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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 6/10/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-2,6, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Patrício Domingues Gonçalves et al. (US 2019/0185806).
Regarding claim 1 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses a system for in-situ monitoring of a biochemical process in a reactor comprising a vessel (for receiving a liquid, characterized in that it comprises: (See , (Patrício Domingues Gonçalves Fig. 2 Abstract and [0026]-[0027] wherein monitoring of a biochemical process in a reactor vessel for receiving a liquid is performed.)
a measuring device intended to be inserted into said vessel , said measuring device being instrumented with sensors configured to take measurements relating to the biochemical process at successive instants and to transmit, at said successive instants, observation data representing at least the temperature and the density of the liquid, (Patrício Domingues Gonçalves Fig. 2 and [0026]-[0033] wherein temperature and density are measured pressure are measured by sensors at various instants and observation data representing temperature and density and transmitted to a control device
and a control device configured to control the regulation of the biochemical reactor (3) at said successive instants, according to said observation data received from the measuring device (8). , (Patrício Domingues Gonçalves Fig. 2 and [0026]-[0033]wherein the device is controlled by a control device configured to perform regulation, i.e. control, according to observation data received from the sensors.)
Regarding claim 2 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above as well as the device characterized in that said measurements comprise measurements of temperature of the liquid and at least one other type of measurements among the following measurements: mechanical measurements of pressures and/or gas flow rate, and/or accelerations and/or buoyancy level, electrical measurements of voltages and/or currents and/or resonance frequencies, and optical measurements. (See Patrício Domingues Gonçalves Fig. 2 and [0026]-[0028] wherein temperature and mechanical pressure are measured.)
Regarding claim 6 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above as well as the device in that the control device (11) is configured to control regulation of the biochemical reactor by at least one of the following actions: modification of the agitation speed, modification of the temperature, modification of the rate of oxygen supply, nutrient supply or other elements for activating or stabilizing the biochemical process, supply of yeasts or bacterial strains. (See Patrício Domingues Gonçalves [0026] wherein temperature is modified.)
Regarding claim 13 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above as well as the device characterized in that the measuring device comprises at least one temperature probe (13a, 13b), and a differential pressure sensor (151) comprising two connected tubes (151a, 151b) of different lengths. (See Patrício Domingues Gonçalves Fig. 2 and [0093] wherein there is a temperature probe 4 and a differential pressure sensor comprising two connected tubes of different lengths 3.
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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 3-5 and 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Patrício Domingues Gonçalves et al. (US 2019/0185806) as applied to claims above, and further in view of Shumodaira et al. (US 2020/0308529).
Regarding claims 3-4 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but does not specifically disclose the measuring device or control device comprises a microprocessor configured to determine at successive instants vectors of physical variables relating to the biochemical process according to the corresponding measurements made at said successive instants, and the observation data transmitted by the measuring device to said control device comprising said vectors of physical variables and said corresponding measurements.
Regarding claims 3-4 Shimodaira disclose controlling a reactor using a control device with a program run on a microprocessor and configured to determine vectors of physical variables relating to the biochemical process according to corresponding measurements in order to build a leaning and control model. (See Shimodaira abstract [0081] and [0121] wherein a microprocessor, i.e. CPU, runs a program which determines vectors of physical variables using corresponding measurements transmitted thereto.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a measurement and/or control device with a microprocessor and program configured determine vectors of physical variables based on measurement data as described by Shimodaira et al. in the device of Patrício Domingues Gonçalves because doing so allows for automated adjustment of device operation so that optimal product production is achieved as would be desirable in the device of Patrício Domingues Gonçalves.
Regarding claims 5 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above as well as the device characterized in that each of said vectors of physical variables comprises a temperature variable, a liquid density variable determined from measurements of buoyancy levels and/or pressures, and at least one other variable from among the following variables : gas release determined from pressure measurements, electrical conductivity and/or permittivity of the liquid determined from electrical measurements, movement of the liquid determined from acceleration measurements, PH and/or redox potential determined from electrical measurements, dissolved oxygen and/or CO2 determined from electrical measurements and/or optical measurements, optical absorption spectrum and/or rotatory power determined from optical measurements. (See Patrício Domingues Gonçalves [0026]-[0033] wherein the vectors of physical variables include temperature and density determined from pressure measurements. Additional measurements include pH measurement and said measurement must be electrical to some extent in order to send electrical signals related to pH.)
Regarding claims 11-12 Patrício Domingues Gonçalves discloses all the claim limitations as set forth above but does not specifically disclose building a learning model.
Regarding claims 11 and 12 Shimodaira disclose controlling a reactor using a control device configured to build a property learning model defining correlations associating properties of the final product according to the corresponding physical and characteristic variables and control device is configured to determine said correlations by estimating a learning function using a statistical model of neural network type. (See Shimodaira Abstract and [0007]-[0008] wherein a final product, i.e. glutamic acid concentration, is associated with physical characteristics, i.e. pH, temperature, and characteristic variables, i.e. amount of aeration. The device uses a learning model of the neural network type to create such a model.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use a control device with a learning model with neural network to estimate product concentration associating physical and characteristic variables as described by Shimodaira et al. in the device of Patrício Domingues Gonçalves because doing so allows for automated adjustment of device operation so that optimal product production is achieved as would be desirable in the device of Patrício Domingues Gonçalves.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 and 14-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN M HURST whose telephone number is (571)270-7065. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7AM-4PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Marcheschi can be reached on 571-272-1374. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN M HURST/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799