Prior art — US Patent 6537227

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 6537227, I will examine the "Citations" section of the patent document itself. The patent document lists "Cited By" (patents that cite 6537227) and "Citations" (prior art cited against 6537227). For this task, "Citations" are the relevant prior art.

I will use the provided patent text to extract the citations, as direct access to the USPTO database for live search of citation details for a specific patent is not within my capabilities in this interactive format beyond what is already included in the provided patent text.

Based on the provided patent text, the following prior art documents are cited:

Most Relevant Prior Art for US Patent 6537227

Here are the prior art references cited in US Patent 6537227, along with available details:

US4566461A
- Full Citation: US4566461A
- Publication Date: 1986-01-28
- Filing Date: 1983-02-15
- Assignee: Michael Lubell
- Description: "Health fitness monitor." This patent describes a monitor for health and fitness, which could be relevant to the general concept of monitoring physiological parameters during exercise.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: Given its broad description as a "health fitness monitor," it could potentially anticipate aspects of claims related to measuring heart rate information (e.g., portions of claims 1, 15, 16) and displaying information, but likely lacks the specific calculation methodology involving energy consumption reference values derived from performance parameters. More specific analysis of the claims of US6537227 and US4566461A would be needed for a definitive statement.
US5297558A
- Full Citation: US5297558A
- Publication Date: 1994-03-29
- Filing Date: 1993-03-12
- Assignee: Medical Graphics Corporation
- Description: "Algorithm for prescribing an exercise regimen to enhance fat burning and cardiovascular fitness." This patent focuses on algorithms for exercise regimens, which might involve calculations related to physiological responses.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: This patent could potentially anticipate methods involving the assessment of physiological states during exercise and using algorithms for fitness, possibly touching upon claims related to calculating energy consumption (e.g., claims 1, 16) or using physiological parameters. The distinct feature of US6537227 being the use of energy consumption reference values from performance parameters would need to be carefully compared.
JPH0852119A
- Full Citation: JPH0852119A
- Publication Date: 1996-02-27
- Filing Date: 1994-08-10
- Assignee: Tanita:Kk
- Description: "Calorie consumption." The title explicitly indicates a focus on calorie consumption measurement.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: This appears highly relevant and could potentially anticipate claims 1 and 16 directly, especially those concerning assessing energy consumption during exercise. A detailed comparison would be needed to see if it utilizes "at least two calculating parameters, one of which is a heart rate parameter... and an energy consumption reference value obtained from one or more performance parameters."
US5640956A
- Full Citation: US5640956A
- Publication Date: 1997-06-24
- Filing Date: 1995-06-07
- Assignee: Neovision Corporation
- Description: "Methods and apparatus for correlating ultrasonic image data and radiographic image data." This patent describes methods for correlating medical imaging data.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: This patent appears to be less directly relevant to heart rate and energy consumption during exercise, focusing instead on medical imaging. It is unlikely to anticipate any claims in US6537227.
EP0845241A1
- Full Citation: EP0845241A1
- Publication Date: 1998-06-03
- Filing Date: 1996-06-12
- Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
- Description: "Consumed calorie measuring apparatus and body temperature measuring apparatus." The title directly indicates a calorie consumption measuring apparatus.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: Similar to JPH0852119A, this patent is highly relevant and could potentially anticipate claims related to assessing energy consumption (e.g., claims 1, 16). A careful comparison to ensure the specific calculation parameters of US6537227 are not present in this prior art would be necessary.
US5853351A
- Full Citation: US5853351A
- Publication Date: 1998-12-29
- Filing Date: 1992-11-16
- Assignee: Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.
- Description: "Method of determining an optimum workload corresponding to user's target heart rate and exercise device therefor." This patent discusses determining optimal workload based on heart rate.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: This could be relevant to claims involving heart rate parameters and individualized exercise, potentially anticipating aspects of claims that use heart rate in calculations (e.g., claims 1, 11, 16, 27). The specific "energy consumption reference value" based on "performance parameters" as described in US6537227 would be a key differentiating factor.
US5976083A
- Full Citation: US5976083A
- Publication Date: 1999-11-02
- Filing Date: 1997-07-30
- Assignee: Living Systems, Inc.
- Description: "Portable aerobic fitness monitor for walking and running." This patent describes a portable monitor for aerobic fitness.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: This patent broadly covers fitness monitoring and could potentially anticipate aspects of US6537227 relating to measuring heart rate during exercise (claims 1, 15, 16) and presenting data. However, the unique method of assessing energy consumption through specific calculating parameters might differentiate US6537227.
US6361502B1
- Full Citation: US6361502B1
- Publication Date: 2002-03-26
- Filing Date: 1997-05-21
- Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
- Description: "Non-invasive measuring device with different operating modes." This patent, also assigned to Polar Electro Oy, describes a non-invasive measuring device with various operating modes.
- Potential Anticipated Claims: As it is from the same assignee and deals with measuring devices, it is plausible that it covers aspects of heart rate measurement (claims 1, 15, 16) and possibly even some level of data processing related to exercise. However, without a detailed review of its claims, it's hard to ascertain if it anticipates the specific energy consumption assessment method of US6537227.

It is important to note that the original independent claims (Claim 1 and Claim 16) were cancelled during reexamination. Therefore, the analysis of potential anticipation should ultimately focus on the currently valid claims (2-15, 17-46, and 47-52). A comprehensive anticipation analysis would require comparing the specific language of these surviving claims against the detailed disclosures of the prior art documents.