DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
This action is a non-final rejection
Claims 1-20 are pending
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 USC § 101
Claim 1-20 is rejected under 35 USC § 103
Priority
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s claim for a foreign priority date of 1-27-2023
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are not patent eligible because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Analysis
First, claims are directed to one or more of the following statutory categories: a process, a device, a manufacture, and a composition of matter. Regarding claims 1-20 the claims recite an abstract idea of exchange information about a patient among a plurality of health professionals.
Independent Claims 1, 15, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 101 based on the following analysis.
-Step 1 (Does the claim fall within a statutory category? YES): claims 1, 15, 20 recite respectively a system, a processing device, and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
-Step 2A Prong One (Does the claim fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas?: YES): The claimed invention:
receiving, from one of the terminals, a request of creating a group based on at least one of:
(i) first information identifying the patient to whom medicine is provided and
(ii) second information identifying a specialty of the medicine,
searching for a health professional satisfying the request among the health professionals,
creating, according to a result of the searching, a group of health professionals, the group including:
a health professional who operated, for the request, the one terminal from which the request is sent and
at least one health professional satisfying the request, wherein the health professional satisfying the request is at least one of:
a health professional in charge of the patient identified by the first information and
a health professional having the specialty identified by the second information, and
transmitting information about the patient inputted via a first terminal, among the terminals, operated by any one of the health professionals included in the group, to at least one second terminal, among the terminals, operated by another of the health professionals included in the group;
belonging to the grouping of mental processes under concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion) as it recites “exchange information about a patient among a plurality of health professionals”. Alternatively, the selected abstract idea belongs to the grouping of certain methods of organizing human activity under managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people as it recites “exchange information about a patient among a plurality of health professionals” (refer to MPP 2106.04(a)(2)). Accordingly this claim recites an abstract idea.
-Step 2A Prong Two (Are there additional elements in the claim that imposes a meaningful limit on the abstract idea? NO).
Claims 1, 15, 20 recite:
an information processing device;
a plurality of terminals operated by the health professionals, wherein the information processing device is configured to execute operations;
transmitting information inputted via a first terminal, among the terminals operated.. to at least one second terminal, among the terminals, operated ;
Claim 20 recites:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program;
Amounting to additional elements that are recited at a high-level of generality such that it amounts to no more than mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely use a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. (refer to MPEP 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, the claim as a whole does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
-Step 2B (Does the additional elements of the claim provide an inventive concept?: NO. As discussed previously with respect to Step 2A Prong Two:
Claims 1, 15, 20 recite:
an information processing device;
a plurality of terminals operated by the health professionals, wherein the information processing device is configured to execute operations;
transmitting information inputted via a first terminal, among the terminals operated.. to at least one second terminal, among the terminals, operated ;
Claim 20 recites:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program.
Amount to additional elements that are recited at a high-level of generality such that it amounts to no more than mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely use a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. (refer to MPEP 2106.05(f)) Accordingly, even in combination the additional elements of the claim do not provide an inventive concept (significantly more than the abstract idea) and hence the claim is ineligible.
Dependent Claims:
Step 2A Prong One: The following dependent claims recite additional limitations that further define the abstract idea of “exchange information about a patient among a plurality of health professionals”: claim 2-14, 16-19.
Step 2A Prong Two (Are there additional elements in the claim that imposes a meaningful limit on the abstract idea? NO). The following dependent claims 4, 6, 9-11, 18 recite mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely use a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. (refer to MPEP 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, the claims as a whole do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Step 2B (Does the additional elements of the claim provide an inventive concept?: NO). As discussed previously with respect to Step 2A Prong Two, the following dependent claims 4, 6, 9-11, 18 recite mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely use a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. (refer to MPEP 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, the claim does not provide an inventive concept (significantly more than the abstract idea) and hence the claim is ineligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or
non-obviousness.
Claims 1-10, 12-13, 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being un-patentable by Dare et.al (US 20240006058 A1) hereinafter “Dare” in view of Tse et.al. (US 20220359052 A1) hereinafter “Tse”
Regarding claims 1, 15, 20 Dare teaches:
an information processing device; and
a plurality of terminals operated by the health professionals, wherein the information processing device is configured to execute operations, the operations including:
receiving, from one of the terminals, a request of creating a group based on at least one of:
(i) first information identifying the patient to whom medicine is provided (Unique Patient Marketplace ) (See at least [0013] via: “...provides a portal for enrolling patients..”; in addition see at least [0020] via: “...create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care...”; in addition see at least [0044] via: “...... maintaining a patient-selected subset of the Network Marketplace Aggregator System to create a Unique Patient Marketplace and
(ii) second information identifying a specialty of the medicine (Unique Provider Marketplace ), (See at least [0013] via: “...provides a portal for enrolling medical providers, ancillary medical provider..”; in addition see at least [0020] via: “...create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care...”; in addition see at least [0045] via: “... helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ..”)
searching for a health professional (Provider Marketplace search function) satisfying the request among the health professionals, (See at least [0045] via: “... helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ..”; in addition see at least [0116] via: “... the Physician to create his own Unique Provider Marketplace using a Provider Marketplace search function and/or a Health Application Marketplace search function to identify and select entities for directing patient care. Provider Marketplace search available to enrolled Providers may include filter criteria including but not limited to Marketplace Provider license credentials, professional credentials, areas of expertise, and performance ratings. Physician-selected Provider Marketplace entities may be electronically messaged with an invitation to join the physician's Unique Provider Marketplace. Invited Provider Marketplace entities may receive a link to login to the Network Marketplace Aggregator System if the Physician or Service Provider is enrolled, or to create a new account if the Physician or Service Provider is not enrolled...” )
creating, according to a result of the searching, a group of health professionals, the group including:
a health professional (Doctor) who operated, for the request, the one terminal (uses PC to log into Unique Provider Marketplace) from which the request is sent (See at least [0065] via: “...Doctor uses PC to log into Unique Provider Marketplace..”) and
at least one health professional satisfying the request, wherein the health professional satisfying the request is at least one of:
a health professional in charge of the patient (Patient sees doctor) identified by the first information (See at least [0063] via: “...Case 1 (FIG. 2): Provider and patient use unique provider marketplace to manage the patient. The steps would typically include:...”; in addition see at least [0064] via: “...Patient sees doctor; doctor decides to send patient for medical services...”; in addition see at least [0065] via: “...Doctor uses PC to log into Unique Provider Marketplace...”; in addition see at least [0066] via: “...Doctor sends patient a link (access code) to Unique Provider Marketplace..”; ...”; in addition see at least [0067] via: “...Patient accesses link provided by doctor to the Unique Provider Marketplace via Aggregator API..”) and
a health professional having the specialty (primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers) identified by the second information, (See at least [0045] via: “... helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ..”)
However, Dare is silent the following limitation that is taught by Tse
transmitting information about the patient inputted via a first terminal (GP portal 1-22C (operated by the GP 1-30B) as the portal facilitating the generating of the draft treatment plan), among the terminals, operated by any one of the health professionals included in the group, to at least one second terminal (Specialist portal set 1-20A), among the terminals, operated by another of the health professionals included in the group (transmits the draft treatment plan to appropriate members of the care unit). (See at least [0047] via: “...The healthcare system 100 further comprises a plurality of portal sets 1-20A, 1-20B, 1-20C, 1-20D (collectively referred to as portal sets 1-20), which provide remote network access to the central server 1-10 and database 1-15. The portal sets 1-20 include, but are not limited to, Specialist portal set 1-20A, GP portal set 1-20B, Patient portal set 1-20C, and Professional portal set 1-20D. Each portal set 1-20 comprises one or more portals 1-22A, 1-22B, 1-22C, 1-22D, 1-22E, 1-22F, 1-22G, 1-22H (collectively referred to as portals 1-22) specific to the needs of the users of the portals 1-22. The portals 1-22 are accessible by the electronic devices 1-25 operated by users 1-30A, 1-30B, 1-30C, 1-30D (collectively referred to as users 1-30) of the healthcare system 100. In a preferred embodiment, the electronic devices 1-25 access the portals 1-22 via a dedicated application running on each electronic device 1-25. However, the portals 1-22 may also be accessed through a web browser running on each electronic device 1-25...”; in addition see at least [0128] via: “...It is to be understood that while the operation 300 is described with reference to the GP portal 1-22C (operated by the GP 1-30B) as the portal facilitating the generating of the draft treatment plan, the healthcare system 100 is not so limited. Rather, generation of the draft treatment plan is possible through any portal 1-22 that has been configured to permit such action, including for example the Specialist portal 1-22A, Specialist Nurse portal 1-22B and GP Nurse portal 1-22D, under the operation of the appropriate user of those portals 1-22..”; in addition see at least [0181] via: “...At S3-20, the control module 1-40 transmits the draft treatment plan to appropriate members of the care unit, typically at least the member who initiated the creation of the draft treatment plan (e.g. GP 1-30B, GP Nurse 1-30B, Specialist Nurse 1-30A), for a first review. Manual modifications to the draft treatment plan may also be made at S3-20 by these members of the care unit. Preferably, the draft treatment plan is transmitted to the portals 1-22 of each appropriate member of the care unit, and thereby made viewable and modifiable...”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare to incorporate the teachings of Tse. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records could be modified to include Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan. This combination would be beneficial in creating a final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers, each with a specific and different specialty and function.
Regarding claims 2 and 16 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claims 1 and 15 respectively. Dare also teaches:
wherein the health professional satisfying the request includes the health professional in charge of the patient identified by the first information and the health professional having the specialty identified by the second information. (See at least [0045] via: “... helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ..”)
Regarding claims 3 and 17 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claims 1&2 and 15&16 respectively. Dare also teaches:
wherein the request is based on the first information and the second information. (See at least [0045] via: “... helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ..”; in addition see at least [0063] via: “...Case 1 (FIG. 2): Provider and patient use unique provider marketplace to manage the patient. The steps would typically include:...”; in addition see at least [0064] via: “...Patient sees doctor; doctor decides to send patient for medical services...”; in addition see at least [0065] via: “...Doctor uses PC to log into Unique Provider Marketplace...”; in addition see at least [0066] via: “...Doctor sends patient a link (access code) to Unique Provider Marketplace..”; ...”; in addition see at least [0067] via: “...Patient accesses link provided by doctor to the Unique Provider Marketplace via Aggregator API..”)
Regarding claims 4 and 18 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claims 1 and 15 respectively. Dare also teaches:
wherein the information processing device is configured to store a database storing at least one of the first information and the second information in association with identification information identifying one of the health professionals, and the searching includes searching for the health professional satisfying the request from the database. (See at least [0021] via: “...a system for directing patient care electronically comprises: ..”; in addition see at least [0022] via: “... a server device hosting a marketplace aggregator system and a unified patient FHIR database that:..”; in addition see at least [0023] via: “...provides a portal for enrolling medical providers, ancillary medical providers and patients..”; in addition see at least [0028] via: “...allows a physician to compile a network of medical providers and medical services, including digital health and online services (Unique Provider Marketplace)..”; in addition see at least [0029] via: “... provides an API for a patient to access the Unique Provider Marketplace and the Health Application Marketplace;..”; in addition see at least [0062] via: “...Two patient-facing client devices are shown in FIG. 1; one client displays a Unique Provider Marketplace and the other client displays a Mobile Health Application Marketplace. Health applications (e.g., calm.com, betterhelp.com, MedMatch Network, etc.) are contained in a Health App Store as shown in the figure and may be downloaded to the client devices. Health care providers (upper left in FIG. 1), may enroll so that their information will become available for display in the Unique Provider Marketplace. The marketplace aggregator system interacts with automated scheduling systems to coordinate appointments, referrals, tests, and the like. The marketplace aggregator, using the unified patient FHIR database, integrates and updates EHR information as it is generated so that it may be accessed by patients and healthcare providers...”)
Regarding claims 5 and 19 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claims 1 and 15 respectively. Dare also teaches:
wherein the group includes a plurality of the health professionals in charge of the patient identified by the first information and/or a plurality of the health professionals having the specialty identified by the second information. (See at least [0045] via: “... helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ..”)
Regarding claim 6 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. Dare also teaches:
wherein the information processing device is configured to execute, for the patient, the receiving, the searching, and the creating multiple times with changing the specialty to create a plurality of the groups for the patient. (See at least [0021] via: “...a system for directing patient care electronically comprises: ..”; in addition see at least [0022] via: “... a server device hosting a marketplace aggregator system and a unified patient FHIR database that:..”; in addition see at least [0023] via: “...provides a portal for enrolling medical providers, ancillary medical providers and patients..”; in addition see at least [0028] via: “...allows a physician to compile a network of medical providers and medical services, including digital health and online services (Unique Provider Marketplace)..”; in addition see at least [0029] via: “... provides an API for a patient to access the Unique Provider Marketplace and the Health Application Marketplace;..”; in addition see at least [0062] via: “...Two patient-facing client devices are shown in FIG. 1; one client displays a Unique Provider Marketplace and the other client displays a Mobile Health Application Marketplace. Health applications (e.g., calm.com, betterhelp.com, MedMatch Network, etc.) are contained in a Health App Store as shown in the figure and may be downloaded to the client devices. Health care providers (upper left in FIG. 1), may enroll so that their information will become available for display in the Unique Provider Marketplace. The marketplace aggregator system interacts with automated scheduling systems to coordinate appointments, referrals, tests, and the like. The marketplace aggregator, using the unified patient FHIR database, integrates and updates EHR information as it is generated so that it may be accessed by patients and healthcare providers...”)
Regarding claim 7 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claims 1&6. Dare also teaches:
wherein the operations further comprise creating a second group of the health professionals, the group including all health professionals included in any one of the plurality of the groups. (See at least [0098] via: “...FIG. 6 presents an example of the Network Marketplace Aggregator architecture. The system comprises:..”l in addition see at least [0102] via: “...helping physicians to compile a Unique Provider Marketplace by selecting and connecting with other Network Providers and Ancillary Service Providers. This includes primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ancillary medical services providers, and online and remote monitoring services..”; in addition see at least [0105] via: “...The system may enable a Physician to receive an invitation to enroll in the Network Marketplace Aggregator System as an approved Network Provider. Once enrolled, the Marketplace Aggregator System will help the Provider to:..”; in addition see at least [0106] via: “... a) create a Network Provider profile consisting of professional credentials, licensing information areas of expertise or specialization; services offered, insurance participation, office hours, etc...”; in addition see at least [0107] via: “...b) create a Unique Provider Marketplace by selecting, inviting and establishing connection with other Network Providers and Ancillary Service Providers; and,..”; in addition see at least [0108] via: “... c) direct patient care electronically...”)
Regarding claim 8 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. Dare also teaches:
wherein the operations further comprise storing identification information identifying one of the health professionals and at least one of identification information identifying the patient and identification information identifying the specialty. (See at least [0042] via: “...a) iteratively building a Network Marketplace comprising a plurality of database records associated with a respective plurality of Provider entities, Patient entities, and Healthcare Vendor entities, wherein building the database includes, for each entity of the plurality of entities, data fields that identify and characterize each entity for creating a Unique Provider Marketplace, a Unique Patient Marketplace, and a Health Application Marketplace; in addition see at least [0043] via: “...b) maintaining a physician-selected subset of the Network Marketplace Aggregator System to create a Unique Provider Marketplace; in addition see at least [0044] via: “... c) maintaining a patient-selected subset of the Network Marketplace Aggregator System to create a Unique Patient Marketplace; in addition see at least [0045] via: “...d) helping the physician to compile his/her Unique Provider Marketplace of medical resources selected for use in management of patients by the physician, wherein the resources are selected from the group consisting of: primary/specialty/sub-specialty providers, ancillary medical services providers, laboratory testing facilities, radiology and imaging facilities, in-home and assisted living care, and online and remote monitoring services; in addition see at least [0046] via: “...e) helping the patient to compile his/her Unique Patient Marketplace of medical providers, services, and applications actively engaged with and used by the Patient; and, in addition see at least [0047] via: “... f) helping the Network Marketplace Aggregator System implementer in creating a Health Application Marketplace wherein native and non-native (third-party) applications can be developed and offered to patients at the patient's request or the request of a physician...”)
Regarding claim 9 Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. However, Dare is silent the following claim that is taught by Tse:
wherein the operations further comprise creating a report including the information about the patient transmitted from the first terminal to the second terminal. (See at least [0047] via: “...The healthcare system 100 further comprises a plurality of portal sets 1-20A, 1-20B, 1-20C, 1-20D (collectively referred to as portal sets 1-20), which provide remote network access to the central server 1-10 and database 1-15. The portal sets 1-20 include, but are not limited to, Specialist portal set 1-20A, GP portal set 1-20B, Patient portal set 1-20C, and Professional portal set 1-20D. Each portal set 1-20 comprises one or more portals 1-22A, 1-22B, 1-22C, 1-22D, 1-22E, 1-22F, 1-22G, 1-22H (collectively referred to as portals 1-22) specific to the needs of the users of the portals 1-22. The portals 1-22 are accessible by the electronic devices 1-25 operated by users 1-30A, 1-30B, 1-30C, 1-30D (collectively referred to as users 1-30) of the healthcare system 100. In a preferred embodiment, the electronic devices 1-25 access the portals 1-22 via a dedicated application running on each electronic device 1-25. However, the portals 1-22 may also be accessed through a web browser running on each electronic device 1-25...”; in addition see at least [0128] via: “...It is to be understood that while the operation 300 is described with reference to the GP portal 1-22C (operated by the GP 1-30B) as the portal facilitating the generating of the draft treatment plan, the healthcare system 100 is not so limited. Rather, generation of the draft treatment plan is possible through any portal 1-22 that has been configured to permit such action, including for example the Specialist portal 1-22A, Specialist Nurse portal 1-22B and GP Nurse portal 1-22D, under the operation of the appropriate user of those portals 1-22..”; in addition see at least [0181] via: “...At S3-20, the control module 1-40 transmits the draft treatment plan to appropriate members of the care unit, typically at least the member who initiated the creation of the draft treatment plan (e.g. GP 1-30B, GP Nurse 1-30B, Specialist Nurse 1-30A), for a first review. Manual modifications to the draft treatment plan may also be made at S3-20 by these members of the care unit. Preferably, the draft treatment plan is transmitted to the portals 1-22 of each appropriate member of the care unit, and thereby made viewable and modifiable...”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare to incorporate the teachings of Tse. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records could be modified to include Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan. This combination would be beneficial in creating a final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers, each with a specific and different specialty and function.
Regarding claim 10. Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. However, Dare is silent the following claim that is taught by Tse:
wherein the information about the patient transmitted from the first terminal to the second terminal is at least one of text data, image data, and movie data. (See at least [0128] via: “...It is to be understood that while the operation 300 is described with reference to the GP portal 1-22C (operated by the GP 1-30B) as the portal facilitating the generating of the draft treatment plan, the healthcare system 100 is not so limited. Rather, generation of the draft treatment plan is possible through any portal 1-22 that has been configured to permit such action, including for example the Specialist portal 1-22A, Specialist Nurse portal 1-22B and GP Nurse portal 1-22D, under the operation of the appropriate user of those portals 1-22..”; in addition see at least [0181] via: “...At S3-20, the control module 1-40 transmits the draft treatment plan to appropriate members of the care unit, typically at least the member who initiated the creation of the draft treatment plan (e.g. GP 1-30B, GP Nurse 1-30B, Specialist Nurse 1-30A), for a first review. Manual modifications to the draft treatment plan may also be made at S3-20 by these members of the care unit. Preferably, the draft treatment plan is transmitted to the portals 1-22 of each appropriate member of the care unit, and thereby made viewable and modifiable...”; in addition see at least [0034] via: “...FIG. 13A illustrates a Treatment Plan Template Listing page of the Specialist and GP portals..”) Examiner notes that the treatment plan in figure 13A comprises text data
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare to incorporate the teachings of Tse. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records could be modified to include Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan. This combination would be beneficial in creating a final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers, each with a specific and different specialty and function.
Regarding claim 12. Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. However, Dare is silent the following claim that is taught by Tse:
wherein the specialty is a specialty in nursing. (See at least [0049] via: “...Logically, the Specialist and Specialist Nurse comprise a Specialist Team, the GP and GP Nurse comprise a GP Team..”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare to incorporate the teachings of Tse. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records could be modified to include Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan. This combination would be beneficial in creating a final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers, each with a specific and different specialty and function.
Regarding claim 13. Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. However, Dare is silent the following claim that is taught by Tse:
wherein the specialty indicates a type of nursing, and the creating includes creating the group for the type indicated by the specialty. (See at least [0048] via: “... The users 1-30 of the healthcare system 100 include a Specialist Doctor and/or a Specialist Nurse 1-30A (hereinafter referred to respectively as the “Specialist” and the “Specialist Nurse”), a GP and/or GP Nurse 1-30B (hereinafter referred to respectively as the “GP” and “GP Nurse”), a Patient and/or Patient's Carer 1-30C, and other Healthcare Professional 1-30D (e.g. pathologist, radiologist, other Specialist Doctor, physiotherapist, laboratory technicians, allied health practitioners, and the like). Together, the users 1-30 comprise a care unit for the Patient 1-30C receiving healthcare via the healthcare system 100...”; in addition see at least [0049] via: “...Logically, the Specialist and Specialist Nurse comprise a Specialist Team, the GP and GP Nurse comprise a GP Team..”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare to incorporate the teachings of Tse. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records could be modified to include Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan. This combination would be beneficial in creating a final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers, each with a specific and different specialty and function.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being un-patentable by Dare in view of Tse; in view of Li et.al. (CN 112201336 A) hereinafter “Li”
Regarding claim 11. Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. However, Dare and Tse are silent the following claims that is taught by Li:
wherein the operations further comprise executing, according to a call request transmitted from the first terminal, a voice call or a video call between the first terminal and any one of the second terminal. (See at least [Page 5, paragraph 10] via: “...the first terminal and the second terminal establish connection, realizing the voice video call of the doctor and expert, realizing real-time remote consultation..”; in addition see at least [xxx] via: “...The first terminal and the second terminal of the invention are provided with a remote consultation APP, the first terminal and the second terminal establish a connection, realizing the voice video call of the doctor and expert, real-time remote consultation, improving the consultation flexibility, can select the consultation mode of one-to-one or one-to-many; it also can select synchronous online mode and asynchronous offline mode, using high speed of the 5 G data transmission technology, realizing the smooth and efficient connection between the expert and the operation doctor. (1) in the synchronous online mode, it can realize the real-time audio and video communication of the expert doctor and the operation doctor..”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare and Tse to incorporate the teachings of Li. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records in combination with Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan could be modified to include Li’s teaching regarding the capability of voice video call between doctors at different terminals treating a patient. This combination would be beneficial in creating a final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers, each with a specific and different specialty and function whereby the communication between remote doctors sitting at different terminals is possible via a voice video communication.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being un-patentable by Dare in view of Tse; in view of Kim et.al. (KR 20200037500 A) hereinafter “Kim”
Regarding claim 14. Dare and Tse teach the invention as claimed and detailed above with respect to claim 1. However, Dare and Tse are silent the following claims that is taught by Kim:
wherein the plurality of health professionals included in the group belong to medical institutions different from one another. (See at least [Page 5, paragraph 5] via: “...The doctor search unit 25 first uses a plurality of hospital members 3a from the doctor information data 123A, 123B, ... 123N stored in the doctor database 13 by using the disease name determined by the disease name determination unit 35 as a search expression. , 3b, ... 3n), the doctor information data 123A of the hospital 3a is searched. In addition, the doctor search unit 25 searches the doctor information data 123B of the hospital 3b from the doctor information data 123A, 123B, ... 123N stored in the doctor database 13 with the determined disease name, and then the doctor The search unit 25 reads the doctor information data 123N of the hospital clinic 3n whose disease name is the main treatment determined from the doctor information data 123A, 123B, ... 123N stored in the doctor database 13 as the determined disease name...”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Dare and Tse to incorporate the teachings of Li. Those in the art would have recognized that Dare’s teaching regarding a marketplace aggregator that: provides a portal for enrolling medical providers and patients; enables automated scheduling of appointments; helps physicians compile a network of medical providers and medical services; helps patients create a Unique Patient Marketplace for receiving medical care; and utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict optimal patient-provider matches based on training data from electronic health records in combination with Tse’s teaching regarding a first electronic device configured and operable to receive information about a patient and a second electronic device configured and operable to receive the draft treatment plan and review, revise, and/or authorize the draft treatment plan to produce a finalized treatment plan could be modified to include Kim’s teaching regarding a variety of doctors belonging to plurality of hospitals stored in a doctor database based on different disease specialties. This combination would be beneficial in creating an optimized final treatment plan for a patient after it has been revised and vetted by several health providers resident at a variety of health clinics that focus of different medical specialties.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure, and is listed in the attached form PTO-892 (Notice of References Cited). Unless expressly noted otherwise by the Examiner, all documents listed on form PTO-892 are cited in their entirety.
Funahashi (US 20040186745 A1)- Medical Network Sever And Medical Network System -teaches: A medical network server for receiving and transmitting information on electric medical charts from/to a plurality of medical institutions through a communication network. The medical network server includes: a patient information storage section storing thereon the information on the electric medical charts including medical records of a plurality of patients diagnosed by a physician at each of the plurality of medical institutions, and location information indicating location of each of the medical institutions or addresses of patients; an incidence rate computing section for computing incidence rate of a disease in each area based on the medical records and the location information of the plurality of patients; a spread area identification section for identifying a first area, where the disease spreads, based on the incidence rate computed by said incidence rate computing section; and a spread area forecast section for forecasting a second area, related to the first area with respect to the spread of the disease and in which the disease is supposed to spread in the future, based on a relationship between the first area and the second area. The incidence rate of a disease in each area can be computed, and the area where the disease will spread in the future is forecasted based on the electric medical charts.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PIERRE L MACCAGNO whose telephone number is (571)270-5408. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 to 5:00.
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/PIERRE L MACCAGNO/Examiner, Art Unit 3687
/MAMON OBEID/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3687
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