DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Internet/E-mail Communication
In order to permit communication regarding the instant application via email, Applicant is invited to file form PTO/SB/439 (Authorization for Internet Communications) or include the following statement in a separately filed document (see MPEP 502.03 II):
Recognizing that Internet communications are not secure, I hereby authorize the USPTO to communicate with the undersigned and practitioners in accordance with 37 CFR 1.33 and 37 CFR 1.34 concerning any subject matter of this application by video conferencing, instant messaging, or electronic mail. I understand that a copy of these communications will be made of record in the application file.
If such authorization is provided, please include an email address in the remarks of a filed response. The examiner’s e-mail address is CHRISTOPHER.LEGENDRE@USPTO.GOV.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments filed 29 January 2026 with respect to the claims have been fully considered. Any claim objections and/or 35 U.S.C. 112 rejections not repeated herein are considered to be overcome by the amendments.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant's remarks/arguments filed 29 January 2026 addressing the previous modification over Emde have been fully considered. The Office respectfully notes that the term(s) “modeling” and/or “installation situation” is/are broad/non-specific, and there is no indication in the disclosure as to how a “model” is distinguished from an “installation situation”. Nevertheless, in order to reduce the number of issues of contention, Emde has been replaced by newly discovered reference Siwek et al. in the instant prior art rejections.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1, 3, and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (i.e., Applicant’s disclosure - hereafter referred to as APA) in view of Ahola et al. (US 9,200,995 - hereafter referred to as Ahola; previously cited), NPL Reference Siwek et al. (Siwek, Tomasz et al. “Numerical and Experimental Study of Centrifugal Fan Flow Structures and Their Relationship with Machine Efficiency”, Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 23, No. 6 (2014), 2359-2364; hereafter referred to as Siwek; see attached copy), and Poll et al. (US 5,137,428 - hereafter referred to as Poll; previously cited).
In reference to claim 1
APA discloses:
A method for the quantitative determination (see pg.1:ll.21-23 and pg.2:ll.6-8) of a current operating state-dependent variable of a fan;
controlling (see pg.1:ll.21-23) the fan based on the determined current operating state-dependent variable.
APA does not disclose the remaining method steps.
Ahola discloses:
a method of determining a current operating state-dependent variable (e.g., Fan pressure - Figure 3b) of a fan by:
-storing (see col.5:ll.4-10) a characteristic curve of the fan in fan storage (43 - Figure 4);
-obtaining a volume flow (i.e., Qest - see e.g. Figure 3b) of the fan;
-calculating a characteristic curve (i.e., a curve represented by a dashed-line in Figures 3a and 3b - see col.3:ln.52 through col.4:ln.6) for a current rotational speed of the fan from a stored calibration characteristic curve (i.e., a curve represented by a solid-line in Figures 3a and 3b - see col.3:ln.52 through col.4:ln.6);
-determining (see Figure 2 showing the process of using calibration curve; also see col.4:ll.12-17) the intersection point of the calculated characteristic curve for the current rotational speed with a line of the determined volume flow or mass flow of the fan;
-determining or reading (see Figure 2 showing the process of using calibration curve; also see col.4:ll.12-17) the current operating state-dependent variable at the intersection point.
APA further discloses (see pg.1:ll.21-23) that knowing current operating state-dependent variables is beneficial for fan control and/or higher-level system control.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of APA to include the method of determining an operating-state variable of Ahola for the purpose of ensuring reliable and/or accurate determination thereof (due to use of a known method for this purpose/application). Furthermore, it is noted that reliable and/or accurate determination of current operating state-dependent variables enables improved control/regulation of the fan and/or a higher-level system in which the fan is installed.
Siwek discloses:
a method of determining a characteristic curve of a rotor fan using a computational fluid dynamics model of an installation situation (i.e., a situation having components A, B, and C - see Figures 1-3) of the rotor fan.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of APA in view of Ahola to include modeling an installation situation of the fan using computational fluid dynamics to determine the characteristic curve, as disclosed by Siwek, since computer simulation offers a relatively inexpensive solution that can be performed in advance of the installation situation (thereby allowing a shortened installation period and/or avoiding operational downtime need to perform in-situ determination of the characteristic curve).
Poll discloses:
a ventilating device comprising a fan (5) and a flow measuring wheel (6; see col.4:ll.43-46) that is co-axial with the fan and rotates independently of the fan.
APA further discloses that it is known to measure volume flow rate via an impeller anemometer (see col.2:ll.15-17).
Ahola further discloses that flow rate is obtained by an indirect determination (see col.4:ll.7-11).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of APA in view of Ahola to include a flow measuring wheel that is co-axial with the impeller, as disclosed by Poll, for the purpose of enabling accurate determination (i.e., via measurement) of the volumetric flow rate (note: such a modification would improve the accuracy of the value for this variable compared to the indirect determination used by Ahola).
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll therefore addresses:
the method comprising:
modeling (Siwek) an installation situation for the fan to define a calibration characteristic curve;
storing (Ahola) the calibration characteristic curve to storage on the fan;
during operation of the fan, measuring a volume flow of the fan using a flow measuring wheel (Poll - 6), wherein the flow measuring wheel rotates about a common axis (as in Poll) as an impeller of the fan and rotates independently (as in Poll) from the impeller;
calculating (Ahola - see col.3:ln.52 through col.4:ln.6) a characteristic curve (Ahola - dashed-lines in Figures 3a and 3b) for the current rotational speed of the fan from the calibration characteristic curve (Ahola - solid line in Figures 3 and 3b) stored on the fan,
determining (see Ahola Figures 2, 3a, and 3b) the intersection point (Ahola) of the calculated characteristic curve for the current rotational speed with a line (see Ahola Figures 2, 3a, and 3b) of the determined volume flow of the fan, and
determining (see Ahola Figures 2, 3a, and 3b) or reading the current operating state-dependent variable at the intersection point.
In reference to claim 3
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll addresses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein a calibration characteristic curve (see Ahola Figure 3b) is stored on the fan and is based on a specific speed or a specific speed curve, wherein the calibration characteristic curve describes a functional relationship (see Ahola Figure 3b) between volume flow (i.e., Flow rate - Ahola Figure 3b) and an operating state-dependent variable (i.e., Fan pressure - Ahola Figure 3b).
In reference to claim 11
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll addresses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein controlling the fan comprises controlling the rotational speed (as part of limiting drive torque - see APA pg.2:ll.28-30) of the fan based on the determined current operating state-dependent variable.
In reference to claim 12
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll addresses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises providing the determined current operating state-dependent variable for read out by a user or a higher-level system (see APA pg.1:ll.23-24).
In reference to claim 13
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll addresses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises or (note: strike-through text is ignored since at least one of establishes it as optional) providing (i.e., determining)(note: providing does not contribute further step(s) to the claimed method; a value that is determined is necessarily provided to something) at least one of
the determined current operating state-dependent variable and
(note: strike-through text is ignored since at least one of establishes it as optional)
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, Poll, and NPL reference Aerovent (“Fan Engineering: Temperature & Altitude Effects on Fans”, Aerovent, 2018; previously cited).
In reference to claims 5-7
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll addresses:
The method according to claim 1. (claims 5 and 6)
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll does not address:
the current operating state-dependent variable is further determined based on a current air density by multiplying a value read from the intersection point with a ratio between the current air density and a density corresponding to the calibration characteristic curve, wherein, when the current operating state-dependent variable represents a pressure increase, the pressure increase is proportional to the air density. (claim 5)
the method comprises measuring, calculating, or estimating a current air density to be used for multiplying a value read from the intersection point with a ratio between the current air density and a density corresponding to the calibration characteristic curve to determine the current operating state-dependent variable. (claim 6)
The method according to claim 6 wherein, the method comprising determining the ratio of the current air density to the air density corresponding to the stored calibration characteristic curve, and determining the current operating state-dependent variable by multiplying the ratio with the value read from the intersection point (claim 7)
Aerovent discloses:
fan pressure varies directly with the ratio of the current air/gas density to the standard density (i.e., the density associated with a standard/cataloged characteristic curve - see pg.1:col.1:par.3 and pg.1:col.1:par.4); the ratio of the current density to the standard/cataloged density effects fan performance (see pg.1:col.1:par.2 and Figure 2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of APA in view of Siwek, Ahola, and Poll to include adjusting for density using a density ratio, as disclosed by Aerovent, for the purpose of achieving accurate representation of the operating conditions.
APA in view of Ahola, Siwek, and Poll therefore addresses:
the current operating state-dependent variable is further determined based on a current air density (due to the modification over Aerovent) by multiplying (e.g., Pc = P (ρc/ρ) - Aerovent pg.1:col.1) a value read from the intersection point with a ratio (i.e., ρc/ρ - Aerovent pg.1:col.1) between the current air density and a density corresponding to the calibration characteristic curve, wherein, when the current operating state-dependent variable represents a pressure increase, the pressure increase is proportional to the air density. (claim 5)
the method comprises measuring, calculating, or estimating a current air density (due to the modification over Aerovent)(note: determining density must be achieved by measuring, calculating, or estimating) to be used for multiplying a value read from the intersection point with a ratio between the current air density and a density corresponding to the calibration characteristic curve to determine the current operating state-dependent variable.. (claim 6)
The method according to claim 6 wherein, the method comprising determining a ratio (i.e., ρc/ρ - Aerovent pg.1:col.1) of the current air density to the air density corresponding to the stored calibration characteristic curve, and determining the current operating state-dependent variable based on the ratio by multiplying (e.g., Pc = P (ρc/ρ) - Aerovent pg.1:col.1) the ratio with the value read from the intersection point. (claim 7)
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 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER RYAN LEGENDRE whose telephone is (571)270-3364 and email is christopher.legendre@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM ET.
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/CHRISTOPHER R LEGENDRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3711