DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims each recite “a programmable control system…to provide variable torque to the axial fan and to rotate the axial fan to variable speeds that in turn provide variable air flow to change a temperature of the interior space based on one of the following: real time process cooling demand, historical trending, weather input, and feedback control loops to anticipate thermal requirements”, which when read in light of the specification, apparently refers to a signal being generated based upon current weather data fed to a processor and/or historical data indicating trending as a function of a given date and time, which data is stored in a memory device. The generation of the transitory signal that is to be sent to the programmable control system is tantamount to a mental process performed by a human presented with the same weather data or historical data. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the use of the programmable control system (generic computer) is simply use of a known device to perform the mental process (abstract idea) of analyzing the collected weather date of stored historical data. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the elements of the claims prior to the last passage of the claims are all known in the prior art (as evidenced by the prior art rejection herein, which is repeated from the previous Office action), wherein applicant is relying upon the mental process performed by the generic programmable control system (computer) to separate the claimed invention from the known prior art.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for a patent.
Claims 1-21 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being clearly anticipated by WO 2014/123804 A2.
WO 2014/123804 A2 to Prime Datum Development Company, LLC (hereinafter referred to as ‘PDD') teaches a heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system (Abstract) as recited by independent claim 1, comprising a chiller (Abstract; page 1, line 12; page 16, lines 3-5, 11, 12) including a condenser coil having a coolant therein (6012; pg. 157, lines 3-4; Fig. 27); an axial fan (6006 or 6030; pg. 156, line 25 to pg. 157, line 6; Fig. 27) which is used in a known manner to condition air in an interior space, the axial fan being disposed within a round duct of the HVAC system (Figs. 27 and 28; page 45, lines 19-22) that complements the shape of the fan and seals the fan at the narrow region around the fan to provide proper fan head, which creates a pressure differential to move and balance air in the HVAC system; a high torque, variable speed, load bearing permanent magnet motor (motor 2004 of direct-drive system 2000); pg. 42, lines 10-11, 16-17; pg. 43, lines 4-6, 8-11; pg. 44, lines 2-5; pg. 46, lines 13, 24; pg. 47, lines 1-4 (note that the permanent magnet motor may be as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,188,698); pg. 48, lines 2-3; and pg. 49, lines 7-8; Figs. 2A, 4, and 27) comprising a casing (21) having an interior (pg. 109, lines 13-14; Fig. 4), a stator (32) and rotor (34) located in the interior of the casing (pg. 48, lines 5-6) for creating flux (pg. 42, lines 6-7), and a rotatable shaft (2006) connected to the fan (pg. 42, lines 11-17), the motor comprising a bearing system (40, 42, and 44) for bearing fan loads and enabling the variable speed, load bearing motor to rotate the fan in a forward direction or reverse direction (pg. 48, line 1 to pg. 49, line 8; Fig. 4), wherein rotation of the fan causes air-flow through the condenser coil (pg. 157, lines 2-6; Fig. 4), the bearing system comprising a spherical roller thrust bearing (40) for absorbing the thrust loads resulting from the weight of the fan and the airflow produced by rotation of the fan (pg. 48, lines 8-11), a cylindrical roller bearing (42) for opposing the radial loads at the thrust end of the rotatable shaft (pg. 48, lines 11-15), and a tapered roller output bearing (44) for opposing the reverse thrust loads resulting from reverse rotation of the fan and yaw loads (pg. 48, lines 15-19); and a device (23A) to generate electrical signals that cause rotation of the rotatable shaft of the motor in order to rotate the fan (pg. 92, line 20 to pg. 93, line 1).
With regard to the language added to independent claim 1 and the language of new dependent claim 21, which mirrors language removed from previous claim 1, applicant should note PDD at page 15, lines 1-3; page 18, lines 12-18; page 19, lines 7-9; page 20, lines 10-12; page 21, lines 7-13; page 23, lines 9-16, 21-23; page 25, lines 19-21; page 27, lines 13-17; page 63, lines 19-20; page 89, lines 10-11; page 100, lines 22-25; page 101, lines 7-11, 18-22; page 119, lines 2-5; page 142, lines 6-21; page 143, lines 1-8; page 144, lines 2-6; page 147, line 25 through page 148, line 3, wherein the reference specifically states that the fan speed and overall operation of the HVAC equipment and chillers are controlled in a forward predictive manner based upon historical weather data as a function of date and time, in the same manner as disclosed within the instant application. While the PDD reference does not specifically mention system lead and lag relative to the predictive control scheme thereof, one having ordinary skill in the art would have envisaged the manner in which system lead and lag would be affected by a forward predictive control scheme as disclosed by the PDD reference. As such, one having ordinary skill in the art would find the system lead and lag control, as set forth by dependent claim 21, to have been an inherent feature of the forward predictive control scheme as disclosed by the PDD reference. With regard to the language added to independent claim 1 pertaining to weather input data, applicant should note Figure 2L, which illustrates the “on-site weather station 316”, which feeds data to the data acquisition device (DAQ), which uses the programmable control means to control the variable torque and speed of the axial fan(s) within the HVAC system (page 16, lines 3-14). It should be noted that the very definition of an HVAC system is that which controls the condition of the air within an interior space of a building.
Regarding Claim 2, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 further comprising a first bearing housing (50) for housing the tapered roller output bearing (pg. 49, lines 10-11; Fig. 4) and a second bearing housing (52) for housing the cylindrical roller bearing and the spherical roller thrust bearing (pg. 49, line 11; Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 3, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 2 further comprising a first seal to isolate the first bearing housing from the interior of the casing (pg. 49, lines 11-13) and a second seal to isolate the second bearing housing from the interior of the casing (pg. 49, lines 11-13).
Regarding Claim 4, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 3 wherein the motor further comprises a motor shaft seal in tandem with the first and second seals (pg. 49, lines 17-18).
Regarding Claim 5, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 4 wherein the motor shaft seal comprises a bearing isolator (pg. 49, lines 17-18).
Regarding Claim 6, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the motor comprises a load bearing permanent magnet motor which may be a commutator motor (pg. 46, line 24; pg. 48, lines 2-3 and pg. 49, lines 7-8).
Regarding Claim 7, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the motor includes at least one sensor (400, 402, 404, and 406; pg. 109, lines 13-14 and pg. 111, lines 9-11; Fig. 4) for measuring vibrations and outputting signals representing the measured vibrations (pg. 109; lines 21-22).
Regarding Claim 8, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 7 wherein the motor includes at least one temperature sensor (420) to measure the temperature of the interior of the casing (pg. 116, line 10; Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 9, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 7 wherein the motor includes at least one temperature sensor (422) positioned on the stator to measure the temperature of the stator (pg. 116, lines 14-15; Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 10, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 7 further comprising a signal processor (DAQ device 200) for processing the signals outputted by the at least one vibration sensor (pg. 109, lines 17-24).
Regarding Claim 11, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the motor further comprises: at least one vibration sensor (400, 402, 404, and 406) positioned within the interior of the casing (pg. 109, lines 13-14 and pg. 111, lines 9-11; Fig. 4); at least one temperature sensor positioned within the interior of the casing (420, 421, and 422; pg. 115, line 24 to pg. 116, line 15);
an internal wiring network (electrical connections not shown) within the interior of the casing and electrically connected to the at least one vibration sensor (pg. 109, lines 17-20) and the at least one temperature sensor (pg. 116, lines 5-7); a signal connector (108) attached to the casing and electrically connected to the internal wiring network (pg. 109, lines 17-20); and external wires (110 and 112) connected to the signal connector for routing sensor signals to an external signal processing resource
(DAQ device 200; pg. 109, lines 17-24).
Regarding Claim 12, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the device to generate electrical signals comprises a variable frequency drive device (pg, 92, lines 23-25).
Regarding Claim 13, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the device to generate electrical signals comprises a variable speed drive device (pg. 89, lines 15-21).
Regarding Claim 14, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the motor is oriented such that the rotational shaft of the motor is vertically oriented (as in the case of the motor of direct-drive system 2000 driving fan 6006 as shown in Fig. 27; pg. 97, lines 12-16).
Regarding Claim 15, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the motor is oriented such that the rotational shaft of the motor is substantially horizontal (as in the case of the motor of direct-drive system 2000 driving fan 6030 as shown in Fig. 27; pg. 97, lines 16-17).
Regarding Claim 16, PDD teaches the heating ventilation and air-conditioning system according to claim 1 wherein the motor is oriented such that the rotational shaft is oriented at an angle (pg. 97, lines 17-19).
Regarding Claim 17, PDD teaches a heating ventilation and air-conditioning system (Abstract) comprising: a chiller (Abstract; page 1, line 12; page 16, lines 3-5, 11, 12) including a condenser coil having a coolant therein (6012; pg. 157, lines 3-4; Fig. 27); an axial fan (6006 or 6030; pg. 156, line 25 to pg. 157, line 6; Fig. 27) which is used in a known manner to condition air in an interior space, the axial fan being disposed within a round duct of the HVAC system (Figs. 27 and 28; page 45, lines 19-22) that complements the shape of the fan and seals the fan at the narrow region around the fan to provide proper fan head, which creates a pressure differential to move and balance air in the HVAC system; a high torque, variable speed, load bearing permanent magnet motor (motor 2004 of direct-drive system 2000; pg. 42, lines 10-11, 16-17; pg. 43, lines 4-6, 8-11; pg. 44, lines 2-5; pg. 46, lines 13, 24; pg. 47, lines 1-4 (note that the permanent magnet motor may be as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,188,698); pg. 48, lines 2-3; and pg. 49, lines 7-8; Figs. 2A, 4, and 27) comprising a casing (21) having an interior (pg. 109, lines 13-14; Fig. 4), a stator (32) and rotor (34) located in the interior of the casing (pg. 48, lines 5-6) for creating flux (pg. 42, lines 6-7), and a rotatable shaft (2006) connected to the fan (pg. 42, lines 11-17), the motor comprising a bearing system (40, 42, and 44) for bearing fan loads and enabling the variable speed, load bearing motor to rotate the fan in a forward direction or reverse direction (pg. 48, line 1 to pg. 49, line 8; Fig. 4), wherein rotation of the fan causes air-flow through the condenser coil (pg. 157, lines 2-6; Fig. 4), the bearing system comprising a spherical roller thrust bearing (40) for absorbing the thrust loads resulting from the weight of the fan and the airflow produced by rotation of the fan (pg. 48, lines 8-11), a cylindrical roller bearing (42) for opposing the radial loads at the thrust end of the rotatable shaft (pg. 48,
lines 11-15), and a tapered roller output bearing (44) for opposing the reverse thrust loads resulting from reverse rotation of the fan and yaw loads (pg. 48, lines 15-19), said motor further comprising at least one vibration sensor (400, 402, 404, and 406) positioned within the interior of the casing (pg. 109, lines 13-14 and pg. 111, lines 9-11; Fig. 4), at least one temperature sensor (420, 421, and 422) positioned within the interior of the casing (pg. 115, line 24 to pg. 116, line 15), an internal wiring network (electrical connections not shown) within the interior of the casing and electrically connected to the at least one vibration sensor and the at least one temperature sensor (pg. 109, lines 17-20 and pg. 116, lines 5-7), a signal connector (108) attached to the casing and electrically connected to the internal wiring network (pg. 109, lines 17-20), and external wires (110 and 112) connected to the signal connector for routing sensor
signals to a signal processing resource (DAQ device 200; pg. 109, lines 17-24); and
a device (23A) to generate electrical signals that cause rotation of the rotatable shaft of the motor in order to rotate the fan (pg. 92, line 20 to pg. 93, line 1).
With regard to the language added to independent claim 17, applicant should note PDD at page 15, lines 1-3; page 18, lines 12-18; page 19, lines 7-9; page 20, lines 10-12; page 21, lines 7-13; page 23, lines 9-16, 21-23; page 25, lines 19-21; page 27, lines 13-17; page 63, lines 19-20; page 89, lines 10-11; page 100, lines 22-25; page 101, lines 7-11, 18-22; page 119, lines 2-5; page 142, lines 6-21; page 143, lines 1-8; page 144, lines 2-6; page 147, line 25 through page 148, line 3, wherein the reference specifically states that the fan speed and overall operation of the HVAC equipment and chillers are controlled in a forward predictive manner based upon historical weather data as a function of date and time, in the same manner as disclosed within the instant application. With regard to the language added to independent claim 17 pertaining to weather input data, applicant should note Figure 2L, which illustrates the “on-site weather station 316”, which feeds data to the data acquisition device (DAQ), which uses the programmable control means to control the variable torque and speed of the axial fan(s) within the HVAC system (page 16, lines 3-14). It should be noted that the very definition of an HVAC system is that which controls the condition of the air within an interior space of a building.
With regard to claim 18, applicant should note at least line 24 on page 46 of the PDD reference, wherein it is stated that the permanent magnet motor may be in the form of a commutator motor.
With regard to the language of dependent claims 19 and 20, applicant should note the language on page 47, lines 3-4 of the PDD reference, wherein it is stated that the motor used by the PDD reference is the permanent magnet motor described in U.S. Patent No. 8,188,698, wherein the abstract of the noted U.S. Patent specifically describes a variable frequency drive device, as required by claim 20, having the characteristics and operational capabilities of claim 19.
With regard to the language of independent claims 1 and 17, i.e., a high torque, variable speed permanent magnet motor…having a rotor (rotatable shaft) directly connected to the fan, applicant should note specifically lines 2-3 of page 48 of the PDD reference, which state that the “motor 2004 is a high torque, low variable speed, permanent magnet motor.” Further, as mentioned above, U.S. Patent 8,188,698, which according to the PDD reference, specifically describes the fan drive motor used by the PDD reference, specifically states at col. 3, lines 45-48 of ‘698, “a fan drive system”…”comprising a high-torque, low speed permanent magnet motor having a rotatable shaft, a fan comprising a hub that is directly connected to the rotatable shaft”. This passage is repeated from the previous Office action to emphasize the disclosure by the PDD reference and U.S. Patent ‘698 that is cited throughout the PDD reference as teaching a preferred drive motor and shaft that is directly connected to the fan. Applicant should also note page 154, lines 23-25 (noted on lines 2-3 of page 9 of the previous Office action), and page 156, lines 17-18 of the PDD reference, which further note the direct connection of the fan to the rotatable shaft of the drive motor.
Applicant should note that the PDD reference has been applied based upon the understanding that the effective filing date of the instant application, and thus the instant claims recited currently within the instant application is February 6, 2015, i.e., the filing date of the provisional application associated with the parent application (15/548,545). If applicant wishes to dispute this assumption by alleging an earlier effective filing date associated with grandparent application 14/352,050, from which the instant application is a grandchild CIP, then applicant should point to specific sources of disclosure within the grandparent application which provides complete disclosure and enablement of the claimed invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed November 26, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With regard to the outstanding rejection of claims 1 and 17 under 35 U.S.C. 101, applicant’s representative simply states that he believes the amendments to the claims and arguments set forth against the prior art rejections overcome the rejections, without any discussion or specifics as to how the amendments might overcome the rejections. Such is not persuasive and thus the rejections must stand for the reasons set forth in paragraph 3 above.
With regard to the argument set forth against the rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a), applicant simply recites the amended passages of independent claims 1 and 17, stating that the PDD reference fails to disclose such, stating that the PDD reference is directed to a cooling tower exposed to external air and fails to disclose, teach or suggest at least every element of the rejected claims, such as but not limited to conditioning air for an interior space, an axial fan disposed within a round duct of an HVAC system that complements the shape of the axial fan and provides a seal about the axial fan, and providing variable torque to provide variable air flow to change a temperature of the interior space as recited by the independent claims. This is not found to be persuasive based upon the specific discussion as to the capabilities of the programmable control system disclosed by the PDD reference, as set forth in the rejection statement of paragraph 5 above. Since applicant has not addressed the position taken by the Examiner previously and again herein as to the inherency of the reference disclosed programmable control system to be able to control lead and lag of the HVAC system based upon historical trending data stored within the memory of the programmable control system (computer), as now removed from independent claim 1 and presented in new dependent claim 21, the rejections must stand as stated previously and again herein.
Conclusion
All claims are identical to or patentably indistinct from, or have unity of invention with claims in the application prior to the entry of the submission under 37 CFR 1.114 (that is, restriction (including a lack of unity of invention) would not be proper) and all claims could have been finally rejected on the grounds and art of record in the next Office action if they had been entered in the application prior to entry under 37 CFR 1.114. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL even though it is a first action after the filing of a request for continued examination and the submission under 37 CFR 1.114. See MPEP § 706.07(b). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES S BUSHEY whose telephone number is (571)272-1153. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 6:30-5:00.
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/C.S.B/1-2-26
/CHARLES S BUSHEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776