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 § 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, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Newton (US 10092767).
Regarding claim 1, A method of prompting a volunteer response to a potential cardiac arrest incident, the method comprising: by a server infrastructure, sending a first message to an automated external defibrillator (AED), the first message being sent in response to a request for assistance in responding to a potential cardiac arrest incident; (“When a SCA event occurs, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and to the AEDs 20” Newton: column 7, lines 14-15 & “In use, when a cardiac emergency occurs, the system 10 is capable of identifying the location of an AED 20 which is closest or most accessible to the patient suffering from the cardiac emergency. For example, upon notification of the cardiac emergency, the controller 50 may be used to quickly identify the location of nearby AEDs 20, for example, by displaying the locations on a map of a display or GUI within the controller. Electronic messages may be sent to the AEDs 20 which are closest or most accessible to the patient. The electronic messages may be transmitted through the various communication networks and to the AED 20 itself” Newton: column 6, lines 11-21 & “In practice, an emergency call made to a 911 call center will be screened by a 911 operator 130, and if coded as a possible sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)” Newton: column 9, line 67 – column 10, line 2; the controller would transmit the message through the network after the 911 call (“request for assistance”) is received and the emergency is coded as an SCA)
by the AED, in response to the first message, opening a connection with the server infrastructure and sending a status message to the server infrastructure via the connection that indicates a current status of the AED, the current status including a current location of the AED; (“The geographical-locating device 60 may be, for example, an RFID chip, a GPS chip, a NFC chip, or another known locating device. The geographical-locating device 60 may also be in communication with a cell phone 32, a router 30 of a local area network (LAN), or other communication device of an individual who is near the AED 20 or has access to it. The use of the geographical-locating device 60 on each AED 20 may be important to successfully using the system 10. It is necessary to know the location of the AEDs 20 at any given time, including when the AED 20 is needed in an emergency and when AEDs 20 are standing by in non-emergency situations. In one example, each AED 20 may have an active RFID chip attached so it can periodically register its location. Typically, AEDs are not moved, other than when used. Therefore, periodic location transmissions, e.g., hourly, may be sufficient, and can save energy, particularly, when running on battery power. The location may be provided by a MAC address or an identifier string associated with a residential LAN or other network through which the AED 20 is communicating.” Newton: column 6, lines 44-63)
by the server infrastructure, sending a second message pertaining to the potential cardiac arrest incident to the AED over the connection; by the AED generating a human perceptible nearby incident alert indicating that there is the potential cardiac arrest incident occurring nearby for which the AED may be useful; and wherein information conveyed from the server infrastructure to the AED includes a location of the potential medical incident and the AED is configured to render at least one of (i) an indication of the location of potential medical incident and (ii) directions to the location of the potential cardiac arrest incident at least partially in response to the reception of such information. (“When a SCA event occurs, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and to the AEDs 20. In one of many alternatives, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and directly to the cell phone 32 or other communication device of a human individual who can assist with the AED 20 usage. Upon receipt of the message, the AED 20 and/or the cell phone 32 or other communication device may sound an alarm or provide another alert to indicate the need for the AED 20 to be used. The alarm or alert may include additional information about the situation, such as the location of the patient suffering from the SCA, contact information of the patient or another party assisting with the SCA, instructions on how to navigate to the location of the patient, information about other, nearby AEDs which have also been requested to assist with the patient, and other information that may be used to help with the emergency” Newton: column 7, lines 14-30)
Regarding claim 2, A method as recited in claim I wherein: the second message that is sent from the server infrastructure to the AED over the connection is a nearby incident notification; and the AED generates the nearby incident alert in response to reception of the nearby incident notification. (“When a SCA event occurs, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and to the AEDs 20. In one of many alternatives, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and directly to the cell phone 32 or other communication device of a human individual who can assist with the AED 20 usage. Upon receipt of the message, the AED 20 and/or the cell phone 32 or other communication device may sound an alarm or provide another alert to indicate the need for the AED 20 to be used. The alarm or alert may include additional information about the situation, such as the location of the patient suffering from the SCA, contact information of the patient or another party assisting with the SCA, instructions on how to navigate to the location of the patient, information about other, nearby AEDs which have also been requested to assist with the patient, and other information that may be used to help with the emergency” Newton: column 7, lines 14-30)
Regarding claim 9, A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first message is a check-in message. (“The geographical-locating device 60 may be, for example, an RFID chip, a GPS chip, a NFC chip, or another known locating device. The geographical-locating device 60 may also be in communication with a cell phone 32, a router 30 of a local area network (LAN), or other communication device of an individual who is near the AED 20 or has access to it. The use of the geographical-locating device 60 on each AED 20 may be important to successfully using the system 10. It is necessary to know the location of the AEDs 20 at any given time, including when the AED 20 is needed in an emergency and when AEDs 20 are standing by in non-emergency situations. In one example, each AED 20 may have an active RFID chip attached so it can periodically register its location. Typically, AEDs are not moved, other than when used. Therefore, periodic location transmissions, e.g., hourly, may be sufficient, and can save energy, particularly, when running on battery power. The location may be provided by a MAC address or an identifier string associated with a residential LAN or other network through which the AED 20 is communicating.” Newton: column 6, lines 44-63)
Regarding claim 10, the claim is interpreted and rejected as claim 1 stated above.
Regarding claim 11, A method as recited in claim 10further comprising repeating (ii) - (iv) for at least one additional AED in the selected set of target AEDs. (“When a SCA event occurs, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and to the AEDs 20” Newton: column 7, lines 14-15)
Regarding claim 12, A method as recited in claim 10 further comprising: by the first AED, opening a connection with the server infrastructure after the server infrastructure has received the request for assistance; and by the server infrastructure, sending a second message pertaining to the potential cardiac arrest incident to the first AED over the connection in real time during the potential cardiac arrest incident. (“When a SCA event occurs, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and to the AEDs 20. In one of many alternatives, the controller 50 may transmit a message through the network and directly to the cell phone 32 or other communication device of a human individual who can assist with the AED 20 usage. Upon receipt of the message, the AED 20 and/or the cell phone 32 or other communication device may sound an alarm or provide another alert to indicate the need for the AED 20 to be used. The alarm or alert may include additional information about the situation, such as the location of the patient suffering from the SCA, contact information of the patient or another party assisting with the SCA, instructions on how to navigate to the location of the patient, information about other, nearby AEDs which have also been requested to assist with the patient, and other information that may be used to help with the emergency” Newton: column 7, lines 14-30)
Regarding claim 14, the claim is interpreted and rejected as claim 1 stated above.
Regarding claim 16, A method as recited in claim 14 wherein the status message sent to the server infrastructure includes a current location of the AED. (“The geographical-locating device 60 may be, for example, an RFID chip, a GPS chip, a NFC chip, or another known locating device. The geographical-locating device 60 may also be in communication with a cell phone 32, a router 30 of a local area network (LAN), or other communication device of an individual who is near the AED 20 or has access to it. The use of the geographical-locating device 60 on each AED 20 may be important to successfully using the system 10. It is necessary to know the location of the AEDs 20 at any given time, including when the AED 20 is needed in an emergency and when AEDs 20 are standing by in non-emergency situations. In one example, each AED 20 may have an active RFID chip attached so it can periodically register its location. Typically, AEDs are not moved, other than when used. Therefore, periodic location transmissions, e.g., hourly, may be sufficient, and can save energy, particularly, when running on battery power. The location may be provided by a MAC address or an identifier string associated with a residential LAN or other network through which the AED 20 is communicating.” Newton: column 6, lines 44-63)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 6, 18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Newton in view of Official Notice.
Regarding claim 6, A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the connection opened by the AED is opened over a different channel than check-in request is received on is not specifically disclosed by Newton. Examiner takes Official Notice that it would have been well known to one of ordinary skill in the art to use multiple different communication channels for both incoming and outgoing messages between electronic devices. Modifying Newton to use a different channel for its messaging would increase the utility of the system by providing means of communication that would reduce potential for communication loss. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Newton according to Official Notice.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected as claims 1 and 6 stated above.
Regarding claim 20, An AED as recited in claim 18 wherein the status message sent to the server infrastructure includes a current location of the AED. (“The geographical-locating device 60 may be, for example, an RFID chip, a GPS chip, a NFC chip, or another known locating device. The geographical-locating device 60 may also be in communication with a cell phone 32, a router 30 of a local area network (LAN), or other communication device of an individual who is near the AED 20 or has access to it. The use of the geographical-locating device 60 on each AED 20 may be important to successfully using the system 10. It is necessary to know the location of the AEDs 20 at any given time, including when the AED 20 is needed in an emergency and when AEDs 20 are standing by in non-emergency situations. In one example, each AED 20 may have an active RFID chip attached so it can periodically register its location. Typically, AEDs are not moved, other than when used. Therefore, periodic location transmissions, e.g., hourly, may be sufficient, and can save energy, particularly, when running on battery power. The location may be provided by a MAC address or an identifier string associated with a residential LAN or other network through which the AED 20 is communicating.” Newton: column 6, lines 44-63)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 15, 17, 19 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art does not disclose nor suggest the including of a GUI widget for the user to use the AED to respond to an incident (cl. 3, 4) or an alert cancellation message from the server to the AED in the instance of a response no longer being needed (cl. 5, 13) or the use of different communication protocols on the different communication channels (cl. 7, 15, 19) or the sending of a status message being based on a recent self-test of the AED (cl. 8, 17).
Conclusion
Related Art:
US 20210357456 A1 – system for identifying AED locations in response to an emergency
US 20210228893 A1 – AED with incident response system
US 20140002241 A1 – AED with incident response system
US 20110152702 A1 – device for monitoring for a cardiac arrest
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRAVIS R HUNNINGS whose telephone number is (571)272-3118. The examiner can normally be reached M: 6-7:30a, 9:30a-4:45p, 8:30-10p; T: 6-7:30a, 12-4p, 7:30p-12a; W: 6-7:30a, 9:30a-4:45p; H: 6-7:30a, 8:15a-4:45p; F: 12:00-4:45p.
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/TRAVIS R HUNNINGS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2689
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