DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 20 is dependent on claim 1. Applicant needs to amend the claim to depend on claim 17. 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 pre-AIA 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) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for a patent.
Claims 1-11, 13-15, 17 and 19-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Son (Pat. No.: 8,224,608).
1) In regard to claim 1, Son discloses the claimed method for monitoring sobriety of a user (col. 3, lines 58-63), the method comprising:
prompting the user to provide a set of breath samples into an alcohol sensor device comprising an alcohol sensor, at a set of time points (col. 8, lines 58-67 to col. 9, lines 1-19),
wherein the set of time points comprises a first time point at which sobriety of the user is to be tested (col. 8, lines 58-67);
guiding testing of a first breath sample of the set of breath samples at the first time point, using the alcohol sensor device (col. 9, lines 1-19),
wherein guiding comprises visually guiding by emitting light using a light emitting element coupled to the alcohol sensor device (fig. 4 and col. 9, lines 1-19);
determining a first value of an intoxication metric corresponding to the first time point, based on the first breath sample (col. 10, lines 1-43); and
providing a notification based upon the first value of the intoxication metric, wherein the notification is related to a future state of sobriety of the user (col. 8, lines 44-57).
2) In regard to claim 2 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising facilitating warming of the alcohol sensor device in relation to initiating provision of the first breath sample by the user (col. 7, lines 3-5).
3) In regard to claim 3 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising calibrating the alcohol sensor device in relation to initiating provision of the first breath sample by the user (col. 8, lines 58-67 to col. 9, lines 1-19).
4) In regard to claim 4 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the set of time points comprises irregularly spaced time points (col. 8, lines 58-67 to col. 9, lines 1-19 and col. 10, lines 26-39).
5) In regard to claim 5 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the set of time points comprises a schedule of time points (col. 9, lines 5-19 and col. 10, lines 26-39).
6) In regard to claim 6 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the schedule of time points is automatically generated in relation to a predicted profile of intoxication of the user (col. 11, lines 37-67 to col. 12, lines 1-7).
7) In regard to claim 7 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the set of time points comprises a second time point at which the user is at a location where alcohol is provided (col. 11, lines 37-67 to col. 12, lines 1-7).
8) In regard to claim 8 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising returning an analysis derived from a set of values of the intoxication metric, the set of values corresponding to the set of breath samples (col. 13, lines 54-67 to col. 14, lines 1-10).
9) In regard to claim 9 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein providing the notification comprises providing the notification to the user at a mobile computing device associated with the alcohol sensor device (col. 13, lines 19-27).
10) In regard to claim 10 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein providing the notification comprises providing the notification to the user at an indicator of the alcohol sensor device (col. 3, lines 38-39).
11) In regard to claim 11 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein providing the notification comprises providing the notification to a supervising entity (col. 3, lines 38-39).
12) In regard to claim 13 (dependent on claim 8), Son further discloses the method of claim 8, further comprising generating an analysis of a predicted intoxication state of the user, in coordination with testing of the first breath sample (col. 8, lines 44-57).
13) In regard to claim 14, Son discloses the claimed method for monitoring sobriety of a user (col. 3, lines 58-63), the method comprising:
prompting the user to provide a set of breath samples into an alcohol sensor device comprising an alcohol sensor, at a set of time points (col. 8, lines 58-67 to col. 9, lines 1-19),
wherein the set of time points comprises a first time point at which sobriety of the user is to be tested (col. 8, lines 58-67);
guiding testing of a first breath sample of the set of breath samples at the first time point, using the alcohol sensor device (col. 9, lines 1-19),
wherein guiding comprises visually guiding by emitting light using a light emitting element coupled to the alcohol sensor device (fig. 4 and col. 9, lines 1-19);
facilitating warming of the alcohol sensor device in relation to initiating provision of the first breath sample by the user (col. 7, lines 3-5);
determining a first value of an intoxication metric corresponding to the first time point, based on the first breath sample (col. 10, lines 1-43); and
returning an analysis based upon the first value of the intoxication metric, wherein the analysis comprises a predicted future state of sobriety of the user (col. 8, lines 44-57).
14) In regard to claim 15 (dependent on claim 14), Son further discloses the method of claim 14, further comprising calibrating the alcohol sensor device in relation to initiating provision of the first breath sample by the user (col. 8, lines 58-67 to col. 9, lines 1-19).
15) In regard to claim 17, claim 17 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 1 and the references applied.
16) In regard to claim 19 (dependent on claim 17), claim 19 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 11 and the references applied.
17) In regard to claim 20 (dependent on claim 17), claim 20 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 13 and the references applied.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 12, 16 and 18 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Son (Pat. No.: 8,224,608).
1) In regard to claim 12 (dependent on claim 1), Son further discloses the method of claim 1.
Son does not explicitly disclose the alcohol sensor device comprises a fuel cell subsystem comprising a pump, wherein the alcohol sensor is incorporated into the fuel cell subsystem.
However, official notice is taken by the examiner that both the concept and advantage is known for a sobriety determination method to utilize as an alcohol sensor device a fuel cell subsystem comprising a pump, wherein the alcohol sensor is incorporated into the fuel cell subsystem.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was filed to utilize a fuel cell subsystem with a pump.
One skilled in the art would be motivated to modify Son as described above in order to utilize a device which can accurately determine a person BAC level.
2) In regard to claim 16 (dependent on claim 14), claim 16 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 12 and the references applied.
3) In regard to claim 18 (dependent on claim 17), claim 18 is rejected and analyzed with respect to claim 12 and the references applied.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS J KING whose telephone number is (571)270-5160. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00 - 2:00 EST.
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/CURTIS J KING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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