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
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
The term “large” in claims 1, 3 and 7 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “large” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. This further renders the term "predetermined number of ones whose frequency is large" indefinite..
Claim 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The term “predetermined number of ones” is indefinite as it is unclear to what “ones” is referring.
Claim 2 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 2 recites the limitation “switching the displaying on the display from among a day unit, a week unit, a month unit, and a year unit”. It is unclear what “from among” means as it could be interpreted as the displaying switching from one of these units, to one of these units, from all of these units, to all of these units, or some combination of these interpretations. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 4 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 4 recites the limitation “displaying by at least a day unit”. It is unclear if this means displaying at least one day, i.e. one or more days, or if this means displaying at least one unit that is a day unit. Appropriate correction is required.
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 –
Claim(s) 1-4, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yamaya (US 2016/0223519 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yamaya teaches A health managing system comprising:
an excreted stool information acquiring unit that acquires excreted stool information corresponding to an excretion of a stool of a user (fig. 4, paragraphs [0041], [0067]);
an excreted stool state determining unit that determines an excreted stool property of an excreted stool corresponding to the excreted stool information based on the excreted stool information acquired by the excreted stool information acquiring unit (fig. 4, paragraphs [0047], [0144]);
a display to be browsed by the user (fig. 5, paragraphs [0068], [0220], [0221]); and
a display processing unit that executes a process for causing the display to display, as time series data, the excreted stool property that is determined by the excreted stool state determining unit (fig. 6, 10A, 10B, paragraph [0232]), wherein the display processing unit is further configured to:
be capable of switching displaying for each predetermined time interval (fig 25, paragraphs [0232], [0237], [0243]); and from among excreted stool property patterns during the predetermined time interval, execute a process for causing the display to display a predetermined number of ones whose frequency is large (fig. 12, 16, paragraphs [0047], [0054], [0281], [0284], [0307] – Reliability is based on frequency and only ones with high reliability are shown).
Regarding claim 2, Yamaya teaches The health managing system according to claim 1, wherein the display processing unit is further configured to: execute a process for switching the displaying on the display from among a day unit, a week unit, a month unit, and a year unit (fig 25, [0232], [0237], [0243]).
Regarding claim 3, Yamaya teaches The health managing system according to claim 1, wherein the display processing unit is further configured to: in a case where executing displaying by at least a month unit or a year unit (paragraph [0220] – “there is displayed a table showing change in physical condition of a test subject for the last one month”), execute a process for causing the display to display a predetermined number of patterns whose frequency is large from among patterns corresponding to excreted stool properties during the predetermined time interval (fig. 6, [0220], [0221], “amount of healthy-state gas” and “amount of wrong physical conditional state gas” are frequency of patterns corresponding to the predetermined interval).
Regarding claim 4, Yamaya teaches The health managing system according to claim 1, wherein the display processing unit is further configured to: in a case where executing displaying by at least a day unit, display all excreted stool properties of the user determined by the excreted stool state determining unit (fig. 5 – all 4 previous defecations are in at least day units, shown by “this morning”, “yesterday afternoon”, “yesterday before noon” and “before the day before yesterday” and stool properties are described in the physical condition and measurement reliability sections).
Method claim 7 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore, the method claim 7 corresponds to the apparatus claim 1, and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used 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.
Claim(s) 5, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaya in view of Kizuka (JP 2022147796 A).
Regarding claim 5, Yamaya teaches the health managing system according to claim 1 wherein the excreted stool state determining unit is further configured to: determine the excreted stool property including a type, an amount of an excreted stool (paragraph [0047], [0306], [0362]), and the display processing unit is further configured to: execute a process for causing the display to execute displaying based on a pattern corresponding to a combination of the type, and the amount (figs. 5, 23 & 24, paragraphs [0047], [0118], [0306] – reliability, which is takes into account both amount and type of stool, is used for determining and displaying the pattern of “healthy-state gas”.).
Yamaya fails to teach a color of an excreted stool.
However, Kizuka teaches wherein the excreted stool state determining unit is further configured to: determine the excreted stool property including a type, an amount, and a color of an excreted stool (paragraph [0015], [0057], [0086]), and the display processing unit is further configured to: execute a process for causing the display to execute displaying based on a pattern corresponding to a combination of the type, the amount, and the color (paragraphs [0193], [0196] – it appears the word “flight” has been mistranslated from a similar Japanese character that means “poop”). Kizuka is considered analogous to the claimed invention as it is in the same field of stool analysis systems. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Kizuka with Yamaya to utilize the stool color and improve presentation and accuracy of data as color can be a useful piece of information in analyzing stool.
Regarding claim 8, Yamaya teaches A health managing system comprising:
an excreted stool information acquiring unit that acquires excreted stool information corresponding to an excretion of a stool of a user (fig. 4, paragraphs [0041], [0067]);
an excreted stool state determining unit that determines an excreted stool property of an excreted stool corresponding to the excreted stool information based on the excreted stool information acquired by the excreted stool information acquiring unit (fig. 4, paragraphs [0047], [0144]);
a display to be browsed by the user (fig. 5, paragraphs [0068], [0220], [0221]); and
a display processing unit that executes a process for causing the display to display, as time series data, the excreted stool property that is determined by the excreted stool state determining unit (fig. 6, 10A, 10B, paragraph [0232]), wherein the excreted stool state determining unit is further configured to: determine a type of a stool, an amount of the stool (paragraph [0047], [0306], [0362]), and the display processing unit is further configured to execute a process including: executing time series displaying on stool by using a graph in which a lateral axis corresponds to time and a vertical axis corresponds to a pattern of a stool (figs. 6, 10A, 10B, 34 – these figures show graphs with stool patterns on the vertical axis and time on the lateral axis, while only figure 6 is explicitly described as being displayed directly to the user, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to display the already determined graphs to allow the user to see a more detailed analysis of their stool information).
Yamaya fails to teach determine a color of the stool; displaying a graph in which a color of each point in the graph indicates a color of a stool, and a size of the corresponding point indicates an amount of the stool.
However Kizuka teaches determine a color of the stool (paragraph [0015], [0057], [0086]); displaying a graph in which a color of each point in the graph indicates a color of a stool, and a size of the corresponding point indicates an amount of the stool (paragraph [0193]). Kizuka describes the use of a bubble chart wherein the size of a circ le corresponds to the number of each shape of stool, this is analogous to the amount of a specific type of stool, which is a size corresponding to an amount of stool. While Kizuka does not specifically describe utilizing the color of the stool as the color of the point in the graph, a color is commonly used to denote another variable in a bubble chart and it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize color as this variable. Kizuka is considered analogous to the claimed invention as it is in the same field of stool analysis systems. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Kizuka with Yamaya to utilize the stool color and improve presentation and accuracy of data as color can be a useful piece of information in analyzing stool.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaya in view of Kizuka and Zhu (CN 109378077 A).
Regarding claim 6, Yamaya in view of Kizuka teaches The health managing system according to claim 5.
Yamaya in view of Kizuka fails to teach wherein the display processing unit is further configured to: execute a process for causing the display to display the pattern based on a preference order of the type, the amount, and the color in this order.
However, Zhu teaches a pattern based on a preference order of the type, the color and the amount, in this order (last paragraph of pg. 9 – first paragraph of pg. 10). Zhu describes a hierarchical diagnosis system with a priority order including type, color and amount in that order, with other features as well. While Zhu does not explicitly teach a pattern based on a preference order of the type, the amount, and the color in this order, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try, from a finite number of identified solutions (possible orders of priority) and switch the order of amount and color in terms of priority. Zhu is considered analogous to the claimed invention as it is in the same field of stool analysis and diagnosis. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Zhu with Yamaya in view of Kizuka in order to improve the effectiveness of diagnosis.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Aidan W McCoy whose telephone number is (571)272-5935. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM-5:00 PM EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tammy Goddard can be reached at (571)272-7773. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AIDAN W MCCOY/Examiner, Art Unit 2611
/TAMMY GODDARD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2611
Prosecution Insights