beNotice 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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1, 5, 10, 14, 15 are currently pending and under exam herein.
Claims 1, 5, 10, 14, 15 are rejected.
Claims 2-4, 6-9 and 11-13 were canceled
Priority
The instant application claims priority from foreign application filed on 11/13/2021. Thus, the effective filing date of the instant application is 11/13/2021.
Drawings
The Drawings filed on 10/25/2022 were considered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/25/2022 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments 101
There was no rejection under 101 in the previous office action. The claims are allowable under 101 therefore, applicants arguments are moot regarding 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 5, 10, 14, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sinha (US20090078050A1) in further view of Wu et al. (Wu et al., Engine Oil Condition Monitoring Using High Temperature Integrated Ultrasonic Transducers. International Journal of Prognostics and Health Management 2011, 2 (2)) in further view of Maslov et al. (Maslov, K.; Wang, L. V. Photoacoustic Imaging of Biological Tissue with Intensity-Modulated Continuous-Wave Laser. Journal of Biomedical Optics 2008, 13 (2), 024006.) in further view of Paulter et al. (Paulter l, N.; Larson, D.; Blair2, J. The IEEE Standard on Transitions, Pulses, and Related Waveforms, Std-181; 2003.) in further view of Sinha (US5767407A) in view of Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1). The italicized text corresponds to the instant claim limitations.
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5, 10, Sinha (US20090078050A1) teaches sweeping the generated ultrasonic waves over the selected frequency range (specification, paragraph 12, triggering an excitation signal having a predefined frequency sweep (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) Sinha also teaches that the received signal is compared with the original input signal (at 0°) and at its phase shifted value of 90° degrees which is known as signals in quadrature. The received signal is multiplied with signals in quadrature and the resultant signals passed through a low pass filters to remove extraneous higher frequency signals. (specification paragraph 30). This is what a vector analyzer does. Sinha also teaches transforming this frequency spectrum to the time domain using complex (real and imaginary) Fast Fourier Transform of the data (specification paragraph 35) The Fourier Transform (FT) generates In-phase (I) and Quadrature (Q) components of a signal. (processing, by a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), the PA signal with reference to the excitation signal to generate an in- phase (I) component and a quadrature phase (Q) component of the PA signal in a frequency domain (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) Sinha also teaches to recover information in a frequency sweep measurement one needs to restrict the noise to a narrow bandwidth. Further, amplitude and phase measurements must be made within this narrow bandwidth. A complex Fourier transform using both amplitude and phase values is then made to recover the time-domain data with very high signal-to-noise ratio. In principle, the measurements are made through a narrow band-pass filter that effectively tracks the frequency sweep (Specification paragraph 29, generating, by the one or more hardware processors, a PA analytical signal in the frequency domain from the I component and the Q component (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) Sinha also teaches a digital signal processor for receiving the output from the filter circuitry, processing amplitude and phase information from the signal processor in the frequency domain, and for performing a Fast Fourier Transform thereon to provide this information as a function of time; apparatus for controlling the electronic measurements; and apparatus for displaying and recording the resulting information, while FIG. 1B shows the functional components of an embodiment of the electronic circuitry illustrated in FIG. 1A hereof (Specification paragraph 15) and the presence of a solid transducer attached to the wall of a container essentially provides a leakage path for sound that otherwise would bounce back and forth within the container. Each time the sound inside the container reaches the inside wall of a container, it now finds an alternate path to travel through the wall to the solid transducer instead of being reflected and slowly decaying due to losses by absorption in the liquid. It is this sound absorption in the liquid that is of relevance to measure. (specification paragraph 6, generating, by the one or more hardware processors, a Transformed Time Domain (TTD) PA signal from the PA analytical signal in the frequency domain by applying frequency to time domain transformation, wherein the TTD PA signal comprises a) a first peak that corresponds to the PA signal produced within the lubricant, and b) subsequent one or more descending peaks generated as a result of a reflection of the PA signal back and forth from walls of the container holding the lubricant, wherein a peaking time instance of the first peak is indicative of time elapse of the PA signal in reaching the ultrasound sensor from a point of generation of the PA signal inside the container at a distance (d) (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) Sinha also teaches a digital signal processor for receiving the output from the filter circuitry, processing amplitude and phase information from the signal processor in the frequency domain, and for performing a Fast Fourier Transform thereon to provide this information as a function of time; apparatus for controlling the electronic measurements; and apparatus for displaying and recording the resulting information, while FIG. 1B shows the functional components of an embodiment of the electronic circuitry illustrated in FIG. 1A hereof (Specification paragraph 15, generating, by the one or more hardware processors, a normalized first peak by amplitude normalization of the first peak after time-windowing the first peak from the TTD PA signal (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) Sinha also teaches the spacing between any two adjacent peaks is directly proportional to the sound speed in the liquid at the median frequency of the two peaks (specification paragraph 19, determining, by the one or more hardware processors, an acoustic velocity of the PA signal based on the peaking time instance of the first peak and the distance (d) (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10))
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5, 10, Sinha (US20090078050A1) teaches that the frequency range of the transducers was between 0.4 and 1.4 MHz which is included in the bandwidth (specification, paragraph 21, wherein the predefined frequency sweep is based on bandwidth of the ultrasound sensor (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5, 10, Sinha (US20090078050A1) teaches the received signal is compared with the original input signal (at 0°) and at its phase shifted value of 90° degrees which is known as signals in quadrature. The received signal is multiplied with signals in quadrature and the resultant signals passed through a low pass filters to remove extraneous higher frequency signals. The cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter is chosen at a desired fixed frequency, such as 100 Hz for all sweep frequencies, the system generating in effect a tracking narrow band-pass filter having a desired bandwidth, but using fixed, narrow low band-pass filters. (Specification paragraph 30) Mixers 42 and 44 also receive in quadrature sine wave signals 32 and 34, respectively, and the resulting outputs are low-pass filtered, 46 and 48, respectively. (Specification paragraph 32, wherein the received PA signal is fed to one input of the VNA, and the excitation signal is fed to other input of the VNA (Claim 14)
Sinha (US20090078050A1) does not explicitly teach
A method for determining viscosity-temperature variation of a lubricant, the method comprising: initiating, by one or more hardware processors, an iterative process of viscosity-temperature variation determination of the lubricant, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprises (Claim 1)
system for determining a viscosity-temperature variation of lubricant, the system comprising: a viscosity-temperature computation module; a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA); CW laser driver with DC power supply unit; CW laser diode; a lubricant; a collimator; and an ultrasound sensor (Claim 5)
One or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause: initiating an iterative process of viscosity-temperature variation determination of a lubricant, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprising (Claim 10) wherein the viscosity-temperature computation module comprises: a memory storing instructions; one or more Input/Output (1/O) interfaces; and one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory via the one or more I/O interfaces, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured by the instructions to: initiate an iterative process of the viscosity-temperature variation determination of the lubricant, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprises (Claim 5)
One or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause: initiating an iterative process of viscosity-temperature variation determination of a lubricant, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprising (Claim 10)
recording, by the one or more hardware processors, a) the viscosity (M) of the lubricant in terms of the viscosity feature and b) the temperature (T) of the lubricant determined in each iteration analyzing, by the one or more hardware processors, whether a change in the viscosity (y) with respect to the temperature (T) is constant over a defined operating temperature range of the machine and predicting, by the one or more hardware processors, health of the machine as approaching a failure state, if the change in the viscosity is beyond a variation threshold indicating a drop in quality of the lubricant beyond an acceptable limit (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
an alert indicating health of the machine as approaching the failure state if the change in the viscosity is beyond the variation threshold (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10) wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to generate an alert indicating health of the machine as approaching the failure state if the change in the viscosity is beyond the variation threshold (Claim 5) wherein the one or more instructions which when executed by the one or more hardware processors further cause generating an alert indicating health of the machine as approaching the failure state if the change in the viscosity is beyond the variation threshold (Claim 10)
for generating an intensity modulated Continuous-Wave (CW) laser via a CW laser diode placed in an excitation circuit to irradiate the lubricant using the intensity modulated CW laser, receiving, by an ultrasound sensor, a Photo Acoustic (PA) signal produced within the lubricant irradiated with the intensity modulated CW laser (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
wherein a beam diameter and focusing of the intensity modulated CW laser, controlled via the collimator, is tunable and determined based on industrial set up of the machine (Claim 9)
determining, by the one or more hardware processors, a rise time (tr) of the PA signal by computing a time interval of the normalized first peak to rise from a pre-defined minimum amplitude percentage of a peak amplitude of the normalized first peak to a maximum amplitude percentage of the peak amplitude (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
b) inverse proportionality relation between the rise time (tr) and the acoustic frequency (f) of the lubricant (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
determining, by the one or more hardware processors, a viscosity (y), in terms of a viscosity feature, of the lubricant based on the rise time (tr) of the first peak, wherein the viscosity feature is directly proportional to a squared rise time (tr2) (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)). wherein relation between the viscosity (y) of the lubricant and the squared rise time (tr2) of the first peak is derived based on a) inverse proportionality relation between the viscosity (y) and an acoustic frequency (f) of the lubricant (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
wherein the intensity-modulated CW laser is selected based on an optical absorption curve of the lubricant to selectively generate Photo Acoustic (PA) signal corresponding to the lubricant while suppressing contributions from contaminants (Claims 1, 5, 10)
wherein the lubricant produces the PA signal only if the lubricant absorbs the irradiation and gets rid of contaminants interference during measurement (Claims 1, 5, 10)
wherein relative analysis between the viscosity of the lubricant and the temperature serves as Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of a machine health status, thereby enhancing prediction accuracy of lubricant and predicting the machine failure (Claim 15)
However, these limitations were known at the time as taught by Wu et al. in view of Maslov et al. in view of Paulter et al. in view of Sinha (US5767407A) in view of Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1)
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5, 10, Wu et al. teaches the present work contains two parts. In the first part, high temperature integrated ultrasonic transducers (IUTs) made of thick piezoelectric composite films, were coated directly onto lubricant oil supply and sump lines of a modified CF700 turbojet engine. These piezoelectric films were fabricated using a sol-gel spray technology. By operating these IUTs in transmission mode, the amplitude and velocity of transmitted ultrasonic waves across the flow channel of the lubricant oil in supply and sump lines were measured during engine operation. Results have shown that the amplitude of the ultrasonic waves is sensitive to the presence of air bubbles in the oil and that the ultrasound velocity is linearly dependent on oil temperature. In the second part of the work, the sensitivity of ultrasound to engine lubricant oil degradation was investigated by using an ultrasonically equipped and thermally-controlled laboratory test cell and lubricant oils of different grades. The results have shown that at a given temperature, ultrasound velocity decreases with a decrease in oil viscosity. Based on the results obtained in both parts of the study, ultrasound velocity measurement is proposed for monitoring oil degradation and transient oil temperature variation, whereas ultrasound amplitude measurement is proposed for monitoring air bubble content. (pg. 1, col. 1, paragraph 1, A method for determining viscosity-temperature variation of a lubricant, the method comprising: initiating, by one or more hardware processors, an iterative process of viscosity-temperature variation determination of the lubricant, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprises (Claim 1) system for determining a viscosity-temperature variation of lubricant, the system comprising: a viscosity-temperature computation module; a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA); CW laser driver with DC power supply unit; CW laser diode; a lubricant; a collimator; and an ultrasound sensor (Claim 5) One or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause: initiating an iterative process of viscosity-temperature variation determination of a lubricant non-invasively, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprising (Claim 10) wherein the viscosity-temperature computation module comprises: a memory storing instructions; one or more Input/Output (1/O) interfaces; and one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory via the one or more I/O interfaces, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured by the instructions to: initiate an iterative process of the viscosity-temperature variation determination of the lubricant, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprises (Claim 5) One or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause: initiating an iterative process of viscosity-temperature variation determination of a lubricant non-invasively, for a predefined number of successive time instances, wherein the lubricant is held by a container of a machine that is monitored for predicting machine health thereof, wherein steps of each iteration for a current time instance further comprising (Claim 10) Wu et al. also teaches that results have shown that the ultrasound velocity is linearly dependent on oil temperature (pg. 1, col. 1, paragraph 1, determining, by the one or more hardware processors, a temperature (T) of the lubricant from the acoustic velocity, wherein the temperature is inversely proportional to the acoustic velocity of the PA signal (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) Wu et al. also teaches ultrasound velocity measurement is proposed for monitoring oil degradation and transient oil temperature variation, whereas ultrasound amplitude measurement is proposed for monitoring air bubble content. Oil viscosity is directly related to oil degradation. It is also an obvious variation with no inventive concept to add an alert once the system of Wu et al. detects failure. (pg. 1, col. 1 paragraph 1, recording, by the one or more hardware processors, a) the viscosity (M) of the lubricant in terms of the viscosity feature and b) the temperature (T) of the lubricant determined in each iteration analyzing, by the one or more hardware processors, whether a change in the viscosity (y) with respect to the temperature (T) is constant over a defined operating temperature range of the machine and predicting, by the one or more hardware processors, health of the machine as approaching a failure state, if the change in the viscosity is beyond a variation threshold indicating a drop in quality of the lubricant beyond an acceptable limit (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)) an alert indicating health of the machine as approaching the failure state if the change in the viscosity is beyond the variation threshold (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10,) wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to generate an alert indicating health of the machine as approaching the failure state if the change in the viscosity is beyond the variation threshold (Claim 6) wherein the one or more instructions which when executed by the one or more hardware processors further cause generating an alert indicating health of the machine as approaching the failure state if the change in the viscosity is beyond the variation threshold (Claim 10)).
With respect to the limitations of Claims 15, Wu et al. teaches Engine oil condition includes oil viscosity, oil cleanliness, air bubble content, and oil temperature. Being able to monitor these parameters will not only safeguard engine operation under an oil condition it was designed for, but will also provide a means to assess the health of the entire engine system since any deviation from the nominal state of these parameters could be linked to one or more faulty components. This teaches that monitoring engine oil viscosity can be used as engine oil condition health and a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand how to use it as a key performance indicator. (introduction paragraph 1, wherein relative analysis between the viscosity of the lubricant and the temperature serves as Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of a machine health status, thereby enhancing prediction accuracy of lubricant and predicting the machine failure (Claim 15))
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5,10, Maslov et al. teaches a photoacoustic imaging system using an intensity-modulated continuous-wave laser source, which is an inexpensive, compact, and durable 120-mW laser diode. The goal is to significantly reduce the costs and sizes of photoacoustic imaging systems. By using a bowl-shaped piezoelectric transducer, whose numerical aperture is 0.85 and resonance frequency is 2.45 MHz, they image biological tissues with a lateral resolution of 0.45 mm, an axial resolution of 1mm, and an SNR as high as 43 dB. Maslov et al. although applying it to a different sample but the same process and adjust the beam diameter and focusing of the intensity modulated CW laser for accurate readings. (pg. 1, paragraph 1, for generating an intensity modulated Continuous-Wave (CW) laser via a CW laser diode placed in an excitation circuit to irradiate the lubricant using the intensity modulated CW laser, receiving, by an ultrasound sensor, a Photo Acoustic (PA) signal produced within the lubricant irradiated with the intensity modulated CW laser (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10) wherein a beam diameter and focusing of the intensity modulated CW laser, controlled via the collimator, is tunable and determined based on industrial set up of the machine (Claim 9)
With respect to the limitations of Claim 1, 5, 10, Paulter et al. teaches Transition Duration [Risetime, Falltime, Leading Edge, Rising Edge, Trailing Edge, Falling Edge, Time, Transition] "The difference between the two reference level instants of the same transition (see Figure1). Unless otherwise specified, the two reference levels are the 10 % and 90 % reference levels. (pg. 112, col. 5, paragraph 10, determining, by the one or more hardware processors, a rise time (tr) of the PA signal by computing a time interval of the normalized first peak to rise from a pre-defined minimum amplitude percentage of a peak amplitude of the normalized first peak to a maximum amplitude percentage of the peak amplitude (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10))
With respect to the limitations of Claim 1, 5, 10, Paulter et al. teaches that bandwidth = 0.35/td therefore td = 0.35/bandwidth, and since bandwidth is proportional to dominant frequency therefore td ≈ 1/f (pg. 112, col. 2, paragraph 2, b) inverse proportionality relation between the rise time (tr) and the acoustic frequency (f) of the lubricant (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5, 10, Sinha (US57674071) teaches
acoustic absorption varies as the square of the frequency up to approximately 100 MHz for most liquids (specification paragraph 6). Stokes's law of sound attenuation states that acoustic energy is absorbed in a Newtonian fluid due to viscous friction, with the amplitude decreasing exponentially over distance. The absorption coefficient is inversely proportional to the dynamic shear viscosity. (determining, by the one or more hardware processors, a viscosity (y), in terms of a viscosity feature, of the lubricant based on the rise time (tr) of the first peak, wherein the viscosity feature is directly proportional to a squared rise time (tr2) (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)). wherein relation between the viscosity (y) of the lubricant and the squared rise time (tr2) of the first peak is derived based on a) inverse proportionality relation between the viscosity (y) and an acoustic frequency (f) of the lubricant (Claim 1, Claim 5, Claim 10)
With respect to the limitations of Claims 1, 5, 10, Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1) teaches one embodiment of the invention provides pulsed or modulated monochromatic light to a sample at a wavelength where water absorbs strongly and other components of the sample do not. In petroleum-based oils, hydrocarbon-based fuels (e.g. gasoline, diesel, kerosene), and most organic solvents, one such wavelength is about 2.94 μm where pure water has its highest absorptivity (1.2 ×10 4 cm−1) due to O-H stretching vibrations. For synthetic oils having polyolester or phosphate ester base stocks, this wavelength is somewhat shorter (about 2.75 μm). Other wavelengths are useful, depending on the sample matrix. These wavelengths are easily determined by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue experimentation using the methods described herein and methods known in the art. Another embodiment of the invention uses light which is not monochromatic. Wavelength selection may be made with appropriate filters, for example. (Specification paragraph 22) An appropriate wavelength for use in sample excitation can be selected by methods known in the art, or methods described herein. One method of selecting an appropriate wavelength for excitation is described here. The absorbance spectrum of water or the substance of interest is measured along with the absorbance spectrum of the major components of the sample. Those spectra are compared, and a wavelength where the substance of interest absorbs more strongly than the components of the sample is selected. As long as the substance of interest absorbs the wavelength selected, the measurements may be performed using appropriate mathematical manipulation of the data, as known in the art (specification paragraph 31, this teaches the principal of finding an optimal signal when contaminants are in a matrix in order to minimize the signals of contaminants, wherein the intensity-modulated CW laser is selected based on an optical absorption curve of the lubricant to selectively generate Photo Acoustic (PA) signal corresponding to the lubricant while suppressing contributions from contaminants (Claims 1, 5, 10) wherein the lubricant produces the PA signal only if the lubricant absorbs the irradiation and gets rid of contaminants interference during measurement (Claims 1, 5, 10)
A person having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the method of non-contact fluid characterization in containers Sinha (US20090078050A1) with the knowledge of Sinha (US5767407A) that established that acoustic absorption varies as the square of the frequency with the implementation taught by Maslov et al. of a CW laser diode as a substitution for the piezoelectric ultrasound transducer of Sinha (US20090078050A1) in order to selectively excite lubricant oil through its optical absorption to avoid signal from contaminants commonly located in lubricants. Maslov et al. showed that a CW laser diode worked in a complex matrix of biological tissue indicating it can selective for particular analytes which would motivate a person of ordinary skill in the art to use a CW laser diode to avoid contamination signal in SFAI a problem discussed by the applicant. Wu et al. established a relationship of acoustic velocity and lubricating oils is directly proportional to temperature and this could be used to monitor engine oil health. A person of ordinary skill in the art could take the method of Sinha (US20090078050A1) in further view of Maslov et al. in further view of Sinha (US5767407A) with the knowledge and methods of Wu et al. to predictably obtain both temperature and viscosity of the sample in order to more efficiently monitor engine lubricant. Paulter et al. established the rise time is inversely proportional to bandwidth. A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to use the knowledge taught by Paulter et al. in order to improve the monitoring of engine oil lubricant for degradation. There is a reasonable expectation of success when combining all the prior art as several jus teach known mathematical relationships or work independently and the function or use is not changing. The addition of a CW laser diode of Maslov et al. with the piezoelectric ultrasound transducer of Sinha (US20090078050A1) would yield predictable results while avoiding contamination as a CW laser diode is known to be useful for SFAI measurements. Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1) provides the knowledge of selecting frequency sweep or wavelengths based to minimize interference of contaminants. A person of ordinary skill in the art working in the intersection of photoacoustic sensing and acoustic fluid characterization would have every reference in their field of view, a clear identified problem, a known solution to that problem, and a validated set of physical measurements connecting the measurement output with lubricant health. There is no gap in the prior art that the claimed invention fills. It is simply an assembly of known components applied in their expected and predictable ways. Each part works independently therefore they are expected to work together giving a reasonable expectation of success.
Response to Arguments 103
Applicant did not properly address arguments as Sinha (US20090078050A1) and Sinha (US5767407A) are not distinguished in applicants arguments. Applicant should submit an argument under the heading “Remarks” pointing out disagreements with the examiner’s contentions. Applicant must also discuss the references applied against the claims, explaining how the claims avoid the references or distinguish from them.
Contaminants were not addressed in the regular claims. Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1) was added in response to amendments which provides the knowledge of selecting frequency sweep or wavelengths based to minimize interference of contaminants in a matrix. A person of ordinary skill in the art would understand how to use the principle on different systems. All contaminant arguments are moot due to Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1) being added due to amendment.
Claim 1 states “wherein the TTD PA signal comprises a) a first peak that corresponds to the PA signal produced within the lubricant, and b) subsequent one or more descending peaks generated as a result of a reflection of the PA signal back and forth from walls of the container holding the lubricant” this is a multiple reflection structure and is not distinguished over Sihna method.
Examiner asserts that Wu et al. is being used teaching the fundamental principle between viscosity and temperature and how monitoring it can be critical for determining engine failure. A person having ordinary skill in the art could use the method of discussed above to monitor the relationship. Maslov et al. is not being used to teach lubrication monitoring or but how to analyze data produced by Sinha (US5767407A) that established that acoustic absorption varies as the square of the frequency with the implementation taught by Maslov et al. of a CW laser diode as a substitution for the piezoelectric ultrasound transducer of Sinha (US20090078050A1) in order to selectively excite lubricant oil through its optical absorption to avoid signal from contaminants commonly located in lubricants. Examiner disagrees with applicant
Examiner asserts that Sinha (US20090078050A1) in further view of Wu et al. in further view of Maslov et al. in further view of Paulter et al in further view of Sinha (US5767407A) in view of Amonette et al. (US20020118364A1) does teach wherein the viscosity is determined exclusively from the first peak without requiring subsequent reflected peaks. See arguments above for specific claim by claim limitations.
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 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.
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/C.H.B./Examiner, Art Unit 1687
/Karlheinz R. Skowronek/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1687
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