Response to Amendment
CLAIM INTERPRETATION
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
Claim limitation “a gas valve communication module and a gas detector communication module” has/have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses/they use a generic placeholder “module interface” coupled with functional language “configured to communicate with at least one of an authentication server and a monitoring server; configured to provide a notification” without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function.
Since the claim limitation(s) invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claim(s) 1-10 has/have been interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation: a gas valve communication module and a gas detector communication module (see Paras. 37-38) are disclosed in Applicant’s specification as a cellular service provider module such as a 3G network module, a 4G network module, a 5G network module, a category M1 (CAT-M1) network module, a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network module, a LTE-M network module, a cellular low-power side area network (cellular LPWAN), network module, a narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network module, or category narrow band (CAT- NB) network module, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) module such as a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi module or a 5GHz Wi-Fi module, or a near-field communication protocol module, such as a low-energy shortwave radio wave communication module, a small wave radio module, a long range low power radio (LoRa) module, LoRaWan module, a low power wide area network (LPWan) module, a radiofrequency (RF) communication module, a personal area network (PAN) module, such as a mesh network module, an infrared network module, a Bluetooth module, a ZigBee module, or a Z-wave module, a magnetic induction module, an optical transmission module, an acoustic wave module or other suitable system for communication between or simultaneously with components of the residential methane detection system300, such as the RMD330, the server350, the user460, the user's mobile device472, the gas utility480, the compatible gas valve manufacturer490, the emergency service495, or another third party.
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not intend to have the claim limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112 , sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bryan et al. (US 11940400 B1) in view of Hang et al. (US 20210134137 A1).
In regard to claim 1, Bryan teaches a gas detection system, comprising; a gas valve configured for remote actuation (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 45-67, The gateway 400 and/or the cloud platform 500 may be coupled directly or wirelessly (e.g., by wireless component 624 identical to the wireless component 24 discussed above) to one or more components, such as valves and other equipment 600 that may be opened and/or closed in response to an actuation signal generated via an application or a module of the cloud platform 500 in response to data received from one or more handheld unit(s) 12, node(s) 112, or other sources of data); a gas valve communication module configured to communicate with at least one of an authentication server and a monitoring server over a communication network (Bryan, Fig. 4, wireless component 624 in communication with cloud platform 500); a gas detector (Bryan, Fig. 4(Continued), Node 112; Col. 7, lines 56-65, a gas sensor system 10 may optionally be incorporated into a handheld unit or shell, a node 112 (FIG. 2) for remote placement, such as near potential sources of gases or on an exposed or at-risk side of a safety barrier), the gas detector comprising: a gas sensor configured to detect a level of a gas that exceeds a predetermined threshold level (Bryan, Col. 8, lines 39-48, the at least one gas sensor is a micro-electrical mechanical system, which in turn may optionally be at least one micro-hotplate 19. The micro-hotplate 19 optionally may be a closed-membrane micro-hotplate or a suspended membrane micro-hotplate. The gas sensor 18 may comprise a plurality of gas sensors, where at least one gas sensor measures the at least one gas and at least a second gas sensor measures a reference gas); a gas detector power source (Bryan, Fig. 4(Continued), Battery 30 of Node 112); a gas detector user interface (Bryan, Col. 9, lines 13-17, the gas sensor system 10 may include at least one input interface 15, which may include a touchscreen, buttons, and the like to allow a user to turn the gas sensor system 10 one and off, implement various commands, menus, functions, and the like); and a gas detector communication module configured to communicate with the at least one of the authentication server and the monitoring server over the communication network in response to detection by the gas sensor of the predetermined threshold level of the gas being exceeded (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 45-67, the gas sensor 18 at a handheld unit 12 or node 112 may detect a potentially hazardous gas and transmits this data, either via the gateway 400 or directly to the cloud platform 500); wherein the gas valve is configured to be remotely actuated to a closed position in response to a signal received by the gas valve communication module from at least one of the authentication server and the monitoring server in response to a prior communication from the gas detector communication module that the predetermined threshold level of the gas is exceeded (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 45-67, The cloud platform 500, optionally via an app or a module, may trigger an actuation signal in response to the signal indicating the presence of the hazardous gas. The cloud platform 500 may then transmit the actuation signal to equipment 600, such as instructing the equipment 600 to close in the event it is a valve. Additionally or alternatively, the cloud platform 500 may transmit an actuation signal to the handheld unit 12 or a remote computer 116 (or smartphone or other such device), which in turn provides an observable indication for a user advising her of the proposed actuation signal and a recommendation to actuate the equipment 600).
Bryan does not specifically teach a gas detector configured to mount to a wall of a building.
However, the concept of having a wall mounted gas detector node near potential sources of gases is well known in the art as also taught by Hang. Hang teaches Gas detectors 100 are rapidly deployed in that they may be placed, e.g., mounted on a wall, fence, or portable mount, without requiring wiring for power or data signals. Monitored area 31 may be any area in which one or more target gases may be present or generated, e.g., a work site. Each gas detector 100 may be placed near a perimeter of monitored area 31 and may operate to detect or measure the target gases, generate an alarm such as an audible noise or flashing light when any of the target gases is detected at a concentration above an alarm level, and wirelessly transmit data such as concentration measurements to a remote station 32 via a network 33 that may be provided at a facility including monitored area 31 (Para. 45). Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wall mounted gas detectors (as taught by Hang) resulting in predictable result of detecting gas at a fixed location in a facility or other location where targeted gases may be generated (Para. 1).
In regard to claim 2, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the gas valve comprises at least one of a gas pipe shutoff, a solenoid, a servomotor, a check valve, a control valve, a hydraulic valve, a pneumatic valve, an electric valve, a thermal valve, a magnetic valve, a mechanical valve, a single valve, a single port valve, a multiple port valve, and a flow regulator valve (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 45-67, The gateway 400 and/or the cloud platform 500 may be coupled directly or wirelessly (e.g., by wireless component 624 identical to the wireless component 24 discussed above) to one or more components, such as valves and other equipment 600 that may be opened and/or closed in response to an actuation signal generated via an application or a module of the cloud platform 500 in response to data received from one or more handheld unit(s) 12, node(s) 112, or other sources of data).
In regard to claim 3, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises at least one of the following: a cellular network, a 3G cellular network, a 4G cellular network, a 5G cellular network, a LTE cellular network, a LTE-M cellular network, a low power wide area network cellular network (cellular LPWAN), a category M1 (CAT M1) cellular network, a narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network, a category narrow band (CAT-NB) network, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network, a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, a 5GHz Wi-Fi network, a near-field communication protocol, a low-energy shortwave radio wave communication network, a small wave radio network, a long range low power radio (LoRa) network, LoRaWan network, a low power wide area network (LPWan) network, radiofrequency (RF) communication network, an intranet network connection, a remote network connection, a cloud network connection, a local area network (LAN) network connection, a wide area network (WAN) network connection, a personal area network (PAN), a mesh network, an infrared network, a Bluetooth network, a ZigBee network, a Z- wave network, a magnetic induction network, an optical transmission network, and an acoustic wave network (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 10-31, The wireless component may be any type of wireless communication equipment and/or standard known or developed, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LoRA, and the like, or hardwired such as by Ethernet cable; The backhaul system 410 may include at least one receiver and/or transmitter to connect the gateway 400 to a broader network, such as the Internet or a cloud. The backhaul system 410 may include a satellite and/or wireless (e.g., LTE, 5G, and the like) transmitters and/or receivers).
In regard to claim 4, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the authentication server comprises at least one of a centralized access and authentication policy based server, a user authentication server, a password based authentication server, a multi-factor authentication server, a certificate based authentication server, a biometric authentication server, a facial authentication server, a fingerprint authentication server, a speaker authentication server, an eye scanner authentication server, a token based authentication server, a hardware authentication server, a software authentication server, a device authentication server, a QR code authentication server, a bar code authentication server, a hardware security module authentication server, a trusted platform module authentication server, a certificate authentication server, a distributed authentication server, a symmetric key authentication server, a server based authentication server, and a centralized authentication server method (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 32-44, the gas sensor system optionally includes a cloud platform 500 that is remotely accessed via the cloud or Internet 120 (FIG. 2). The cloud platform 500 includes one or more of the following apps and functions: authentication, time series data base in which data from the handheld unit(s) 12 and/or node(s) 112 and other potential sources is recorded, trend and feature extraction, dynamic display with recorded and/or real time information (such as from the time series database), and location and notification when selected events occur or data alarms are triggered).
In regard to claim 5, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring server comprises at least one of a monitoring cloud server, a centralized monitoring server, and a dashboard server (Bryan, Fig. 4, Cloud platform 500; Col. 10, lines 32-44, the gas sensor system optionally includes a cloud platform 500 that is remotely accessed via the cloud or Internet 120 (FIG. 2). The cloud platform 500 includes one or more of the following apps and functions: authentication, time series data base in which data from the handheld unit(s) 12 and/or node(s) 112 and other potential sources is recorded, trend and feature extraction, dynamic display with recorded and/or real time information (such as from the time series database), and location and notification when selected events occur or data alarms are triggered).
In regard to claim 6, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the gas detector user interface is configured to provide a notification, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a notification interface, an audible user interface, an audible alarm, a message, an audible message, a visual user interface, a visual message, a notification light, a display panel, a warning, an alert, and an offline message (Bryan, Col. 8, lines 54-67, the remote computer 116 may be linked to multiple handheld units 12 and/or nodes 112 and transmit individual or collated data from any one or more of the handheld units 12 and/or nodes 112 to a given handheld unit. Alternatively, the remote computer 116 may display on the remote display data from multiple handheld units 12 and/or nodes 112).
In regard to claim 7, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the gas valve is configured to be actuated by at least one of a command proximal to the area where the potential gas leak was detected, a command remote to the area where the potential gas leak was detected, a server command, a gas detector command, a user command, a user's mobile device command, a gas utility command, a compatible gas valve manufacture command, and a third-party command (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 45-67, The gateway 400 and/or the cloud platform 500 may be coupled directly or wirelessly (e.g., by wireless component 624 identical to the wireless component 24 discussed above) to one or more components, such as valves and other equipment 600 that may be opened and/or closed in response to an actuation signal generated via an application or a module of the cloud platform 500 in response to data received from one or more handheld unit(s) 12, node(s) 112, or other sources of data).
In regard to claim 8, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the gas comprises at least one of a methane gas, a methane gas mixture containing additives, a butane, a propane, and a hydrocarbon gas mixture (Bryan, Col. 3, lines 38-46, A detector of the present disclosure can be used in a dynamic environment where the multiple gas species and concentrations may evolve from a light hydrocarbon, such as methane to some heavy gas, such as xylene vapor).
In regard to claim 9, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, wherein the gas sensor comprises at least one of a single gas sensor, multiple gas sensors, a mechanical sensor, a vibrational sensor, ,a tuning fork sensor, a chemical senso,; an infrared sensor, a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) gas 35 sensor, an optical sensor, a calorimetric sensor, a pyroelectric sensor, a pellistor sensor, a photoionization sensor, a semiconducting metal oxide sensor, an electrochemical sensor, a methane gas sensor, an uncalibrated gas sensor, a partially calibrated gas sensor, and a calibrated gas sensor (Bryan, Col. 8, lines 39-48, The gas sensor 18 may comprise a plurality of gas sensors).
In regard to claim 10, Bryan teaches the gas detection system of claim 1, further configured to notify a user when the gas sensor detects that the level of gas exceeds the predetermined threshold level via at least one of a visual notification, an audible notification, an alert, a warning, a lower explosive level (LEL), a percentage level, a discrete level, a message, and a message to vacate (Bryan, Col. 10, lines 62-67, the cloud platform 500 may transmit an actuation signal to the handheld unit 12 or a remote computer 116 (or smartphone or other such device), which in turn provides an observable indication for a user advising her of the proposed actuation signal and a recommendation to actuate the equipment 600).
In regard to claim 11, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 1 as stated above.
In regard to claim 12, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 2 as stated above.
In regard to claim 13, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 3 as stated above.
In regard to claim 14, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 4 as stated above.
In regard to claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 5 as stated above.
In regard to claim 16, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 6 as stated above.
In regard to claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 7 as stated above.
In regard to claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 8 as stated above.
In regard to claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 9 as stated above.
In regard to claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as stated in the rejection of claim 10 as stated above.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARMIN AKHTER whose telephone number is (571)272-9365. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday 8:00am-5:00pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davetta W Goins can be reached on (571) 272.2957. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHARMIN AKHTER/
Examiner, Art Unit 2689
/DAVETTA W GOINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2689