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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 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, 4 – 9, 12 – 16, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shimizu (JP2017063963 – in IDS).
Regarding claims 1, 8, 9, and 16, Shimizu discloses an estimation device, method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising: at least one memory storing a set of instructions (e.g. Fig. 16); and at least one processor (e.g. Fig. 16) configured to execute the set of instructions to: receive a transition of a heart rate of a target person in a state including a resting state and an active state, the transition of the heart rate being measured by a heart rate measurement device (e.g. ¶ 30 – 37, 45, 46); estimate a fatigue level of the target person based on an estimation model and the transition of the heart rate, the estimation model estimating the fatigue level based on the heart rate (e.g. ¶ 78 – 80); and output the fatigue level (e.g. Fig. 1, 6, and ¶ 45, 46).
Regarding claims 4, 5, 12, 13, 19, and 20, Shimizu discloses executing he instructions to: exercise intensity estimation means for estimating estimate an exercise intensity at an intensity estimation target time point based on the transition of the heart rate, wherein rate; and the output means further outputs output the exercise intensity as claimed (e.g. ¶ 65).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Shimizu executing the instructions to estimate a stabilization time in a case where the state of the target person transitions to the resting state at a stabilization time estimation target time point based on the transition of the measured heart rate, the stabilization time being a time from the stabilization time estimation target time point until the heart rate of the target person reaches the resting state (e.g. ¶ 78 – 80).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Shimizu discloses executing the instructions to notification means for performing perform a notification when the fatigue level indicates that fatigue is greater than a predetermined level (e.g. ¶ 30 – 37).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 10, 11, 17, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu in view of Wu (US PGPUB 2016/0317044 – in IDS).
Regarding claims 2, 3, 10, 11, 17, and 18, Shimizu discloses the claimed invention as previously described, but fails to explicitly recite estimating the fatigue level based on a measured maximum heart rate in the transition of the heart rate, the resting rate being a heart rate in the resting state.
Wu teaches it is known to estimate the fatigue level based on a measured maximum heart rate and a resting heart rate, the measured maximum heart rate being a maximum heart rate in the transition of the heart rate, the resting heart rate being a heart rate in the resting state, and wherein the estimation model estimates, based further on a heart rate at a fatigue level estimation target time point, the fatigue level at the fatigue level estimation target time point (e.g. ¶ 90, 91). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention as taught by Shimizu with the estimation model as taught by Wu, since such a modification would provide the predictable results of better estimate fatigue during different levels of exercise intensity.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH M DIETRICH whose telephone number is (571)270-1895. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00-5:00.
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/JOSEPH M DIETRICH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796