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 .
Applicant’s Submission of a Response
Applicant’s submission of a response on 6/30/2026 has been received and considered. In the response, Applicant elected Group I (claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11) to be considered for examination. Therefore, claims 1, 3 – 5, 7, 9 and 11 will be examined below.
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.
Claims 1, 3 – 5, 7, 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito et al. (US Pub. No. 2017/0028283 A1).
As per claim 1, Ito et al. discloses a processing device (swing diagnosis apparatus, see Fig. 7 and [0067]–[0074]) comprising:
an operation circuit (processing section 21; see [0079]) configured to determine a swing start time (swing starting time point t_start; see [0096]) based on a first signal, the first signal being acquired from a sensor (sensor unit 10 including angular velocity sensor 14; see [0061]–[0063]) that is attached to a striking member (golf club 3; see Fig. 2 and [0057]–[0060]) for striking an object by being swung and that is configured to detect deformation of the striking member when the striking member is swung (sensor unit 10 attached to the shaft of golf club 3 outputs signals that reflect the motion of the shaft during the swing, including the shaft's deflection/deformation caused by centrifugal and inertial forces during the swing; see [0057]–[0058], [0086]–[0089]);
wherein an absolute value of a difference between a reference value and a value of the first signal is a first difference value (see Fig. 10 and [0088] – [0091], the combined value n(t) represents the magnitude of the angular velocity relative to a rest state reference of zero and therefore corresponds to the absolute value of the difference between a reference value and a value of the first signal); and
wherein the operation circuit is configured to:
determine an impact time based on one or more times at which the first difference value becomes greater than or equal to a first determination value (detecting an impact time point t_impact based on the combined value n(t) and its derivative dn(t) reaching predetermined magnitudes at the moment of impact; see Fig. 10 and 11 and [0122] – [0128]);
identify, in the first signal acquired in a time period before the impact time, a most recent period that is closest to the impact time from among one or more periods where the first difference value is less than a second determination value for a reference time period (the swing analysis portion 211 "sets an interval in which the combined value n(t) is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value before and after the top time point t_top, as a top interval"; see Fig. 10 and [0096] and [0122] – [0128], this "top interval" corresponds to the claimed most recent period, being the most recent period closest to the impact time in which the first difference value is less than a second determination value (the predetermined threshold) for a reference time period (the duration of the top interval)); and
identify the swing start time based on the most recent period (identifying the swing starting time point t_start based on the top interval, either as "a last time point at which the combined value n(t) is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value before a starting time point of the top interval" or, alternatively, as "a time point of the minimum point at which the combined value n(t) is close to 0 before the top time point t_top"; see Fig. 10 and [0096]).
As per claim 3, Ito et al. discloses identify the swing start time to be a time farthest from the impact time in the most recent period (see Fig. 10 and [0122] – [0132]).
As per claim 4, Ito et al. discloses the operation circuit is configured to not identify the most recent period when the first difference value is not less than the second determination value for the reference time period (algorithm defines the top interval as an interval in which the combined value n(t) is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, see Fig. 10 and [0122] – [0132]).
As per claim 5, Ito et al. discloses the striking member is a golf club, a bat, or a racket (see [0010])
As per claim 7, Ito et al. discloses a transmitter, wherein the processing device is attached to the striking member, and wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the swing start time to a second processing device different from the processing device (see Fig. 3 and 5 and [0070] – [0075]).
As per claim 9, Ito et al. discloses the processing is configured to delete the first signal acquired in the time period before the swing start time (acquiring measured data from the sensor unit 10 and storing the measured data in a storage section, and using only data corresponding to the swing period (from the swing starting time point onward) in the swing analysis, the swing analysis apparatus 30 may have a configuration in which some of the constituent elements are deleted or changed as appropriate, or may have a configuration in which other constituent elements, see [0195]).
As per claim 11, Ito et al. discloses determine the impact time to be a time at which the first difference value is the largest among one or more times at which the first difference value becomes greater than or equal to the first determination value (see [0125], [0139] and [0237]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANKIT B DOSHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7863. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri. ~9 - ~5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dmitry Suhol can be reached at 571-272-4430. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANKIT B DOSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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