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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/07/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
1 This action is in response to the amendment filed on 04/07/2026. Claims 1, 5, 8, 13, 15-17, and 19-20 have been amended. Claims 1-20 remain rejected.
Response to Arguments
2 Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 filed on 04/07/2026, with respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 has been considered and is no longer rejected under 101.
3 Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 19-20 filed on 04/07/2026, with respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 regarding that the prior art does not teach the following but not limited to “…the plurality of items including an item indicating an upward trend as the agricultural crop matures and an item indicating a downward trend as the agricultural crop matures…”. This argument has been considered, but are moot due to similar grounds of rejection further clarified in the 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejections below. For clarification, prior art from Imai could teach the following added limitations based of Figure 7. Although it may be true that Imai (and possibly other prior art used for claim 1) does not explicitly state an upward or downward trend in regards to their agriculture methods, the prior art still shares data for a graph for the crops with respect to the sugar content. The sugar content can be used for maturity and is important for crop growth, and the graphs contain a temporal change which can depend if the trend can go up or down depending on the values ([0021] reciting “As illustrated in FIG. 7, the image D1 displayed here includes a line graph or the like in which the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field is represented by a temporal change for each ID.”). In addition to the 103 rejection, claim 1 is also objected due to a possible minor informality.
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4 Regarding claims 2-18, they directly/indirectly depend on independent claim 1 respectively. Applicant does not argue anything other than independent claims 1 and 19-20. The limitations in those claims, in conjunction with combination, was mostly previously established as explained, with a few changes to match the rejections from the independent claims, including more clarifications surrounding prior art from Imai as mentioned below.
Claim Objections
5 Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Possible misspelling of “prediction” in the claims (“…and a value predicted by the predication unit…”). Appropriate correction is required. If this is not an informality, please explain the reasoning.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
7 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.
8 Claim(s) 1-3, 5-7, 11, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Imai et al. (JP 2016208931 A) in view of Iizuka et al. (JP 2013051887 A) and Hashizume et al. (JP 2019185773 A).
9 Regarding claim 1, Imai teaches Regarding claim 1, Imai teaches an information processing apparatus configured to display results of measurement for a plurality of items of different types from each other about an agricultural crop as a graph ([Abstract] reciting “To provide a component measuring device and a component measuring system of cultivated crops which are capable of collecting measurement data of a predetermined component amount of cultivated crops in an easily usable mode for data management…”; [0018] reciting “The sugar content measurement system 1 repeats the operation of FIG. 4 every time the sugar content of the cultivated crop F is measured. When the sugar content is measured a plurality of times for a plurality of cultivated crops F, data as shown in FIG. 5 is accumulated in the cloud server device 30. In the data of FIG. 5, date and time information and sugar content data are registered for a plurality of cultivated crops F having different IDs of "100", "200", and "300".”), the plurality of items including an item indicating an upward trend as the agricultural crop matures and an item indicating a downward trend as the agricultural crop matures ([0021] reciting “As illustrated in FIG. 7, the image D1 displayed here includes a line graph or the like in which the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field is represented by a temporal change for each ID.”; See Figure 7; See “Response to Arguments” above for clarification), the information processing apparatus comprising:
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a measurement information acquisition unit configured to acquire measurement information including an item for which the measurement is performed and a measured value obtained by the measurement ([0015] reciting “The control unit 15 performs control of associating the measurement result of the measurement block 11 with the ID acquired by the ID acquisition unit 12 and transmitting from the communication unit 13…”);
a reference information acquisition unit configured to acquire information about a reference value set for each of the plurality of items, as a value to be compared with the measured value that changes over time ([Abstract] reciting “…an identification information acquisition part which acquires identification information identifying cultivated crops in a farm field individually or by a group; a control part which transmits a component amount measured by the component sensor and identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition part in an associated manner.”; [0022] reciting “Further, according to the sugar content measurement system 1 of the first embodiment, it is possible to display a graph showing a temporal change of the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field for each cultivated crop.”);
and a display control unit configured to execute control for displaying a graph including a plurality of pieces of series data corresponding to the respective plurality of items ([0021] reciting “When the terminal 40B receives the information from the cloud 30, the terminal S12 processes the information into display information such as a graph indicating the sugar content for each ID (step LA). Then, the terminal 40B displays an image based on the display image on the display 46”) and having display coordinate values converted by the conversion unit,
10 Imai does not explicitly teach a condition acquisition unit configured to acquire a condition to be used to generate the graph identified by a user operation; a conversion unit configured to perform conversion of the measured value into a display coordinate value on a graph for each of the plurality of items based on the measurement information and the reference value, to make reference values set for the respective plurality of items agree with each other on the graph; a prediction unit configured to perform prediction about a change in a measured value obtained by measurement for each of the plurality of items by a trained neural network model; … and a value predicted by the predication unit … an index indicating the reference values for the plurality of items based on the condition.
11 Iizuka teaches a condition acquisition unit configured to acquire a condition to be used to generate the graph identified by a user operation ([0014] reciting “The auxiliary storage device 130 stores a planting information table 131, an evaluation value table 132, a work plan table 133, a work performance table 134, a field condition table 135, a similar planting table 136, a successful planting table 137, an interpolation data table 138, a similar growth status table 139, a manageable range table 140, and a predicted growth range table 141”; [0062] reciting “The effective cumulative temperature method and the DVR ( Developmental Rate ) method are used in the conventional crop growth prediction. However, these methods can predict growth only under one weather condition.”; [0101] reciting “In this case, the prediction result display unit 128 displays the prediction result graph display area 1701 for each prediction target crop.”; [0014] reciting “The input device 150 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse, and receives an instruction from a person (user) who operates the crop growth management apparatus 100.”);
… a prediction unit configured to perform prediction about a change in a measured value obtained by measurement for each of the plurality of items by a trained neural network model ([0105] reciting “In the work plan display area 1802, a work plan of the crop to be predicted is displayed. In this display, the prediction result display unit 128 displays data registered in the work plan table 133 (see FIG. 4). The user can edit (change) the work plan displayed in the work plan display area 1802 by operating the mouse or the like to reflect the edited (changed) content in the work plan table 133 (see FIG. 4). When the user edits (changes) the work plan, the crop growth management device 100 re-creates (step S1307 in FIG. 13) and displays the predicted growth range on the basis of the edited content.”);
… and a value predicted by the predication unit ([Abstract] reciting “…creates a result of predicting an evaluation value of a prediction evaluation index from the calculated field condition using a prediction model as a predicted growth range, and causes the prediction result display unit 128 to display the manageable range and / or the predicted growth range on the output device 160.”).… an index indicating the reference values for the plurality of items based on the condition ([0030] reciting “The similar crop is a crop in which the evaluation index, the harvest result, and the field condition are within predetermined ranges, and details thereof will be described later. In the similar crop table 136, a crop ID is stored in the crop ID column 1361. The crop ID in the crop ID column 1361 is a crop ID of a similar crop.”).
12 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai) to incorporate the teachings of Iizuka to provide a method that uses various conditions in order to generate a graph as suggested by Imai while also having user operations, having various prediction values for the grown crops, as well as to have a certain type of index based on the crops and conditions. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
13 Although Imai in view of Iizuka could teach a conversion unit configured to perform conversion of the measured value into a display coordinate value on a graph for each of the plurality of items based on the measurement information and the reference value, to make reference values set for the respective plurality of items agree with each other on the graph; and having display coordinate values converted by the conversion unit… (Imai; [See Fig. 7]; [0021] reciting “Then, the terminal 40B displays an image based on the display image on the display 46 (step S13).”); prior art from Hashizume can teach this limitation further.
14 Hashizume teaches a conversion unit configured to perform conversion of the measured value into a display coordinate value on a graph for each of the plurality of items based on the measurement information and the reference value, to make reference values set for the respective plurality of items agree with each other on the graph; … and having display coordinate values converted by the conversion unit ([0035] reciting “In the image processing by the image processing unit 42, for example, a projective transformation method is used to execute a transformation process of matching the coordinate points Ri of the field image H1 with the outer peripheral vertices Ui of the reference image B1. Specifically, in a case where the number of outer peripheral vertices Ui of the reference image B1 is five and the number of coordinates Ri of the outer peripheral vertices of the field image H1 is also five, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the image date of the field image R1, that is, the coordinates (positions) of the pixels are corrected, that is, the enlargement, reduction, inclination, and the like of the field image U2 are corrected, so that the coordinate R2 coincides with the outer peripheral vertex”; [0037] reciting “The image analysis unit 14 analyzes the analysis image, and calculates the vegetation index of the crop in the field from the analysis image. The image analysis unit 14 also displays a field map relating to the field obtained based on the vegetation index.”).
15 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka) to incorporate the teachings of Hashizume to provide a clearer way to convert various agricultural data from Imai into display coordinate values by creating a specific graph as shown by Imai in view of Iizuka. Doing so would allow the field image to be with respect to the reference image, and can store corrected field image as an analysis image as stated by Hashizume ([0036] recited).
16 Regarding claim 2, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above), wherein the measurement for the plurality of items includes measurement of at least one of an acid level or a sugar content (Imai; [0011] reciting “FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a sugar content measurement system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.”).
17 Regarding claim 3, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 2 (see claims 1-2 rejections above), wherein the measured value obtained by the measurement performed for each of the plurality of items about growing of the agricultural crop changes over time (Imai; [0021] reciting “As illustrated in FIG. 7, the image D1 displayed here includes a line graph or the like in which the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field is represented by a temporal change for each ID.”), and wherein the reference value is a target value set as a target with respect to the measured value of each of the plurality of items (Imai; [0025] reciting “FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an IC tag for identifying a measurement target is provided in the third embodiment. The sugar content measuring devices 10A and 10B of the third embodiment are examples in which the IC tags 51B are used to acquire the IDs of the cultivated crops F.”).
18 Regarding claim 5, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conversion unit performs the conversion by executing an operation varying depending on whether the measured value indicates the upward trend or the downward trend in the graph for each of the plurality of items (Imai; [0006] reciting “Preferably, the identification information acquisition unit may include an operation unit capable of manually inputting information, and the identification information may be input by the operation unit. According to this configuration, the identification information that can identify the cultivated crops in the field individually or for each group can be acquired by low-cost means.”; [0021] reciting “As illustrated in FIG. 7, the image D1 displayed here includes a line graph or the like in which the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field is represented by a temporal change for each ID.”; See Figure 7; See “Response to Arguments” above for clarification).
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19 Regarding claim 6, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above), wherein the measurement information acquisition unit stores the measurement information including the item for which the measurement is performed and the measured value obtained by the measurement in a storage unit (Imai; [0011] reciting “FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an operation during the measurement process of the sugar content measurement system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a data chart showing an example of data stored in the cloud server device according to the first embodiment.”; [0016] reciting “The cloud servers 30 receive data from the network control unit 20 via the Internet IN, store the received data, and transmit the stored data to the terminals 40A and 40B in response to a request. The cloud server device 30 includes a communication unit 31, a storage unit 32, and a control unit 33.”), for measurement performed one or more times for any of the plurality of items, each time the measurement information is acquired, and wherein the conversion unit performs the conversion by executing a common operation on one or more measured values for the same item of the measurement information stored in the storage unit (Imai; [0014] reciting “The ID acquisition unit 12 acquires an ID (identification information) 51 that can identify the cultivated crops F created at a plurality of locations in the field for each cultivated crop F or for each group of cultivated crops F. The group of cultivated crops F may be arbitrarily set to, for example, cultivated crops F created in the same area of a field, cultivated crops F created from the same seedling, or the like.”).
20 Regarding claim 7, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above), wherein the measurement information further includes information about a date and time when the measurement is performed (Imai; [0015] reciting “The date and time information may be added by the sugar content measuring device 10A, the 10B, or the cloud sever device 30.”), and wherein the graph is in a form indicating a change over time in a result of measurement repeatedly performed for each of the plurality of items about the agricultural crop (Imai; [0022] reciting “Further, according to the sugar content measurement system 1 of the first embodiment, it is possible to display a graph showing a temporal change of the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field for each cultivated crop. Therefore, this display enables a temporal analysis of the sugar content of the cultivated crop in the field.”).
21 Regarding claim 11, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above), wherein the display control unit executes control for displaying the measured value before the conversion on the graph in response to the user operation specifying any of the measured values after the conversion plotted on the graph (Imai; [0017] reciting “First, immediately before the sugar content is measured, the sugar content measuring device 10A acquires the ID of the cultivated crop F to be measured (step S1). A specific method of acquiring the ID will be described later. The ID may be acquired during or after the measurement.”; [0015] reciting “The display unit 14 displays, for example, the ID at the time of acquiring the ID, the measured sugar content, and the operation states of the sugar content measuring apparatuses 10A and 10B.”).
22 Regarding claim 17, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above),
23 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the condition acquisition unit configured to acquire a condition including a temporal range of measurement information to be used to generate the graph identified by the user operation, wherein the conversion unit performs the conversion of one or more measured values identified based on the condition of the measurement information stored in a storage unit ([0014] reciting “The auxiliary storage device 130 stores a planting information table 131, an evaluation value table 132, a work plan table 133, a work performance table 134, a field condition table 135, a similar planting table 136, a successful planting table 137, an interpolation data table 138, a similar growth status table 139, a manageable range table 140, and a predicted growth range table 141”; [0101] reciting “In this case, the prediction result display unit 128 displays the prediction result graph display area 1701 for each prediction target crop.”).
24 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide the specific conditions to include a type of range to be used for the graphs, as well as the conversion process to be stored in a storage unit utilizing the crop data provided by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
25 Regarding claim 18, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above),
and wherein the display control unit executes control for displaying a graph including a plurality of pieces of series data corresponding to the respective plurality of items (Imai; [0021] reciting “When the terminal 40B receives the information from the cloud 30, the terminal S12 processes the information into display information such as a graph indicating the sugar content for each ID (step LA). Then, the terminal 40B displays an image based on the display image on the display 46”)
26 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the reference information acquisition unit further acquires information about a tolerance set for each of the plurality of items ([0035] reciting “In the manageable range table 140, the horizontal axis evaluation value is stored in a horizontal axis evaluation value column 1401, the maximum value of the vertical axis evaluation value is stored in a vertical axis maximum evaluation value column 1402, and the minimum value of the vertical axis evaluation value is stored in a vertical axis minimum evaluation value column 1403.”; [0050] reciting “In step S1401, the manageable range calculation unit 126 sets an interpolation method and an interpolation interval. Specifically, the manageable range calculation unit 126 receives an interpolation method input via the input device 150. As the interpolation method, a known method such as spline interpolation or linear interpolation may be used.”; [0104] reciting “In addition, a manageable range is displayed in the prediction result graph display area 1701. This manageable range indicates data registered in the manageable range table 140 (see FIG. 11) by the manageable range calculation processing (see FIG. 14).”)…
27 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a specific type of tolerance set for the items, which the sat is a range of certain items, utilizing the crop data provided by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
28 Hashizume from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically … wherein the conversion unit performs the conversion of the measured value into the display coordinate value on the graph for each of the plurality of items based on the measurement information, the reference value, and the information about the tolerance to make the reference values and tolerances set for the respective plurality of items agree with each other on the graph ([0035] reciting “In the image processing by the image processing unit 42, for example, a projective transformation method is used to execute a transformation process of matching the coordinate points Ri of the field image H1 with the outer peripheral vertices Ui of the reference image B1. Specifically, in a case where the number of outer peripheral vertices Ui of the reference image B1 is five and the number of coordinates Ri of the outer peripheral vertices of the field image H1 is also five, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the image date of the field image R1, that is, the coordinates (positions) of the pixels are corrected, that is, the enlargement, reduction, inclination, and the like of the field image U2 are corrected, so that the coordinate R2 coincides with the outer peripheral vertex.”; See rejection from Iizuka relating to “tolerances”),
… and having the display coordinate values converted by the conversion unit, and an index indicating the reference values and the tolerances for the plurality of items ([0037] reciting “The image analysis unit 14 analyzes the analysis image, and calculates the vegetation index of the crop in the field from the analysis image. The image analysis unit 14 also displays a field map relating to the field obtained based on the vegetation index.”; Note see rejection from Iizuka relating to “tolerances” above).
29 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume) to incorporate additional teachings of Hashizume to provide a type of conversion process of the measured values including multiple properties like the measurement information, reference value and others, as well as providing a type of graph containing information regarding the series data provided by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume. Doing so would allow the field image to be with respect to the reference image, and can store corrected field image as an analysis image as stated by Hashizume ([0036] recited).
30 Claims 19 and 20 has similar limitations as of claim 1, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1.
31 Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Imai et al (JP 2016208931 A) in view of Iizuka et al. (JP 2013051887 A) and Hashizume et al. (JP 2019185773 A) as of claims 1-2, further in view of Uejima et al (US 20190387223 A1).
32 Regarding claim 4, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 3 (see claims 1-3 rejections above), and although they may teach wherein the target value is a value the measured value is expected to approach or reach over time (Imai; [0022] reciting “FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a label for identifying a measurement target is provided in the second embodiment.”), prior art from Uejima can teach this limitation further.
33 Uejima teaches wherein the target value is a value the measured value is expected to approach or reach over time ([0084] reciting “It is assumed that a state ω1 of the first clock time t1 (this is an observation state since it is an actually observed state) has been obtained based on the first sensor information. Also, a targeted state value is referred to as a target value, a predicted state value is referred to as a prediction value, an observed state value is referred to as an observation value, and an expected state value is referred to as an expectation value.”).
34 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume) to incorporate the teachings of Uejima to provide a clearer way to provide the target values that are suggested by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume to be a value to reach over time. Doing so would allow the predictions to be close to the target value as stated by Uejima ([0009] recited).
35 Claim(s) 8-10 and 12-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Imai et al (JP 2016208931 A) in view of Iizuka et al. (JP 2013051887 A) and Hashizume et al. (JP 2019185773 A) as of claims 1 and 7, further in view of Nakai et al (JP 2019062813 A).
36 Regarding claim 8, Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 7 (see claims 1 and 7 rejections above), and although Iizuka could teach wherein a horizontal axis of the graph is a temporal axis indicating the change over time in the result of the measurement repeatedly performed for each of the plurality of items about the agricultural crop and wherein the conversion unit performs the conversion to make the reference values set for the respective plurality of items agree with each other on a vertical axis of the graph (Iizuka; [0042] reciting “The horizontal axis evaluation index and the vertical axis evaluation index are evaluation indices (prediction evaluation indices) to be focused on when the growth state of the crop is predicted. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that "the number of elapsed days" is designated as the horizontal axis evaluation index and "the plant height" is designated as the vertical axis evaluation index.”), prior art from Nakai can teach this limitation further.
37 Nakai teaches wherein a horizontal axis of the graph is a temporal axis indicating the change over time in the result of the measurement repeatedly performed for each of the plurality of items about the agricultural crop, and wherein the conversion unit performs the conversion to make the reference values set for the respective plurality of items agree with each other on a vertical axis of the graph ([0052] reciting “The display unit 5 is, for example, a liquid crystal monitor. The display unit 5 displays, for example, the liquid absorption rate of the crop X as a graph. Specifically, the display unit 5 displays a graph in which the horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents the liquid absorption amount of the crop X (the decrease amount of the culture solution Z stored in the pair of storage tanks 15). As a result, the viewer can easily confirm the change over time in the liquid absorption rate of the crop X by viewing this graph, and can grasp the health condition of the crop X from the change in the liquid supply rate.”).
38 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume) to incorporate the teachings of Nakai to clearly provide a horizontal axis into a temporal axis using the graphs suggested by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume that can indicate time in relation to the agriculture data while converting as taught by Imai in view of Iizuka and Hashizume. Doing so would allow the user to easily view and confirm the change over time as stated by Nakai ([0052] recited).
39 Regarding claim 9, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 8 (see claims 1 and 7-8 rejections above), .
40 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the display control unit executes control for displaying an axis representing a range of measured values before being converted by the conversion unit of each of the plurality of items at a position corresponding to the axis of the graph ([0102] reciting “Further, in the prediction result graph display area 1701, the evaluation value of the prediction target crop is plotted and displayed. In this display, the prediction result display unit 128 plots and displays the evaluation values of the horizontal axis evaluation index and the vertical axis evaluation index registered in the evaluation value table 132 (see FIG. 3) and the data registered in the predicted growth range table 141 (see FIG. 12).”).
41 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a type of display for the axis of the measured values before conversion, utilizing the axis methods provided by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
42 Regarding claim 10, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 9 (see claims 1 and 7-9 rejections above),
43 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the display control unit executes control for displaying the axis representing the range of the measured values before being converted by the conversion unit of each of the plurality of items to be switchable in response to the user operation ([0102] reciting “Further, in the prediction result graph display area 1701, the evaluation value of the prediction target crop is plotted and displayed. In this display, the prediction result display unit 128 plots and displays the evaluation values of the horizontal axis evaluation index and the vertical axis evaluation index registered in the evaluation value table 132 (see FIG. 3) and the data registered in the predicted growth range table 141 (see FIG. 12).”; [0105] reciting “The user can edit (change) the work plan displayed in the work plan display area 1802 by operating the mouse or the like to reflect the edited (changed) content in the work plan table 133 (see FIG. 4). When the user edits (changes) the work plan, the crop growth management device 100 re-creates (step S1307 in FIG. 13) and displays the predicted growth range on the basis of the edited content.”).
44 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a type of display for the axis of the measured values before conversion, as well as to be switchable based on the operations, utilizing the axis methods provided by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
45 Regarding claim 12, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai teach the information processing apparatus according to claim 8 (see claims 1 and 7-8 rejections above),
46 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the display control unit further visualizes a date freely input by the user on the temporal axis of the graph ([0040] reciting “Specifically, the producer of the crop inputs a crop ID, a measurement date, and an evaluation value, and the evaluation value input unit 121 registers the measurement date, the number of elapsed days, and the evaluation value in association with the input crop ID.”; [0079] reciting “The predicted value of the horizontal axis evaluation index is calculated as follows.”).
47 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a method that can visualize a date produced by the producer, utilizing the temporal axis data and crop data provided by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
48 Regarding claim 13, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 8 (see claims 1 and 7-8 rejections above),
49 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein each of the plurality of items is an item for which a period for performing the measurement is set beforehand, and wherein the display control unit displays the temporal axis of the graph to include at least a specific date of the set period. ([0034] reciting “In the similar growth status table 139, in association with the crop ID stored in the crop ID column 1391, the date of measurement is stored in the date column 1392, the evaluation value of the evaluation index designated as the horizontal axis (horizontal axis evaluation value) is stored in the horizontal axis evaluation value column 1393, and the evaluation value of the evaluation index designated as the vertical axis (vertical axis evaluation value) is stored in the vertical axis evaluation value column 1394.”).
50 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a method where the measurements is set beforehand, and to display a type of axis including a date, utilizing the measurement data and axis data provided by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
51 Regarding claim 14, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 13 (see claims 1, 7-8 and 13 rejections above),
52 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the specific date of the set period is a date expected to be a last day of the period ([0043] reciting “Specifically, the prediction information setting unit 123 receives inputs of the crop ID, the prediction start date, and the prediction end date of the prediction target crop via the input device 150, and sets the inputs as the prediction information.”).
53 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a type of end date of a period, utilizing the obtainment of date methods provided by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
54 Regarding claim 15, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 13 (see claims 1, 7, and 13 rejections above),
55 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the display control unit displays the value predicted by the prediction unit on the graph, as a measured value in a period from a date of a latest measured value among measured values after the conversion plotted on the graph to the specific date ([0107] reciting “In the weather information display area 1804, for each crop displayed in the prediction result graph display area 1801, weather information for each number of days from the start of the crop is displayed. In this display, the prediction result display unit 128 … In a case where there is past performance data, the performance data is displayed as the weather information. On the other hand, when there is no past result data, that is, in the prediction period, the weather forecast of the corresponding date is displayed.”).
56 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide a display of the prediction value and unit from a specific date with specific measurements, utilizing the display and prediction methods taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
57 Regarding claim 16, Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai teaches the information processing apparatus according to claim 15 (see claims 1, 7-8, 13, and 15 rejections above),
58 Iizuka from claim 1 can further teach the limitations, specifically wherein the prediction unit performs the prediction by the trained neural network model trained using a past measured value of each of the measurement items as training data. ([0062] reciting “First, the predicted growth range creation process using the prediction model will be described with reference to FIG. 15. The effective cumulative temperature method and the DVR (Developmental Rate) method are used in the conventional crop growth prediction.”; [0086] reciting “In such a case, it is possible to predict a future growth state by referring to what kind of growth progress has been followed from a past growth state similar to the current state in the field of the user.”).
59 It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method (taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai) to incorporate additional teachings of Iizuka to provide training data for the specific training model (which can be a broad term and can apply to neural network models) utilizing a past measure value, utilizing the measurement data and prediction models taught by Imai in view of Iizuka, Hashizume, and Nakai. Doing so would allow the user to easily compare the prediction results, easily review the work plan, and easily manage the work plans of a plurality of fields simultaneously as stated by Iizuka ([0101] recited).
Conclusion
60 The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Vennelakanti et al. (US 20190213764 A1) teaches an upward and downward type of trend for graphs.
Hsu et al. (US 20120191627 A1) teaches an upward and downward type of trend for graphs, specifically could be a part of agriculture.
61 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHNNY TRAN LE whose telephone number is (571)272-5680. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu: 7:30am-5pm; First Fridays Off; Second Fridays: 7:30am-4pm.
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/JOHNNY T LE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2614
/KENT W CHANG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2614
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