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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/28/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 16, 21-24, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Brunn et al. (US Publication 2018/0252741; IDS dated 12/23/2022 Cite No. A2; hereinafter Brunn).
With regards to claims 16, 28, and 29, Brunn discloses a method, a system, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing a computer program for monitoring at least one working machine (abstract) driven by a rotating machine (10; [0021]; FIG. 1), comprising the steps of:
detecting at least one item of detection information (via vibration sensor 12) of the working machine which is specific to an acceleration in the working machine ([0021]);
transmitting the detection information via a network to a central processing device (see line connecting 12 to 14; FIG. 1);
processing the transmitted detection information (via evaluation device 14) to determine rotational speed information specific to a rotational speed of the rotating machine ([0021, 0023]), wherein
in the processing step, a fundamental frequency and integral multiples of the fundamental frequency of the detection information ([0023-0024]) are normalized ([0026]) and therefore taken into account having the same amplitude to identify the fundamental frequency ([0025-0026]); and
using the identified fundamental frequency to determine the rotational speed of the rotating machine ([0028-0031]).
With regards to claim 21, Brunn discloses the method as claimed in claim 16, wherein
the processing step includes
performing a frequency analysis of the detection information to determine a frequency spectrum of the detection information ([0021]),
performing an identification of a plurality of frequencies in the frequency spectrum, wherein the identified plurality of frequencies are assigned to a fundamental oscillation ([0022-0023]), at least a predefined number of harmonics of the detection information, or both ([0028]),
performing a calculation on the basis of the identified plurality of frequencies, wherein the calculation is parameterized by the predefined number of harmonics ([0028-0031]).
With regards to claim 22, Brunn discloses the method as claimed in claim 21, wherein
the performance of the identification of the frequencies includes
identifying peak values (local maxima) in the frequency spectrum ([0023]), and
normalizing the identified peak values in the frequency spectrum ([0024-0026]), and the performance of the calculation is based on the normalized peak values ([0026-0027]).
With regards to claim 23, Brunn discloses the method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the calculation includes generating a sum spectrum in which an addition of the normalized peak values of the identified plurality of frequencies is performed in a weighted manner ([0025-0026]).
With regards to claim 24, Brunn discloses the method as claimed in claim 23, wherein the processing step includes performing a frequency determination on the basis of the sum spectrum in order to determine the rotational speed information, and the rotational frequency is estimated at a maximum of the sum spectrum ([0025-0028]).
With regards to claim 30, Brunn discloses the method as claimed in claim 16, wherein, in the processing step, the fundamental frequency is identified by evaluating the integral multiples of the fundamental frequency to distinguish the fundamental frequency from harmonics of the detection information ([0026, 0039]).
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.
Claims 17 and 25-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brunn et al. (US Publication 2018/0252741; IDS dated 12/23/2022 Cite No. A2; hereinafter Brunn) in view of Wang (CN 108982898 A; IDS dated 04/29/2026 Cite No. B11; see machine translation).
With regards to claim 17, Brunn teaches the method as claimed in claim 16. However, Brunn is silent regarding wherein the detecting is performed by an oscillation sensor on the working machine configured to sense oscillations in three directions orthogonal to one another and generate the detection information in the form of three-dimensional acceleration values.
Wang teaches a method for monitoring the operating status of a machinery ([0002]) wherein the detecting is performed by an oscillation sensor (vibration sensor) on the working machine configured to sense oscillations in three directions orthogonal to one another and generate the detection information in the form of three-dimensional acceleration values ([0049]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the vibration sensor having detailed descriptions as taught by Wang as the vibration sensor as taught by Brunn with reasonable expectation of sampling the vibration ([0048-0051]; Wang) as originally intended.
With regards to claim 25, Brunn teaches the method as claimed in claim 16. However, Brunn is silent regarding wherein the detection information is in the form of acceleration values in at least one or two or three dimensions, the processing step includes determining for each of the at least one or two or three dimensions the acceleration values, and an accumulation of the amplitudes of the frequency spectra of the at least one or two or three dimensions is performed to generate from the frequency spectra a cumulative frequency spectrum.
Wang teaches a method for monitoring the operating status of a machinery ([0002]) wherein the detection information is in the form of acceleration values in at least one or two or three dimensions ([0049]),
the processing step includes determining for each of the at least one or two or three dimensions the acceleration values ([0049]), and
an accumulation of the amplitudes of the frequency spectra of the at least one or two or three dimensions is performed to generate from the frequency spectra a cumulative frequency spectrum ([0051-0055]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the vibration sensor having detailed descriptions as taught by Wang as the vibration sensor as taught by Brunn with reasonable expectation of sampling the vibration ([0048-0051]; Wang) as originally intended.
With regards to claim 26, Brunn, as modified by Wang, teaches the method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the processing step includes an interpolation in the cumulative frequency spectrum and identifying frequencies in the interpolated frequency spectrum ([0050-0051]; Wang).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brunn et al. (US Publication 2018/0252741; IDS dated 12/23/2022 Cite No. A2; hereinafter Brunn) in view of Yoskovitz et al. (US Publication 2020/0182684; hereinafter Yoskovitz).
With regards to claim 18, Brunn teaches the method as claimed in claim 16. However, Brunn is silent regarding wherein the network is configured at least partially to use a mobile radio network, the Internet, or the mobile radio network and the Internet, and the detection information is generated by a plurality of working machines at different locations and transmitted to the processing device for central processing, and the processing step is performed for each of at least a portion of the plurality of working machines.
Yoskovitz teaches a system and method of monitoring a rotating machine (abstract; FIG. 1), wherein the network (including 150) is configured at least partially to use a mobile radio network ([0318]; FIG. 1 and 3A-B), the Internet, or the mobile radio network and the Internet, and the detection information is generated by a plurality of working machines (104, 106; FIG. 1) at different locations and transmitted to the processing device (via 260 and 150; [0313]) for central processing, and the processing step is performed for each of at least a portion of the plurality of working machines ([0270-0273]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to replace the connection as taught by Brunn with the network as taught by Yoskovitz to monitor multiple components of the rotation system ([0274-0275]; Yoskovitz).
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brunn et al. (US Publication 2018/0252741; IDS dated 12/23/2022 Cite No. A2; hereinafter Brunn) in view of Yoskovitz et al. (US Publication 2020/0182684; hereinafter Yoskovitz).
With regards to claim 19, Brunn teaches the method as claimed in claim 16. However, Brunn is silent regarding wherein the processing is an oscillation analysis from which the rotational speed information is determined based on a fundamental oscillation and further harmonics of the detection information.
Bauer teaches a method of determining the distribution functions of the harmonics of the
rotational frequency of the electrical machine (abstract), wherein the processing is an oscillation analysis from which the rotational speed information is determined based on a fundamental oscillation and further harmonics of the detection information (pages 3-4, highlighted portions).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further combine the teaching of determining the speed based on the frequencies of the harmonics as taught by Bauer to the measurement method as taught by Brunn to differentiate the erroneous measurement and or interference signals (page 5, highlighted portions; Bauer).
With regards to claim 20, Brunn, as combined with Bauer, teaches the (citations to Bauer unless specified otherwise) method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the fundamental oscillation is determined by an evaluation of the further harmonics (pages 4-5, highlighted portions).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG X.L NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1585. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/QXN/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/STEPHEN D MEIER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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