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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, each instance of “Ethylene” should be changed to “ethylene” as ethylene does not need to be capitalized.
Regarding claim 1, each instance of “CO2” should be changed to “CO2” and each instance of O2 should be changed to “O2”.
Regarding claim 1, line 60 recites “the zero rate of change of the respiration rate” and should be “a zero rate of change of the respiration rate”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 in lines 15-18 recites “preprocessing raw signals from the heterogenous sensors for filtering of unwanted frequencies and preventing overlapping of the raw signals, reducing high frequency noise and converting raw signals to digital signals”. However, the specification specifically discloses “preprocessing” data and doesn’t specifically recite “preprocessing raw signals” see paragraphs [0041]-[0043] of the PGPUB specification.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 recites “generating, via the one or more hardware processors, alerts based on the preprocessing of the raw signals” however this is not specifically recited in the specification. See PGPUB paragraphs [0046] and [0043]
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.
Claim 1 is 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.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 recites in lines 3-8 “obtaining levels of environment condition parameters associated with ripening of the climacteric fruit at periodic intervals by using an enclosure enclosing the climacteric fruit, via heterogenous sensors and one or more hardware processors, the environment condition parameters comprising CO2 emitted, O2 consumed, Ethylene emitted, temperature and relative humidity measured within the enclosure” and then recites in lines 8-14 “wherein… the heterogeneous sensors automatically capture periodic and synchronized sensory data and images pertaining to the climacteric fruit…wherein the sensory data comprising of values or levels of the environment condition parameters comprising the temperature, the relative humidity, the CO2 emitted, the O2 consumed, the ethylene emitted”.
It is unclear if the step of obtaining levels of environment condition parameters associated with ripening of the climacteric fruit at periodic intervals in lines 3-8 is the same as or different from the step of “wherein… the heterogeneous sensors automatically capture periodic and synchronized sensory data and images pertaining to the climacteric fruit…wherein the sensory data comprising of values or levels of the environment condition parameters comprising the temperature, the relative humidity, the CO2 emitted, the O2 consumed, the ethylene emitted” recited in lines 8-14. If the steps are the same, the claim should be reworded to avoid redundancy.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 in lines 15-18 recites “preprocessing raw signals from the heterogenous sensors for filtering of unwanted frequencies and preventing overlapping of the raw signals, reducing high frequency noise and converting raw signals to digital signals”. Since the claim uses “for”, it is unclear if this means that the raw signals from the heterogenous sensor are preprocessed by filtering of unwanted frequencies and preventing overlapping of the raw signals, reducing high frequency noise and converting raw signals to digital signals.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 recites “the environment conditions” in line 74. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It appears the rejection can be overcome by changing “the environment conditions” to “environment conditions”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Taken with the 112bs the closest prior art of record fails to disclose or reasonably teach that the heterogeneous sensors capture synchronized sensory data and images where the sensory data is the levels of environment condition parameters of CO2 emitted, O2 consumed, Ethylene emitted, temperature and relative humidity in the enclosure while preventing overlapping of raw sensor signals.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s remarks filed 10/14/2025 have been considered however the current amendments have raised new 112 issues as discussed above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
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/A.A/
Ashley AxtellExaminer, Art Unit 1792
/ERIK KASHNIKOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1792