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 Status
This Office Action is in response to communications filed on 4/07/2025. Claims 11-30 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 4/07/2025, 6/03/2025, 8/20/2025, 1/15/2026 and 4/16/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
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 claims at issue 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this 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/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 e-Terminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An e-Terminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about e-Terminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 11-30 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-18 of U.S. Patent 12,235,947.
The following lists the comparison of the claims of the instant application with that of the conflict patent:
Instant Application 19/029,610
U.S. Patent 12,235,947
11. A hospital patient assistance system comprising: a portable electronic device; said portable electronic device comprising a display and one or more hardware processors configured to: generate one or more graphical user interfaces for presentation on the display, said one or more graphical user interfaces configured to display a plurality of patient assistance options; and include a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces, wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient, the living entity being a plant including a plurality of leaves and a flower, wherein the flower is configured to bloom in response to all the tasks being complete.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein progress is displayed as a plurality of progress measurement features.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of progress measurement features are shaped as petals of the flower.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein a leaf is added to the display in response to each task being complete.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to: receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of a patient assistance option, wherein the patient assistance option comprises a request to communicate with a healthcare provider; and enable real-time communication, through the portable electronic device, with the healthcare provider, wherein the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication via an electronic device associated with the healthcare provider.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the real-time communication includes at least one of: written, aural, or visual communication.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to: receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of a patient assistance option; generate a patient assistance request, wherein the patient assistance request comprises the user selection; determine a recipient of the patient assistance request from a plurality of possible recipients based at least in part on the user selection; and deliver the patient assistance request to a second electronic device, wherein the second electronic device is associated with the recipient.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to: receive data from a healthcare data network, wherein the data comprises healthcare and treatment regimen information; display the data from the healthcare data network in real time; track user progress throughout a treatment regimen; and update the representation of the living entity throughout the treatment regimen.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the healthcare and treatment regimen information includes at least one of: treatment information personalized to the user, or general educational materials.
20. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to, in response to user input, interact with nearby electronically-controlled items.
21. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more user interfaces comprises icons selectable by the patient to indicating frequently used status indicators.
22. The system of claim 11, wherein a hospital room does not require physical switches for calling nurse.
23. The system of claim 11, wherein the patient assistance options includes an emergency nurse call feature and a non-emergency nurse call feature.
24. The system of claim 23, wherein the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are associated with different hospital departments such that selections of the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are configured to transmit patient assistance requests to different devices associated with the different hospital departments.
25. A method for providing patient assistance, the method comprising: causing presentation, via a display of a portable electronic device, of a first user interface comprising a plurality of patient assistance options; using one or more hardware processors of a portable electronic device further comprising a display: generating one or more graphical user interfaces for presentation on the display, said one or more graphical user interfaces configured to display a plurality of patient assistance options; and including a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces, wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient, the living entity being a plant including a plurality of leaves and a flower, wherein the flower is configured to bloom in response to all the tasks being complete.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein progress is displayed as a plurality of progress measurement features.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the plurality of progress measurement features are shaped as petals of the flower.
28. The method of claim 25, wherein a leaf is added to the display in response to each task being complete.
29. The method of claim 25, further comprising: receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of a patient assistance option, wherein the patient assistance option comprises a request to communicate with a healthcare provider; and enable real-time communication, through the portable electronic device, with the healthcare provider, wherein the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication via an electronic device associated with the healthcare provider.
30. The method of claim 29, wherein the real-time communication includes at least one of: written, aural, or visual communication.
1. A hospital patient assistance system comprising: a portable electronic device; said portable electronic device comprising a display and one or more hardware processors configured to: generate one or more graphical user interfaces for presentation on the display, said one or more graphical user interfaces configured to display a plurality of patient assistance options, wherein the patient assistance options includes an emergency nurse call feature and a non-emergency nurse call feature, wherein the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are associated with different hospital departments such that selections of the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are configured to transmit patient assistance requests to different devices associated with the different hospital departments.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to: receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of one of the patient assistance options, each of the patient assistance options being based on a type of the emergency nurse call feature or the non-emergency nurse call feature requested by a patient; generate a patient assistance request, wherein the patient assistance request comprises the user selection; determine a recipient of the patient assistance request from a plurality of possible recipients based at least in part on the user selection; and wirelessly deliver the patient assistance request to a second electronic device, wherein the second electronic device is associated with the recipient.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to: receive data from a healthcare data network, wherein the data comprises healthcare and treatment regimen information; display the data from the healthcare data network in real time; track user progress throughout a treatment regimen; and update a representation of a living entity throughout the treatment regimen.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the healthcare and treatment regimen information includes at least one of: treatment information personalized to the patient, or general educational materials.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to, in response to user input, interact with nearby electronically-controlled items.
6. The system of claim 3, wherein the living entity is a plant.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the plant includes one or more leaves.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more user interfaces comprises icons selectable by the patient to indicating frequently used status indicators.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein a hospital room does not require physical switches for calling nurse.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the patient assistance options further comprise a levels of pain feature allowing a user to indicate a level of pain which is communicated to a healthcare provider.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the levels of pain feature communicates a level of pain to the healthcare provider when one or both of the emergency and non-emergency nurse call features are activated.
12. The system of claim 7, wherein updating the representation of the living entity comprises adding a leaf for each completed task.
13. The system of claim 7, wherein the plant further includes a flower, wherein updating the representation of the living entity further comprises displaying the flower blooming in response to all tasks being completed.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein, in response to receiving a user selection of a patient assistance option, the one or more hardware processors are further configured to activate a pop-up window or a sub-screen for a patient to enter details about the user selection.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the pop-up window or the sub-screen includes preset options from which the patient may select to enter the details.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the pop-up window or the sub-screen includes allows the patient to enter the details in free form.
17. The system of claim 1, wherein the emergency nurse call feature includes pain, nausea, device beeping, or any combinations thereof.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-emergency nurse call feature includes toilet, water, cleaning, bedding, or any combinations thereof.
Claims 11, 17 and 18-20 of the instant application contain only obvious modifications of the patented independent claims 1, 2, and 3-5 respectively. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims in the continuation are broader than the patented claims, In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982) and In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993), broad claims in the instant application are rejected as obvious double patenting over narrow claims of the patent. For example, claim 1 of the present invention does not claim the specific features of “wherein the patient assistance options includes an emergency nurse call feature and a non-emergency nurse call feature, wherein the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are associated with different hospital departments such that selections of the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are configured to transmit patient assistance requests to different devices associated with the different hospital departments”. Therefore, claim 11 of the instant invention is broader than claim 1 of the patent.
.
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.
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 11-16, 19-20, 23 and 25-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walker et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2014/0257852) in view of Poole (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2010/0037170).
Regarding claim 11 (New), Walker teaches a hospital patient assistance system (Figs 2-6; health care provider communication system, also see Figs 7-23) comprising:
a portable electronic device (Figs 2, 3A, 5-6, ¶047; virtual nurse or caregiver application 170 installed/operating on mobile computing device (e.g., laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.);
said portable electronic device comprising a display (Fig 2; live feedback application 180 on display; also see Fig 6) and one or more hardware processors (¶047; application 170 installed/operating on mobile computing device) configured to:
generate one or more graphical user interfaces for presentation on the display (Fig 7A, ¶020; GUI of virtual nurse avatar service of a health care service application), said one or more graphical user interfaces configured to display a plurality of patient assistance options (Fig 7B, ¶021; example user interface of virtual nurse application offering care plan menu option to user).
Walker is silent on include a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient the living entity being a plant including a plurality of and a flower, wherein the flower is configured to bloom in response to all the tasks being complete. Poole from an analogous art teaches a system including an electronic device configured to provide to a first computer a graphical user interface enabling a user of the first computer to establish and monitor progress towards a personal objective (Abstract). Poole further teaches the concept of including a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces (Figs 1-2, 13-14, 24, ¶046; graphic representation…per platform for exploring and discovering resources to support life areas) wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient (¶048, at each branch, per an application that user interacts with to describe a part of their life... one branch could represent a fitness/diet etc.… application would help them set up goals, milestones, etc. and a scorecard to measure an individual’s progress towards a fitness or diet objective), also see ¶050; "Life Tree"), the living entity being a plant including a plurality of leaves (Figs 1-2, plant with leaves as shown; also see 3-27) and a flower , wherein the flower is configured to bloom (see bloom bud & blooms; ¶308-¶313 for example) in response to all the tasks being complete (¶278; User watches Visual & Audible feature [0279] Licensed, user-generated, or custom flash video plays [0280] When complete, the camera zooms out to reveal whole tree (or possibly parent branch) [0281] Bud forms next to the leaf they just experienced). Therefore, it would’ve been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to combine the system of Walker with including a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient the living entity being a plant including a plurality of and a flower, wherein the flower is configured to bloom in response to all the tasks being complete, as taught by Poole, for the advantage of using the life tree on a graphical user interface to show the measuring of an individual’s progress and an individual’s completion of a specific experience.
Regarding claim 12 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, and Walker further teaches wherein progress is displayed as a plurality of progress measurement features (Abstract; shows measuring of individual’s progress toward specific objective; also see Fig 24).
Regarding claim 13 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 12, and Poole further teaches wherein the plurality of progress measurement features are shaped as petals of the flower (Fig 2). The motivation is for the advantage of using the life tree on a graphical user interface to show the measuring of an individual’s progress toward a specific objective
Regarding claim 14 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, and Poole further teaches wherein a leaf is added to the display (¶308; If it is visualization content, it will be added as a leaf) in response to each task being complete (¶278; user-generated, or custom flash video plays [0280] When complete, the camera zooms out to reveal whole tree (or possibly parent branch) [0281] Bud forms next to the leaf they just experienced). The motivation is for the advantage of using the life tree on a graphical user interface to show measuring of an individual’s progress toward a specific objective.
Regarding claim 15 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, and Walker further teaches and the one or more hardware processors (see claim 11), and Walker also teaches receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of a patient assistance option (¶090; user may select any of four main categories of information and assistance for user's health care concerns), wherein the patient assistance option comprises a request to communicate with a healthcare provider (Fig. 6 – “Help Now 619”; ¶084; “Within the operating homepage or dashboard of the interactive health application (see FIG. 6), the patient may have a panic button on the home page (HELP NOW!) 619, this permits the user to connect directly to emergency services to obtain urgent help for a variety of purposes.”); and
enable real-time communication, through the portable electronic device (¶084; “….this permits the user to connect directly to emergency services to obtain urgent help for a variety of purposes.”), with the healthcare provider, wherein the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication via an electronic device associated with the healthcare provider (¶059; “The response may be creating a new appointment, requiring a patient take a quiz after watching a video, creating an emergency contact list to assist the patient in the event of an emergency, having an emergency contact button or link that quickly puts the user in touch with emergency medical services or a live agent ready to assist the patient.”; ¶084; “The action taken by selecting the button 619 may be configured to perform any of a variety of actions, call 911, call a specified number, contact a patient care facility, etc., it can be turned off and may be automatically turned on and off remotely from a remote source or as a patient condition changes (e.g., cancer diagnosis) to enact the privilege of an immediate assistance button. In operation, the tablet computing device operating the interactive health application may call the care provider or have their home phone make a call to connect them to the on-call care provider.”; In other words, the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication (i.e., phone call) via the phone associated with them.).
Regarding claim 16 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 15, and Walker further teaches wherein the real-time communication includes aural communication (¶084; In operation, the tablet computing device operating the interactive health application may call the care provider or have their home phone make a call to connect them to the on-call care provider.”; In other words, the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication (i.e., phone call) via the phone associated with them; also ¶044; beneficial for people having limited mobility (e.g., disabled or elderly) who can speak with their healthcare providers easily and in real-time).
Regarding claim 19 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 18, wherein the healthcare and treatment regimen information includes at least one of: treatment information personalized to the user (¶036; results of diagnostic operations electronically transmitted to responding healthcare provider, stored in patient profile and responding healthcare provider may respond by generating a diagnosis and treatment recommendations for the patient).
Regarding claim 20 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, and Walker further teaches wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to, in response to user input, interact with nearby electronically-controlled items (Figs 19b, 19C; in response to user input, patient device with processor means interacts with servers 1906, 1908).
Regarding claim 23 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, wherein the patient assistance options includes an emergency nurse call feature (¶084; “....this permits the user to connect directly to emergency services to obtain urgent help for a variety of purposes.”), and a non-emergency nurse call feature (¶059; “The response may be creating a new appointment, requiring a patient take a quiz after watching a video, creating an emergency contact list to assist the patient in the event of an emergency).
Regarding claim 25 (New), Walker teaches a method for providing patient assistance (Figs 2-6; health care provider communication system, also see Figs 7-23), and Walker further teaches the method comprising:
causing presentation (Fig 7A, ¶020; GUI of virtual nurse avatar service of a health care service application), via a display (Fig 2; live feedback application 180 on display; also see Fig 6) of a portable electronic device, of a first user interface comprising a plurality of patient assistance options (Figs 2, 3A, 5-6, ¶047; virtual nurse or caregiver application 170 installed/operating on mobile computing device (e.g., laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.);
using one or more hardware processors (¶047; application 170 installed/operating on mobile computing device) of a portable electronic device further comprising a display (Fig 2; live feedback application 180 on display; also see Fig 6):
generating one or more graphical user interfaces for presentation on the display (Fig 7A, ¶020; GUI of virtual nurse avatar service of a health care service application),
said one or more graphical user interfaces configured to display a plurality of patient assistance options (Fig 7B, ¶021; example user interface of virtual nurse application offering care plan menu option to user).
Walker is silent on including a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces, wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient, the living entity being a plant including a plurality of leaves and a flower, wherein the flower is configured to bloom in response to all the tasks being complete Poole from an analogous art teaches a system including an electronic device configured to provide to a first computer a graphical user interface enabling a user of the first computer to establish and monitor progress towards a personal objective (Abstract). Poole further teaches the concept of including a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces (Figs 1-2, 13-14, 24, ¶046; graphic representation…per platform for exploring and discovering resources to support life areas) wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient (¶048, at each branch, per an application that user interacts with to describe a part of their life... one branch could represent a fitness/diet etc.… application would help them set up goals, milestones, etc. and a scorecard to measure an individual’s progress towards a fitness or diet objective), also see ¶050; "Life Tree"), the living entity being a plant including a plurality of leaves (Figs 1-2, plant with leaves as shown; also see 3-27) and a flower , wherein the flower is configured to bloom (see bloom bud & blooms; ¶308-¶313 for example) in response to all the tasks being complete (¶278; User watches Visual & Audible feature [0279] Licensed, user-generated, or custom flash video plays [0280] When complete, the camera zooms out to reveal whole tree (or possibly parent branch) [0281] Bud forms next to the leaf they just experienced). Therefore, it would’ve been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to combine the system of Walker with including a representation of a living entity in the one or more graphical user interfaces wherein a growth of the living entity is related to a progress of tasks of the patient the living entity being a plant including a plurality of and a flower, wherein the flower is configured to bloom in response to all the tasks being complete, as taught by Poole, for the advantage of using the life tree on a graphical user interface to show the measuring of an individual’s progress and an individual’s completion of a specific experience.
Regarding claim 26 (New), Walker and Poole teach the method of Claim 25, and Walker further teaches wherein progress is displayed as a plurality of progress measurement features (Abstract; shows measuring of individual’s progress toward specific objective; also see Fig 24).
Regarding claim 27 (New), Walker and Poole teach the method of Claim 26, and Walker further teaches wherein the plurality of progress measurement features are shaped as petals of the flower (Fig 2).
Regarding claim 28 (New), Walker and Poole teach the method of Claim 25, and Walker further teaches wherein a leaf is added to the display (¶308; If it is visualization content, it will be added as a leaf) in response to each task being complete (¶278; user-generated, or custom flash video plays [0280] When complete, the camera zooms out to reveal whole tree (or possibly parent branch) [0281] Bud forms next to the leaf they just experienced).
Regarding claim 29 (New), Walker and Poole teach the method of Claim 25, and Walker further teaches further comprising:
receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of a patient assistance option (¶090; user may select any of four main categories of information and assistance for user's health care concerns), wherein the patient assistance option comprises a request to communicate with a healthcare provider (Fig. 6 – “Help Now 619”; ¶084; “Within the operating homepage or dashboard of the interactive health application (see FIG. 6), the patient may have a panic button on the home page (HELP NOW!) 619, this permits the user to connect directly to emergency services to obtain urgent help for a variety of purposes.”); and
enable real-time communication, through the portable electronic device (¶084; “….this permits the user to connect directly to emergency services to obtain urgent help for a variety of purposes.”), with the healthcare provider, wherein the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication via an electronic device associated with the healthcare provider (¶059; “The response may be creating a new appointment, requiring a patient take a quiz after watching a video, creating an emergency contact list to assist the patient in the event of an emergency, having an emergency contact button or link that quickly puts the user in touch with emergency medical services or a live agent ready to assist the patient.”; ¶084; “The action taken by selecting the button 619 may be configured to perform any of a variety of actions, call 911, call a specified number, contact a patient care facility, etc., it can be turned off and may be automatically turned on and off remotely from a remote source or as a patient condition changes (e.g., cancer diagnosis) to enact the privilege of an immediate assistance button. In operation, the tablet computing device operating the interactive health application may call the care provider or have their home phone make a call to connect them to the on-call care provider.”; In other words, the healthcare provider receives the real-time communication (i.e., phone call) via the phone associated with them).
Claims 2, 17-18 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walker et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2014/0257852) in view of Poole (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2010/0037170) further in view of Aganyan (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2019/0385753).
Regarding claim 2, Walker, Poole and Aganyan teach the system of Claim 1, and Aganyan further teaches the real-time communication includes aural (¶044; beneficial for people having limited mobility (e.g., disabled or elderly) who can speak with their healthcare providers easily and in real-time). The motivation is the same as claim 1.
Regarding claim 17 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, and Walker further teaches the one or more hardware processors (see claim 11) but both remain silent on the features of claim 17.
Aganyan from an analogous art teaches healthcare service center can be in communication with user devices of patients and user devices of healthcare providers whereby the system also includes a first user interface configured to provide information to the patients and obtain inputs from the patients using a first graphical user interface displayable on the user devices of the patients (¶012). Aganyan further teaches one or more hardware processors further configured to:
receive, via the one or more graphical user interfaces, a user selection of a patient assistance option (¶013; receiving, from the requesting patient, based on the plan of
actions, a selection of a diagnostic and laboratory service);
generate a patient assistance request, wherein the patient assistance request comprises the user selection (Fig 2 at 210, ¶013; request for healthcare service include at least a selection of a responding healthcare provider);
determine a recipient of the patient assistance request from a plurality of possible recipients based at least in part on the user selection (Fig 2; ¶056, ¶059, from plurality of healthcare providers, ¶069; determines recipient); and
deliver the patient assistance request to a second electronic device, wherein the second electronic device is associated with the recipient (Fig 2; user device(s) associated with health care provider(s)). Therefore, it would’ve been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to further combine the system of Walker with the features, as taught by Aganyan, for the advantage of aiding in selecting a treatment plan for the requesting patient (¶012).
Regarding claim 18 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, and Walker further teaches wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to:
receive data from a healthcare data network, wherein the data comprises healthcare and treatment regimen information (¶058; virtual nurse application tracking user compliance with actions which are required as part of the user's health and care plan… may be presented as healthcare/wellness avatar that communicates user information to parties involved in user's healthcare).
Poole further teaches the use of a processor(s) (Fig 28) for tracking user progress throughout a treatment regimen (Abstract; shows measuring of individual’s progress toward specific objective); and
update the representation of the living entity throughout the treatment regimen (¶048, Fig 24; each branch per application user interacts with to describe a part of their life... one branch could represent a fitness/diet etc.… application helps them set up goals, milestones, etc. and a scorecard to measure an individual’s progress towards a specific objective; also see ¶050; "Life Tree": Examiner interprets specific objective as functionally equivalent to a treatment regimen based on contextual examples provided). The motivation is the same as claim 11.
Aganyan further teaches computer hardware processors further configured to
receive data from a healthcare data network, wherein the data comprises healthcare and treatment regimen information (Fig 1, ¶012; info consisting of plan of actions per 150, 155, 160, ¶101-¶102);
display the data from the healthcare data network in real time (¶012; after establishing bidirectional communication, healthcare service center may receive from responding healthcare provider, a plan of actions to treat requesting patient & plan of actions available to requesting
patient in an electronic medical record database). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to combine the teachings of Walker, Poole and Aganyan for the advantage of using a life tree on a graphical user interface to show an individual’s progress toward a specific objective.
Regarding claim 30 (New), Walker and Poole teach the method of Claim 29, and Aganyan further teaches wherein Walker further teaches the real-time communication includes aural communication (¶044; beneficial for people having limited mobility (e.g., disabled or elderly) who can speak with their healthcare providers easily and in real-time).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walker et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2014/0257852) in view of Poole (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2010/0037170) further in view of Richter et al., (U.S. Patent Application Pub 20130253951).
Regarding claim 21 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, but both are silent on, wherein the one or more user interfaces comprises icons selectable by the patient to indicating frequently used status indicators.
Richter from the same field of endeavor teaches a healthcare communication system (¶007, Fig 1) wherein a user interface comprises icons selectable by the patient to indicating frequently used status indicators (Fig 3; screenshots of instances of a graphical user interface (GUI) of a patient device; also see ¶050, icons 310 selectable by patient indicating frequently used status indicators). Therefore, it would’ve been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to further combine the system of Walker with the feature, as taught by Richter, for the advantage of signal a status of the patient to caregivers.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walker et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2014/0257852) in view of Poole (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2010/0037170) further in view of Ribble (U.S. Patent Application Pub 20150294549).
Regarding claim 22 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 11, but both are silent on, wherein a hospital room does not require physical switches for calling nurse.
Ribble from an analogous art teaches a system and concept of a hospital room does not require physical switches for calling nurse (Fig 1, ¶040-¶041; patient-need prediction system 10 predicts patient need before patient 11 is aware they will have a need … hospital information system 28 requests caregiver come to patient 11 to help with predicted patient need). There-fore, it would’ve been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to further combine the system of Walker with the feature, as taught by Ribble, for the advantage of requesting that a caregiver come to patient for help with a predicted patient need (¶041).
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walker et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2014/0257852) in view of Poole (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2010/0037170) in view of Taheri et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. 2021/0407658).
Regarding claim 24 (New), Walker and Poole teach the system of Claim 23, with the emergency nurse call feature and the non- emergency nurse call feature (see claim 23). Walker and Pooleare silent on the emergency nurse call feature and the non- emergency nurse call feature are associated with different hospital departments such that selections of the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are configured to transmit patient assistance requests to different devices associated with the different hospital departments.
Taheri from an analogous art teaches the concept to determine, from a plurality of healthcare providers, a subset of healthcare providers related to a request to communicate, wherein the determination is based at least in part on a property of the subset of healthcare providers (Figs 1-11 & claim 4; automatically identifying by computer processor, a subset of next-highest ranked identified qualified candidate healthcare providers) and Examiner further notes that the providers enable real-time communication, through the portable electronic device, with the subset of healthcare providers, wherein the subset of healthcare providers receive the real-time communication via one or more electronic devices associated with the subset of healthcare providers. (¶093; as users sign up for various shifts, the central scheduling server may transmit updated respective scheduling information to each respective hospital scheduling server according to any appropriate schedule (e.g., in real time, nightly, weekly, etc.)... central scheduling server may transmit updated scheduling information for the first hospital to the first hospital in real time so that the first hospital's scheduling server retains an up-to-date schedule of the work shifts). In other words, teaches the concept wherein calls may be associated with different hospital departments such that selections of the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are configured to transmit patient assistance requests to different devices associated with the different hospital departments (¶093)..Therefore, it would’ve been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to combine the system of Walker with different hospital departments such that selections of the emergency nurse call feature and the non-emergency nurse call feature are configured to transmit patient assistance requests to different devices associated with the different hospital departments, as taught by Taheri, for the advantage of transmitting updated relative information of/for service providers to select service providers at different hospitals and respective departments in real time.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANCIL H LITTLEJOHN JR whose telephone number is (571)270-3718. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5 (CST).
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/MANCIL LITTLEJOHN JR/Examiner, Art Unit 2685
/QUAN ZHEN WANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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