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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 3-7, 9-22, 27-32, 38, 41 and 51-128 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to non-elected grouped inventions and species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 13 February 2025.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The limitations of “segments,” apertures” and “coupling element” do not have reference numbers within the instant filed specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “segments” recited in instant dependent claims 25, 26, 33 and 34, the “apertures” in instant dependent claim 23, and the “coupling element” recited in instant dependent claims 45, 46 and 47 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). In addition, instant independent claim 1 and some dependents recite: “at least one fin coupler,” thus encompassing a single, or only one “fin coupler” which not depicted in the instant drawings, thus an additional objection to the drawings for not depicting claimed limitations. An identical argument is made for the limitation “at least two transducers.” No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 25, 26, 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 45-47 and 49 are 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. Instant dependent claims 45-47 all recite the limitation “coupling element” and/or “another coupling element” and/or wherein the “coupling element is a recess.” However, the instant drawings fail to illustrate the “coupling element(s),” or the “coupling element is a recess” associated with a fin, and although the instant filed specification provides alleged “examples” of coupling elements, none of these examples are depicted within the instant drawings associated with a fin, thus rendering claims 45-47 unclear and indefinite. Similarly, instant dependent claims 25, 33 and 34 recites the limitation “segments” in relations to “fin protrusions.” The “segments” are not depicted in the instant drawings, nor are they adequately described and/or defined within the instant filed specification, thus rendering the claims unclear and indefinite.
Claim 33 recites the limitations “the fin protrusions” in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Claim 34 is also rejected due to its dependency.
Claim 36 recites the limitations “the sensing transducer” and “the driving transducer” in lines 1 and 2, respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 39 recites the limitations “the middle” and “the edges” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 40 recites the limitation “the cross axis" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 46 recites the limitation “the first fin" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 49 recites the limitation “the manner" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
All other claims identified are also rejected due to their dependency from one or more of the aforementioned claims rejected above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 8, 33, 34, 36 and 48-50 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 0950879 A1 to Jackson et al. Jackson et al. disclose a fin sensor (see Fig. 1 and entire reference) with a base/diaphragm (50), the base coupled to a first fin/probe and a second fin/probe (40), the fin sensor further having at least two transducers (270, 271, see Fig. 6 and para 0041) coupled to the fins, the first fin coupled to the second fin by at least one fin coupler/bolt (300) (as recited in instant independent claim 1); wherein the at least one fin coupler is a rod shaped fin coupler (as recited in instant dependent claim 2); wherein the at least one fin coupler couples the fins at locations that are substantially the same on corresponding faces of the fins (as recited in instant dependent claim 8); wherein the fins have fin protrusions (254, 256) that have corresponding segments, wherein the corresponding segments are segments that at least partially align in a cross axis (as recited in instant dependent claim 33); wherein the transducers are each coupled to two corresponding segments (as recited in instant dependent claim 34); wherein a sensing transducer of the two transducers is coupled to the fins upstream of where a driving transducer is coupled to the fins, as dependent on a desired/placement/orientation of the fins sensor (as recited in instant dependent claim 36); wherein the at least one fin coupler does not structurally form any part of the base or the at least two transducers, thus is an element of neither the base nor any of the at least two transducers (as recited in instant dependent claim 48); wherein the at least one fin coupler inherently is capable of influencing the motion of the fins differently from the manner in which the base influences the motion of the fins and from the manner in which the at least two transducers influence the motion of the fins (as recited in instant dependent claim 49); wherein the at least one fin coupler does not structurally form any part of the base or the at least two transducers, and thus is coupled to neither the base nor any of the at least two transducers (as recited in instant dependent claim 50).
Claim(s) 1, 8, 23-25 33-36, 43 and 44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. 3,625,058 to Dress et al. Dress et al. disclose a fin sensor (see Figs. 1-3 and entire reference) with a base/membrane (2), the base coupled to a first fin/probe and a second fin/probe (15), the fin sensor further having at least two transducers (8, 9) coupled to the fins, the first fin coupled to the second fin by at least one fin coupler (6, 7) (as recited in instant independent claim 1); wherein the at least one fin coupler couples the fins at locations that are substantially the same on corresponding faces of the fins (as recited in instant dependent claim 8): wherein the fins have fin protrusions (10) that protrude through apertures in the base, the transducers being coupled to the fins at the fin protrusions (as recited in instant dependent claim 23); wherein the base has an immersion side (corresponding to “L” in Fig. 2) and an external side (above membrane), the fin protrusions protruding through the base to the external side (as recited in instant dependent claim 24); wherein the fin protrusions have corresponding segments (top portions of (10)), wherein corresponding segments are segments that at least partially align in a cross axis (as recited in instant dependent claims 25 and 33); wherein the transducers are each coupled to two corresponding segments (as recited in instant dependent claims 26 and 34); wherein the at least one fin coupler includes a first fin coupler (6) and a second fin coupler (7) the first fin coupler coupled to the fins at a location upstream of a location at which the second fin coupler is coupled to the fins (as recited in instant dependent claim 35); wherein the sensing transducer (9) is coupled to the fins at a location upstream of where the driving transducer (8) is coupled to the fins (as recited in instant dependent claim 36); inherently further including some type of metering electronics via associated signals to drive the driving transducer and receive signals from the sensing transducer, wherein command signals to drive the fins in an out-of-phase (OOP) mode and to maintain a closed feed-back loop with the sensing transducer (see claim 1) (as recited in instant dependent claims 43 and 44).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 37, 39, 40 and 42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 0950879 A1 to Jackson et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. 2017/0241954 to Kuhnen et al. Jackson et al. disclose a fin sensor having all of the elements stated previously. Jackson et al. do not explicitly disclose the base is of varying hardness, the base being thinner in a middle than on edges; or of a varying material composition along a cross axis, as recited in instant dependent claims 37, 39 and 40 or a balance rib coupled to a base rib/base coupler being configured to at least partially restrict motion of the base in a vertical axis along a middle portion of the base, the middle portion defined by a middle of a cross axis, as recited in instant dependent claim 42. Kuhnen et al. disclose s fin sensor (4) (see entire reference) sharing many of the elements of the fin sensor disclosed by Jackson et al. including fins (10) and a base/membrane (7) both acting as an oscillatable unit; wherein the elements forming the oscillatable unit having varying mass distribution, stiffness and/or geometry which can be selected/adjusted (see paras 0011, 0024-0026, 0037, 0043). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the fin sensor disclosed by Jackson et al., by varying the stiffness and/or mass distribution and/or geometry of the base, including rib/base coupler geometry in a vertical axis along a middle portion of the base on a middle cross axis, by varying the material, or employing multiple materials of different hardness/densities/material properties, or thinner and/or thicker geometry aspects of the base, thus resulting/achieving different oscillatory modes, specifically higher oscillatory modes (see para 0037) and achieve best response results, and prevent overtones of the excitation frequency which are no longer excited (see para s 0024-0026), thus meeting the limitations of instant dependent claims 37, 39, 40 and 42.
As best understood, claim(s) 45-47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. 3,625,058 to Dress et al. as applied to claim 1 above. Dress et al. discloses a fin sensor having all of the elements stated previously. Dress et al. does not explicitly disclose aspects of a fin coupler(s) to couple at least one of the fins via the coupling element, in particular a recess coupling element as recited in instant dependent claims 45-47. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to employ any type of coupling element and/or known coupling means to join/fix/attach components of the fin sensor, as desired. Furthermore, the instant disclosure fails to state any criticality or details in regards to the coupling means, other than to join elements to one another, and, as such, it appears any known type of coupling means to those of ordinary skill in the art would function equally as well, thus meeting all the limitations recited in instant dependent claims 45-47.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant is invited to review PTO form 892 accompanying this Office Action listing Prior Art relevant to the instant invention cited by the Examiner.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner John Fitzgerald whose telephone number is (571) 272-2843. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM E.S.T. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor John Breene, can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-4107. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. The central fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOHN FITZGERALD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855