DETAILED ACTION
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1, 2, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP2018183564 to Nawatt et al [hereinafter Nawatt] (see the attached translation).
Referring to claim 1, Nawatt discloses a body temperature estimation device (figures 10, 12A, 12B; paragraphs 644, 67) comprising:
a thermal image obtainer (10/11) that captures a face of a user in a capturing direction (from S) to obtain a thermal image including the face and a lateral side (ear) of a head of the user (paragraph 67), the capturing direction (from S) being a direction that obliquely intersects a reference direction (to 4) in which the user faces for body temperature estimation; and
an estimator (in 10/11) that estimates a body temperature of the user based on the thermal image (paragraph 67).
Referring to claim 2, Nawatt discloses the lateral side of the head being included in the thermal image includes an ear of the user (paragraph 67).
Referring to claim 13, Nawatt discloses a body temperature estimation method (figures 10, 12A, 12B; paragraphs 644, 67) comprising:
capturing a face of a user (using 10/11) in a capturing direction (from S) to obtain a thermal image including the face and a lateral side (ear) of a head of the user (paragraph 67), the capturing direction (from S) being a direction that obliquely intersects a reference direction (to 4) in which the user faces for body temperature estimation; and
estimating (using 10/11) a body temperature of the user based on the thermal image (paragraph 67).
Referring to claim 14, Nawatt discloses (paragraph 19) a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to execute the body temperature estimation method according to claim 13.
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.
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(s) 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 3, 4, 7, 8, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nawatt in view of U.S. Patent Application 2021/0007606 to Su et al [hereinafter Su].
Referring to claim 3, Nawatt discloses a device having all of the limitations of claim 3, as stated above with respect to claim 2, except for the ear of the user included in the thermal image including a tragus and a helix.
However, Su discloses (figure 6; paragraph 6, 37-39, 48, 49) a temperature sensitive device wherein a thermal image is obtained of a patient’s ear that includes the tragus and the helix of the ear in order to obtain a clinical sign of the patient.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the tragus and the helix of the ear of Nawwatt in order to obtain a clinical sign of the body, as suggested by Su.
Referring to claim 4, Nawatt in view of Su disclose a device having all of the limitations of claim 4, as stated above with respect to claim 3, wherein Nawatt discloses a display unit (4) that displays an image (figure 12B; paragraphs 16, 18, 20), wherein the thermal image obtainer (10/11) is disposed at a position other than at a center in a horizontal direction of a display surface of the display unit (4) (figure ,12A) and the reference direction is a direction in which the user directly faces the display unit (4)s.
Referring to claims 7 and 8, Nawatt in view of Su disclose a device having all of the limitations of claims 7 and 8, as stated above with respect to claim 1, wherein Nawatt discloses that the capturing direction of the thermal image obtainer (10/11) intersects the reference direction (to 4) at an angle (figure 12A), but does not explicitly disclose that the angle is at least 10 degrees (as in claim 7) or the angle being at most 90 degrees (as in claim 8).
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the angle of Nawatt in view of Su such that it is at least 10 degrees (as in claim 7) or at most 90 degrees (as in claim 8) in order to obtain a desires accuracy of the thermal imaging field of view; and since it has been held that, where the general conditions of a claim disclosed in the prior art, discovering the “optimum range” involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233 (CCPA 1995).
Referring to claim 11, Nawatt in view of Su disclose a device having all of the limitations of claim 11, as stated above with respect to claim 3, wherein Nawatt discloses an outputter (in 4) that outputs the body temperature of the user estimated by the estimator (paragraph 16).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 9, 10, and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record does not disclose or suggest the following in combination with the remaining limitations of the claims:
A body temperature estimation device further comprising an image obtainer that captures the user directly facing the display unit to obtain a face image of the user, wherein the display unit displays the face image (claim 5); wherein the thermal image obtainer is disposed in a portion of a mirror or on an edge of a reflective surface of the mirror, and the reference direction is a direction in which the user directly faces the mirror (claim 6); wherein the estimator does not estimate the body temperature of the user when the thermal image does not include the ear of the user (claim 9); and wherein the outputter does not output the body temperature of the user when the thermal image does not include the ear of the user (claim 12).
Conclusion
The references made of record and not relied upon by the examiner are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure by disclosing a body temperature determining device, but do not disclose the allowable subject matter stated above.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MIRELLYS JAGAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2247. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday-Friday 8-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kristina DeHerrera can be reached at 303-297-4237. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MIRELLYS JAGAN/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
6/19/26
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