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 .
This communication is in response to the remarks and amendments dated 4/06/2026. Claims 1-3, 5, 6, 8 and 9, as amended on 4/06/2025, are currently pending and have been fully considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 4/06/2026, with respect to 35 U.S.C. 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claims 1-9 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 4/06/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-9 under 35 USC 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Zalewski (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0160670).
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 1-3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0244309) in view of Zalewski (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0160670).
As per claims 1, 8 and 9. (Currently Amended) Ahn discloses a product search device comprising:
a memory configured to store instructions (see fig. 1); and
a processor (see fig. 1) configured to execute the instructions to:
acquire an image of products and user gaze information captured by a terminal device of a user for a product shelf on which the products are displayed
([0036] A device for providing customized content based on gaze recognition according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may recognize a user’s gaze by automatically adjusting the angle of a camera attached to the device in real time based on a captured image of the user and provide customized content based on gaze recognition, which is content including product information on an item that the user is gazing at.
[0188] Specifically, the content providing device 100 in the embodiment may output product information on the detected item based on the product information database 111 to the content display 171-1 as content.);
extract, from the image of products, an area including a target product based on the user gaze information, and generate a target image of the target product based on the extracted area
([0011] Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a device and method for providing customized content based on gaze recognition which output content for a product that a user is gazing at.)
perform recognition processing on the target image to recognize the target product in the target image
(see fig. 3 and [0179] Here, the detected item may include product information corresponding to an advertisement and additional information with respect to the item. To this end, the content providing device 100 in the embodiment may individually match product information included in each item sold to the user 1 using the content providing device 100 with each item and store the same in the product information database 111 in advance.); and
acquire product information of the target product including ingredients included in the target product and user information including ingredients affecting health of the user or health of the user’s pet
(see fig. 3 and [0187] Then, the content providing device 100 in the embodiment may output content with respect to the detected item (S113).).
However, Ahn does not appear to explicitly disclose the highlight, in the product information, harmful ingredients included in the target product that are harmful for the health of the user or the health of the user’s pet based on the user information; and output, to the terminal device, the product information highlighting the harmful ingredients included in the target product that are harmful for the health of the user or the health of the user’s pet to cause the terminal device to display the product information to the user with the harmful ingredient highlighted to notify the user of a presence of the harmful ingredients
Zalewski teaches methods and systems for identifying accounts of a shopper to account for taken items in cashier-less transaction with the features of:
highlight, in the product information, harmful ingredients included in the target product that are harmful for the health of the user or the health of the user’s pet based on the user information
([0201] For example, guidance may be provided to a customer known or detected to adhere to a specific diet, known to choose products of a specific nutrition level or who may avoid nuts, may be provided information responsive to the user's specific diet profile. Discounts, incentives, or other messages may appear on the display for a specific individual shopper detected to be viewing the display.
[0221] The smartphone may have sliders that allow adjustment of parameters such as nutritional information or price information and as the parameters change, it causes only those items that meet the parameters to be highlighted on the display. Highlighting may include casting glow or calling attention to the item but it may also include filtering out all other items in the screen, so only the items that meet the parameters are shown.); and
output, to the terminal device, the product information highlighting the harmful ingredients included in the target product that are harmful for the health of the user or the health of the user’s pet to cause the terminal device to display the product information to the user with the harmful ingredient highlighted to notify the user of a presence of the harmful ingredients
([0201] For example, guidance may be provided to a customer known or detected to adhere to a specific diet, known to choose products of a specific nutrition level or who may avoid nuts, may be provided information responsive to the user's specific diet profile. Discounts, incentives, or other messages may appear on the display for a specific individual shopper detected to be viewing the display.
[0221] The smartphone may have sliders that allow adjustment of parameters such as nutritional information or price information and as the parameters change, it causes only those items that meet the parameters to be highlighted on the display. Highlighting may include casting glow or calling attention to the item but it may also include filtering out all other items in the screen, so only the items that meet the parameters are shown.).
From this teaching of Zalewski, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system and method of Ahn to include the highlighting, taught by Zalewski, in order to meet users specific preferences.
As per claim 2, (Currently Amended) Zalewski discloses he product search device according to claim 1, wherein the processor highlights, in the product information, useful ingredients included in the target product that are useful for the health of the user or the health of the user's pet based on the user information, and outputs, to the terminal device, the product information highlighting the useful ingredients included in the target product that are useful for the health of the user or the health of the user's pet to cause the terminal device to display the product information to the user with the useful ingredients highlighted
([0201] For example, guidance may be provided to a customer known or detected to adhere to a specific diet, known to choose products of a specific nutrition level or who may avoid nuts, may be provided information responsive to the user's specific diet profile. Discounts, incentives, or other messages may appear on the display for a specific individual shopper detected to be viewing the display.
[0221] The smartphone may have sliders that allow adjustment of parameters such as nutritional information or price information and as the parameters change, it causes only those items that meet the parameters to be highlighted on the display. Highlighting may include casting glow or calling attention to the item but it may also include filtering out all other items in the screen, so only the items that meet the parameters are shown.).
The combination is made by the same rationale as above.
As per claim 3, (Currently Amended) Zalewski discloses the product search device according to claim 2, wherein the processor outputs information of a recommended product which includes the useful ingredients and is different from the target product ([0059] The server is configured to collect the product information that is of interest to the user and using said information to provide recommendations to the user regarding other items that may be of interest and/or to provide discount or promotional information for the item or other items.).
The combination is made by the same rationale as above.
As per claim 5, (Currently Amended) Wilkinson discloses the product search device according to claim 1, wherein the processor outputs information of a recommended product which is an alternative to the target product and does not include the harmful ingredients for health
([0004] Increasing efforts are being made to present a given consumer with one or more purchasing options that are selected based upon some preference of the consumer. When done properly, this approach can help to avoid presenting the consumer with things that they might not wish to consider.
[0048] These teachings will accommodate a variety of differing bases for such partialities including, for example, a person's values, affinities, aspirations, and preferences.
The “preferences” are construed as including health information).
The combination is made by the same rationale as above.
As per claim 6, (Currently Amended) Ahn discloses the product search device according to claim 3, wherein the image of products is an image of the products in a store, wherein the processor selects the recommended product from the products in the store (see fig. 2).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See Notice of References Cited form attached.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) 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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/OLUSEYE IWARERE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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