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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority to 30 June 2021 under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d).
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-9 were previously pending in this application. The amendment filed 02 July 2026 has been entered and the following has occurred: No claims have been amended. Claims 1-9 have been cancelled. Claims 10-19 have been added.
Claims 10-19 remain pending in the application
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 10-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
The claims recite subject matter within a statutory category as a process (claim 19) and machine (claims 10-18) (Subject Matter Eligibility (SME) Test Step 1: Yes) which recite steps of:
execute a health management application configured to display a food-consumption-log input screen including a dish display region and a search input field;
store a recipe browsing history indicating one or more cooking recipes viewed by a corresponding user through the health management application;
when the food-consumption-log input screen is displayed:
obtain a dish list including a plurality of dishes;
display, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field;
receive a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list;
generate food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object; and
transmit the food consumption information to the server,
wherein the server comprises one or more server memories and at least one server processor coupled to at least one of the one or more server memories and configured to:
receive the food consumption information from the portable terminals;
evaluate a stage of behavior change of each of the plurality of users based on the food consumption information;
classify the plurality of users into a plurality of groups according to the evaluated stages of behavior change, the plurality of groups including a first group and a second group evaluated at a higher stage of behavior change than the first group;
identify one or more transition users among the plurality of users, each of the one or more transition users having transitioned from the first group to the second group;
extract, from food consumption information of the one or more transition users, a second behavior that is a food-consumption-related behavior associated with transition from the first group to the second group; and
transmit behavior information indicating the second behavior to the portable terminal of each of one or more target users currently belonging to the first group,
wherein the at least one terminal processor of the portable terminal of each of the one or more target users is further configured to display, through the health management application, presentation information indicating the second behavior.
These steps of obtaining a dish list including a plurality of dishes, displaying, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field; receive a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list; generate food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object; and transmit the food consumption information to the server, wherein the server comprises one or more server memories and at least one server processor coupled to at least one of the one or more server memories and configured to: receive the food consumption information from the portable terminals; evaluate a stage of behavior change of each of the plurality of users based on the food consumption information, classify the plurality of users into a plurality of groups according to the evaluated stages of behavior change, the plurality of groups including a first group and a second group evaluated at a higher stage of behavior change than the first group, identify one or more transition users among the plurality of users, each of the one or more transition users having transitioned from the first group to the second group through the health management application, transmit behavior information indicating the second behavior to the portable terminal of each of one or more target users currently belonging to the first group, and display presentation information indicating the second behavior, as drafted, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, includes methods of organizing human activity (MOHA). MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(II) describes various MOHA, including concepts relating to fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk); commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations); and/or managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people, (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions). The steps identified above are substantially rooted in the concept of user behaviors, either affecting or mitigating certain user behaviors of those users, and recommending one or more tasks or behavior changes for achieving said effect or mitigation of user behaviors, especially regarding choices of dietary or food consumption. Therefore, these steps heavily relate to managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people, (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) in order to mitigate or change user behaviors in one or more plurality of users, such as based on one or more food consumption information of said user. As such, the users that are having their typical behaviors or relationships or interactions being managed and/or optimized by the performance of the steps recited by the computer system. Therefore, under broadest reasonable interpretation, the steps recited fall within the MOHA grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Dependent claims recite additional subject matter which further narrows or defines the abstract idea embodied in the claims (such as claims 11-17, reciting particular aspects of how behavior observation, behavior recommendation, and/or determination of behavior patterns may be performed in the mind but for recitation of generic computer components) (SME Test Step 2A, Prong 1: Yes).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, other than the abstract idea per se, because the additional elements amount to no more than limitations which:
amount to mere instructions to apply an exception (such as recitation of a terminal processor, a portable terminal, a server, one or more memories, one or more processors, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, and a computer amounts to invoking computers as a tool to perform the abstract idea, see Applicant’s Spec [0069] for a server/terminal processor; Spec [0109]-[0110] for a portable terminal; Spec [0069] for a server; Spec [0116] for one or more memories; Spec [0206] for one or more processors; Spec [0114] for an input screen; Spec [0008] & [0064] for a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium; Spec [0064] for a computer; see MPEP 2106.05(f));
add insignificant extra-solution activity to the abstract idea (such as recitation of obtaining a dish list including a plurality of dishes, receiving a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list, receive a touch selection of one dish object rom the rearranged dish list, transmitting food consumption information to the server, receiving the food consumption information, transmitting behavior information indicating the second behavior to the portable terminal of each of one or more target users currently belonging to the first group amounts to mere data gathering, see MPEP 2106.05(g); recitation of rearranging the dish list based on the frequency calculated based on the viewing history, generating food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object, evaluating a stage of behavior change based on food consumption information, classifying the plurality of users into a plurality of groups according to the evaluated stages of behavior change, which amounts to selecting a particular data source or type of data to be manipulated; recitation of classifying the plurality of users into groups according to stages of behavior change, presenting the second behavior based on behavior information received amounts to insignificant application, see MPEP 2106.05(g); displaying an input screen for inputting food consumption history and displaying the rearranged dish list, generating food consumption information, displaying a rearranged dish list, displaying presentation information indicating the second behavior amounts to gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying the result, TLI Communications, see MPEP 2106.05(II));
generally link the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use (such as recitation of lifestyle improvement, behavioral change, or dietary/nutritional recommendations related to lifestyle, see MPEP 2106.05(h)).
Dependent claims recite additional subject matter which amount to limitations consistent with the additional elements in the independent claims (such as claims 11-17, which recite limitations relating to an input screen, a terminal processor, a portable terminal, one or more computerized system and/or non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, additional limitations which amount to invoking computers as a tool to perform the abstract idea, see Applicant’s Spec [0114] for an input screen; Spec [0069] for a server/terminal processor; Spec [0109]-[0110] for a portable terminal; Spec [0064] for a computerized system; Spec [0008] & [0064] for a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium; claims 13-17, which recite limitations relating to receiving one or more behaviors, behavior changes, food consumption information, receiving input of a dinner and/or snack consumption log, receiving selection of one food service establishment, additional limitations which add insignificant extra-solution activity to the abstract idea which amounts to mere data gathering; claims 12-17, which recite limitations relating to electing or selecting one or more data types, determining a location based on data, behaviors to be observed or extracted for one or more users/groups, snack consumption information according to a user response, etc. additional limitations which add insignificant extra-solution activity to the abstract idea by selecting a particular data source or type of data to be manipulated; claims 12-14, which recite limitations relating to storing data such as foodstuff purchase history of the corresponding user, estimating varying data, determining a position of a user based on received user data amounts to insignificant application, see MPEP 2106.05(g); claims 11-14 & 17, which recite limitations relating to displaying the dish list obtained, displaying a dish object, receiving a selection of one food service establishment, displaying an input screen for inputting food consumption history and displaying the rearranged dish list, generating food consumption information, displaying a rearranged dish list, displaying presentation information indicating the second behavior amounts to gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying the result, TLI Communications, see MPEP 2106.05(II); claims 11-17, which recite limitations relating to lifestyle improvement or support for lifestyle improvement, and as suggested by Applicant’s Specification, dietary/nutritional recommendations, additional limitations which generally link the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use). Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology. Their collective functions merely provide conventional computer implementation and do not impose a meaningful limit to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application (SME Step 2A, Prong 2: No).
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to discussion of integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply an exception, add insignificant extra-solution activity to the abstract idea, and generally link the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use. Additionally, the additional limitations, other than the abstract idea per se, amount to no more than limitations which:
amount to elements that have been recognized as well-understood, routine, and conventional activity in particular fields (such as obtaining a dish list including a plurality of dishes, receiving a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list, receive a touch selection of one dish object rom the rearranged dish list, transmitting food consumption information to the server, receiving the food consumption information, transmitting behavior information indicating the second behavior to the portable terminal of each of one or more target users currently belonging to the first group, e.g., receiving or transmitting data over a network, Symantec, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i); generating food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object, evaluating a stage of behavior change based on food consumption information, classifying the plurality of users into a plurality of groups according to the evaluated stages of behavior change, e.g., performing repetitive calculations, Flook, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(ii); maintaining one or more classifications of groups for classifying the behavior change of the first users into one or more groups, maintaining one or more food consumption information and logs thereof, e.g., electronic recordkeeping, Alice Corp., MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(iii); storing obtained behavior change data, storing one or more behavior data, storing one or more classifications of groups for classifying behavior changes, storing computerized instructions for performance of the steps recited on a computer system, e.g., storing and retrieving information in memory, Versata Dev. Group, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(iv); obtaining/extracting behavior changes, food consumption information, and/or behaviors of one or more users, which under BRI, includes extraction or scanning of a document for said obtained information, extracting a second behavior that is a food-consumption-related behavior associated with transition from the first group to the second group, maintaining one or more browsing histories, e.g., electronic scanning or extracting data from a physical document, Content Extraction, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(v); displaying an input screen for inputting food consumption history, displaying the rearranged dish list, presenting second behavior based on the behavior information received, e.g., gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying, i.e. presenting, the result, TLI Communications, MPEP 2106.05(a)(II) and/or presenting and gathering statistics, OIP Techs., MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(iv); displaying an input screen for inputting food consumption history and receiving a selection of an eaten dish from the user, using a food-consumption-log input screen to receive inputs from a user, which under BRI, includes one or more button and/or selectable indicia functionality, e.g., a web browser’ s back and forward button functionality, Internet Patent Corp., MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(ii)).
Dependent claims recite additional subject matter which, as discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, amount to invoking computers as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Dependent claims recite additional subject matter which amount to limitations consistent with the additional elements in the independent claims (such as claims 11-17, additional limitations which amount to elements that have been recognized as well-understood, routine, and conventional activity in particular fields, claims 13-17, which recite limitations relating to receiving one or more behaviors, behavior changes, food consumption information, receiving input of a dinner and/or snack consumption log, receiving selection of one food service establishment, e.g., receiving or transmitting data over a network, Symantec, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i); claims 12-14, which recite limitations relating to storing data such as foodstuff purchase history of the corresponding user, estimating varying data, determining a position of a user based on received user data, e.g., performing repetitive calculations, Flook, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(ii); claims 13-14, which recite limitations relating to maintaining locations of a portable terminal/user, receiving and maintaining one or more maintaining a food-consumption log, maintaining a recipe browsing history, e.g., electronic recordkeeping, Alice Corp., MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(iii); claims 11-17, which recite limitations relating to storing a recipe browsing history indicating one or more cooking recipes viewed by a corresponding user through the health management application, storing computerized instructions, such as in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, for performance of the steps recited, e.g., storing and retrieving information in memory, Versata Dev. Group, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(iv); claims 13-17, which recite limitations relating to receiving one or more behaviors, behavior changes, food consumption information, receiving input of a dinner and/or snack consumption log, receiving selection of one food service establishment, which under BRI, includes extraction or scanning of a document for said obtained information, e.g., electronic scanning or extracting data from a physical document, Content Extraction, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(v); claims 11-14 & 17, which recite limitations relating to displaying the dish list obtained, displaying a dish object, receiving a selection of one food service establishment, displaying an input screen for inputting food consumption history and displaying the rearranged dish list, generating food consumption information, displaying a rearranged dish list, displaying presentation information indicating the second behavior amounts to gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying the result, e.g., gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying, i.e. presenting, the result, TLI Communications, MPEP 2106.05(a)(II) and/or presenting and gathering statistics, OIP Techs., MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(iv)). Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology. Their collective functions merely provide conventional computer implementation without adding significantly more than the recited abstract idea (SME Test Step 2B: No).
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 10-13 & 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Sasaki et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0279633), hereinafter “Sasaki”, in view of Starson et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0365687), hereinafter “Starson”, further in view of Wexler et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0383925), hereinafter “Wexler”, further in view of Hadad et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0290172), hereinafter “Hadad”.
Claim 10 –
Regarding Claim 10, Sasaki discloses a lifestyle improvement system comprising:
a server (See Sasaki Par [0033] & [0064]-[0066] which discloses an example embodiment in the form of server provided to one or more providers and/or target users); and
a portable terminal of each of a plurality of first users (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses the use of one or more terminals for one or more target users, such as an administrator terminal and/or a client terminal),
wherein each portable terminal comprises one or more terminal memories (See Sasaki Par [0027] which discloses the use of one or more memories) and at least one terminal processor coupled to at least one of the one or more terminal memories (ee Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses the use of one or more terminals for one or more target users, such as an administrator terminal and/or a client terminal; See Sasaki Par [0030] which discloses the use of one or more processor and/or microprocessor devices, including a central processing unit, graphical processing unit, etc.) and configured to:
execute a health management application configured to display a food-consumption-log input screen including a dish display region and a search input field (See Sasaki Par [0066] which disclose behavior data of the user including various activities measured by one or more sensors or computers, including PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior; See Sasaki Par [0039] which discloses a stage definition section that defines a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a behavior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, i.e. the data defined in Sasaki Par [0066], including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of a plurality of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/ said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person);
wherein the server comprises one or more server memories and at least one server processor coupled to at least one of the one or more server memories and configured to:
receive the food consumption information from the portable terminals (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses one or more portable terminals; See Sasaki Par [0077] which specifically relates behavior or characteristics with regards to meals, eating or not eating, etc., i.e. “food-consumption”);
evaluate a stage of behavior change of each of the plurality of users based on the food consumption information (See Sasaki Par [0066] which disclose behavior data of the user including various activities measured by one or more sensors or computers, including PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior; See Sasaki Par [0039] which discloses a stage definition section that defines a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a behavior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, i.e. the data defined in Sasaki Par [0066], including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of a plurality of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/ said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person);
classify the plurality of users into a plurality of groups according to the evaluated stages of behavior change, the plurality of groups including a first group and a second group evaluated at a higher stage of behavior change than the first group (See Sasaki Par [0046] which discloses the stage definition section classifying a plurality of quantitative data sets, i.e. first users, belonging to one or more types of the quantitative data into a plurality of target person groups (clusters), i.e. second users, each of which is a group of target persons, such that the stage definition section identifies a variable to be used in analysis from a qualitative viewpoint, and classifies target persons based on a result of analysis or predetermined quantitative data scores, and further defines each of the plurality of stages that follow the stage indicator and into which the plurality of target person groups are classified, based on a characteristic of each of the plurality of target person groups);
identify one or more transition users among the plurality of users, each of the one or more transition users having transitioned from the first group to the second group (See Sasaki Par [0046] which discloses the stage definition section classifying a plurality of quantitative data sets belonging to one or more types of the quantitative data into a plurality of target person groups (clusters), i.e. second users, each of which is a group of target persons, such that the stage definition section identifies a variable to be used in analysis from a qualitative viewpoint, and classifies target persons based on a result of analysis or predetermined quantitative data scores, and further defines each of the plurality of stages that follow the stage indicator and into which the plurality of target person groups are classified, based on a characteristic of each of the plurality of target person groups; See Sasaki Par [0040]-[0041] which discloses identifying a stage gap, i.e. a gap between a characteristic of a lower/initial stage and a characteristic of a higher/different stage, and an associated gap reason/shift measure for the stage gap from relationship information for each stage pair, i.e. from one stage to another stage, such that a shift measure can be identified that indicates a measure of causing a target person belonging to a lower or initial stage to make a behavior change to shift to a higher or different stage; Sasaki Par [0052]-[0053] further specifically identifies shift measures and/or factors that are either inhibitory, i.e. does not encourage transition, or stimulatory, i.e. does encourage transition, to behavior change of one or more users);
extract, from food consumption information of the one or more transition users, a second behavior that is a food-consumption-related behavior associated with transition from the first group to the second group ( See Sasaki Par [0039] & [0066] do disclose defining a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a behavior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/checking said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person for mitigating and/or learning new behavior, i.e. a second behavior; See Sasaki Par [0077] which specifically relates behavior or characteristics with regards to meals, eating or not eating, etc., i.e. a “food-consumption related behavior” under BRI without further specifying the specific behavior); and
transmit behavior information indicating the second behavior to the portable terminal of each of one or more target users currently belonging to the first group (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality or behavior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted), wherein
the at least one terminal processor of the portable terminal of each of the one or more target users is further configured to display, through the health management application, presentation information indicating the second behavior (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality or behavior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted).
While Sasaki generally discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, Sasaki is relatively silent on:
store a recipe browsing history indicating one or more cooking recipes viewed by a corresponding user through the health management application
when the food-consumption-log input screen is displayed:
obtain a dish list including a plurality of dishes;
display, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field;
receive a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list;
generate food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object;
transmit the food consumption information to the server.
However, Starson discloses store a recipe browsing history indicating one or more cooking recipes viewed by a corresponding user through the health management application (See Starson Par [0049] which discloses logging a recipe associated with certain foods such that history of accessing said foods or associated recipes that comprise certain ingredients can then be accessed to generate a “most-viewed queue” such as described in Starson Par [0100]-[0118]); when the food-consumption-log input screen is displayed: obtain a dish list including a plurality of dishes (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004] & [0075]-[0076] which describes applications and tools utilizing manual entry of food and selecting from a list of suggestions, and further discloses while viewing the screen, the user can see useful data displayed next to or over recognized food items, and log their entire meal with a simple swipe or gesture, thereby constituting an input screen for inputting food consumption history); display, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish; See Starson Par [0100]-[0118] which discloses arranging a most-viewed queue, the number of elements storing said each food identity are counted, such that these counts may then be ranked to determine one or more most-viewed food identities; See Starson Par [0121] which discloses that the one or more most-viewed food identities are outputted, such that the one or more most-viewed food identities, i.e. food consumption information, are added to a running, i.e. generated, list for display to a user based on selections made by the user in Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076]); receive a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish); generate food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of a dish); and transmit the food consumption information to the server (See Starson Par [0008]-[0009] which discloses transmitting images of consumed foods by the human to a server for processing the images, such as for identifying said foods consumed, and transmitting the results back to the mobile device).
The disclosure of Starson is directly applicable to the disclosure of Sasaki, because both disclosures share limitations and capabilities, such as being directed towards computerized logging of one or more user tendencies/behaviors, e.g. computer activity, food consumption, etc. over time.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this simplifies the process of logging meals by making it faster, more engaging, and more reliable for users by eliminating from-scratch search and selection of meals and replacing said search and selection with an arranged list of most-viewed meals/foods for selection by the user based on the user’s tendencies (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004]).
While Sasaki and Starson effectively disclose the stage of behavior change being based on the frequency and logging various food consumption information and presenting food/dishes according to said food consumption information, Sasaki and Starson do not necessarily disclose:
evaluate a stage of behavior change, the stage of behavior change being based on food consumption information.
However, Wexler discloses the stage of behavior change is determined based on the food consumption information (See Wexler Par [0092]-[0093] which discloses an adaptive support model based on performance or non-performance of a user’s behavior, estimating a new state of the user, an action taken by the software application for the user, or other factors, such that corrective actions can be issued for said user based on said new state that has the highest effectiveness in assisting the behavioral adjustments; See Wexler Par [0020] & [0061] which discloses that the behaviors can be any habit, routine choice, and can include increasing (or decreasing) consumption of a particular kind of food, meal, or nutrition data (and/or including input data relating to number of meals, timing of meals, nutritional information associated therewith, etc.), i.e. the behavioral state and changes determined in Wexler Par [0092]-[0093] are effectively based on the increasing (or decreasing) consumption of a particular kind or number of food, meals, or nutrition data, as disclosed in Wexler Par [0020] & [0061]). The disclosure of Wexler is directly applicable to the combined disclosure of Sasaki and Starson, because the disclosures share limitations and capabilities, such as being directed towards computerized logging of one or more user tendencies/behaviors, e.g. computer activity, food consumption, etc. over time.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combined disclosure of Sasaki and Starson, which already discloses he stage of behavior change being based on the frequency and logging various food consumption information and presenting food/dishes according to said food consumption information, to further include the stage of behavior change is determined based on the food consumption information, as disclosed by Wexler, because food consumption data is relevant to a patient’s health state, and should therefore be considered/processed when determining a user’s health state/behaviors and adjustments/transitions thereof (See Wexler Par [0020] & [0092]-[0093]).
While Starson generally discloses outputting a list of food items in an ordered listbased on viewing or browsing history, i.e. most-viewed foods, Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler are relatively silent on this list accounting for likelihoods/probability of being consumed as given by the bolded portion of the limitation found below:
display, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field
However, Hadad discloses display, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field (See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.). The disclosure of Hadad is directly applicable to the combined disclosure of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler, because the disclosures all share limitations/capabilities, such as being directed towards monitoring user tendencies/behaviors, e.g. computer activity, food consumption, etc. over time to form behavioral patterns and analysis thereof.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler, which already discloses outputting a list of food items in an ordered list based on viewing or browsing history, i.e. most-viewed foods, to further include this list accounting for likelihoods/probability of being consumed, as disclosed by Hadad, because food intake tracking can be a tedious and unreliable process for data collection, and by utilizing probabilities of food intake, an automated insights and recommendation engine can combine a group of user-specific parameters to generate a prediction model for passive food tracking that account for most-likely consumed food rather than manual searching of said food to assist in the passive food tracking (See Hadad Par [0271]).
Claim 11 –
Regarding Claim 11, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. Sasaki and Starson further disclose a system, wherein:
the at least one terminal processor of each portable terminal is further configured to, when the recipe browsing history does not indicate any cooking recipe viewed by the corresponding user, display the dish list obtained when the food-consumption-log input screen is displayed in the dish display region without rearranging the dish list based on the recipe browsing history (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses the use of one or more terminals for one or more target users, such as an administrator terminal and/or a client terminal; See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish; See Starson Par [0100]-[0118] which discloses arranging a most-viewed queue, the number of elements storing said each food identity are counted, such that these counts may then be ranked to determine one or more most-viewed food identities; See Starson Par [0121] which discloses that the one or more most-viewed food identities are outputted, such that the one or more most-viewed food identities, i.e. food consumption information, are added to a running, i.e. generated, list for display to a user based on selections made by the user in Starson Par [0002]-[0004] & [0075]-[0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this simplifies the process of logging meals by making it faster, more engaging, and more reliable for users by eliminating from-scratch search and selection of meals and replacing said search and selection with an arranged list of most-viewed meals/foods for selection by the user based on the user’s tendencies (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004]).
Claim 12 –
Regarding Claim 12, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. Hadad further discloses a system, wherein:
the at least one terminal processor of each portable terminal is further configured to:
store a foodstuff purchase history of the corresponding user (See Hadad Par [0190] & [0221] which discloses utilizing historical information regarding food costs/prices for building machine learning algorithms to generate new food dishes from existing food dishes or other food preferences, such as based on said cost/price of ingredients and thereby estimation of said cost/price in total for all of said ingredients);
estimate a cookable dish based on the foodstuff purchase history (See Hadad Par [0190] & [0221] which discloses utilizing historical information regarding food costs/prices for building machine learning algorithms to generate new food dishes from existing food dishes or other food preferences, such as based on said cost/price of ingredients and thereby estimation of said cost/price in total for all of said ingredients); and
display a dish object corresponding to the estimated cookable dish higher than dish objects that do not correspond to the estimated cookable dish in the dish display region (See Hadad Par [0190] & [0221] which discloses utilizing historical information regarding food costs/prices for building machine learning algorithms to generate new food dishes from existing food dishes or other food preferences, such as based on said cost/price of ingredients and thereby estimation of said cost/price in total for all of said ingredients; See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler, which already discloses outputting a list of food items in an ordered list based on viewing or browsing history, i.e. most-viewed foods, to further include this list accounting for price/cost, as disclosed by Hadad, because this allows for a food analysis system to build algorithms that generate new food dishes from existing foods or ingredients based on varying criteria, including price/cost (See Hadad Par [0221]).
Claim 13 –
Regarding Claim 13, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. Hadad further discloses a system, wherein:
the at least one terminal processor of each portable terminal is further configured to:
determine a current location of the portable terminal (See Hadad Par [0189]-[0190] which discloses inclusion of an establishment list, such as a restaurant menu, etc.; See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.);
when the current location is outside a home of the corresponding user, search for food service establishments near the current location (See Hadad Par [0189]-[0190] which discloses inclusion of an establishment list, such as a restaurant menu, etc.; See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.);
display, on the food-consumption-log input screen, an establishment list including the food service establishments (See Hadad Par [0189]-[0190] which discloses inclusion of an establishment list, such as a restaurant menu, etc.; See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.);
receive a selection of one food service establishment from the establishment list; and display, on the food-consumption-log input screen, a menu list including menu items offered by the selected food service establishment (See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler, which already discloses outputting a list of food items in an ordered list based on viewing or browsing history, i.e. most-viewed foods, to further include this list accounting for likelihoods/probability of being consumed, as disclosed by Hadad, because food intake tracking can be a tedious and unreliable process for data collection, and by utilizing probabilities of food intake, an automated insights and recommendation engine can combine a group of user-specific parameters to generate a prediction model for passive food tracking that account for most-likely consumed food rather than manual searching of said food to assist in the passive food tracking (See Hadad Par [0271]).
Claim 15 –
Regarding Claim 15, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. Sasaki and Starson further disclose a system, wherein:
the second behavior includes a behavior of consuming a dish corresponding to a cooking recipe indicated by the recipe browsing history stored by the portable terminal of at least one of the one or more transition users (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses the use of one or more terminals for one or more target users, such as an administrator terminal and/or a client terminal; See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish; See Starson Par [0100]-[0118] which discloses arranging a most-viewed queue, the number of elements storing said each food identity are counted, such that these counts may then be ranked to determine one or more most-viewed food identities; See Starson Par [0121] which discloses that the one or more most-viewed food identities are outputted, such that the one or more most-viewed food identities, i.e. food consumption information, are added to a running, i.e. generated, list for display to a user based on selections made by the user in Starson Par [0002]-[0004] & [0075]-[0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this simplifies the process of logging meals by making it faster, more engaging, and more reliable for users by eliminating from-scratch search and selection of meals and replacing said search and selection with an arranged list of most-viewed meals/foods for selection by the user based on the user’s tendencies (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004]).
Claim 16 –
Regarding Claim 16, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. Starson further discloses a system, wherein:
the second behavior includes a behavior of consuming at least one of a low-sodium menu item or a well-balanced menu item (See Starson Par [0006] which discloses tracking of eating habits and adherence to weight-loss diets and other regimens (e.g., low-carb, low-fat, high-protein, low-sugar, etc.), which would include well-balanced menu items, such that these aspects are accounted for in the nutritional label logging and generation of food items as in Starson Par [0037] & [0073]-[0074]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this allows for facilitating accurate tracking of eating habits and adherence to weight-loss diets and other regimens based on nutritional information of the varying foods and needs of the user (See Starson Par [0006]).
Claim 17 –
Regarding Claim 17, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. Sasaki and Starson further disclose a system, wherein:
the presentation information includes a text message identifying the second behavior as a recommended food-consumption-related behavior (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality 33ehaveior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted; See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish; See Starson Par [0100]-[0118] which discloses arranging a most-viewed queue, the number of elements storing said each food identity are counted, such that these counts may then be ranked to determine one or more most-viewed food identities; See Starson Par [0121] which discloses that the one or more most-viewed food identities are outputted, such that the one or more most-viewed food identities, i.e. food consumption information, are added to a running, i.e. generated, list for display to a user based on selections made by the user in Starson Par [0002]-[0004] & [0075]-[0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this simplifies the process of logging meals by making it faster, more engaging, and more reliable for users by eliminating from-scratch search and selection of meals and replacing said search and selection with an arranged list of most-viewed meals/foods for selection by the user based on the user’s tendencies (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004]).
Claim 18 –
Regarding Claim 18, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose a portable terminal (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses the use of one or more terminals for one or more target users, such as an administrator terminal and/or a client terminal) comprising:
one or more memories (See Sasaki Par [0027] which discloses the use of one or more memories); and
at least one processor coupled to at least one of the one or more memories (See Sasaki Par [0030] which discloses the use of one or more processor and/or microprocessor devices, including a central processing unit, graphical processing unit, etc.) and configured to:
execute a health management application configured to display a food-consumption-log input screen including a dish display region and a search input field (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses an assistance server, including one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior, i.e. health management application, such that the one or more client systems includes transmission of at least one type of data obtained by measurement about said target person(s); See Sasaki Par [0066] which disclose behavior data of the user including various activities measured by one or more sensors or computers, including PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior);
store a recipe browsing history indicating one or more cooking recipes viewed by a user through the health management application (See Starson Par [0049] which discloses logging a recipe associated with certain foods such that history of accessing said foods or associated recipes that comprise certain ingredients can then be accessed to generate a “most-viewed queue” such as described in Starson Par [0100]-[0118]);
when the food-consumption-log input screen is displayed:
obtain a dish list including a plurality of dishes (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004] & [0075]-[0076] which describes applications and tools utilizing manual entry of food and selecting from a list of suggestions, and further discloses while viewing the screen, the user can see useful data displayed next to or over recognized food items, and log their entire meal with a simple swipe or gesture, thereby constituting an input screen for inputting food consumption history);
display, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the user before the user enters a text search query into the search input field (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish; See Starson Par [0100]-[0118] which discloses arranging a most-viewed queue, the number of elements storing said each food identity are counted, such that these counts may then be ranked to determine one or more most-viewed food identities; See Starson Par [0121] which discloses that the one or more most-viewed food identities are outputted, such that the one or more most-viewed food identities, i.e. food consumption information, are added to a running, i.e. generated, list for display to a user based on selections made by the user in Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076]; See Hadad Par [0271]-[023] which discloses predicting which of the common food items the user most likely consumed in the past 2-3 hours based on varying criteria, including location, time of day, list of available meals in the vicinity of the user, most viewed or common food items repeatedly consumed by the user, etc.);
receive a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish);
generate food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of a dish); and
transmit the food consumption information to a server (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality or behavior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted; See Starson Par [0008]-[0009] which discloses transmitting images of consumed foods by the human to a server for processing the images, such as for identifying said foods consumed, and transmitting the results back to the mobile device); and
receive, from the server, behavior information indicating a second behavior extracted by the server from food consumption information of one or more transition users who transitioned from a first group to a second group evaluated at a higher stage of behavior change than the first group, the second behavior being a food-consumption-related behavior associated with transition from the first group to the second group (ee Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses one or more portable terminals; See Sasaki Par [0077] which specifically relates behavior or characteristics with regards to meals, eating or not eating, etc., i.e. “food-consumption”; See Sasaki Par [0066] which disclose behavior data of the user including various activities measured by one or more sensors or computers, including PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior; See Sasaki Par [0039] which discloses a stage definition section that defines a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a behavior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, i.e. the data defined in Sasaki Par [0066], including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of a plurality of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/ said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person; See Wexler Par [0092]-[0093] which discloses an adaptive support model based on performance or non-performance of a user’s behavior, estimating a new state of the user, an action taken by the software application for the user, or other factors, such that corrective actions can be issued for said user based on said new state that has the highest effectiveness in assisting the behavioral adjustments; See Wexler Par [0020] & [0061] which discloses that the behaviors can be any habit, routine choice, and can include increasing (or decreasing) consumption of a particular kind of food, meal, or nutrition data (and/or including input data relating to number of meals, timing of meals, nutritional information associated therewith, etc.); and
display, through the health management application, presentation information indicating the second behavior (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality or behavior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this simplifies the process of logging meals by making it faster, more engaging, and more reliable for users by eliminating from-scratch search and selection of meals and replacing said search and selection with an arranged list of most-viewed meals/foods for selection by the user based on the user’s tendencies (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combined disclosure of Sasaki and Starson, which already discloses he stage of behavior change being based on the frequency and logging various food consumption information and presenting food/dishes according to said food consumption information, to further include the stage of behavior change is determined based on the food consumption information, as disclosed by Wexler, because food consumption data is relevant to a patient’s health state, and should therefore be considered/processed when determining a user’s health state/behaviors and adjustments/transitions thereof (See Wexler Par [0020] & [0092]-[0093]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler, which already discloses outputting a list of food items in an ordered list based on viewing or browsing history, i.e. most-viewed foods, to further include this list accounting for likelihoods/probability of being consumed, as disclosed by Hadad, because food intake tracking can be a tedious and unreliable process for data collection, and by utilizing probabilities of food intake, an automated insights and recommendation engine can combine a group of user-specific parameters to generate a prediction model for passive food tracking that account for most-likely consumed food rather than manual searching of said food to assist in the passive food tracking (See Hadad Par [0271]).
Claim 19 –
Regarding Claim 19, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose a lifestyle improvement method performed by a lifestyle improvement system including a server and a portable terminal of each of a plurality of users, the method comprising:
by each portable terminal:
executing a health management application configured to display a food-consumption-log input screen including a dish display region and a search input field (See Sasaki Par [0066] which disclose behavior data of the user including various activities measured by one or more sensors or computers, including PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior; See Sasaki Par [0039] which discloses a stage definition section that defines a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a behavior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, i.e. the data defined in Sasaki Par [0066], including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of a plurality of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/ said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person);
storing a recipe browsing history indicating one or more cooking recipes viewed by a corresponding user through the health management application (See Starson Par [0049] which discloses logging a recipe associated with certain foods such that history of accessing said foods or associated recipes that comprise certain ingredients can then be accessed to generate a “most-viewed queue” such as described in Starson Par [0100]-[0118]);
when the food-consumption-log input screen is displayed:
obtaining a dish list including a plurality of dishes (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004] & [0075]-[0076] which describes applications and tools utilizing manual entry of food and selecting from a list of suggestions, and further discloses while viewing the screen, the user can see useful data displayed next to or over recognized food items, and log their entire meal with a simple swipe or gesture, thereby constituting an input screen for inputting food consumption history);
displaying, in the dish display region, a rearranged dish list in which dish objects corresponding to the one or more cooking recipes indicated by the recipe browsing history are positioned higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user before the corresponding user enters a text search query into the search input field (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish; See Starson Par [0100]-[0118] which discloses arranging a most-viewed queue, the number of elements storing said each food identity are counted, such that these counts may then be ranked to determine one or more most-viewed food identities; See Starson Par [0121] which discloses that the one or more most-viewed food identities are outputted, such that the one or more most-viewed food identities, i.e. food consumption information, are added to a running, i.e. generated, list for display to a user based on selections made by the user in Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076]);
receiving a touch selection of one dish object from the rearranged dish list (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of an eaten dish);
generating food consumption information identifying a dish corresponding to the selected dish object (See Starson Par [0004] & [0075]-[0076] which discloses the user logs identified foods consumed with a simple gesture, thereby constituting selection of a dish); and
transmitting the food consumption information to the server (See Starson Par [0008]-[0009] which discloses transmitting images of consumed foods by the human to a server for processing the images, such as for identifying said foods consumed, and transmitting the results back to the mobile device);
by the server:
receiving the food consumption information from the portable terminals (See Sasaki Par [0064]-[0065] which discloses one or more portable terminals; See Sasaki Par [0077] which specifically relates behavior or characteristics with regards to meals, eating or not eating, etc., i.e. “food-consumption”);
evaluating a stage of behavior change of each of the plurality of users based on the food consumption information (See Sasaki Par [0066] which disclose behavior data of the user including various activities measured by one or more sensors or computers, including PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by a target person for managing at least a part of the user’s behavior; See Sasaki Par [0039] which discloses a stage definition section that defines a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a 45ehaveior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, i.e. the data defined in Sasaki Par [0066], including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of a plurality of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/ said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person);
classifying the plurality of users into a plurality of groups according to the evaluated stages of behavior change, the plurality of groups including a first group and a second group evaluated at a higher stage of behavior change than the first group (See Sasaki Par [0046] which discloses the stage definition section classifying a plurality of quantitative data sets, i.e. first users, belonging to one or more types of the quantitative data into a plurality of target person groups (clusters), i.e. second users, each of which is a group of target persons, such that the stage definition section identifies a variable to be used in analysis from a qualitative viewpoint, and classifies target persons based on a result of analysis or predetermined quantitative data scores, and further defines each of the plurality of stages that follow the stage indicator and into which the plurality of target person groups are classified, based on a characteristic of each of the plurality of target person groups);
identifying one or more transition users among the plurality of users, each of the one or more transition users having transitioned from the first group to the second group (See Sasaki Par [0046] which discloses the stage definition section classifying a plurality of quantitative data sets belonging to one or more types of the quantitative data into a plurality of target person groups (clusters), i.e. second users, each of which is a group of target persons, such that the stage definition section identifies a variable to be used in analysis from a qualitative viewpoint, and classifies target persons based on a result of analysis or predetermined quantitative data scores, and further defines each of the plurality of stages that follow the stage indicator and into which the plurality of target person groups are classified, based on a characteristic of each of the plurality of target person groups; See Sasaki Par [0040]-[0041] which discloses identifying a stage gap, i.e. a gap between a characteristic of a lower/initial stage and a characteristic of a higher/different stage, and an associated gap reason/shift measure for the stage gap from relationship information for each stage pair, i.e. from one stage to another stage, such that a shift measure can be identified that indicates a measure of causing a target person belonging to a lower or initial stage to make a behavior change to shift to a higher or different stage; Sasaki Par [0052]-[0053] further specifically identifies shift measures and/or factors that are either inhibitory, i.e. does not encourage transition, or stimulatory, i.e. does encourage transition, to behavior change of one or more users);
extracting, from food consumption information of the one or more transition users, a second behavior that is a food-consumption-related behavior associated with transition from the first group to the second group (See Sasaki Par [0039] & [0066] do disclose defining a stage indicator as a criterion of a plurality of stages via which a behavior as a target of habituation is aimed at step by step, and each of the plurality of stages following a stage indicator, based on behavior data, including various data obtained by measuring behaviors of target persons, such as PC operation logs, which would therefore include a user using/checking said health management application, i.e. the one or more personal computers to be used by the target person for mitigating and/or learning new behavior, i.e. a second behavior; See Sasaki Par [0077] which specifically relates behavior or characteristics with regards to meals, eating or not eating, etc., i.e. a “food-consumption related behavior” under BRI without further specifying the specific behavior); and
transmitting behavior information indicating the second behavior to the portable terminal of each of one or more target users currently belonging to the first group (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality or behavior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted); and
by the portable terminal of each of the one or more target users, displaying, through the health management application, presentation information indicating the second behavior (See Sasaki Par [0100] & [0103]-[0104] which discloses a display section that performs display of the processing efforts related to a gap reason/shift measure identified for each stage pair, such that a user can visualize their behaviors and various gap reasons/shift measures to achieve behavioral change; See Sasaki Par [0047]-[0048] which discloses the number of target person groups that are classified into a stage may be larger than one or more people; See Sasaki Par [0122]-[0124] which discloses that each of one or more target persons, i.e. identified subset of “second users” that becomes the “third users”, from among a plurality of target users, i.e. second users, is assigned a shift measure applicable to the subset or “third users” from among shift measures identified by the reason/measure identification section with respect to a stage pair including a stage to which the target person(s) belongs and a next higher stage that the target person(s) are likely to transition given a certain quality or behavior of that target person(s), such that this information is thereby transmitted).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, which already discloses receiving user inputs and/or logs/logging regarding operational behavior for one or more devices, to further include obtaining a dish list, arranging said dish list according to viewing history, displaying the arranged dish list, generating food consumption information according to the selection, and transmitting these aspects to the server, as disclosed by Starson, because this simplifies the process of logging meals by making it faster, more engaging, and more reliable for users by eliminating from-scratch search and selection of meals and replacing said search and selection with an arranged list of most-viewed meals/foods for selection by the user based on the user’s tendencies (See Starson Par [0003]-[0004]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combined disclosure of Sasaki and Starson, which already discloses he stage of behavior change being based on the frequency and logging various food consumption information and presenting food/dishes according to said food consumption information, to further include the stage of behavior change is determined based on the food consumption information, as disclosed by Wexler, because food consumption data is relevant to a patient’s health state, and should therefore be considered/processed when determining a user’s health state/behaviors and adjustments/transitions thereof (See Wexler Par [0020] & [0092]-[0093]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler, which already discloses outputting a list of food items in an ordered list based on viewing or browsing history, i.e. most-viewed foods, to further include this list accounting for likelihoods/probability of being consumed, as disclosed by Hadad, because food intake tracking can be a tedious and unreliable process for data collection, and by utilizing probabilities of food intake, an automated insights and recommendation engine can combine a group of user-specific parameters to generate a prediction model for passive food tracking that account for most-likely consumed food rather than manual searching of said food to assist in the passive food tracking (See Hadad Par [0271]).
Subject Matter Allowable over Prior Art
Claim 14 –
Regarding Claim 14, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad disclose the lifestyle improvement system of claim 10 in its entirety. However, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad do not further disclose a system, wherein the at least one terminal processor of each portable terminal is further configured to: when the food-consumption-log input screen is used to input a dinner log and a snack consumption log has not been generated for a time period after a lunch log and before the dinner log, display a prompt asking whether the corresponding user has eaten a snack and generate snack consumption information according to a user response to the prompt. That is, Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad generally disclose generating one or more logs of lists of food items to be recorded by a user, however, these references are relatively silent on if a snack consumption log has not been generated for a time period after a lunch log and before the dinner log, display a prompt asking whether the corresponding user has eaten a snack and generate snack consumption information according to a user response to the prompt. Therefore, due to numerous references being required to fully disclose the limitations, this points to the subject matter found in claim 14 being allowable over the prior art. However, claim 14 remains rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06 March 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive:
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections, Applicant argues on p. 8 of Arguments/Remarks that the claims are no longer directed to a mental process. Examiner agrees with Applicant’s arguments. While several steps are understood to potentially be able to be performed in the human mind when recited alone, these steps are necessarily rooted in computer technology and/or technical limitations that preclude the steps from being reasonably performed in the human mind. Therefore, the mental process portion of the Alice/Mayo framework has been removed. However, the newly pending claims 10-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 for being directed towards Methods of Organizing Human Activity (MOHA).
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection, Applicant argues on p. 8-9 of Arguments/Remarks that the claims recite a specific improvement to the food consumption log input interface, at least by the terminal changes what is displayed on the input screen and changes how food consumption information is entered such that the terminal presents likely consumed dishes as higher positioned selectable objects before text search input is received. Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments. The operations recited in the independent claims were determined to represent insignificant, extra-solution activity and/or well-understood, routine, and conventional activity found in prior art systems. Furthermore, the instant application’s inventive concept is not directed towards user interfaces and improvements thereof. Instead, the instant application merely utilizes the presentation of the information/list of foods to the user in a rearranged format to further the already-characterized abstraction, by presenting potential foods for a user according to the user’s needs. That is, Applicant does not provide evidence regarding shortcomings in prior art systems of how potential food selections for a user is arranged in a user interface. Rather, the efforts described of displaying a rearranged dish list and receiving a selection of an eaten dish from the user merely further limit the abstraction at hand and/or represent aspects to simply accomplish the already-characterized abstraction of providing “lifestyle improvement” and/or dietary guidance support to the subject according to their phase of behavior change and/or historical food consumption over periods of time. Therefore, claims 10-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection, Applicant argues on p. 9-10 of Arguments/Remarks that the claims recite significantly more than the abstract idea. More specifically, Applicant argues that the office has not shown that it is conventional to rearrange dish objects in a food consumption log input screen based on recipe browsing history, and thereby represents a specific way to change the terminal input interface to generate food consumption information, amounting to significantly more than any alleged abstract idea. Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments. As discussed above in the “Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. 101” section of this Office Action indeed characterizes said aspects of rearrange dish objects in a food consumption log input screen based on recipe browsing history as well-understood, routine, and/or conventional activity found in prior art systems. That is, TLI Communications and OIP Techs substantially render aspects regarding data gathering and/or presentation of analyzed data, gathered statistics, generated results, etc., in an interface well-understood, routine, and/or conventional. That is, there are no technical features describes in the claims or Specification beyond mere data gathering or presentation efforts and electing the specific types of data to be presented to a user in a user interface. Furthermore, the instant application’s inventive concept is not directed towards user interfaces and improvements thereof. Instead, the instant application merely utilizes the presentation of the information/list of foods to the user in a rearranged format to further the already-characterized abstraction, by presenting potential foods for a user according to the user’s needs. Therefore, claims 10-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1-9, Applicant argues on p. 0-11 of Arguments/Remarks that Sasaki, Starson and Wexler do not disclose the entirety of newly added independent claims 10 & 18-19. More specifically, Applicant argues that the references do not explicitly disclose “positioning dish objects corresponding to cooking recipes indicated by recipe browsing history higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated as more likely to have been consumed by the corresponding user, before the user enters a text search query”. Examiner respectfully agrees with Applicant’s Arguments. However, a new ground o rejection has been made under 35 U.S.C. 103 over Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad. Newly cited Hadad effectively cures the deficiencies of Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler regarding a lack of probability or likelihood that said items would be consumed, in particular. That is, Sasaki, Starson, and Wexler generally disclose “positioning dish objects corresponding to cooking recipes indicated by recipe browsing history higher than remaining dish objects as dish objects evaluated, before the user enters a text search query” but simply without consideration of probability or likelihood that said items would be consumed. However, newly cited Hadad effectively discloses listing foods based on probability or likelihood that said items would be consumed by the user. While Applicant argues further that the cited references also fail to disclose sever-side implementation of said extracting one or more behaviors of transitioning from a first group to a second group, based on one or more behaviors, because Sasaki relies on a predefined shift measure selected based on a stage gap. However, there is no indication that the aspects of extracting one or more behaviors of transitioning from a first group to a second group can’t be based on a stage gap. That is, while the claim may specify said transition being based on “behaviors”, stage gap can naturally include said behavior consideration in determining transitions. Therefore, independent claims 10 & 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 over Sasaki, Starson, Wexler, and Hadad.
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1-9, Applicant argues on p. 11 of Arguments/Remarks that dependent claims 12-19 depend from amended independent claim 10 and would therefore also be allowable over the prior art by virtue of dependency. Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments. As discussed above, a new ground of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 over Sasaki in view of Starson, further in view of Wexler, further in view of Hadad has been issued for claims 10 & 18-19, and it has been determined that independent claim 10 and claims dependent therefrom are effectively rendered obvious by Sasaki in view of Starson, further in view of Wexler, further in view of Hadad and therefore remain rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103. As such, Applicant’s arguments regarding independent claim 10 being allowable are rendered moot, because these claims are not allowable over the prior art. As such, independent claims 10, 18, & 19 and claims dependent therefrom (claims 11-13 & 15-19) are effectively rendered obvious by Sasaki in view of Starson, further in view of Wexler, further in view of Hadad and therefore remain rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103. However, it should be noted that claim 14 contains subject matter that is allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure:
Neumann et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,075,001) discloses a system for ordered food preferences by utilizing likelihoods that symptomatic reactions will occur from consuming certain potential foods;
Saint et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0353698) discloses a system for logging one or more foods such that a food probability module generates a sorted a sorted list of food type (e.g., which can include a tag or link to stored nutrition and other associated data) based on probability analysis based on food intake history data.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/H.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3684 /Shahid Merchant/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3684
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