DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 9 of the Remarks, the Applicant states, “the ‘raised portion 260’ of Fei is not a protrusion provided on the surface of the ‘lens 244’ that contacts the object”.
Respectfully, the “lens 244” of Fei has not been directly cited in the previous Office Action. The claimed light transmissive member transmitting the measurement light and the reflected light is shown in cited Figure 2 (“LED 232” generates the light that is reflected and measured). The LEDs of Fei are shown to be recessed in a protrusion as shown in Figure 3 because the LEDs are located within the “recess 310”. The claimed ‘protrusions’ correspond to the cited ‘raised portion 260’ and this portion indeed is a contact surface of the device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is allowed.
Claim 5 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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) 1-4 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Fei (US 2014/0361147, of record).
Regarding claim 1, Fei discloses a living body information measuring apparatus (Abstract: physiological monitoring devices worn by a user), comprising: an enclosure having an enclosure surface that comes into contact with an object under inspection in a measurement state in which living body information on the object under inspection is measured (Figs. 2 and 3 show an enclosure); a light measurement portion disposed in the enclosure radiating measurement light to the object under inspection and receiving reflected light (Figs 2 and 3 show light measurement sections) ; and a light transmissive member transmitting the measurement light and the reflected light, having a contact surface that comes into contact with the object under inspection in the measurement state ([0041]: “optical detector 240 may comprise a photodiode 242 that may be contained by a lens 244; Fig. 2: “photodiode 242”), and including at least one protrusion and a recess at least a part of which is surrounded by the at least one protrusion, the at least one protrusion and the recess being located at the contact surface (Fig. 3 shows “raised portion 260” as a protrusion and “opening 320” and “opening 350” as recesses).
Regarding claim 2, Fei discloses that the light measurement portion includes a light radiator radiating the measurement light (Fig. 2: “Light sources 230”), and a light receiver receiving the reflected light (Fig. 2: “photodiode 242”), the at least one protrusion comprises a plurality of protrusions (Fig. 3 shows two protrusions “250” and “260”), and at least the light radiator out of the light radiator and the light receiver overlaps with any one of the plurality of protrusions when viewed in a facing direction in which the contact surface and the object under inspection face each other (Fig. 3 shows this overlap between light elements and the two protrusions “250” and “260”).
Regarding claim 3, Fei discloses that the at least one protrusion comprises a plurality of protrusions, and both the light radiator and the light receiver overlap with any one of the plurality of protrusions when viewed in the facing direction (Fig. 3 shows the light elements overlap the two protrusions “250” and “260”).
Regarding claim 4, Fei discloses that the at least one protrusion comprises a plurality of protrusions, at least two protrusions out of the plurality of protrusions are arranged side by side in a first direction (Fig. 3: the two protrusions “250” and “260” are side by side in a direction), and the enclosure includes a direction indicator indicating a mounting direction of the living body information measuring apparatus in such a way that the first direction is parallel to a widthwise direction of the object under inspection (Fig. 3: the enclosure is curved in a particular direction that is parallel to what can be considered to be the width of a person’s arm).
Regarding claim 7, Fei discloses that the at least one protrusion comprises an annular protrusion in which the recess is provided (Fig. 3 shows an annular shape for the protrusion).
Conclusion
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jason Ip whose telephone number is (571) 270-5387. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9a-5p PST.
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/JASON M IP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3793
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