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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed 12/18/2025 was entered. Claims 1, 6, 10 and 12 remain in the application. Claims 1, 10 and 12 were amended and claims 2-5, 7-9 and 11 were cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 6, 10 and 12 and the new amendment to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 8, 10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kondo et al. (US Pub. No. 20190297717 A1) in view of Cao et al. (US Pub. No. 20200249363 A1), Toru et al. (JP 2015192803 A), and Takanashi et al. (US 6491428 B1).
With regards to claim 1, Kondo discloses X-ray inspection apparatus, see1 FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, wherein the X-ray inspection apparatus 1 includes a housing 2, support legs 3, a conveyance unit 5, an X-ray emitter 6, an X-ray detector 7, a display-operation unit 8, and a controller 10. As depicted in FIG. 2, the display-operation unit 8 is provided to the housing 2. The display-operation unit 8 displays various types of information and receives inputs for various conditions. As depicted in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, on a rear side of the X-ray inspection apparatus 1, the cold-air blower 40 is disposed. The cold-air blower 40 draws air inside the housing 2 and outside the housing 2 from the air inlets 42, exchanges heat of the drawn air with a heat exchanger (not depicted), and supplies the air (cold air) cooled by this heat exchange from a supply port 41 into the housing 2 through a duct (ventilation channel) 50. In the present embodiment, the cold-air blower 40 is attached to the door 2a with which the housing 2 can be opened and closed. The door 2a is provided with a bracket 44 supporting a lower end of the cold-air blower 40 [0020] - [0031].
Kondo further discloses air-guiding unit configured to guide air to at least part of the X-ray detector 7 includes the cold-air blower 40, the first flow passage 61, the second flow passage 62, and the discharge fans 66 described above. As depicted in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, cold air supplied by the cold-air blower 40 is supplied from the supply port 41 of the cold-air blower 40 into the first duct 51 [0033]. The X-ray inspection apparatus 1 of the embodiment includes the cold-air blower 40 configured to supply cold air to the first flow passage 61 and the second flow passage 62, and thus the temperature of the X-ray detection unit 70 can be prevented from increasing [0043].
Kondo fails to expressly disclose dehumidifying by passing air through an evaporator, draining dew water generated by the evaporator, and humidity sensor monitoring humidity inside the housing and controller stopping power to the X-ray detection portion based on humidity.
Cao teaches evaporator-based dehumidification used to remove moisture from air supplied detector electronics (Figure 2A). Notice how air 2 is drawn in by the fan 213 passes through the evaporator 224 or a heat sink attached thereto (e.g. a fin heat sink in FIG. 3), the air 2 is cooled and also dehumidified due to condensation of moisture on the evaporator 224. The water that condenses on the evaporator 224 is later drained away in liquid form [0048], [0052] – [0054].
Toru relates to a detector in a temperature-controlled environment in order to reducing dew condensation. Toru teaches a detector apparatus (Figures 1 – 3 & 9 – 11) an X-ray source 15 generates X-rays. An X-ray detector 171 detects the X-rays from the X-ray source 15. A case 51 houses the X-ray detector 171. Fans 73 are provided in the case 51 and send air from an opening 61 of the case 51 toward another opening 61 of the case 51. A cooler 65 is provided between the two openings 61 and cools the air in the case 51 [0002], [0009] – [0018].
Toru discloses a humidity measuring instrument 77 measures humidity in the casing [0041] – [0043]. Toru further discloses an arithmetic processing circuit determines whether the humidity exceeds threshold value T1 [0042] and lastly, a switching signal is output when humidity exceeds the threshold value [0041] – [0042]. Toru teaches a humidity meter 77 used to evaluate the moisture absorption capacity may be any one of the humidity exceed meters 77-1, humidity meter 77-2, and humidity meter 77-3 [0041] – [0045].
Lastly, Toru teaches that when the arithmetic processing circuit 85 determines that the moisture absorption capacity has deteriorated to an allowable level, it supplies a switching signal to the humidity system drive circuit 83. As shown in FIG. 8, the calculation processing circuit 85 according to this embodiment repeatedly determines whether the humidity repeatedly measured by the humidity meter 77 (hereinafter referred to as the current humidity) exceeds the threshold value T1 when the temperature measured by the temperature meter 75 (hereinafter referred to as the current temperature) fluctuates between an upper limit TU and a lower limit TL [0041] – [0045], [0052].
Takanashi teaches an x-ray computed tomography apparatus (Abstract). FIG. 3 is a front view showing the rotor 17 shown in FIG. 2B. At the rotor 17, the radiator unit 12 is mounted in addition to the X-ray tube unit 11 and the X-ray detector 16. FIG. 4 shows a control system for controlling opening and closing of an exhaust port 3 and activation/deactivation of a ventilation fan unit 5. A ventilation controller 19 controls opening and closing of the exhaust port 3 and activation/deactivation of the ventilation fan unit 5. This controlling is performed based on the cabinet inside temperature detected by the temperature sensor 6 as described above; and activation/deactivation of the rotor 17 detected by the rotary encoder 10 (Col. 3, lines 33 to Col. 4, line 33).
Lastly, Takanashi teaches that when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor exceeds the predetermined value, power to the x-ray apparatus may be stopped (Col. 6, Lines 45 – 52) and further that a control portion stops supplying power to the X-ray detection portion when the humidity is greater than a predetermined value (Col. 6, Lines 45 – 65).
In view of the utility, to operate an x-ray device in combination with incorporating a humidity monitoring , evaporator based dehumidification into the cooling system of Kondo with a controlled-temperature environment while reducing dew and condensation ensuring improvement and prevent any unnecessary damage, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Kondo to include the teachings such as that taught by Cao, Toru and Takanashi.
With regards to claim 10, Kondo discloses X-ray inspection apparatus, see1 FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, wherein the X-ray inspection apparatus 1 includes a housing 2, support legs 3, a conveyance unit 5, an X-ray emitter 6, an X-ray detector 7, a display-operation unit 8, and a controller 10. As depicted in FIG. 2, the display-operation unit 8 is provided to the housing 2. The display-operation unit 8 displays various types of information and receives inputs for various conditions.
Kondo fails to expressly disclose that inside the housing, a non-condensation module group that is not affected by dew condensation and different from the module group is provided, and a temperature sensor that monitors a temperature inside the housing is provided, and the control portion supplies power to the non- condensation module group, and then starts an operation of a cooling function by the air conditioner in a case where the temperature monitored by the temperature sensor is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Toru discloses, see FIG. 7, a diagram for explaining the calculation of the dew point. The vertical axis in FIG. 7 is set to absolute humidity, and the horizontal axis is set to temperature. The absolute humidity corresponds to the humidity measured by the humidity measuring device 77. The arithmetic processing circuit 85 stores air curve data for each of a plurality of relative humidifies (Pages 1 – 12).
As shown in FIG. 7, the dew point is set to a temperature at a point P1 where the current absolute humidity intersects with an air curve having a relative humidity of 100%. A set temperature is set based on the dew point calculated in this way. The set temperature may be set to a value that is larger than the dew point by a predetermined value. The predetermined value can be set to an arbitrary value. (Pages 1 – 12).
As described above, the arithmetic processing circuit 85 controls the cooler 65 so as not to fall below the set temperature based on the dew point based on the temperature measured by the temperature measuring device 75-3 and the humidity measured by the humidity measuring device 77. Control. Specifically, the arithmetic processing circuit 85 calculates a cooling control amount such that the current temperature maintains the set temperature based on the difference between the current temperature and the set temperature (Pages 1 – 12).
Notice how the temperature system drive circuit 81 applies a drive signal corresponding to the cooling control amount from the arithmetic processing circuit 85 to the cooler 65. The cooler 65 cools at a cooling intensity corresponding to the drive signal from the temperature system drive circuit 81. Thereby, the temperature in the housing | casing 51 can always be hold | maintained in the dew point vicinity. Therefore, the X-ray detector 171 can be operated in a low temperature environment, and noise having temperature dependency of the SiPM 57 can be reduced. The dew point may be measured by a dew point measuring device (Pages 1 – 12).
The arithmetic processing circuit 85 repeatedly determines whether or not the current temperature is lower than a set temperature based on the dew point. The arithmetic processing circuit 85 supplies an ON signal to the temperature system driving circuit 81 when it is determined that the current temperature is not lower than the set temperature, and when it is determined that the current temperature is lower than the set temperature, the arithmetic processing circuit 85 sends an OFF signal to the temperature system driving circuit. 81. When the ON signal is supplied from the arithmetic processing circuit 85, the temperature system driving circuit 81 causes the cooler 65 to continue cooling. When the OFF signal is supplied from the arithmetic processing circuit 85, the temperature system drive circuit 81 causes the cooler 65 to stop cooling. Thereby, the arithmetic processing circuit 85 can stop the cooler 65 when the temperature is lower than the set temperature, and can immediately avoid a situation in which condensation is likely to occur (Pages 1 – 12).
In view of the utility, to operate an x-ray device in a controlled-temperature environment while reducing dew condensation, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Kondo to include the teachings such as that taught by Toru.
Notice that Takanashi also teaches temperature sensors and protective responses when temperature exceeds predetermined values (Col. 5 – 6).
With regards to claim 12, see the rejections of claims 1 and 10.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kondo et al. in view of Cao et al., Toru et al and Takanashi et al. in view of Moberg et al. (US Patent 7,704,227 B2).
With regards to claim 6, Kondo discloses the claimed invention according to claim 1, but fails to expressly disclose wherein the control portion further issues an alarm when the humidity monitored by the humidity sensor is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Moberg teaches the control mechanisms issuing alarms tied to humidity and a reference [0040], [0098], [0102], [0103].
In view of the utility, to improve damage control, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Kondo to include the teachings such as that taught by Moberg.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DJURA MALEVIC whose telephone number is (571)272-5975. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (9-5).
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/DJURA MALEVIC/Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2884