Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9, 22-26, and 35-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (2023/0225714), hereinafter “Sato”.
Regarding claim 1, Sato discloses a memory and processing to do excrement analysis includes an inputting imaging data captured by an image capture apparatus being installed in such a way as to include, in a capturing range, an excretion range of excrement in a toilet bowl of a toilet (Sato: figures 1-2), performing classification processing of classifying a capturing target substance in a pixel unit by using semantic segmentation with respect to imaging data being input (Sato: figures 5-6 and 10), and outputting a classification result by the classification processing (Sato: paragraph 0025).
Regarding claim 2, Sato discloses classifies, for each pixel, the capturing target substance into any of the excrement, a foreign body not being allowed to be discard into the toilet bowl, and another substance (Sato: figure 5).
Regarding claim 3, Sato discloses classifies the excrement into any of feces, urine, and urine dripping, or any of feces, urine, feces and urine, and urine dripping (Sato: figure 5).
Regarding claim 4, Sato discloses the classification processing also performs together with at least one of classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics, feces colors, and the urine into urine colors (Sato: figure 5).
Regarding claim 5, Sato discloses the another substance includes at least one of a buttocks washing machine, toilet paper, and a substance after flushing the excrement (Sato: figures 2 and 5).
Regarding claim 6, Sato discloses the another substance includes the buttocks washing machine (Sato: figure 2), the excrement analysis includes stopping subsequent classification processing with a result by the processing is classified into the buttocks washing machine (Sato: figure 8, wherein the analysis is stopped at s12), and outputting an excretion completion notification to an observer when a classification result by the processing is classified into the buttocks washing machine (Sato: figure 8; paragraph 0025).
Regarding claim 7, Sato discloses outputting an excretion notification to an observe observing a user of the toilet when a classification result is classified into the excrement (Sato: paragraph 0025), after the notification is output, classify each pixel being classified into the excrement into any of feces, urine, urine dripping, or any of feces, urine, feces and urine, and urine dripping, and also performs together with at lease one of classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics, colors, and classification of the urine to a plurality of urine colors (Sato: figures 5-7), and outputting the classification result (Sato: figure 8; paragraph 0025).
Regarding claim 8, Sato discloses outputting as information including a classification image drawn by performing color classification for each classification (Sato: figure 10).
Regarding claim 9, Sato discloses outputting includes notifying an observer observing a user of the toilet of a classification result (Sato: paragraph 0025).
Regarding claims 22-26 and 35-36, please see the rejections above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 10-11 and 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (2023/0225714), hereinafter “Sato”.
Regarding claim 10, please see the above rejections. While not disclosed, it would have been obvious to determine whether a user of the toilet completes pretreatment before colonoscopy (Official Notice). Doing so would have been obvious in order to let an observer know when a patient is ready for a procedure.
Regarding claim 11, please see the rejections above.
Regarding claims 27-28 please note the rejections above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
20210265059 08/2021 Paineau
20200264098 08/2020 Huang
20180303466 10/2018 Kashyap
11604177 03/2023 Park
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/Dave Czekaj/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2487