DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-15 and 18-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hauenstein (US 20170095181 A1).
Examiner notes: for brevity, economy, and clarity of reading, select of the claims may be addressed jointly herein when instances of limitations with verbatim or near-verbatim similarity are recited in the body of differently numbered claims and/or when multiple different limitations are clearly addressed by a same/similar citation to/within a reference.
For claim 1, Hauenstein teaches A biomechanics assessment system, [entire disclosure – see at least abstract] comprising:
at least one biomechanical sensing device, [110]
at least one intermediate device [module 130 or cloud system of ¶35 and ¶42] and a biomechanical data interpretation device; [120]
wherein the at least one biomechanical sensing device is communicatively connected to the biomechanical data interpretation device via the at least one intermediate device; [Fig. 1, ¶35, ¶42]
wherein the biomechanical sensing device comprises at least one three-axis inertial sensor for sensing the movement of the biomechanical sensing device and outputting the sensing data; [¶30]
an interface device for receiving user input for setting at least one format for output data of the biomechanical sensing device; [¶26, ¶¶36-37, ¶¶99-100]
a wireless communication device for establishing a communication channel with the at least one intermediate device for exchange of data; [¶26, ¶31]
and a power supply for supplying electric power to the sensor, the interface device and the wireless communication device: [¶34, ¶¶93-94]
wherein the intermediate device is a computer device equipped with a wireless communication function, to establish a communication channel with at least one of the plural biomechanical sensing devices for exchange of data and to establish a communication channel with the biomechanical data interpretation device to exchange data; [¶26, ¶31]
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation device is provided with a memory device for storing the biomechanical data generated by the at least one biomechanical sensing device; [¶26, ¶100]
and wherein the biomechanical data interpretation device is provided with at least one biomechanical data interpretation program, each being configured to perform at least one of the processing on the biomechanical data: marking a feature, marking reference information, including one of physical activity, type of action, sensor position, sensing time and stage of sensing/action; and to perform normalization on the biomechanical data [Figs. 5-6]
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation program is executed on the server computer, to identify a type of action for a biomechanical data file, [¶42, ¶100]
wherein the type to be identified comprises be at least three of the group consisted of the following types: standing still, raising a hand, raising a leg, raising a palm, swinging an arm, swinging a leg, straight punch, slashing a hand, rising block, back elbow bumps, front elbow hit, side elbow hit, round kick, back kick, forward, back, turn, bend, side bend, back bend, forwards roll and backwards roll. [¶¶79-86]
For claim 2, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation device is embedded in the intermediate device, in form of an application software. [¶34]
For claim 3, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation device is embedded in a server computer connected to the Internet in form of an application software. [¶34, ¶100]
For claim 4, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the biomechanical assessment system comprises a plurality of biomechanical sensing devices, a plurality of intermediate devices, and at least one biomechanical data interpretation device, [Figs. 2B-4]
wherein at least one of the plural biomechanical sensing devices is communicatively connected to the biomechanical data interpretation device via at least one of the plural intermediate devices, [Figs. 2B-4]
and wherein the biomechanical data interpretation device is installed in one server computer and is connected to the plurality of intermediate device via the Internet. [¶34, ¶42, ¶100]
For claim 5, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the intermediate device provides a setting interface, preferably a graphical setting interface, for the user to input setting parameters, and to send them to the biomechanical sensing device to change a parameter of the biomechanical data sensing device, including at least one format of output sensing data. [¶26, ¶34, ¶¶36-37, ¶100]
For claim 6, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 5,
wherein the biomechanical sensing device is configured to continuously output the sensing data via the wireless communication device in the at least one format for a predetermined time. [Fig. 8, ¶44, ¶¶54-55]
For claim 7, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 5,
wherein the biomechanical sensing device further comprises a memory device for storage of the sensing data of the inertial sensor, wherein the biomechanical sensing device is configured to continuously store the sensing data in the memory device in the at least one format for a predetermined time. [¶26, ¶100]
For claim 8, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 7,
further comprising a display device for retrieving one or more biomechanics data file from the memory device of the biomechanical data interpretation device according to a user's instruction, and displaying the requested information in the at least one format selected by the user. [Fig. 16, ¶26, ¶34, ¶¶36-37, ¶100]
For claim 9, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the biomechanical sensing device further comprises a gyroscope and/or a three-axis magnetometer. [¶30]
For claim 10, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the intermediate device is configured to supply or transmit the sensing data sent by the at least one biomechanical sensing device to the biomechanical data interpretation device. [¶95, ¶100]
For claim 11, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 1,
wherein the interface device of the biomechanical sensing device is built in the intermediate device. [Fig. 16, ¶26, ¶34, ¶¶36-37, ¶100]
For claim(s) 12-13, Hauenstein teaches
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation program is executed on the server computer, [¶42, ¶100]
to mark a feature on a biomechanical data file, wherein the feature to be marked comprises be at least one of the group consisted of the following features: a beginning and an end of a 7physical activity; a transition of a stage of the physical activity; a beginning, an end, and a transition of a type of a physical action; and generation of a movement trajectory. [¶¶22-24, ¶¶32-33]
For claim(s) 14-15, Hauenstein teaches
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation program is executed on the server computer, [¶42, ¶100]
to identify a type of physical activity for a biomechanical data file, wherein the type to be identified comprises be at least three of the group consisted of the following types: walking, running, jumping, dancing, biking, horse riding, skiing, skating, and skateboarding. [¶¶22-24, ¶¶32-33]
For claims 18-19, Hauenstein teaches
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation program is executed on the server computer, to mark a sensor position for a biomechanical data file, [¶42, ¶¶79-86, ¶100]
wherein the position to be marked comprises be at least four of the group consisted of the following positions: upper left arm, upper right arm, lower left arm, lower right arm, left palm, right palm, left thigh, right thigh, left calf, right calf, left foot, right foot, head, neck, chest, back, waist and buttocks. [Figs. 2A-G, ¶28]
For claim(s) 20-21, Hauenstein teaches
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation program is executed on the server computer, to sensing time for a biomechanical data file and/or to normalize the sensing data of a biomechanical data file. [¶39, ¶¶46-47]
For claim 22, Hauenstein teaches The biomechanics assessment system according to claim 4,
wherein the biomechanical data interpretation device is configured to mark at least one synchronization feature in one or more biomechanical data files, and mark a start and/or end time of display for each file, a transition frequency of displayed content, including a data transition frequency and a frame change frequency along the time axis, according to the synchronization feature. [¶¶54-60, ¶66, ¶99]
Response to Arguments
Applicant's 7/31/25 arguments with respect to the prior art have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues in remarks p. 7 that Hauenstein fails to teach identifying the types of actions in amended claim(s) 1. Examiner respectfully disagrees. The monitoring and analyses detailed by Hauenstein in at least ¶23 and ¶¶79-87 constitute(s), under BRI, at least some form of “identifying” activity as claimed. Further, Hauenstein specifically states in ¶39 that the method can be used to generate “detailed biomechanical characterizations” which further serves as a teaching of “identifying” the motions as claimed. ¶79 of Hauenstein details the ‘quantifying of kinematic properties’, ¶¶80-87 then detail a series of movement analyses which teach at least three of the group of claimed motion types.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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/BENJAMIN S MELHUS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791