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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/15/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments and new claims merit new grounds for rejection in view of Mault et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0027164). Applicant's arguments filed 12/15/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant confines their remarks solely to the amended subject matter taught in view of Mault and therefore, the remarks are considered moot in light of the new grounds for rejection, below.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mault et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0027164) hereinafter referred to as Mault.
Regarding claim 22, Mault teaches a device for tracking a person's food consumption comprising:
a camera (¶[0096]) which is worn like a watch face (watch element 90, Fig. 9a-9b) which is configured to have been rotated 180 degrees around a person's wrist (the watch of Mault is capable of turning);
wherein images recorded by the camera are analyzed to identify types and quantities of food (¶[0022], ¶¶[0083-0084]).
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) 1 and 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0098018) hereinafter referred to as Kim; in view of Jerauld (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0147829) hereinafter referred to as Jerauld; in view of Mault et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0027164) hereinafter referred to as Mault.
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a device for tracking a person's gestures comprising:
a watch band which is worn on a person's wrist (Fig. 3);
a motion sensor on the watch band (¶[0034] inertial measurement unit); and
a camera on the watch band at a location which is configured to correspond to that of a watch face which has been rotated 180 degrees around the person’s wrist (¶[0034] camera, any portion of the band may be considered to meet this requirement as the examiner’s position is that people are able to wear a watch face at any position around their wrist);
wherein data from the motion sensor is analyzed to detect a selected hand motion (Fig. 2, ¶¶[0030-0031], ¶[0081]);
wherein the camera is triggered to record images when the selected hand motion is detected (¶¶[0078-0079]); and
wherein artificial intelligence, machine learning, and/or pattern recognition is used to analyze the images (¶[0081]).
Kim does not teach tracking a person’s food consumption, including analyzing images in order to identify types and quantities of food in the images.
Attention is drawn to the Jerauld reference, which teaches tracking a person’s food consumption (¶[0129]), including analyzing images in order to identify types and quantities of food in the images (¶[0105]) with gesture-based control (¶[0104]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the monitoring wearable of Kim to include automatic food recognition and tracking, as taught by Jerauld, because tracking food benefits user health, and automatic recognition of food removes tedious steps for improving health (Jerauld ¶[0001]).
It is the examiner’s position that the band of Kim as modified is not structurally distinct from a watch band as claimed. However, in case Applicant disagrees with this interpretation, attention is further brought to the Mault reference, which teaches a watch band with a camera for logging food consumption (Fig. 9a-b, element 90 watch, camera lens 92 and IR sensor 91).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the wristband of Kim as modified to use an electronic watch, as taught by Mault, because Mault considers handheld PDAs, pens, watches, and personal ornamentation (such as a band) to be equivalent devices for recording food data. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success in using an electronic watch in lieu of a band supporting electronics, as there is no change in how each functions, and no criticality to the form of watch or other personal ornamentation band. Therefore, all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. KSR, 550 U.S. at 416, 82 USPQ2d at 1395;
Regarding claim 4, Kim as modified teaches the device in claim 3.
Kim further teaches wherein the camera is an integral part of the watch band (Fig. 3, IR camera element 304 ¶[0034], Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 5, Kim as modified teaches the device in claim 1.
Kim further teaches wherein the camera has a focal vector which is substantially-parallel to the plane of the circumference of the watch band and which points radially-outward from the circumferential center of the watch band (Fig. 3-4, the focal vector is determined in calibration ¶[0051], Fig. 9 and is substantially parallel to the circumference of the band width itself).
Regarding claim 6, Kim as modified teaches the device in claim 1.
Mault further teaches wherein the camera has a focal vector which is substantially-parallel to the plane of the circumference of the person’s wrist and which points radially-outward from the circumferential center of the person’s wrist (Fig. 9a-b).
Conclusion
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/AMANDA L STEINBERG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3792