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 1-51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1:
Claims 35-51 are directed to a method (i.e., a process), claims 1-17 are directed to an electronic device (i.e., a machine), and claims 18-34 are directed to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (i.e., a machine). Accordingly, claims 1-51 are all within at least one of the four statutory categories.
Step 2A - Prong One:
Regarding Prong One of Step 2A, the claim limitations are to be analyzed to determine whether, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, they “recite” a judicial exception or in other words whether a judicial exception is “set forth” or “described” in the claims. An “abstract idea” judicial exception is subject matter that falls within at least one of the following groupings: a) certain methods of organizing human activity, b) mental processes, and/or c) mathematical concepts.
Representative independent claim 35 includes limitations that recite at least one abstract idea. Specifically, independent claim 35 recites:
35. A method, comprising:
at an electronic device with a display and one or more input devices:
while the electronic device is associated with health data for a first user that includes a plurality of health record items of a first type and a plurality of health record items of a second type that is different from the first type, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a request to display health record summary information for the first user; and
in response to receiving the request, displaying, on the display, health record summary information for the first user that includes concurrently displaying a plurality of health record items, including:
a first health record item of the first type that has a first date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the first type with dates earlier than the first date; and
a second health record item of the second type that has a second date that is different from the first date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the second type that have a date that is earlier than the second date.
The Examiner submits that the foregoing underlined limitations constitute “certain methods of organizing human activity” because health data for a first user that includes a plurality of health record items of a first type and a plurality of health record items of a second type that is different from the first type, receiving a request to display health record summary information for the first user; and in response to receiving the request, displaying health record summary information for the first user that includes concurrently displaying a plurality of health record items, including: a first health record item of the first type that has a first date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the first type with dates earlier than the first date; and a second health record item of the second type that has a second date that is different from the first date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the second type that have a date that is earlier than the second date amount to managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions), at the currently claimed high level of generality.
Accordingly, the claim recites at least one abstract idea.
Step 2A - Prong Two:
Regarding Prong Two of Step 2A, it must be determined whether the claim as a whole integrates the abstract idea into a practical application. It must be determined whether any additional elements in the claim beyond the abstract idea integrate the exception into a practical application in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception. The courts have indicated that additional elements merely using a computer to implement an abstract idea, adding insignificant extra solution activity, or generally linking use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use do not integrate a judicial exception into a “practical application.”
The limitations of claims 1, 18, and 35, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers certain methods of organizing human activity but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting an electronic device, a display, one or more input devices, one or more processors, a memory, one or more programs, and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to perform the limitations, nothing in the claim elements precludes the steps from practically being certain methods of organizing human activity. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers certain methods of organizing human activity but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claims recite an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the electronic device, display, one or more input devices, one or more processors, memory, one or more programs, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as generic computer components performing generic computer functions of receiving data and displaying information) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
Thus, taken alone, the additional elements do not amount to significantly more than the above-identified judicial exception (the abstract idea). Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. For instance, there is no indication that the additional elements, when considered as a whole, reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computer or an improvement to another technology or technical field, apply or use the above-noted judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition, implement/use the above-noted judicial exception with a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, or apply or use the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is not more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (see MPEP § 2106.05). Their collective functions merely provide conventional computer implementation.
Claims 2-17, 19-34, and 36-51 are ultimately dependent from Claim(s) 1, 18, and 35 and include all the limitations of Claim(s) 1, 18, and 35. Therefore, claim(s) 2-17, 19-34, and 36-51 recite the same abstract idea. Claims 2-17, 19-34, and 36-51 describe further limitations regarding items of a third type, concurrently displaying items, excluding items of the third type, data associated with health care providers, a fourth health record item, dates of visits, receiving third health record item, receiving requests, receiving a new health record item, displaying updated summary information, displaying items, displaying a health record archive, displaying a fourth health record item, updating summary information to include the received third health record item, wherein the first health record item comprises a representation of a severity of a condition of the first user, wherein the first health record item comprises a representation of a condition of the first user over a period of time, displaying an incomplete record affordance, receiving and providing a user verification, receiving a first user indication, excluding the health record item from the summary information, transmitting a request for updated information, and displaying an updated summary. These are all just further describing the abstract idea recited in Claim(s) 1, 18, and 35, without adding significantly more.
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 into a practical application, the additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claims are not patent eligible.
Step 2B:
Regarding Step 2B, independent claims 1, 18, and 35 do not include additional elements (considered both individually and as an ordered combination) that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for reasons the same as those discussed above with respect to determining that the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Regarding the additional limitations directed to receiving a request via the one or more input devices, all of which the Examiner submits merely add insignificant extra-solution activity to the abstract idea or are claimed in a merely generic manner (e.g., at a high level of generality), the Examiner further submits that such steps are not unconventional as they merely consist of receiving and transmitting data over a network. See MPEP 2106.05(d)(II).
The dependent claims do not include additional elements (considered both individually and as an ordered combination) that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons to those discussed above with respect to determining that the dependent claims do not integrate the at least one abstract idea into a practical application.
Therefore, claims 1-51 are ineligible under 35 USC §101.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 2, 5-7, 10, 13-15, 17-19, 22-24, 27, 30-32, 34-36, 39-41, 44, 47-49, and 51 are objected to because of the following informalities: change “health record summary information” to “the health record summary information“ at lines 17 & 20 of claim 1, lines 13 & 16 of claim 18, and lines 11 & 14 of claim 35 and throughout claims 2, 5-7, 10, 13-15, 17, 19, 22-24, 27, 30-32, 34, 36, 39-41, 44, 47-49, and 51. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 16, 33, and 50 are objected to because of the following informalities: “transmitting to a request…” language is unclear. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 17, 24, and 51 are objected to because of the following informalities: change “the changes” to “changes.” Appropriate correction is required.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 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.
Claim(s) 1-14, 17-31, 34-48, and 51 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shiu et al. (US 2011/0301978 A1).
(A) Referring to claim 1, Shiu discloses An electronic device, comprising (para. 45 of Shiu; The network 110 may also be connected to input and output terminals such as doctor terminals 114 and nurse terminals 116, which may, for example, be in the form of desktops, laptops, or mobile computing devices. The terminals 114,116 may comprise a display device (e.g. a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) flat panel screen), which may be touch enabled to facilitate input. The terminals 114, 116 may also include other input devices operatively connected to the display (e.g. keyboard, mouse, card reader, touch pad). Furthermore, the terminals may comprise a CPU and memory as might be the case with a laptop, for example. The system 100 may use the network 110 to communicate with remote terminals shown generally as 114' and 116' (corresponding substantially to local terminals 114 and 116 respectively), which may be present at another location and/or which may be in the form of mobile devices.):
display (para. 45 of Shiu; The terminals 114,116 may comprise a display device (e.g. a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) flat panel screen), which may be touch enabled to facilitate input. The terminals 114, 116 may also include other input devices operatively connected to the display (e.g. keyboard, mouse, card reader, touch pad).);
one or more input devices (para. 45 of Shiu; The terminals 114, 116 may also include other input devices);
one or more processors (para. 43-45 of Shiu; System 100 comprises a number of components, including microprocessor or central processing unit (CPU) 120 which may form part of a computer system.);
a memory (para. 45 of Shiu; the terminals 114, 114', 116 and 116' may comprise the CPU 120 and/or memory 130 allowing for local and/or distributed control of memory 130.); and
one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for (para. 47 of Shiu; CPU 120, in addition to its operating system functions, enables execution of software applications which may include a patient record module program 140, typically stored in memory 130 and programmed to cause the CPU 120 to provide the functionality discussed herein.):
while the electronic device is associated with health data for a first user that includes a plurality of health record items of a first type and a plurality of health record items of a second type that is different from the first type, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a request to display health record summary information for the first user (see Figures 3-7 & 12 and para. 48, 50, & 114 of Shiu; Information is sent to the terminals 114, 114', 116, 116' for display. The output module 144 may be engaged to electronically and/or physically generate a medical summary, billing summary, immunization summary or prescription corresponding with data stored in the databases. The generated documents may be displayed to a user via the terminals 114, 114', 116, 116' by output module 144. The adhesive medical summary generation process at Block 224 may be initiated by a user via, for example, a nurse terminal 116, 116' and the interface illustrated in FIG. 12. Specifically, a user may select the button 1250, for example, in order to trigger the generation of a medical summary.); and
in response to receiving the request, displaying, on the display, health record summary information for the first user that includes concurrently displaying a plurality of health record items, including (see Figures 4-7 & 12 and para. 114 of Shiu; the adhesive medical summary generation process at Block 224 may be initiated by a user via, for example, a nurse terminal 116, 116' and the interface illustrated in FIG. 12. Specifically, a user may select the button 1250, for example, in order to trigger the generation of a medical summary.):
a first health record item of the first type that has a first date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the first type with dates earlier than the first date (see Figures 4-7 and para. 69 & 120 of Shiu; In order to facilitate patient care it is valuable for medical practitioners to have an up to date picture summarizing a patient's outstanding medical conditions and indicators. The assessment history records 500 may be used to store any number of indicators for a patient. Using the date field 520 current or prior medical conditions may be filtered to produce an overview of a patient's medical status at a specific point in time, or for a given time period.) and
a second health record item of the second type that has a second date that is different from the first date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the second type that have a date that is earlier than the second date (see Figures 4-7 and para. 69 & 120 of Shiu; The billing summary 1600 has been run for a specified date 1620 and contains billing information for all encounters (e.g. assessments) billed for that date 1620. Specifically, the data shown corresponds to the exemplary billing records 700A, 700B and 700C for the date 720 of Oct. 15, 2009.).
(B) Referring to claim 2, Shiu discloses wherein the health data for the first user includes a plurality of health record items of a third type that is different from the first type and the second type, and wherein displaying health record summary information further comprises concurrently displaying the first health record item, the second health record item, and a third health record item of the third type that has a third date, wherein health record summary information excludes a plurality of health record items of the third type with dates earlier than the third date (see Figures 4-7 and para. 69 & 120 of Shiu).
(C) Referring to claim 3, Shiu discloses wherein the health data comprise health data associated with a plurality of health care providers of the first user, wherein the first health record item is associated with a first health care provider of the plurality of health care providers, and wherein the second health record item is associated with a second health care provider (para. 75 & Fig. 7. of Shiu).
(D) Referring to claim 4, Shiu discloses wherein the plurality of health record items comprise a fourth health record item of a fourth type that has a fourth date, wherein the first health record item and the fourth health record item are associated with a first health care provider, and wherein the first date and the fourth date are dates of first and second visits to the first health care provider (para. 75 & 120 and Fig. 7 of Shiu).
(E) Referring to claim 5, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for, after displaying a respective health record that includes the first health record item and the second health record item: receiving third health record item of the first type with a third date that is after the first date; after receiving the third health record item, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a second request to display health record summary information for the first user; and in response to receiving the second request, displaying, on the display, updated health record summary information for the first user that includes concurrently displaying the second health record item and the third health record item without displaying the first health record item (Figures 3-7 and para. 114, 116, 123, & 124 of Shiu).
(F) Referring to claim 6, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for, after displaying the health record that includes the first health record item and the second health record item: receiving a new health record item of the health data for the first user, wherein the new health record item has a date that is more recent than the first date and the second date; after receiving the new health record item, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a third request to display health record summary information for the first user; and in response to receiving the third request, displaying on the display, updated health record summary information for the first user that includes concurrently displaying the first health record item, the second health record item and the new health record item ( Figures 3-7 and para. 62, 114, 116, 123, & 124 of Shiu).
(G) Referring to claim 7, Shiu discloses wherein while displaying, on the display, health record summary information for the first user, the one or more programs further including instructions for: receiving, via the one or more input devices, a first request to display the plurality of health record items of the first type that are not displayed in the summary; and in response to receiving the first request to display the plurality of health record items of the first type that are not displayed in the summary, displaying on the display, a plurality of health record items of the first type with dates earlier than the first date (para. 69 of Shiu).
(H) Referring to claim 8, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for: in response to receiving the first request to display the plurality of health record items of the first type that are not displayed in the summary, displaying, on the display, a health record archive for the first user that includes concurrently displaying a health record item of the first type with a most recent date and one or more of the plurality of health record items of the first type with dates earlier than the first date (see Figures 4-7 and para. 69 & 120 of Shiu).
(I) Referring to claim 9, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for: in response to receiving the first request to display the plurality of health record items of the first type not displayed in the summary, displaying, on the display, a fourth health record item of the first type in the health record archive, wherein the fourth health record item comprises a representation of a health metric measured on a fourth date earlier than the first date (Fig. 4, para. 62, 63, & 69 of Shiu).
(J) Referring to claim 10, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for, after displaying health record summary information with the first health record item and the second health record item: receiving a third health record item of a third type that has a third date that is more recent than the first date and the second date; and in response to a request to view health record summary information, updating health record summary information to include the third health record item, wherein the first health record item, the second health record item, and the third health record item are concurrently displayed in health record summary information (Figures 3-7 and para. 114, 116, 123, & 124 of Shiu).
(K) Referring to claim 11, Shiu discloses wherein the first health record item comprises a representation of a severity of a condition of the first user (Fig. 4, para. 91 & 63 of Shiu).
(L) Referring to claim 12, Shiu discloses wherein the first health record item comprises a representation of a condition of the first user over a period of time (Fig. 4 and para. 63 of Shiu).
(M) Referring to claim 13, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for: in response to the request to display health record summary information, in accordance with a determination that a health record item of the health data for the first user is incomplete, displaying an incomplete record affordance in health record summary information (Fig. 12, para. 106 & 112 of Shiu).
(N) Referring to claim 14, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for: receiving, via the one or more input devices, a user verification of an accuracy of a health record item of the plurality of health record items displayed in health record summary information; and in response to receiving the user verification of the accuracy of the health record item, providing the user verification to a health care provider associated with the health record item (para. 56, 58, 105, and 111 of Shiu).
(O) Referring to claim 17, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for: receiving, via the one or more input devices, information updating the first health record item; and after receiving the information updating the first health record item, receiving a second request to display health record summary information for the first user; and in response to receiving the request to display health record summary information for the first user, displaying an updated health record summary for the first user including concurrently displaying an updated first health record item that reflects the changes to the first health record item and the second health record item (para. 101, 103, 123, and 124 of Shiu).
(P) Claims 18 and 35 differ from claim 1 by reciting “A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device with a display and one or more input devices, cause the electronic device to…” (para. 128 and 45 of Shiu) and “A method, comprising: at an electronic device with a display and one or more input devices….” (abstract and para. 45 of Shiu).
The remainder of claims 18 and 35 repeat the same limitations as claim 1, and are therefore rejected for the same reasons given above.
(Q) Claims 19-31, 34, 36-48, and 51 repeat substantially the same limitations as claims 2-14 and 17, and are therefore rejected for the same reasons given above.
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) 15, 16, 32, 33, 49, and 50 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiu et al. (US 2011/0301978 A1) in view of Lee (US 2014/0136219 A1).
(A) Referring to claims 15, 32, and 49, Shiu does not disclose the one or more programs further including instructions for: receiving, via the one or more input devices, a first user indication that a health record item of the plurality of health record items included in health record summary information is inaccurate; and in response to receiving the first user indication, excluding the health record item from health record summary information, wherein the health record item is no longer included in health record summary information after being excluded from health record summary information.
Lee discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for: receiving, via the one or more input devices, a first user indication that a health record item of the plurality of health record items included in health record summary information is inaccurate; and in response to receiving the first user indication, excluding the health record item from health record summary information, wherein the health record item is no longer included in health record summary information after being excluded from health record summary information (para. 49 of Lee).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the aforementioned features of Lee within Shiu. The motivation for doing so would have been to include the option of editing data (para. 49 of Lee).
(B) Referring to claims 16, 33, and 50, Shiu discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for, in response to receiving the first user indication, automatically, without further user input, transmitting to a request for updated information for the health record item from a health care provider computer system (para. 103, 123, and 124 of Shiu).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited but not applied prior art teaches records access and management (WO 2009/006609 A1); healthcare semantic interoperability platform (US 2009/0080408 A1); and patient directed system and method for managing medical information (US 2003/0140044 A1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LENA NAJARIAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7072. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30 am-6 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mamon Obeid can be reached at (571)270-1813. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LENA NAJARIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3687
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