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 .
An amendment was filed by the applicant on March 3, 2026.
Claim 4 has been cancelled.
Claim 24 has been added.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on February 14, 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(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, 5 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cappellini et al. (US 11,952,082).
Cappellini et al. discloses the same waterway sensor as claimed, as shown in Figures 1-14, which is comprised of a housing, defined as Part #110, having a sidewall, defined as Part #114A, with a plurality of openings, defined as Part #116, as shown in Figure 3C, at least one depth or pressure sensor, defined as Part #615, that is disposed within an electronics housing, defined as Part #610, in said housing, as shown in Figure 6A, a controller, defined as Part #1010, for raising and lowering said housing in a water column, a wire reel, defined as Part #652, and an elongated support in the form of a flexible and resilient spooled cable, defined as Part #150, that is connected between said housing and a bank of a waterway, as shown in Figures 2A-C. Said housing includes an upper section, defined as Part #112B, with syntactic foam buoyancy material to provide a fixed amount of buoyancy so as to bias said waterway sensor toward a desired position in a waterway. Said housing is further comprised of a plurality of ballast tanks, each defined as Part #620, which can be filled or drained of air in order to control the buoyancy of said waterway sensor.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-24 are allowed.
Claims 2-3, 6 and 9-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on March 3, 2026 regarding claims 1, 5 and 7-8 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues that, by incorporating language from dependent claim 4 into independent claim 1, Cappellini et al. (US 11,952,082) no longer discloses all of the features as claimed by the applicant.
In response to the applicant’s argument, Cappellini et al. discloses a waterway sensor which is comprised of a housing (110) with a sidewall (114A) having a plurality of openings (116), at least one depth or pressure sensor (615) that is disposed within an electronics housing (610) in said housing, a controller (1010) for raising and lowering said housing (110) in a water column, a wire reel (652), and an elongated support in the form of a flexible and resilient spooled cable (150) that is connected between said housing (110) and a bank of a waterway. Said housing (110) includes an upper section (112B) with syntactic foam buoyancy material to provide a fixed amount of buoyancy so as to bias said waterway sensor toward a desired position in said waterway. Said housing (110) is further comprised of a plurality of ballast tanks (620) which can be filled or drained of air in order to control the buoyancy of said waterway sensor.
The applicant has not incorporated the allowable subject matter present in cancelled dependent claim 4 into independent claim 1. The applicant amended independent claim 1 to disclose that an elongate support is “resilient and adapted to bias” a housing toward a desired position within a waterway. However, the allowable subject matter originally found to be present in cancelled dependent claim 4 was that “the elongate support is a resilient conduit”. Since the cable (150) disclosed by Cappellini et al. is flexible and resilient, it still demonstrates an elongate support that is “flexible” and “resilient” as now claimed by the applicant in independent claim 1. Therefore, for the reasons given above, the rejection of claims 1, 5 and 7-8 is deemed proper and is not withdrawn.
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 LARS A OLSON whose telephone number is (571) 272-6685. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MARC JIMENEZ can be reached at 571-272-4530. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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March 19, 2026
/LARS A OLSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615B