DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Per step 1 of the Subject Matter Eligibility Test (See MPEP 2106), claim 1 is directed to a device, which is a product and falls within a statutory category (See MPEP 2106.03).
Per step 2A, prong 1, claim 1 recites to derive a pitch for each step of a user based on data acquired from a predetermined sensor, wherein the pitch is derived for each of a left foot and a right foot, derive a difference between a first left foot statistical value of the pitch derived for each step in a predetermined number of steps of the left foot, and a first right foot statistical value of the pitch derived for each step in the predetermined number of steps of the right foot; and … in a case in which it is determined that each of a second left foot statistical value regarding a pitch derived for each step in the predetermined number of steps of the left foot and a second right foot statistical value of the pitch derived for each step in the predetermined number of steps of the right foot satisfy a predetermined condition. The claim limitations describe mathematical operations which fall into the mathematical concepts grouping (See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2), subsection I).
The additional elements are a memory that stores a program; and at least one processor that executes the program and to display a value of the derived difference on a display, and update the displayed value of the difference to the value of the difference that is newly derived and display the newly derived value.
Per step 2A, prong 2, The abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application. The recitation of the memory and the processor amount to instructions to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer (See MPEP 2106.05(f)). The claim limitations to display a value and update the displayed value are insignificant post solution activity (See MPEP 2106.05(g)). When considered in combination the additional elements do not provide for anything further.
Per step 2B, claim 1 does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reason. Further, the courts have recognized that outputting the result of an abstract idea in various manners is well-understood, routine and conventional (See MPEP 2106.05(d), subsection II).
Claims 2-6 depend from claim 1 and recite further details of the abstract idea. Claims 2-6 do not recite any additional elements. Since there are no recited additional elements, claims 2-6 are not integrated into a practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea.
Claim 7 recites a further additional element for an output. Outputting the result of the abstract idea is insignificant extra-solution activity. Considering the output in combination with the other additional elements does not add anything further. Therefore, claim 7 is not integrated into a practical application and is not significantly more than the abstract idea.
Per step 1 of the Subject Matter Eligibility Test (See MPEP 2106), claim 9 is directed to a method, which is a process and falls within a statutory category (See MPEP 2106.03).
Claim 9 recites a similar abstract idea and additional elements to those recited in claim 1. Therefore claim 9 is rejected for the same reason.
Claims 10-16 depend from claim 9 and are rejected for the same reason as claims 2-7, respectively.
Per step 1 of the Subject Matter Eligibility Test (See MPEP 2106), claim 17 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which is a product and falls within a statutory category (See MPEP 2106.03).
Claim 17 recites a similar abstract idea and additional elements to those recited in claim 1. Therefore, claim 17 is rejected for the same reason.
Prior Art
US Patent Application Publication 2018/0220937 to Mizuochi et al. (Mizuochi) teaches a motion analysis system. Mizuochi teaches a pitch calculation section and determining a running cycle for left and right foot (Fig. 5, pitch calculation section 246; pars. 114-118, 173). Mizuochi teaches determining a left-right difference that includes an average or variance of the underlying measurements (par. 173). Mizuochi teaches displaying the derived values (pars. 181, 184, 285). However, none of the cited prior art teaches to update the displayed value of the difference to the value of the difference that is newly derived and display the newly derived value in a case in which it is determined that each of a second left foot statistical value regarding a pitch derived for each step in the predetermined number of steps of the left foot and a second right foot statistical value of the pitch derived for each step in the predetermined number of steps of the right foot satisfy a predetermined condition.
US Patent Application Publication 2020/0202117 to Wu et al. teaches gait recognition.
US Patent No. 10,555,689 to Marquez et al. teaches symmetry measurements.
Conclusion
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/MANUEL L BARBEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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