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 § 112
Claims 1-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim limitation “UNIT” has been evaluated under the three-prong test set forth in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, but the result is inconclusive. Thus, it is unclear whether this limitation should be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claims 1-11 and 13 include languages of the “a control unit”, “a reception unit” and “a notification unit” that are in means plus function format. Because, the phrase “unit” or “module” is/are the generic place holder. Upon reviewing of the Specification, there is no sufficient structure for the detection unit, the input unit and the output unit. Therefore, a correction is required.
The boundaries of this claim limitation are ambiguous; therefore, the claim is indefinite and is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
In response to this rejection, applicant must clarify whether this limitation should be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. Mere assertion regarding applicant’s intent to invoke or not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph is insufficient. Applicant may:
(a) Amend the claim to clearly invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, by reciting “means” or a generic placeholder for means, or by reciting “step.” The “means,” generic placeholder, or “step” must be modified by functional language, and must not be modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function;
(b) Present a sufficient showing that 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, should apply because the claim limitation recites a function to be performed and does not recite sufficient structure, material, or acts to perform that function;
(c) Amend the claim to clearly avoid invoking 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, by deleting the function or by reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to perform the recited function; or
(d) Present a sufficient showing that 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, does not apply because the limitation does not recite a function or does recite a function along with sufficient structure, material or acts to perform that function.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Benzaia et al [US 2018/0048950]
Claim 1. (Original) An information providing device comprising: a control unit that informs a target person of alerting information (the media device 104, see Figs. 1-4, para [0022, 0023]),
the target person being a target of a notification, wherein the control unit is configured to: acquire positional information of the target person (the controller 814 of the media device 104 acquires or requests location position data information of a user 102 from the wearable accessory device 110, 112, and/or workout module 136, which receives position information from one or more the sensors 116, 118, 120, 124, 126, 128, see Figs. 1-4, 8, para [0013, 0019, 0020, 0023, 0077]); and
inform, as alerting information, the target person of position associated information
that coincides with positional information of the target person and that coincides with a type of position associated information tied to identification information of the target person, among position associated information tied to the positional information
(the information communicated from the image module 130 to the navigation module 132 may identify the sensor data 138 from the first earpiece 110 as corresponding or coinciding to information from a right-hand perspective of the user 102 and may identify the sensor data 140 from the second earpiece 112 as corresponding or coinciding to information from a left-hand perspective of the user 102. Based on the information, the navigation module 132 may be configured to generate the audio signal 142. In the event that the information indicates that the user's head is not correctly positioned for receiving navigation directions to a particular location, the audio signal 142 may include updated navigation directions (or updated road conditions or a traffic congestion report, among other alternatives (see Fig. 1, para [0021, 0023]).
The controller 814 of the media device 104 may be used to determine head movement(s) based on the presence or absence of reference object(s) in images captured by the camera(s). In some cases, the head movement(s) may be used to provide updated navigation directions when the image data captured by the camera(s) indicates that a user's head is incorrectly positioned to receive navigation directions to a particular location. In this case, the media device may generate updated navigation directions that may prompt the user to move her head to a different orientation. Alternatively, the head movement(s) may be used to confirm that the user's head is properly positioned to receive navigation directions to a particular location, and in some cases the media device may generate a confirmation message, audio/visual alert to notify the user that her head is correctly positioned to receive the navigation directions (see Figs. 2, 8, para [0034]).
Claim 2. (Original) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein
the control unit is further configured to: inform, as the alerting information, the target person of position associated information in a case where a moving direction of the target person is a direction approaching a position indicated by the positional information tied to the position associated information, among position associated information tied to the positional information (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, and including alert message of moving direction of the movements of a user 102 to a navigation direction correctly location or position, see Figs. 1-5, 7, para [0013, 0014, 0023]).
Claim 3. (Original) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein
the control unit is further configured to: regardless of the positional information of the target person, inform the target person of predetermined emergency notification information (the emergency conditions or orientation criteria of a particular user 102, see Fig. 1, para [0017-0019, 0022, 0026]).
Claim 4. (Currently Amended) The information providing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage (the storage memory 804 and/or computer readable storage 822, see Fig. 8, para [0077-0082]) that stores therein, in a case where the position associated information tied to the positional information is acquired from an external device, the acquired position associated information tied to the positional information (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, such as the remote media device or computer 800, see Figs. 1-4, 8, para [0023, 0077]).
Claim 5. (Currently Amended) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to: change a notification method of the alerting information depending on the target person (the changing notification or warning to flashing red light for a deft person/user 102, see para [0015]).
Claim 6. (Currently Amended) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the position associated information tied to the positional information includes advancing direction information, and the control unit is further configured to: inform, as the alerting information, the target person of position associated information in a case where a moving direction of the target person coincides with a moving direction in the advancing direction information, among position associated information tied to the
positional information (as cited in respect to claims 1 and 2 above, and including the media device 104 is providing advance direction or previous navigation directions to a particular user 102, see Figs. 1-4, 7, para [0013, 0015, 0023]).
Claim 7. (Original) The information providing device according to claim 6, wherein
the advancing direction information includes information related to a direction to be careful about in an advancing direction, and the control unit is further configured to:
inform the target person of the direction about which the target person should be
careful (as cited in respect to claim 6 above, such as the advancing/previous navigation direction to a particular location or position of a particular user 102, see Figs. 1-7, para [0023, 0047, 0053-0059, 0068]).
Claim 8. (Currently Amended) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to: change a timing for informing the target person of the alerting information in accordance with a moving speed of the target person (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, and reads upon the movement direction and/or speed at one-time short distance of a particular user 102, see Figs. 3, 4, para [0040, 0049]).
Claim 9. (Currently Amended) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to: change a timing for informing the target person of the alerting information depending on the target person (reads upon the audio alert in response to a direction and/or a speed of detected movement over a first time, second time or one-time short distance and two-time long distance of a particular user 102, see Figs. 1-4, para [0025, 0028, 0040, 0049]).
Claim 11. (Currently Amended) The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the position associated information tied to the positional information includes at least one of danger occurrence information, crime occurrence information, and accident occurrence information (read upon the information such as emergency conditions, obstacles that block a user’s path, and/or orientation criteria, see para [0013, 0014, 0019, 0022]).
Claim 12. (Original) An information providing method comprising: acquiring positional information of the target person that is a target of a notification; and informing, as alerting information, the target person of position associated information that
coincides with positional information of the target person and that coincides with a type of position associated information tied to identification information of the target person, among position associated information tied to positional information (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, see Figs. 1-7).
Claim 13. (Original) An alerting device comprising: a reception unit that receives alerting information for a target person that is a target of a notification; and a notification unit that reports the received alerting information, wherein the alerting information is position associated information that coincides with positional information of the target person and that coincides with a type of position associated information tied to identification information of the target person, among position associated information tied to positional information (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, see Figs. 1-7).
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.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Benzaia et al [US 2018/0048950] in view of Zhang [US 2017/02228513]
Claim 10. Benzaia et al fails to disclose wherein the position associated information tied to the positional information includes notification time interval information, and the control unit is further configured to: inform, as the alerting information, the target person of position associated information in a case where a passage time point of the target person is included in a time interval related to the notification time interval information, among position associated information tied to positional information.
However, Benzaia et al teaches that the method includes receiving information at a media device 104 that is associated with movement of an accessory device 110, 112, see Figs. 1, 5-8, para [0015]). The computer-readable storage device stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations include receiving first image data captured (at a first time) by a first camera disposed within a first earpiece of an audio headset device and receiving second image data captured (at a second time) by the first camera disposed within the first earpiece. The operations further include identifying a movement (e.g., a head movement, a hand movement, a leg movement, or a combination thereof) based on the first image data and the second image data and sending an audio signal to the audio headset device that is determined based on the identified movement (see Figs. 2-4, para [0016, 0028, 0040, 0049]).
Zhang suggests that the mobile vital sign monitors 156 worn by a patient or customer, see Fig. 1, para [0019]). The logical operation of the system 110 to receive and process customer information and/or patient monitor vital sign information for the purpose of placing the customer in an appropriate initial of updated position in a particular queue, to notify the customer of their current or updated position with the particular queue, and to process customer responses to notification messages for the purpose of either repositioning the customer in the queue, transferring the customer to another queue or to deleting the customer from the queue will now be described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B. Subsequent to the customer being assigned a queue position, in Step 9 of FIG. 6B, the system 110 can generate and transmit a notification message to the customer informing them of their position in their assigned queue and the estimated period of time they will wait to either speak to a receptionist or receive a service (see Figs. 1, 6A, 6B, para [0035, 0038]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use or implement the notification message for a period of time of Zhang to the alert message from the detected data at a first time and the detected data at a second time of Benzaia et al for providing a higher accuracy result based on the times between receiving data information from a user/customer, and confirming of the notification message completely satisfied and responded by that user/customer.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cho et al discloses the electronic device includes a controller configured to identify each of a plurality of users located within a specific space, and generate a control command for controlling operation of at least one device associated with the specific space and user movement based on characteristic information related to each of the identified plurality of users. [US 2018/0257658]
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from examiner should be directed to primary examiner craft is Van Trieu whose telephone number is (571) 2722972. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Mr. Wang Quan-Zhen can be reached on (571) 272-3114.
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/VAN T TRIEU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
01/29/2026