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
Claims 1-4 and 6-24 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 6, 8, 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 6 recites wherein the facility data comprises a combination of temperature data and humidity data, wherein, for each of the plurality of locations, the pathogen spread score is based on deviations from expected values of the facility data for the respective location, and
wherein the expected values are updated over time based on historical facility data
associated with each location.
Deviations from expected values are not described in the specification.
Claim 8 recites wherein the facility data further includes occupancy data, and wherein, for each of the plurality of locations, the pathogen spread score is based at least in part on a proportional relationship between occupancy level and a corresponding environmental value.
Corresponding environmental value is not in the specification.
Claim 15 recites wherein the facility data comprises a combination of temperature data and humidity data, wherein, for each of the plurality of locations, the pathogen spread score is based on deviations from expected values of the facility data for the respective location, and
wherein the expected values are updated over time based on historical facility data
associated with each location.
Deviations from expected values are not described in the specification.
Claim 18 recites wherein the facility data further includes
occupancy data, and wherein, for each of the plurality of locations, the pathogen spread score is based at least in part on a proportional relationship between occupancy level and a corresponding environmental value. Corresponding environmental value is not in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krosney (US 2020/0376152) in view of O’Reilly (US 2020/0173679) in view of Chatterjee (US 2020/0176124) in view of Sperry (US 10,741,278) in view of Bergman (US 2014/0212332).
Examiner Note: Hereafter, above references are combination A.
a communication network;
a plurality of UV treatment devices communicatively connected to the communication
network, at least some of the plurality of UV treatment devices being configured to treat air within respective zones of the facility using UV energy;
Krosney [0003] Recently, there has been a growing number systems and devices designed to reduce airborne pathogens in hospital and home settings in order to lower infection rates. Such devices may treat room air using ultraviolet (“UV”) or high-efficiency particulate air (“HEPA”) type filtering, or a combination thereof. Further, there is an interest in employing the air treatment devices used in hospitals in other settings (e.g., residential, work, travel, etc.), for example, to combat common and seasonal outbreaks of infections. However, in order to provide adequate airflow and a very high pathogen kill rate, such devices are typically large in size and may be impractical for home use.
a plurality of sensors communicatively connected to the communication network, each of
the plurality of sensors associated with a location within the facility and a corresponding location
identifier, and each of the plurality of sensors configured to generate facility data indicative of
pathogen spread associated with the location within the facility; and
Krosney discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, O’Reilly discloses:
O’Reilly [0030] In some implementations, one or more sensor arrays of the sensor array system can communicate with an external device, such as an air handling device 126. The external air handling device 126 can also include a sensor array, such as a room sensor array 124, which can collect data associated with the air in the room and the air flowing through the air handling unit 102 connected to the room 122. For instance, the room sensor array 124 can include a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure in the room 122, a gas sensor for measuring properties of gases in the room 122 (e.g., an amount of certain types of gases), a PM sensor for identifying particles in the room 122, a pathogen sensor for identifying an amount or types of pathogens in the room 122, and/or a temperature and/or a humidity sensor for measuring a temperature and/or humidity in the room 122.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of O’Reilly for the purpose of identifying the amount or types of pathogens in a room.
a control circuit communicatively connected to the communication network, the control
circuit configured to:
receive the facility data from the plurality of sensors over the communication network;
O’Reilly [0030] In some implementations, one or more sensor arrays of the sensor array system can communicate with an external device, such as an air handling device 126. The external air handling device 126 can also include a sensor array, such as a room sensor array 124, which can collect data associated with the air in the room and the air flowing through the air handling unit 102 connected to the room 122. For instance, the room sensor array 124 can include a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure in the room 122, a gas sensor for measuring properties of gases in the room 122 (e.g., an amount of certain types of gases), a PM sensor for identifying particles in the room 122, a pathogen sensor for identifying an amount or types of pathogens in the room 122, and/or a temperature and/or a humidity sensor for measuring a temperature and/or humidity in the room 122.
map the received facility data to a plurality of locations within the facility based on
the location identifiers of the plurality of sensors;
Krosney discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Chatterjea discloses:
Chatterjea [0043] In addition, the nodes database 32 may store information related to types of mobile objects so as to estimate residency of the pathogen on the surface. For example, an object with shiny metal surfaces may have a much shorter pathogen residency than an object with porous surfaces. In addition, as used herein, a zone in the monitoring area A (i.e., a map zone) refers to be an entire room or a portion of a room of a hospital, or may be some other spatial zone such as a hallway. In addition, these zones may be classified according to location in the monitoring area A. The choices or delineations of map zones for the purpose of pathogen transmission tracking is dependent upon factors such as the spatial resolution of the RTLS 12, natural spatial delineations defined by architecture (e.g. a small room may sensibly be chosen as a single map zone) or usage (e.g. in a waiting room it may make sense to define the waiting area containing the patient chairs as one map zone and the receptionist area as a different map zone), or so forth.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Chatterjea for the purpose of providing an infectious disease transmission tracking system which includes a real-time locating system (RTLS) configured to track locations of tags in a monitored area, see abstract.
for each of the plurality of locations, analyze a combination of facility data associated with a respective location to determine a pathogen spread score for the respective location. the pathogen spread score representing a probability of pathogen transmission from the respective location to at least one other of the plurality of locations within the facility;
Krosney discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Sperry discloses:
Sperry col 10 lines 35-60 FIG. 4 shows a drop-down menu 401 that can be used to change the historical date range. For example, a user can select the drop-down menu 40 to change the display from a prior month of history to a prior three month of history. FIG. 5 shows the range changed to display the prior three months of history. Selecting any point 501 on the graph may display information specific to that date. A trend line 502 may be used as an indicator of the level at which action must be taken, in this case, four contaminated rooms. The probability of spreading infection is related to the amount of pathogen present and the number of locations that are contaminated. There may be a number of contaminated locations under which only a limited remediation effort is necessary for the probability to remain low. Anything above this line may require immediate and/or intensive effort to reduce the pathogen content. This number may be decided upon based on historical data and trends, as well as location or other factors. For example, an oncology unit may require a lower contamination tolerance than an outpatient unit since the oncology patients will tend to have compromised immune systems, making them more susceptible to infection. Along with this trend line, the graph may show the average, median, standard deviations or other desired information.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Sperry for the purpose of providing a pathogen detection and display system configured to discover and display the location of substances of interest, particularly pathogens that can spread infection, see abstract.
for each of the plurality of locations, determine, based on the respective pathogen
spread score, a UV treatment response for the respective location, the UV treatment response
including (i) one or more operational parameters configured according to a severity represented
by the respective pathogen spread score and (ii) identification of one or more UV treatment devices located proximate to the respective location for implementation of the UV treatment response.
Krosney discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Bergman discloses:
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Bergman for the purpose of evaluating and adjusting the effectiveness of ultraviolet light disinfection of areas such as hospital rooms or other areas, see abstract.
communicate over the communication network with the identified UV treatment devices to implement the determined UV treatment response for each of the plurality of locations by adjusting operation of the identified UV treatment devices according to the one or more operational parameters.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination A.
wherein the facility data comprises at least one of temperature data, humidity data, air pressure data, and air flow data.
Bergman [0010] However, the effectiveness of UV surface disinfection is dependent on line-of-sight exposure of the micro-organisms to the UV source. Environments with obstacles that block the source are not as effective, and UV reflectance may be low and unreliable. In such an environment, such as a typical hospital room, effectiveness is then reliant on the placement of the source system so that line-of-sight is optimum for surface disinfection. The effectiveness of a surface disinfection unit (SDU) in such an environment depends on a number of factors, including the length of time a micro-organism is exposed to UV; power fluctuations of the UV source that impact the wavelength; the distance of the surface from the intensity source; the ambient temperature; the humidity of the air; the presence of particles in the air; the presence of dust and dirt on the lamp surface; the presence of particles that can protect the micro-organisms from UV; and a microorganism's ability to withstand UV during its exposure.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A.
Reference combination A discloses wherein in response to the respective pathogen spread score for a location of the plurality of locations meeting a UV treatment trigger condition, the control circuit is further configured to log an event including the location identifier associated with that location and a timestamp.
Chatterjea [0029] The disclosed tracking approach also extends the concept of “transmission” to more broadly encompass transmission between pairs of “nodes”, where a node may be a person, but also may be a location (i.e., spatial “zone”) or an asset or other mobile object (e.g. a mobile x-ray device, patient bed, or so forth). Thus, when a patient occupies a waiting room there will be a transmission likelihood from the patient to the waiting room; when the nurse later cleans the waiting room there will be a transmission likelihood from the waiting room to the nurse. The transmission tracking is also dynamic based on known time constraints on transmission. Thus, for example, if a known pathogen can contaminate surfaces which then remain infectious for two hours, then the waiting room may have its likelihood of infection reset to zero after two hours (and optionally its likelihood of infection may be set to decay to zero as a function of time to even more accurately represent the actual transmission probability over time).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A.
Reference combination A discloses wherein the operational parameters include at least one
of UV intensity, airflow rate, disinfection cycle duration, and activation frequency.
Krosney [0023] In various embodiments, an air treatment system may employ one or more filter to capture contaminants dispersed in the air as well as UV radiation emitted within a sanitizing chamber that is configured to optimize performance while killing at least 95% of airborne pathogens. In various embodiments, the UV radiation may be emitted by one or more array of light emitting diodes (LEDs). The air treatment system may include an intake area with an opening to the surrounding air, and a filter assembly. Air that passes through the opening may be filtered by the filter assembly, and through the system for purification. A fan may transport the filtered air from the intake area to a sanitizing chamber, which may be connected to an exhaust portion that releases treated air back into the surrounding environment. In some embodiments, control circuitry may be included within the air treatment system to regulate power supplied to the UV LEDs and fan. The various components of the air treatment system may be enclosed within a compact housing.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A.
Reference combination A discloses wherein the plurality of sensors include one or more
environmental sensors selected from the group consisting of: a temperature sensor, a humidity
sensor, an air flow sensor, and a pressure sensor.
Bergman [0010] However, the effectiveness of UV surface disinfection is dependent on line-of-sight exposure of the micro-organisms to the UV source. Environments with obstacles that block the source are not as effective, and UV reflectance may be low and unreliable. In such an environment, such as a typical hospital room, effectiveness is then reliant on the placement of the source system so that line-of-sight is optimum for surface disinfection. The effectiveness of a surface disinfection unit (SDU) in such an environment depends on a number of factors, including the length of time a micro-organism is exposed to UV; power fluctuations of the UV source that impact the wavelength; the distance of the surface from the intensity source; the ambient temperature; the humidity of the air; the presence of particles in the air; the presence of dust and dirt on the lamp surface; the presence of particles that can protect the micro-organisms from UV; and a microorganism's ability to withstand UV during its exposure.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A in view of Mackay (US 2018/0188712)
Reference combination A discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose wherein the occupancy data is derived from a CO2 sensor. associated with a monitored location. However, Mackay discloses:
Mackay TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 1 LDN Module Options 1. Vibration Sensors 2. Seismic P Wave Detectors 3. Earthquake Detectors 4. Sub Sonic Microphones 5. Sonic Microphones 6. Ultrasonic Microphones 7. Subsonic Transducers 8. Sonic Transducers 9. Ultrasonic Transducers 10. IR Cameras 11. Color Cameras 12. High Frame Rate HFR Cameras 13. High Dynamic Range HDR Cameras 14. UV Cameras 15. Multispectral Cameras 16. Hyperspectral Cameras 17. Colorimeter 18. Photoelasticity Imagers 19. Spectrophotometers 20. TOF Time Of Flight Imagers 21. LIDARs Light Intensity Distance And Ranging 22. Microwave Position Sensors 23. Microwave Gesture Sensors 24. Microwave Radiometer (MWR) 25. Ultrasonic Gesture Sensors 26. Cell Phone Transceivers 27. Wi-Fi Transceivers 28. Bluetooth Transceivers 29. GPS Global Positioning System Transceivers 30. AM Amplitude Modulation Transceivers 31. FM Frequency Modulation Transceivers 32. LF Low Frequency Transceivers 33. VHF Very High Frequency Transceivers 34. UHF Ultra High Frequency Transceivers 35. Microwave Transceivers 36. Fractal Antennas 37. Pixel Addressable Antennas 38. Reconfigurable Antennas 39. UWB Ultra-Wide Band Transceivers 40. UWB Position Measurement Systems 41. Lightning Detectors 42. Voltage Sensors 43. Current Sensors 44. Magnetic Sensors 45. EMI Electro Magnetic Interference Detectors 46. RFI Radio Frequency Interference Detectors 47. Free Space Optics 48. Li-Fi Transceivers 49. LED Light Engines 50. Color Temp Controlled LED Light Engines 51. UV Ultraviolet LED Light Engines 52. RGB Red Green Blue LED Light Engines 53. Color Specific LED Light Engines 54. IR Infrared LED Light Engines 55. Laser Light Engines 56. Photodetectors 57. Actinometers 58. ESD Protection 59. Electrical Energy Harvesters 60. Alarm Sensors 61. Motion Detectors 62. Glass Break Detectors 63. Shock Detectors 64. Occupancy Sensors 65. Proximity Sensors 66. Altimeters 67. Barometric Pressure Sensors 68. Gravimeter 69. Attitude Indicators 70. Flux Gate Compasses 71. Accelerometers 72. Inertial Sensors 73. Inertial Reference Unit 74. Level Sensor 75. MEMS Gyroscopes 76. Touch Sensors 77. RFID Tags 78. RFID Tag Readers 79. Flame Detectors 80. Smoke Detectors 81. Fire Detectors 82. Carbon Monoxide Detectors 83. Radon Detectors 84. Ionizing Radiation Detectors 85. Radiation Detectors 86. Neutron Detectors 87. Ion Detectors 88. Pellistor Sensors 89. Electronic Noses 90. Olfactometer Sensor 91. pH Sensors 92. Light Addressable Potentiometric Sensor (LAPS) 93. Photoionization Detector PID 94. Air Pollution Sensors 95. Chemical Sensors 96. Optrode Sensors 97. Hydrogen Sensor 98. Hydrogen Sulfide Sensor 99. Sulfur Dioxide Sensors 100. Nitrous Oxide Sensors 101. Nitrogen Sensor 102. Nitrogen Oxide Sensor 103. Oxygen Sensors 104. Ozone Sensors 105. Methane Sensors 106. Carbon Dioxide Sensors 107. Zinc Oxide Sensors 108. VOC Sensors 109. Biological Sensors 110. Pathogen Sensors 111. Fungi Sensors 112. Pollen Sensors 113. Asbestos Sensors 114. Fiberglass Sensors 115. Temperature Sensors 116. Humidity Sensors 117. Moisture Sensors 118. Dew Point Sensors 119. Water Sensors 120. Depth Gauge 121. Air Flow Sensors 122. Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF) 123. Air Velocity Sensors 124. Air Pressure Sensors 125. Airborne Particle Detectors 126. Metal Detectors 127. Strain Gages 128. Electrostatic Generators 129. Electrostatic Air Cleaners 130. UV Sterilizers 131. Oxygen Generators 132. Negative Ion Generators 133. Scenting Systems 134. Fragrance Dispensers
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify combination A to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Mackay for the purpose of providing hardware and software environment that creates a relevance based digital building intelligence system, see abstract.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A
Combination A discloses wherein if the pathogen spread score for a location of the plurality of locations does not meet a UV treatment trigger condition is not met, the control circuit is further configured to log the facility data associated with the that location for use in trend analysis or future threshold determination.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over O’Reilly (US 2020/0173679) in view of Chatterjee (US 2020/0176124) in view of Sperry (US 10,741,278) in view of Bergman (US 2014/0212332).
Examiner Note: Hereafter, above references are combination B.
receiving facility data indicative of pathogen spread from a plurality of sensors, each sensor
associated with a location within the facility and a corresponding location identifier;
O’Reilly [0030] In some implementations, one or more sensor arrays of the sensor array system can communicate with an external device, such as an air handling device 126. The external air handling device 126 can also include a sensor array, such as a room sensor array 124, which can collect data associated with the air in the room and the air flowing through the air handling unit 102 connected to the room 122. For instance, the room sensor array 124 can include a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure in the room 122, a gas sensor for measuring properties of gases in the room 122 (e.g., an amount of certain types of gases), a PM sensor for identifying particles in the room 122, a pathogen sensor for identifying an amount or types of pathogens in the room 122, and/or a temperature and/or a humidity sensor for measuring a temperature and/or humidity in the room 122.
mapping the facility data to a plurality of locations within the facility based on the location
identifiers of the sensors;
O’Reilly discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Chatterjee discloses:
Chatterjea [0043] In addition, the nodes database 32 may store information related to types of mobile objects so as to estimate residency of the pathogen on the surface. For example, an object with shiny metal surfaces may have a much shorter pathogen residency than an object with porous surfaces. In addition, as used herein, a zone in the monitoring area A (i.e., a map zone) refers to be an entire room or a portion of a room of a hospital, or may be some other spatial zone such as a hallway. In addition, these zones may be classified according to location in the monitoring area A. The choices or delineations of map zones for the purpose of pathogen transmission tracking is dependent upon factors such as the spatial resolution of the RTLS 12, natural spatial delineations defined by architecture (e.g. a small room may sensibly be chosen as a single map zone) or usage (e.g. in a waiting room it may make sense to define the waiting area containing the patient chairs as one map zone and the receptionist area as a different map zone), or so forth.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify O’Reilly to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Chatterjea for the purpose of providing an infectious disease transmission tracking system which includes a real-time locating system (RTLS) configured to track locations of tags in a monitored area, see abstract.
for each of the plurality of locations, analyzing a combination of facility data associated
with a respective location to determine a pathogen spread score for the respective location, the
pathogen spread score representing a probability of pathogen transmission from the respective
location to at least one other of the plurality of locations within the facility;
O’Reilly discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Sperry discloses:
Sperry col 10 lines 35-60 FIG. 4 shows a drop-down menu 401 that can be used to change the historical date range. For example, a user can select the drop-down menu 40 to change the display from a prior month of history to a prior three month of history. FIG. 5 shows the range changed to display the prior three months of history. Selecting any point 501 on the graph may display information specific to that date. A trend line 502 may be used as an indicator of the level at which action must be taken, in this case, four contaminated rooms. The probability of spreading infection is related to the amount of pathogen present and the number of locations that are contaminated. There may be a number of contaminated locations under which only a limited remediation effort is necessary for the probability to remain low. Anything above this line may require immediate and/or intensive effort to reduce the pathogen content. This number may be decided upon based on historical data and trends, as well as location or other factors. For example, an oncology unit may require a lower contamination tolerance than an outpatient unit since the oncology patients will tend to have compromised immune systems, making them more susceptible to infection. Along with this trend line, the graph may show the average, median, standard deviations or other desired information.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Sperry for the purpose of providing a pathogen detection and display system configured to discover and display the location of substances of interest, particularly pathogens that can spread infection, see abstract.
for each of the plurality of locations, determining, based on the respective pathogen spread
score, a UV treatment response for the respective location, the UV treatment response including
(i) one or more operational parameters configured according to a severity represented by the
respective pathogen spread score and (ii) identification of one or more UV treatment devices
located proximate to the respective location for implementation of the UV treatment response
O’Reilly discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Bergman discloses:
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Bergman for the purpose of evaluating and adjusting the effectiveness of ultraviolet light disinfection of areas such as hospital rooms or other areas, see abstract.
implementing the determined UV treatment response for each of the plurality of locations by adjusting operation of the identified UV treatment devices according to the one or more operational parameters
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Bergman for the purpose of evaluating and adjusting the effectiveness of ultraviolet light disinfection of areas such as hospital rooms or other areas, see abstract.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination A.
wherein the facility data comprises at least one of temperature data, humidity data, air pressure data, and air flow data.
Bergman [0010] However, the effectiveness of UV surface disinfection is dependent on line-of-sight exposure of the micro-organisms to the UV source. Environments with obstacles that block the source are not as effective, and UV reflectance may be low and unreliable. In such an environment, such as a typical hospital room, effectiveness is then reliant on the placement of the source system so that line-of-sight is optimum for surface disinfection. The effectiveness of a surface disinfection unit (SDU) in such an environment depends on a number of factors, including the length of time a micro-organism is exposed to UV; power fluctuations of the UV source that impact the wavelength; the distance of the surface from the intensity source; the ambient temperature; the humidity of the air; the presence of particles in the air; the presence of dust and dirt on the lamp surface; the presence of particles that can protect the micro-organisms from UV; and a microorganism's ability to withstand UV during its exposure.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A.
Reference combination A discloses wherein in response to the respective pathogen spread score for a location of the plurality of locations meeting a UV treatment trigger condition, the control circuit is further configured to log an event including the location identifier associated with that location and a timestamp.
Chatterjea [0029] The disclosed tracking approach also extends the concept of “transmission” to more broadly encompass transmission between pairs of “nodes”, where a node may be a person, but also may be a location (i.e., spatial “zone”) or an asset or other mobile object (e.g. a mobile x-ray device, patient bed, or so forth). Thus, when a patient occupies a waiting room there will be a transmission likelihood from the patient to the waiting room; when the nurse later cleans the waiting room there will be a transmission likelihood from the waiting room to the nurse. The transmission tracking is also dynamic based on known time constraints on transmission. Thus, for example, if a known pathogen can contaminate surfaces which then remain infectious for two hours, then the waiting room may have its likelihood of infection reset to zero after two hours (and optionally its likelihood of infection may be set to decay to zero as a function of time to even more accurately represent the actual transmission probability over time).
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A.
Reference combination A discloses wherein the operational parameters include at least one
of UV intensity, airflow rate, disinfection cycle duration, and activation frequency.
Krosney [0023] In various embodiments, an air treatment system may employ one or more filter to capture contaminants dispersed in the air as well as UV radiation emitted within a sanitizing chamber that is configured to optimize performance while killing at least 95% of airborne pathogens. In various embodiments, the UV radiation may be emitted by one or more array of light emitting diodes (LEDs). The air treatment system may include an intake area with an opening to the surrounding air, and a filter assembly. Air that passes through the opening may be filtered by the filter assembly, and through the system for purification. A fan may transport the filtered air from the intake area to a sanitizing chamber, which may be connected to an exhaust portion that releases treated air back into the surrounding environment. In some embodiments, control circuitry may be included within the air treatment system to regulate power supplied to the UV LEDs and fan. The various components of the air treatment system may be enclosed within a compact housing.
15.
(Currently Amended) The method of claim 11, wherein the facility data comprises a
combination of temperature data and humidity data, and wherein, for each of the plurality of
locations, the pathogen spread score UV treatment trigger is based on deviations from expected
values of the facility data for the respective location, and the method includes updating the
expected values over time based on historical facility data associated with each location.
16.
(Currently Amended) The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more operational
parameters are selected from a plurality of parameter values that scale with a degree of severity
represented by the respective pathogen spread score. the facility data comprises a combination of
temperature data and humidity data.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krosney to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Bergman for the purpose of evaluating and adjusting the effectiveness of ultraviolet light disinfection of areas such as hospital rooms or other areas, see abstract.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A.
Reference combination A discloses wherein the plurality of sensors include one or more
environmental sensors selected from the group consisting of: a temperature sensor, a humidity
sensor, an air flow sensor, and a pressure sensor.
Bergman [0010] However, the effectiveness of UV surface disinfection is dependent on line-of-sight exposure of the micro-organisms to the UV source. Environments with obstacles that block the source are not as effective, and UV reflectance may be low and unreliable. In such an environment, such as a typical hospital room, effectiveness is then reliant on the placement of the source system so that line-of-sight is optimum for surface disinfection. The effectiveness of a surface disinfection unit (SDU) in such an environment depends on a number of factors, including the length of time a micro-organism is exposed to UV; power fluctuations of the UV source that impact the wavelength; the distance of the surface from the intensity source; the ambient temperature; the humidity of the air; the presence of particles in the air; the presence of dust and dirt on the lamp surface; the presence of particles that can protect the micro-organisms from UV; and a microorganism's ability to withstand UV during its exposure.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable under reference
combination A in view of Mackay (US 2018/0188712)
Reference combination A discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose wherein the occupancy data is derived from a CO2 sensor. associated with a monitored location. However, Mackay discloses:
Mackay TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 1 LDN Module Options 1. Vibration Sensors 2. Seismic P Wave Detectors 3. Earthquake Detectors 4. Sub Sonic Microphones 5. Sonic Microphones 6. Ultrasonic Microphones 7. Subsonic Transducers 8. Sonic Transducers 9. Ultrasonic Transducers 10. IR Cameras 11. Color Cameras 12. High Frame Rate HFR Cameras 13. High Dynamic Range HDR Cameras 14. UV Cameras 15. Multispectral Cameras 16. Hyperspectral Cameras 17. Colorimeter 18. Photoelasticity Imagers 19. Spectrophotometers 20. TOF Time Of Flight Imagers 21. LIDARs Light Intensity Distance And Ranging 22. Microwave Position Sensors 23. Microwave Gesture Sensors 24. Microwave Radiometer (MWR) 25. Ultrasonic Gesture Sensors 26. Cell Phone Transceivers 27. Wi-Fi Transceivers 28. Bluetooth Transceivers 29. GPS Global Positioning System Transceivers 30. AM Amplitude Modulation Transceivers 31. FM Frequency Modulation Transceivers 32. LF Low Frequency Transceivers 33. VHF Very High Frequency Transceivers 34. UHF Ultra High Frequency Transceivers 35. Microwave Transceivers 36. Fractal Antennas 37. Pixel Addressable Antennas 38. Reconfigurable Antennas 39. UWB Ultra-Wide Band Transceivers 40. UWB Position Measurement Systems 41. Lightning Detectors 42. Voltage Sensors 43. Current Sensors 44. Magnetic Sensors 45. EMI Electro Magnetic Interference Detectors 46. RFI Radio Frequency Interference Detectors 47. Free Space Optics 48. Li-Fi Transceivers 49. LED Light Engines 50. Color Temp Controlled LED Light Engines 51. UV Ultraviolet LED Light Engines 52. RGB Red Green Blue LED Light Engines 53. Color Specific LED Light Engines 54. IR Infrared LED Light Engines 55. Laser Light Engines 56. Photodetectors 57. Actinometers 58. ESD Protection 59. Electrical Energy Harvesters 60. Alarm Sensors 61. Motion Detectors 62. Glass Break Detectors 63. Shock Detectors 64. Occupancy Sensors 65. Proximity Sensors 66. Altimeters 67. Barometric Pressure Sensors 68. Gravimeter 69. Attitude Indicators 70. Flux Gate Compasses 71. Accelerometers 72. Inertial Sensors 73. Inertial Reference Unit 74. Level Sensor 75. MEMS Gyroscopes 76. Touch Sensors 77. RFID Tags 78. RFID Tag Readers 79. Flame Detectors 80. Smoke Detectors 81. Fire Detectors 82. Carbon Monoxide Detectors 83. Radon Detectors 84. Ionizing Radiation Detectors 85. Radiation Detectors 86. Neutron Detectors 87. Ion Detectors 88. Pellistor Sensors 89. Electronic Noses 90. Olfactometer Sensor 91. pH Sensors 92. Light Addressable Potentiometric Sensor (LAPS) 93. Photoionization Detector PID 94. Air Pollution Sensors 95. Chemical Sensors 96. Optrode Sensors 97. Hydrogen Sensor 98. Hydrogen Sulfide Sensor 99. Sulfur Dioxide Sensors 100. Nitrous Oxide Sensors 101. Nitrogen Sensor 102. Nitrogen Oxide Sensor 103. Oxygen Sensors 104. Ozone Sensors 105. Methane Sensors 106. Carbon Dioxide Sensors 107. Zinc Oxide Sensors 108. VOC Sensors 109. Biological Sensors 110. Pathogen Sensors 111. Fungi Sensors 112. Pollen Sensors 113. Asbestos Sensors 114. Fiberglass Sensors 115. Temperature Sensors 116. Humidity Sensors 117. Moisture Sensors 118. Dew Point Sensors 119. Water Sensors 120. Depth Gauge 121. Air Flow Sensors 122. Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF) 123. Air Velocity Sensors 124. Air Pressure Sensors 125. Airborne Particle Detectors 126. Metal Detectors 127. Strain Gages 128. Electrostatic Generators 129. Electrostatic Air Cleaners 130. UV Sterilizers 131. Oxygen Generators 132. Negative Ion Generators 133. Scenting Systems 134. Fragrance Dispensers
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify combination A to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Mackay for the purpose of providing hardware and software environment that creates a relevance based digital building intelligence system, see abstract.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference
combination A
Combination A discloses wherein if the pathogen spread score for a location of the plurality of locations does not meet a UV treatment trigger condition is not met, the control circuit is further configured to log the facility data associated with the that location for use in trend analysis or future threshold determination.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference
combination A
Reference combination A discloses herein the one or more operational parameters have values
that change proportionally with the severity represented by the respective pathogen spread score.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference
combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the UV treatment response for a first location having
a first pathogen spread score includes a first set of operational parameters, and the UV treatment
response for a second location having a second pathogen spread score greater than the first
pathogen spread score includes a second set of operational parameters different from the first set
of operational parameters.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference
combination B
Reference combination B discloses wherein the one or more operational parameters have
values that change proportionally with the severity represented by the respective pathogen spread
score.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference
combination B
Reference combination B discloses wherein the UV treatment response for a first location
having a first pathogen spread score includes a first set of operational parameters, and the UV
treatment response for a second location having a second pathogen spread score greater than the
first pathogen spread score includes a second set of operational parameters different from the first set of operational parameters.
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Response to Arguments
Applicant argues:
First, the cited references do not disclose generating or receiving facility data indicative of pathogen spread, as claimed. The Office Action relies on Bergman as allegedly disclosing the claimed sensors and facility data. Bergman, however, discloses disposable, removably adherable UV dosimeters that visually indicate whether the dosimeters received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. Bergman, Abstract. The dosimeters are evaluated "to determine which ones receive[] a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light" such that higher UV intensity can be applied to areas with insufficient dosage. Bergman, [0015]. It does not disclose generating facility data indicative of pathogen spread.
None of the other cited references pertain to sensor-generated facility data indicative of pathogen spread. Reshef pertains to "distributed UV sensing to produce improved accuracy of UV exposure measurement." Reshef, [0005]. Its sensors are "UV sensors" generating "UV measurements" and are used merely for crowd-sourcing to improve UV accuracy. Reshef, [0005]. It does not disclose generating facility data indicative of pathogen spread. Similarly, Klein pertains to determining whether a location has received sufficient UV energy. Klein, Abstract. Klein includes "sensors [that] may be used to measure the UV energy received" at that location. Klein, Abstract. Such sensor data is used to determine whether to reduce a UV source in the area. Klein, Abstract. It does not disclose generating facility data indicative of pathogen spread.
Page No. :12
Additionally, Alvarez pertains to an "occupancy detection system for a lavatory" that includes a "door sensor" and at least one "presence sensor" to "determine an occupancy status of the lavatory." Alvarez, 1:51-65. Such sensor data is used to determine occupancy status, and not to assess pathogen spread.
Finally, Bongartz pertains to a controlled agricultural system and uses plant and ambient-condition data to assess disease or pest conditions within a monitored target area. Bongartz explains that "data about the plants and, optionally, about the ambient conditions in the target area" are collected and that "a probability for the presence of a disease or the occurrence of pests" is determined for the target area. Bongartz, [0635]. Bongartz explains that its system monitors "plants in a target area" using plant and ambient-condition data "in the target area" to determine "the probability for the occurrence of a disease or pest infestation" in the target area. Bongartz, [0654]. Thus, Bongartz's sensor data concerns whether disease or pest infestation is present or may occur in the monitored plants within that target area-a fundamentally different inquiry from the claimed facility data indicative of pathogen spread. Bongartz asks whether a disease condition exists locally in the plants at a given area; the amended claims require facility data indicative of how pathogens may spread from one facility location to other facility locations. These are not interchangeable concepts. One assesses a static, local plant-health condition; the other assesses dynamic, inter-location transmission risk within a facility.
Second, none of the cited references disclose analyzing a combination of facility data associated with a respective location to determine a pathogen spread score for that location, where the score represents a probability of pathogen transmission from the respective location to at least one other of the plurality of locations within the facility. Reshef, Bergman, Klein, and Alvarez do not perform any pathogen-transmission analysis. Although Bongartz determines a
Page No. :13
disease-related probability, that probability concerns whether disease or pest infestation is present or may occur in the monitored plants within a single target area. It is inherently location-bound: Bongartz does not model how a condition at one monitored location could propagate to another monitored location. Bongartz does not identify one monitored location as a source, another monitored location as a potential destination, or a probability of pathogen transmission between those locations. Bongartz's probability of a local disease condition in monitored plants is not the claimed probability of pathogen transmission from one facility location to another.
Third, the cited references do not disclose determining, based on the respective pathogen spread score, a UV treatment response including operational parameters configured according to a severity represented by the score and identification of proximate UV treatment devices, or implementing that response by adjusting the identified devices according to the operational parameters. The independent claims require that the severity represented by the pathogen spread score drive how the operational parameters of the UV treatment response are configured. None of the cited references disclose any such relationship between a severity assessment and the configuration of operational parameters for a UV treatment response. Bergman and Klein adjust UV operation based on whether a local area received sufficient UV dosage-a binary pass/fail assessment in which severity plays no role in how UV operational parameters are configured. Alvarez activates UV treatment based on local occupancy or door conditions-discrete triggers unrelated to any severity assessment that would configure operational parameters. Bongartz, while disclosing determination of countermeasures based on a probability of disease or pest infestation, does not disclose using a pathogen spread score representing transmission from one location to another to configure UV operational parameters according to the severity represented by that score. In each case, the references respond to a detected condition without any
Page No. :14
mechanism by which the severity of that condition configures the operational parameters of the UV treatment response, as required by claims 1 and 11.
Accordingly, neither Combination A nor Combination B teaches or suggests generating or receiving sensor-generated facility data indicative of pathogen spread, determining for a respective facility location a pathogen spread score representing a probability of pathogen transmission from that location to at least one other facility location, and using the pathogen spread score to determine and implement a UV treatment response based on a severity represented by the score. Therefore, Applicant respectfully submits that independent claims 1 and 11 are neither taught nor suggested by any of the cited references, alone or in combination, and respectfully requests withdrawal of the Section 103 Rejections of those claims.
B. Dependent Claims 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21-24
As it pertains to dependent claims 2, 7, 12, and 17, the Office Action expressly acknowledges that the relied-upon combinations do not disclose the types of facility data recited in claims 2 and 12 or the environmental sensors described in claims 7 and 17. The Office Action rejects these limitations, however, as nonfunctional descriptive material, asserting that "[a] new and nonobvious functional relationship does not exist with the known method of UV treatment." Applicant respectfully disagrees. Even apart from the amendments to independent claims 1 and 11, the specific types of facility data and sensors recited in these dependent claims are not nonfunctional descriptive material. The type of facility data collected (e.g., temperature data versus humidity data versus air flow data) determines the inputs available for analysis by the control circuit, and thereby can materially affect how the control circuit analyzes facility conditions and controls the UV treatment devices. A system that collects temperature data operates differently from one that collects air flow data because the data inputs to the analysis and the resulting
Page No. :15
treatment responses are necessarily different. These are not arbitrary labels applied to otherwise identical data; they are physically distinct sensor inputs that constrain and direct system behavior. Furthermore, in the context of the amended claims, these dependent claims recite specific physical sensor types and specific types of facility data that are analyzed to determine a pathogen spread score, and the resulting score is used to determine and implement a UV treatment response. Thus, the recited facility data and sensors materially affect the pathogen spread score and resulting operation of the UV treatment devices. Accordingly, neither Combination A nor Combination B teaches or suggests amended claims 2, 7, 12, and 17, and Applicant submits that these rejections are overcome.
As it pertains to dependent claims 6 and 15, these claims further require that the facility data include a combination of temperature data and humidity data, that the pathogen spread score be based on deviations from expected values of the facility data for the respective location, and that the expected values be updated over time based on historical facility data associated with each location. In rejecting original claims 6 and 16, the Office Action expressly acknowledged that the relied-upon combinations do not disclose a combination of temperature data and humidity data and relied instead on Official Notice that temperature and humidity are "well-known in the industry." Applicant respectfully traverses this use of Official Notice. Although temperature and humidity measurements may be well known generally, the noticed fact is inapposite to what claims 6 and 15 actually require. Claims 6 and 15, as amended, do not merely require measuring temperature and humidity; they require that a combination of temperature data and humidity data be used as facility data indicative of pathogen spread, that a pathogen spread score be based on deviations from expected values of that facility data, and that such expected values be updated over time based on historical facility data associated with each location. The Office Action did not
Page No. : 16
take Official Notice that the use of temperature and humidity data as indicators of pathogen spread, the determination of pathogen spread scores based on deviations from expected values, or the updating of expected values over time based on historical facility data, are well known. Further, the Alvarez passage cited against original claims 5 and 15 merely considers door status, occupancy status, a number of prior lavatory uses, and elapsed time since a previous UV activation. Alvarez, 14:55-15:10. It does not disclose determining temperature data or humidity data as indicative of pathogen spread, determining a pathogen spread score based on deviations from expected values of such facility data for the respective location, or updating such expected values over time based on historical facility data associated with each location. Accordingly, neither Combination A nor Combination B teaches or suggests amended claims 6 and 15, and Applicant submits that these rejections are overcome.
As it pertains to dependent claims 16, 21, 22, 23, and 24, these claims further narrow how the severity represented by the pathogen spread score configures the operational parameters, as recited in independent claims 1 and 11. Claims 16 and 23 require the one or more operational parameters to have values that scale with, or change proportionally with, the degree of severity represented by the respective pathogen spread score-that is, the parameter values themselves vary as a function of severity. Claims 22 and 24 require that a first location having a first pathogen spread score receives a UV treatment response with a first set of operational parameters, while a second location having a greater pathogen spread score receives a UV treatment response with a different set of operational parameters-that is, the selection of which parameters are employed differs based on severity. These claims go beyond the requirement of the independent claims-which require only that operational parameters be configured according to severity-by expressly specifying the manner in which severity drives the configuration: either
Page No. : 17
through proportional value scaling (claims 16, 21, and 23) or through severity-dependent selection of different parameter sets (claims 22 and 24). The cited references do not teach or suggest any of these limitations. Bergman and Klein adjust UV operation based on whether a local area received sufficient UV dosage-a binary determination that involves neither parameter values scaling with severity nor selection of different parameter sets based on severity. Alvarez applies predetermined UV-treatment settings based on local occupancy or door conditions-a discrete trigger that neither scales parameter values nor selects different parameters based on any degree of severity. Bongartz merely determines whether or not to implement a countermeasure based on a probability of a local disease or pest condition, without disclosing parameter values that scale proportionally with severity or different parameter sets selected based on different severity levels. None of the cited references teach or suggest a system in which operational parameter values increase proportionally with severity or in which different sets of operational parameters are employed for different levels of severity of a pathogen spread score. Accordingly, neither Combination A nor Combination B teaches or suggests claims 16, 21, 22, 23, and 24, and Applicant submits that these rejections are overcome.
As it pertains to dependent claims 9 and 19, these claims, as amended, remove the recitation of a "presence detection system" and require that the occupancy data be derived from a C02 sensor associated with a monitored location. The Office Action previously relied on Alvarez as allegedly disclosing this limitation. However, Alvarez does not disclose a C02 sensor or deriving occupancy data from a C02 sensor. Further, although Bongartz describes measuring C02 concentration as an agricultural microclimate parameter, it does not derive occupancy data from that measurement. See Bongartz, [1376]. Thus, neither Combination A nor Combination B teaches or suggests amended claims 9 and 19, and Applicant submits that these rejections are overcome.
Page No. : 18
Additionally, dependent claims 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, and 19-24 depend from independent claim 1 or 11, and accordingly are patentable over Combination A and Combination B for the reasons described above in connection with claims 1 and 11.
C. Dependent Claims 3-4, 8, 10, 13-14, 18, 20
Dependent claims 3-4, 8, 10, 13-14, 18, and 20 depend from independent claim 1 or 11, and accordingly are patentable over Combination A and Combination B for the reasons described above in connection with claims 1 and 11.
Examiner Responds:
Examiner is not persuaded. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-4 and 6-24 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references.
Applicant states:
Examiner submits the rejection is proper. Consider below claim 1 language.
for each of the plurality of locations, analyze a combination of facility data associated with a respective location to determine a pathogen spread score for the respective location, the pathogen spread score representing a probability of pathogen transmission from the respective location to at least one other of the plurality of locations within the facility
Sperry col 10 lines 35-60 FIG. 4 shows a drop-down menu 401 that can be used to change the historical date range. For example, a user can select the drop-down menu 40 to change the display from a prior month of history to a prior three month of history. FIG. 5 shows the range changed to display the prior three months of history. Selecting any point 501 on the graph may display information specific to that date. A trend line 502 may be used as an indicator of the level at which action must be taken, in this case, four contaminated rooms. The probability of spreading infection is related to the amount of pathogen present and the number of locations that are contaminated. There may be a number of contaminated locations under which only a limited remediation effort is necessary for the probability to remain low. Anything above this line may require immediate and/or intensive effort to reduce the pathogen content. This number may be decided upon based on historical data and trends, as well as location or other factors. For example, an oncology unit may require a lower contamination tolerance than an outpatient unit since the oncology patients will tend to have compromised immune systems, making them more susceptible to infection. Along with this trend line, the graph may show the average, median, standard deviations or other desired information.
Sperry col 17 line 29 – 45, In some embodiments, it can be advantageous to the control system 18 to understand the human and/or equipment traffic entering and exiting a patient room or other location. This may be as simple as counting the total number of visitors to a monitored location using a commercially available proximity detector, camera or other device capable of recognizing that a person or piece of equipment has passed through a doorway. In this manner, the control system 18 is configured to correlate the presence of pathogens to the total quantity of staff and other visitors entering the space. This correlation may show that high traffic areas have a higher probability of pathogen contamination than low traffic areas. This information can be used to adapt collection quantities, locations and techniques. The control system 18 can utilize total traffic counts within a time period, or look at traffic vs. time of day to obtain and understand trends.
Sperry col 18 lines 26-29, In one arrangement, mathematical prediction methods can be developed and improved with practice of embodiments of the current innovation. As an example, the control system 18 configured to execute a discriminant analysis may be used to predict the probability of pathogen presence.
Sperry col 21 lines 24-45, The above scenario does not take into account additional factors. Current research shows that the probability of a patient becoming infected by contamination in a room appears to be related to the percentage of surfaces within that room that are contaminated. Additionally, the quantity of bacteria present on a contaminated surface contributes to the probability of the pathogen being spread. The more massive a bacteria colony is, the more likely it is to be contacted and to cause infection. The opportunity for the spread of contaminants increases with time as the patient, visitors and staff touch multiple surfaces, depositing and/or spreading pathogens, and pathogen colonies have time to grow. The length of time it takes for the contamination level to reach a point of high probability of transmission is variable and uncertain, but it may take days to weeks for the level to become critical. This makes the current innovation even more effective because pathogens may be found by an audit before having enough time to spread and grow, creating a high probability of infecting a patient. Even with a 3 day audit result, many pathogens will be found and remediated when their levels are low and not likely to cause infection.
Sperry claim 1, a discriminant analysis based upon the updated pathogen transmission factor to predict a probability of pathogen contamination at an environmental surface of a subsequent location of the facility; based upon the predicted probability of pathogen contamination at the environmental surface of the subsequent location of the facility, transmitting, by the control system, pathogen action information related to the subsequent location of the facility to the output device; and displaying, by the control system, a graphical representation of a map of the facility on the output device and identifying the location of the first location within the facility, the location of the subsequent location within the facility, and the predicted pathogen contamination at the environmental surface of the subsequent location by highlighting the location of the first location within the facility, highlighting the location of the subsequent location within the facility, and highlighting the predicted pathogen contamination at the environmental surface of the subsequent location on the graphical representation of the map of the facility.
Consider below claim 1 language.
for each of the plurality of locations, determine based on the respective pathogen spread score, a UV treatment response for the respective location, the UV treatment response including (i) operational parameters configured according to a severity represented by the respective pathogen spread score and (ii) identification of one or more UV treatment devices located proximate to the respective location for implementation of the UV treatment response
Bergman [0015] The present invention elegantly addresses all the above challenges and provides numerous additional benefits. In various example embodiments the solution discovered by the present inventor may comprise providing a plurality of relatively-inexpensive, disposable, removably-adherable UV dosimeters, and a system and method of using the same, comprising, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters distally around an area to be disinfected by UV light, applying UV light to the area in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS), and then evaluating the UV dosimeters to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light. If any of the UV dosimeters indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light was received, it is then indicated that more UV light needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS devices, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. Once a satisfactory result is obtained for all identified surfaces, the parameters of that UV treatment, including location(s) of UVAS device(s), duration of use, power level, etc., can be recorded so that subsequent UV sterilizations for a particular area can be carried out in an identical manner in the future, thereby providing assurance that subsequent UV sterilizations will sufficiently treat all areas of the room.
Bergman [0040] As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, example systems and methods may comprise, for example, removably adhering a plurality of the UV dosimeters 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, 200-4 distally around an area 450 to be disinfected by UV light 410 emanating from a UV light source 400, including in areas that appear unlikely to be in the direct line-of-sight of the UV light source 400 or that are farthest away from the UV light source 400 (e.g., UV dosimeter 200-1 in FIG. 4A), applying UV light 410 to the area 450 in a wavelength and dosage appropriate for sterilizing similar areas, for instance with one or more ultraviolet area sterilizers (UVAS) 400 (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,215,635; U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,369; U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,812; U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,252; U.S. Pat. No. 5446289; U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,075; all of which are incorporated herein by reference), and then evaluating the UV dose indicating regions 225 on the UV dosimeters 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, 200-4 to determine which ones received a sufficient sterilizing dosage of UV light 410, for instance by comparing each UV dose indicating region 225 to a corresponding comparison chart 227, which may or may not be connected with or form part of the UV dosimeter 200. If any of the UV dosimeters 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, 200-4 indicate that an insufficient dosage of UV light 410 was received, it is then indicated that more UV light 410 needs to be directed to the area where that or those UV dosimeter(s) were located. Changes can then be made to the location(s) of the UVAS device(s) 400, and/or their power levels or the duration of their use, and the above steps repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained at all UV dosimeter locations. For example, in FIG. 4A the UV light source 400 is positioned furthest from UV dosimeter 200-1. In the event the configuration in FIG. 4A failed to provide enough UV light 410 to UV dosimeter 200-1, the UV light source 400 could be moved closer to UV dosimeter 200-1 as shown in FIG. 4B and the test re-run with fresh UV dosimeters.
[0041] While simple geometry for space 450 is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B to clearly illustrate the concept of iterative
Bergman [0017] Example methods may further comprising the steps of: documenting the one or more respective locations of the one or more UV sterilizers that caused all of the two or more UV dosimeters used in a given sterilizing step to indicate exposure to light in the UV C band range at the predetermined fluence level. Methods may further comprise the steps of: sterilizing the area by positioning the one or more UV sterilizers in locations based on documentation created during the documenting step.
Bergman [0019] Example methods may further comprise the steps of: documenting the length of time that the one or more UV sterilizers emitted ultraviolet light substantially in the UV C band range that caused all of the two or more UV dosimeters used in a given sterilizing step to indicate exposure to light in the UV C band range at the predetermined fluence level. Methods may further comprise the steps of: sterilizing the area by causing the one or more UV sterilizers to emit ultraviolet light substantially in the UV C band range for a length of time determined based on documentation created during the documenting step.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ETIENNE PIERRE LEROUX whose telephone number is (571)272-4022. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Apu Mofiz can be reached at 571 272 4080. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ETIENNE P LEROUX/Primary Examiner of Art Unit 2161
