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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 3/27/2025 and 1/27/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 3/27/2025 are approved by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-3, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jung (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0010359).
With respect to claim 1, Jung discloses: A distance measurement device to be used in a golf course [ taught by the abstract ], comprising: a storage unit that stores a reference position within a green of a golf course [ paragraph [0002] states, “…data stored in a memory and for use in displaying map representation of a plurality of golf courses on the information display…”; figure 2B and figure 2C ]; a current position identifying unit that identifies a current position of the distance measurement device [ paragraph [0002] states, “…In one aspect, a golf device comprises a GPS module configured to receive GPS signals for determining a location of the golf device…” ]; a measuring unit that measures a distance from the current position to a measurement target and a direction of the measurement target with respect to the current position [ paragraph [0002] states, “…a laser module configured to emit laser beams and detect reflections thereof from a target when the target is selected for determining a distance between the golf device and the target…” ]; a measurement target position identifying unit that identifies a measurement target position [ paragraph [0002] states, “…an orientation module configured to monitor movement of the golf device for determining an orientation of the golf device when the golf device aims the target and laser beams are emitted to the target; an information display configured to display information thereon…” ], which is a position of the measurement target, on the basis of (i) the current position and (ii) the distance and the direction measured by the measuring unit [ figure 2C shows the relative position of a golfer (202) and a target flag (206); figure 9B shows the relative position of a user (906) and a target tree (910) ]; and a display processing unit [ paragraph [0002] states, “…an information display configured to display information thereon…” ] that causes a display unit to display the reference position and an edge line of the green when the measurement target position identifying unit has not identified the measurement target position or when the measurement target position is not within a predetermined range corresponding to the reference position [ figure 9B displays a green and flag as reference positions and their location relative to a target tree (910) that is not the target flag and at a range (181 yards) not at the center of the green (173 yards) ], and causes the display unit to display the measurement target position and the edge line of the green when the measurement target position is within the predetermined range corresponding to the reference position [ figure 2C displays the position of the (golfer (202) with respect to the intended target flag (206)].
Claim 10 is anticipated by the subject matter of Jung, as applied to claim 1.
With respect to claim 2, Jung discloses: wherein the display processing unit causes the display unit to display the reference position as a pin position when the measurement target position is not within the predetermined range [ figure 9B displays the green and flag, although the tree distance is measured ], and causes the display unit to display the measurement target position as the pin position when the measurement target position is within the predetermined range [ taught by figure 2C ].
With respect to claim 3, Jung discloses: wherein the display processing unit causes the display unit to display a distance from the current position to the measurement target position [ figure 10 displays distance to the target flag (167 yards) ] and a distance to a position where a straight line connecting the current position and the measurement target position intersects an edge line of the green [ figure 10 displays a distance to the front edge of the green (160 yards) based on line (1012) ].
With respect to claim 9, Jung discloses: wherein the display processing unit causes the display unit to display the measurement target position when (i) the measurement target position has not been identified by the measurement target position identifying unit [ in figure 9B, the device displays the intended measurement target (green and pin); although the device measures range to a non-intended target (tree) ], or (ii) the measurement target position identified by the measurement target position identifying unit is not within a predetermined range corresponding to the reference position [ in figure 9C, the range of the tree is not the intended shot range ], and the measurement target position is within the green [ in figure 9C, front, center and back range values for the intended shot are given ].
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0010359).
Claim 4 would have been obvious to a skilled artisan because golf course map stored by the device of Jung would have included par 3 holes wherein the location of an approach shot to the green is from a teeing area.
Claims 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0010359) in view of Uchimoto et al (JP 2019092685 A).
Figure 16 of Uchimoto et al teaches locating the distance of a golf pin and its location within a green area defined by boundaries wherein page 3 of the translation states:
“…Then, the processing unit 1 performs pin position registration processing for associating the acquired pin position 31 with the green diagram 30 of the green image 39. The timing at which the pin position registration process is performed varies, and for example, after the above-described current position hole determination process, the pin position 31 stored in advance in the storage unit 3 is read out, and a green diagram 30 corresponding to the determined hole. It may be done by associating it with Alternatively, after the current position hole determination process, the process may be performed by reading out the green diagram 30 corresponding to the determined hole and associating the acquired pin position 31. Alternatively, there may be a case where the acquired pin position 31 is associated with the green diagram 30 corresponding to the pin position 31 before the current position hole determination processing. As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 and FIG. 7 to FIG. 7, after the processing of determining the current position hole, the processing unit 1 places the pin position 31 around the pin position 31 on the green diagram 30 of the green image 39. A green edge distance calculation process is performed to calculate the distance from the point to the green edge 32 by 360 degrees. The pin position registration process described above may be performed before the green edge distance calculation process, and may be performed before or after the current position hole determination process…”.
These teachings establish that it was known before the effective filing date of the present application to have precisely located the pin for range and its location within a green boundary wherein the measured location is used to update its stored location.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in modifying the device of Jung to include the teachings of Uchimoto et al because updating the pin location would have provided better real time information to other golfers.
The combination of Jung and Uchimoto et al would have produced the subject matter of claims 5-8.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to MARK HELLNER at telephone number (571)272-6981.
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
/MARK HELLNER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
