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 .
Claims 1, 4-11 and 13-18 have been presented for examination.
Claims 7-10 and 16-18 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: "the allowable burning time" should be corrected to recite “the predetermined allowable burning time”. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 4-6 and 11 and 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lyons1.
Referring to claim 1, Lyons teaches the heating system comprising:
a state monitoring device configured to monitor state information upon heating control [col. 9 lines 43-53].
a controller configured to perform temperature compensation control depending on the result of comparing a heating burning time for a heating operation according to the monitored result with a predetermined allowable burning time [col. 1 lines 43-53, col. 9 lines 43-53].
wherein when the heating burning time is not greater than the predetermined allowable burning time, the performing the supply air temperature compensation control comprises continuing to determine whether the heating burning time is greater than the predetermined allowable burning time until the heating burning operation ends [col. 9 lines 43-53].
wherein the state monitoring device monitors the heating burning time in real time when heating burning control in one cycle starts [col. 8, lines 30-42, col. 9 lines 44-46], and
wherein the controller determines that a first condition for supply air temperature compensation is met when the heating burning time monitored while the heating burning control in the one cycle is performed is greater than the allowable burning time [col. 8, lines 30-42, col. 9 lines 44-46].
wherein the controller upwardly adjusts a temperature of the heating system when the first condition for supply air temperature compensation is met [col. 8, lines 30-34].
wherein the predetermined allowable burning time refers to a time during which continuous burning is allowed during the heating burning operation [col. 8, lines 30-34].
In summary, Lyons teaches a heating system which continuously adjusts a boiler temperature to determine an optimal temperature for maximizing efficiency. If the temperature is set too low, the call for heat will fail to be satisfied within a predetermined time limit tset and requires more time than desired to heat a space to a set temperature. The time limit tset is interpreted as the predetermined allowable burning time. When this occurs, the boiler temperature is stepped up or boosted by an amount ΔTboost and the iterative process of determining adequate heating is repeated until heating is sufficient. Furthermore, Lyons explicitly teaches that the time tset occurs during a continuous burning time period during a heating burning operation [col. 11 lines 58-66].
While Lyons teaches the invention substantially as claimed above, it is not explicitly taught to perform supply air temperature compensation control. Rather, boilers are a hydronic form of heat which radiates from hot water baseboards as opposed to heating a supply of air. The examiner is taking official notice that furnaces are another well-known type of heater wherein a substantially similar process occurs wherein a burner is used to heat air to be supplied to a area instead of heating water. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to try incorporating the teachings on Lyons into a furnace-based heating system because Lyons teaches a way to increase efficiency in gas burning heating systems and one of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. It should be noted that a predetermined allowable burning time is interpreted as the allowable burning time that is considered efficient for reaching a desired room temperature at a given boiler/furnace temperature since that would represent the allowable temperature for efficient operation. While a thermal boost in a hydronic system would include raising water temperature, boosting temperature in a furnace based system would necessarily include raising the supply air temperature.
Referring to claim 4, Lyons teaches increasing the temperature by a boost amount [col. 8, lines 30-42, col. 9 lines 44-46].
Referring to claim 5, Lyons teaches that the call for heat is not satisfied when heating does not end before the predetermined time limit tset expires [col. 9 lines 44-46].
Referring to claim 6, Lyons teaches performing subsequent boosts until heat demand is met or until a system temperature limit is reached [col. 9 lines 51-53]. Once met, the boiler remains at the boosted temperature [col. 11-12 lines 64-3].
Referring to claims 11 and 13-15, these are rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove. Lyons teaches the system and therefore teaches the method performed by the system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK A CONNOLLY whose telephone number is (571)272-3666. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/MARK A CONNOLLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115 9/29/26
1 Cited in the previous office action
