to modify the organization of the digital content associated with adaptive interventions as taught by Paull to include content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health, anxiety and depression management, and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments as taught by Jain with the motivation of improving different aspects of a user’s health and/or assist a user to reach a goal (see: Jain, paragraph 166-167).
As per claim 3, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 2, and further teach:
wherein the step (B) includes: selecting one of a situation thumbnail feeding rule, an illness thumbnail feeding rule, and a symptom thumbnail feeding rule based on the mental health profile of the user (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 212; and paragraph 127, 133, 162, 173, 239, and 379, is met by processing the patient profile and pre-assessment data and the patient condition data to generate a personalized intervention regimen for the patient, wherein the personalized intervention regimen defines one or more interactive therapy modules to be administered to the patient in a manner tailored to the patient's needs, where the user data includes behavioral data, emotional data, and cognitive data, and including a symptom management goals module for users to manage goals for their GI and/or inflammatory health condition symptoms, where the goals may pertain to a regular timing and/or type of food such as regular consumption of meals at a particular and/or consistent size and/or at a particular and/or consistent time);
determining a chronological recommendation order of the one or more emotional content, the one or more cognitive content, and the one or more behavioral content based on the mental health profile of the user according to the thumbnail feeding rule (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 239, 260, 350-351, 366, and 379, is met by the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient, and including a symptom management goals module for users to manage goals for their GI and/or inflammatory health condition symptoms, where the goals may pertain to a regular timing and/or type of food such as regular consumption of meals at a particular and/or consistent size and/or at a particular and/or consistent time); and
sequentially providing the one or more emotional content, the one or more cognitive content, and the one or more behavioral content to the user terminal according to the chronological recommendation order (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 260, 350-351, and 366, is met by administering the one or more interactive therapy modules to the patient according to the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient).
As per claim 4, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 3, and further teach:
wherein the emotional category content is content corresponding to at least one sub-emotional content category (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168, a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health (meets emotional category)) among comfort, interest stimulation, empathy, and encouragement related to the user's mental health among the plurality of content (see: Jain, paragraph 168 and 173-175, is met by digital therapeutics content for providing an indication of the current weather and encouragement to visit a nearby state park when data indicates anxiety or low energy; communicate with family, friends, or others regarding a user's goals or status),
wherein the cognitive category content is content corresponding to at least one sub-cognitive content category (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168, a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for anxiety and depression management (meets cognitive category)) among advice, motivation, consolation, and illness education related to the user's mental health among the plurality of content (see: Jain, paragraph 168 and 175, is met by digital therapeutics content for to prompt a user to provide a journal entry; providing educational information and activities to improve a user’s knowledge; providing motivation or encouragement to increase positive behaviors or decrease negative ones such as by providing positive messages, rewards, or activities after a desired behavior is performed), and
wherein the behavioral category content is content corresponding to at least one sub-behavioral content category (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168, a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments (meets behavioral category)) among indoor/outdoor activities, hobby recommendation, self-observation, and volunteering related to the user's mental health among the plurality of content (see: Jain, paragraph 168, 175-176, and 183, is met by digital therapeutics content for to prompt a user to provide a journal entry; provide reminder of goal of increasing physical activity and information about an exercise class).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was field to modify the organization of the digital content associated with adaptive interventions as taught by Paull to include the above cited content as taught by Jain with the motivation of improving different aspects of a user’s health and/or assist a user to reach a goal (see: Jain, paragraph 166-167).
As per claim 5, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 4, and further teach, and while Paull teaches content storage component, and digital content associated with adaptive interventions, where the content storage components can be organized according to specific data structures such as with relational, colunmar, correlation, or other suitable architecture, where content related to topics relevant to user’s issues such as anxiety and depression and stress, and including information about physiological responses of anxiety and their relationship with thoughts and behaviors (see: Paull, Fig. 1A, ele. 114; and paragraph 85, 89, 180, 213), Paull fails to specifically teach the following limitations met by Jain as cited:
wherein at least one of the emotional content category, the cognitive content category, and the behavioral content category is classified into a plurality of category levels based on a plurality of sub-emotion categories, a plurality of sub-cognition categories, or a plurality of sub-behavior categories which are subcategories of the category (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168, is met by a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health (meets emotional category), anxiety and depression management (meets cognitive category), and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments (meets behavioral category), where content may be filtered or narrowed for specific program levels based on program states).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was field to modify the organization of the digital content associated with adaptive interventions as taught by Paull to include content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health, anxiety and depression management, and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments, where content may be filtered or narrowed for specific program levels based on program states, as taught by Jain with the motivation of improving different aspects of a user’s health and/or assist a user to reach a goal (see: Jain, paragraph 166-167).
As per claim 6, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 5, and further teach:
wherein the step (B) includes determining a recommendation order of content according to the mental health profile of the user, and wherein the recommendation order is determined differently according to the situation thumbnail feeding rule, the illness thumbnail feeding rule, and the symptom thumbnail feeding rule (see: Paull, Fig. 2A, ele. 214; and paragraph 90, 116, 121-122, 127, 163-165, 173, 239, 260, 350-351, 366, and 379, is met by the personalized intervention regimen generated for the patient, including controls that encourage and/or require a user to progress through a particular sequence of lesson modules in a prescribed order, and may restrict access by the user to certain lesson modules, occurring later in the sequence, until others have been completed first, where a patient personalized regimen includes which of the available remaining therapy modules to administer to the patient, in what order to administer the therapy modules, a time schedule for when/how often to administer the therapy modules, what content to include in each of the therapy modules, and how to present the therapy module content to the patient, and including a symptom management goals module for users to manage goals for their GI and/or inflammatory health condition symptoms, where the goals may pertain to a regular timing and/or type of food such as regular consumption of meals at a particular and/or consistent size and/or at a particular and/or consistent time).
Paull fails to specifically teach the content of the database including corresponding to the at least one category such that the personalized intervention regimen is based on the plurality of category levels and the sequence of lesson modules is of the plurality of category levels; however, Jain teaches a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health (meets emotional category), anxiety and depression management (meets cognitive category), and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments (meets behavioral category), where content may be filtered or narrowed for specific program levels based on program states (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was field to modify the organization of the digital content associated with adaptive interventions as taught by Paull to include content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for psychosocial health, anxiety and depression management, and nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments, where content may be filtered or narrowed for specific program levels based on program states, as taught by Jain with the motivation of improving different aspects of a user’s health and/or assist a user to reach a goal (see: Jain, paragraph 166-167).
As per claim 7, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 1, and further teach:
wherein the step (B) includes classifying the mental health profile of the user based on the user's gender, age, environment, situation, personality, amount of exercise/activity, type of stress management, mental illness history, and mental health-related symptom (see: Paull, paragraph 133, 145, 285, 300, 379, is met by a patient profile within the online system including gender, age, preferences for scheduling of content delivery; physical exercise goal, breathing and/or relaxation exercise goal; physiological data, behavioral data, environmental stress data, emotional data, and cognitive data of the user; patient report data (or other data) regarding the patient's illness history (e.g., painful experiences in a clinical setting, such as with a clinician or hospital environment), thoughts (e.g., thoughts of guilt or responsibility for condition and behaviors, etc.), emotions (e.g., in relation to helplessness, feeling worthless, in relation to embarrassment, etc.), in order to address cognitive distortions for emotional exposure throughout subsequent interactions with the system).
As per claim 8, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 1, and further teach:
providing, by the content delivery unit, a mission for mental health management to the user (see: Jain, paragraph 61-62, 68, 97, 99, 102, and 168, a repository of content that is selectively provided to the user by identifying content corresponding to program levels, where there are different programs for user’s wellbeing, with different programs selected from among programs for nutrition, sleep, exercise, weight management, alcohol use, smoking cessation, and adherence to physician instructions or treatment regiments (meets behavioral category)), providing a raffle ticket for the user to participate in a raffle for mental health hero characters when the user completes the mission using the user terminal (see: Jain, paragraph 168 and 175, is met by digital therapeutics content for to providing motivation or encouragement to increase positive behaviors or decrease negative ones such as by providing activities after a desired behavior is performed);
providing one or more mental health hero characters of a plurality of predetermined mental health hero characters to the user terminal if the user wins the raffle based on the raffle ticket (see: Jain, paragraph 168 and 175, is met by digital therapeutics content for to prompt a user to provide a journal entry; providing educational information and activities to improve a user’s knowledge; providing motivation or encouragement to increase positive behaviors or decrease negative ones such as by providing positive messages after a desired behavior is performed); and
providing a reward to the user when the user has collected all mental health hero characters included in a preset collection of mental health hero characters (see: Jain, paragraph 168 and 175, is met by digital therapeutics content for to prompt a user to provide a journal entry; providing educational information and activities to improve a user’s knowledge; providing motivation or encouragement to increase positive behaviors or decrease negative ones such as by providing rewards after a desired behavior is performed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was field to modify adaptive interventions utilizing digital content as taught by Paull to include providing the above cited content as taught by Jain with the motivation of improving different aspects of a user’s health and/or assist a user to reach a goal (see: Jain, paragraph 166-167).
As per claim 9, Paull and Jain teach the invention as claimed, see discussion of claim 1, and further teach:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing the self-care mental health management method of claim 1 (see: Paull, paragraph 407, is met by a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for carrying out instructions using a processor to execute a process).
Claims 10-17 repeat the subject matter of claims 1-8, which have been shown to be fully disclosed by the cited prior art in the rejections above; as such, claims 10-17 are rejected here for the same reasons given in the above rejections of claims 1-8, which are incorporated herein.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure can be found on the attached PTO-892 form, including:
JP 2024501563 A (see: abstract); and
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0265941 to Moskowitz.
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/ROBERT A SOREY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3682
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