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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's response submitted December 11, 2025, has been received. The amendment of claims 1 and 3-8, is acknowledged. Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding Applicant’s arguments beginning on page 6 of the response directed to the timing features, it appears that Applicant asserts that the measurement of offset temperatures occurs before or at start. However, it is noted that the claim limitation provides for “upon starting the system”, was considered broadly as a dependent factor which does not require before or at a start time, merely that starting has occurred. Further, S202 of Tang occurs after S200 labeled as start in Fig. 2. Regarding Applicant’s presentation of diagrams, while the effort is appreciated, it is noted that the specification and drawings do not incorporate the provided diagrams. Further, Examiner disagrees with the present diagram of Claim 1. In particular, the “offset” and “measured temperatures of ambiance…” steps are indicated as occurring before or at start. The claim language does not support this interpretation as the “before or upon start” language only occurs with the measurement of a component and environment temperatures sensor. Regarding the application of offset, this is also provided in Tang at Fig. 2, S204 and S206.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Pub. 2019/0195694 (“Tang”).
Claim 1
Tang discloses a calibration method for a system comprising at least one electronic component (paragraph [0017, 0029], FPA module 104), at least one component temperature sensor associated with said at least one electronic component (paragraph [0017, 0028-0029], temperature sensor for FPA device) and at least one environment temperature sensor, for calibrating said at least one component temperature sensor(paragraph [0017, 0028-0029], temperature sensor for environment), the calibration method comprising:, - before or upon starting the system, measuring the temperatures of said at least one component temperature sensor and said at least one environment temperature sensor (Fig. 2, S202), - determining a reference temperature from the temperatures measured (Fig. 2, S204), - calculating, for each component temperature sensor, an offset such that the temperature measurement of the component temperature sensor (Fig. 2, S208, paragraph [0047]), corrected by the offset, equals the reference temperature, - correcting, by applying the offset, to each subsequent temperature measurement (paragraph [0047]).
Claim 2
Tang discloses the calibration method according to Claim 1, wherein the reference temperature is a statistical quantity obtained from the temperatures measured (paragraph [0048], statistical average and regressions).
Claim 4
Tang discloses the calibration method according to Claim 1, further comprising: starting the at least one electronic component and measuring a voltage (V) and a current (I) across the at least one electronic component; for each electronic component (paragraph [0031-0033]), estimating, using a thermal model (M) to estimate a temperature of the at least one electronic component as a function of a voltage (V) and a current (I) (Figs. 3 and 4; paragraph [0031-0033]), - calculating, for the electronic component, a linearity coefficient such that the temperature measurement of the component temperature sensor corrected by the offset and multiplied by the linearity coefficient equals the estimated temperature (Figs. 3 and 4), and - correcting by applying the linearity coefficient to each subsequent temperature measurement (Figs. 3 and 4).
Claim 8
Tang discloses the calibration method of claim 1, wherein the system is formed of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) (paragraph [0055]).
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 3, 5, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2019/0195694 (“Tang”) in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2011/0249371 (“Jin”).
Claim 3
Tang discloses the calibration method according to Claim 1.
Tang does not appear to explicitly disclose further comprising generating a degraded temperature sensor alarm if the absolute value of the offset is greater than a threshold equal to 15°C.
Jin discloses a thermal protection control unit including an alarm unit that issues an alarm over a specified threshold (Figs. 8 and 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated an alarm, as disclosed by Jin, into the method of Tang, such that a degraded temperature sensor alarm is issued if the absolute value of the offset is greater than a threshold, preferably equal to 15°C, for the purpose of improving accuracy and reliability (Jin, paragraph [0022]).
Claim 5
Tang discloses the calibration method according to Claim 4.
Tang does not appear to explicitly disclose further comprising generating an degraded temperature sensor alarm if the absolute value of the linearity coefficient is greater than a threshold.
Jin discloses a thermal protection control unit including an alarm unit that issues an alarm over a specified threshold (Figs. 8 and 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated an alarm, as disclosed by Jin, into the method of Tang, such that a degraded temperature sensor alarm is issued if the absolute value of the linearity coefficient is greater than a threshold, for the purpose of improving accuracy and reliability (Jin, paragraph [0022]).
Claim 6
Tang discloses the calibration method of Claim 1, further comprising: - obtaining regular temperature measurements by means of said at least one component temperature sensor temperature sensor.
Tang does not appear to explicitly disclose triggering a safety shutdown of the electronic component if high temperature exceeds a high temperature threshold.
Jin discloses a thermal protection control unit including an alarm unit that issues an alarm over a specified threshold (Figs. 8 and 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated an alarm, as disclosed by Jin, into the method of Tang, such that triggering a safety shutdown of the electronic component in case a high temperature is exceeded, for the purpose of improving accuracy and reliability (Jin, paragraph [0022]).
Claim 7
Tang discloses the calibration method of Claim 1, further comprising: - obtaining regular temperature measurements using said at least one component temperature sensor; wherein, - heating with a slope higher than a threshold being indicative of a resistive short circuit (Figs. 3 and 4).
Tang does not appear to explicitly disclose for detecting a resistive short-circuit within said at least one electronic component.
Jin discloses a thermal protection control unit including an alarm unit that issues an alarm over a specified threshold (Figs. 8 and 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated an alarm, as disclosed by Jin, into the method of Tang, such that detecting a resistive short-circuit within said at least one electronic component, for the purpose of improving accuracy and reliability (Jin, paragraph [0022]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 ERICA S Y LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7911. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4, TW M,W.
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.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERICA S LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853