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 .
Summary
Claims 1-3 are pending. Claims 1-3 are rejected herein. This is a Non-Final Rejection after the amendment, arguments, and Request for Continued Examination (hereinafter “the Response”) 28 Jan 2026.
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 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 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WEI (US 20220236242) in view of TEMPLETON et al. (US 6306620) and TOMII et al. (US 20160063420).
Regarding claim 1: WEI discloses: A plant state detection system (abstract) comprising: a plurality of gas detectors (100 in FIG. 1 including sensing elements 106-1A-106-1K in FIG. 4A) configured to be arranged at equal intervals in a cultivation area in which plants are cultivated (This is a statement of intended use and does limit the structure of the claimed invention.), each gas detector including a gas detection unit (sensing elements 106-1A-106-1K in FIG. 4A) configured to detect gas emitted from a plant (para. 51); a container configured to accommodate the gas detection unit (The housing of receiver 106 best seen in FIG. 1), and a suction machine (micropump 130 in FIG. 7) configured to suck air around the plant into the container (para. 71) and a plant state detector configured to acquire gas information detected by the gas detection unit (Camera 118 detects color change in sensors 106-1-106-K as described in para. 51. Other means of state detection such as electrical are also discussed in para. 66.) and detect a state of the plant based on the gas information (para. 5, 34-35), wherein the gas detection unit detects one or both of leaf alcohol and leaf aldehyde as the gas, IUPAC name of the leaf alcohol is cis-3-hexen-1-ol or trans-2-hexen-1-ol, IUPAC name of the leaf aldehyde is trans-2-hexenal or cis-3-hexenal (para. 57), and wherein the plant state detector includes a display control unit (mobile device S in FIG. 3; para. 51), and the display control unit is configured to display the state of the plant corresponding to arrangement positions of the plurality of gas detectors (para. 35).
WEI discloses using detection of VOCs to determine “the presence of disease, contamination, pest infestation or other stress condition” (para. 14, emphasis added), but does not specify that one of those other stress conditions is temperature stress.
TEMPLETON however does teach detecting volatile gas from plants to determine temperature stress (col. 1 lines 27-40, col. 4 lines 19-36).
One skilled in the art at the time the application was effectively filed would be motivated to determine temperature stress from outgassed VOCs as taught by TEMPLETON with the gas sensors of WEI because temperature stresses can affect plants future growth potential, but not be immediately apparent from visual inspection (col. 1 lines 26-40 of TEMPLETON).
WEI does not disclose a plurality of gas detectors at equal intervals in a plant cultivation area.
TOMII however does teach a plant cultivation area (FIG. 1) with many plants (15) and evenly spaced monitoring apparatuses (14), wherein each monitoring apparatus has a gas detector (CO2 sensor 1404 in FIG. 3A).
One skilled in the art at the time the application was effectively filed would be motivated to use multiple VOC sensors of the type taught by WEI and evenly space them over a plant cultivation area as taught by TOMII so that plant pathogens can be diagnosed from volatile emissions (abstract of WEI) while an extended area of farmland is being managed (para. 45 of TOMII).
Regarding claims 2: WEI does not specify detecting carbon dioxide or ethylene.
TEMPLETON however does teach measuring ethylene (col. 8 lines 35-43; FIG. 14) outgassed from plants (abstract), through a color change process (abstract).
One skilled in the art at the time the application was effectively filed would be motivated to detect the presence or concentration of ethylene as a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) from plants as taught by TEMPLETON because it is associated with ripeness, readiness for harvest, palatability and nutritional quality (col. 13 lines 50-65 of TEMPLETON) making it valuable data to collect for anyone evaluating plants to be used as food.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WEI, TEMPLETON and TOMII in view of RAMASAMY et al. (US 20180142277).
Regarding claims 3: Although WEI discloses electrical detection in para. 66, they do not specify that the gas detection unit includes a semiconductor gas sensor using a metal oxide as a sensor configured to detect leaf alcohol or leaf aldehyde.
RAMASAMY however does teach semiconductor sensor using metal oxide (FIG. 5A; col. 18 lines 52-67) on their system for detecting plant VOCs to detect pathogens (abstract).
One skilled in the art at the time the application was effectively filed would be motivated to use a metal oxide sensor as taught by RAMASAMY as the sensor for WEI, because “106) Metal oxide (MOx) nanomaterials are inexpensive alternative to precious metals (Au, Ag or Pt), and offer many characteristics desirable for electrochemical sensor applications, at a fraction of the cost. Metal oxides have been reported to act as good catalysts for dehydrogenation and/or decomposition of VOCs such as aliphatic alcohols, ketones, acetic acid, etc. By varying their shape and size, one can control their chemical adsorption properties” (col. 18 lines 52-67 of RAMASAMY).
Response to Amendment/Argument
The Applicant has argued (page 3 of the Response) that the most recent amendment distinguishes over WEI because WEI does not teach every limitation in claim 1. This argument is moot as WEI is no longer relied upon to teach all of the limitations of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL J KOLB whose telephone number is (571)270-7601. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 EST.
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/NATHANIEL J KOLB/Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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