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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“wherein the load applying portion is either” should instead read as “wherein the load applying portion is one of the following:” since the word “either” is used to present two options, whereas the claim presents six variations of an elastic body.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
Kaffes et al. (US 20120059281 A1) (disclosed by Applicant) in view of
Umeda et al. (JP 2016083004 A) (disclosed by Applicant) (hereinafter – Umeda) (citing SEARCH translation).
Re. Claim 1: Kaffes teaches a manual muscle strength testing device (Title; Abstract)
comprising:
an other-finger fixation portion capable of fixing a middle finger, a ring finger, and a little finger of a subject (Fig. 1: base 15, holes 20, and restraint element 25 Paragraph 0023: “An adjustable restraint suitable for use in the present disclosure may include any structure that is capable of immobilizing a subject's hand except for that portion of the hand being tested (e.g., one or more fingers or thumb);“ Paragraph 0032: “An adjustable restraint 10 is shown comprising a base 15, holes 20 and adjustable restraint elements 25, which are used to restrain at least a portion of the subject's hand from motion during the progression of the strength test. During testing, a subject's hand is positioned onto base 15 and one or more adjustable restraint elements 25 are at least partially inserted into one or more holes 20 so as to isolate extraneous hand movement”).
Kaffes does not teach an inertial sensor wearable on a fingertip of an index finger of the subject, being capable of measuring movement of the fingertip and recording or transmitting movement measurement data.
Umeda teaches analogous art in the technology of monitoring finger movement (Abstract). Umeda further teaches an inertial sensor wearable on a fingertip of an index finger of the subject, being capable of measuring movement of the fingertip and recording or transmitting movement measurement data (Figs. 1-4: motion detection device 1 comprising triaxial acceleration sensor 7).
It would have been obvious to one having skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified Kaffes to include the use of motion detection device of Umeda, the motivation being that doing so provides more granular information regarding finger movement, such as directional acceleration and load from contacting surfaces.
Kaffes as modified by Umeda further teaches the invention comprising:
a load applying portion that applies a load to the fingertip wearing the inertial sensor (Fig. 1: force transfer member 40 in combination with elements of force sensor 30),
wherein the load applying portion is either
an elastic body that is fixed to a ventral side of the fingertip and contracts with a force in a direction the fingertip moves to the ventral side (Fig. 2: force sensor 35 comprises load cell which includes elastic elements as per Paragraph 0027; Paragraph 0036: “The force transducer enclosure (FTE) is a self-contained module… The interface between the FTE and the pegboard base is composed of a custom sleeve that allows for free rotation and height adjustment about the vertical axis via an adjustable lock collar;” thus, the device of Kaffes teaches an elastic body capable of being fixed to a variety of positions, including to a ventral side of the fingertip via load transfer member 40 and contracting against a direction of force applied in the use case that the load cell is oriented parallel to the direction of force),
an elastic body that is fixed to a nail side of the fingertip and extends with a force in a direction the fingertip moves away from the nail side,
an elastic body that is fixed to a thumb side of the fingertip and contracts with a force in a direction the fingertip moves to the thumb side (see Paragraph 0040: test configuration wherein orientation of the load cell was adjusted to be perpendicular to the force being measured),
an elastic body that is fixed to an other-finger fixation portion side of the fingertip and extends with a force in a direction the fingertip moves away from the other-finger fixation portion,
an elastic body that is fixed to the nail side of the fingertip and contracts with a force in a direction the fingertip moves to the nail side, or
an elastic body that is fixed to the ventral side of the fingertip and extends with a force in a direction the fingertip moves away from the ventral side.
Re. Claim 2: Kaffes as modified by Kaffes teaches the invention according to claim 1. Umeda, in teaching further detail regarding the modification, further teaches the invention comprising
a pressure sensor wearable on the fingertip (Figs. 1-4: pressure sensor 8), being capable of
measuring magnitude of a load applied to either the ventral side, the thumb side, or the nail side of the fingertip (see incorporation in Kaffes) and
recording or transmitting load measurement data (Abstract: transmission of measurement data),
wherein
the inertial sensor and the pressure sensor are fixed to a ring wearable on the fingertip (Fig. 2: device is an open-ended ring, akin to Applicant’s Fig. 3(a)),
the pressure sensor is fixed to all of or any one of the ventral side, the thumb side, and the nail side of the fingertip at an outside circular portion of the ring, and the load applying portion applies a load to the pressure sensor fixed to either the ventral side, the thumb side, or the nail side of the fingertip (see incorporation in Kaffes).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN XU whose telephone number is (571)272-6617. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-5:00.
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/JUSTIN XU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3791
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