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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4 March 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 5-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mahajan (US 2013/0138379).
Regarding claim 1, Mahajan discloses a setting device 100 that sets operation control information for controlling operation of an environment forming device 101, the setting device comprising: an acquisition unit (user input part of computer 126) that acquires operation information by a user regarding setting of the operation control information (see par. 0024, user defines experiment and selects experiment to run using computer 126); a processing unit (part of computer 126) that performs processing of arraying and displaying, independently for each type on a setting screen 200, a plurality of types of setting parts (plot points/lines/parts on plots 201H and 202T) corresponding to a plurality of types of control setting items (temperature and humidity conditions shown by plots 202T and 201H on screen 200) included in the operation control information based on the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit (see par. 0024, user selects experiment including start, stop, step and delta time for each of temperature and humidity; see also par. 0028 and Fig. 3 where user sets certain temperature and humidity controls that result in the plots that are produced on screen 200), and processing of generating the operation control information based on the arrayed information (par. 0024); and an output unit (screen/display of computer 126) that outputs the operation control information generated by the processing unit (see screen 200 in Fig. 2), wherein the plurality of types of control setting items (201H and 202T) include temperature condition and humidity condition (par. 0026), and the plurality of types of setting parts, arraying and displaying independently for each type on the setting screen, include a temperature setting parts array 202T comprising a plurality of setting parts related to temperature condition connected together (see Fig. 2, temperature plot 202T is a plurality of temperature plot points and line parts connected together), and a humidity setting parts array 201H comprising a plurality of setting parts related to humidity conditions connected together (Id., humidity plot 201H is plural humidity plot points and line parts connected together).
Regarding claim 2, Mahajan discloses that a width of the setting parts having been arrayed indicates execution time of control corresponding to the setting parts (see Fig. 2, e.g., each portion of plot 201H is a line segment that is a setting part and its width is indicative of an amount of time of execution of control related to humidity values because it is a plot of humidity over time; the same applies to the temperature plot 202T).
Regarding claim 3, Mahajan discloses that the processing unit is capable of changing a width of the setting parts having been arrayed, based on the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit (see Fig. 2, e.g., each portion of plot 201H is a line segment that is a setting part and its width is indicative of an amount of time of execution of control related to humidity values because it is a plot of humidity over time; the same applies to the temperature plot 202T; see par. 0024, operation information such as step and delta time affects amount of time a temperature or humidity stays at one value which affects the width of line portions setting parts on the plots 201H and 202T).
Regarding claim 5, Mahajan discloses that the processing unit is capable of setting an end condition after operation control of the environment forming device ends in a setting part at an end of an array of a plurality of setting parts based on the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit (see par. 0024 and Fig. 3, end temperature and end humidity value is set by user).
Regarding claim 6, Mahajan discloses that the processing unit is capable of performing copy processing of a setting parts group including at least one setting part based on the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit (see Fig. 3 and par. 0028, user selects parameter sets 302, such as 2 point ramp up temperature, from library which result in setting parts of the plots 201H and 202T being arrayed and displayed and these parameter sets may be repeated which means the processing unit is capable of copying or duplicating the setting parts).
Regarding claim 7, Mahajan discloses that the processing unit performs processing of creating a graph indicating time transition of a setting value for each type of the plurality of types of control setting items 201H, 202T (see Fig. 2, showing plot lines 201H and 202T on a graph of values versus time).
Regarding claim 8, Mahajan discloses that the processing unit is capable of changing the setting value based on change operation information of the graph acquired by the acquisition unit (see par. 0024, setting value is changed based on step and delta time defined by a user with the acquisition unit of the computer 126).
Regarding claim 9, Mahajan discloses an environment forming device comprising: an accommodation unit 101 that accommodates a target object (test probe received through ports 102-105, see par. 0019); and an environment control unit (106-110) that controls an environment in the accommodation unit 101 (see pars. 0019-0021), wherein the environment control unit is controlled based on operation control information input from the setting device according to claim 1 (see par. 0020 and explanation above regarding claim 1).
Regarding claim 10, Mahajan discloses a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium that records a program, the program causing a processor mounted in a setting device that sets operation control information (computer 126 with processor and computer program instructions, see par. 0024) for controlling operation of an environment forming device 101 to execute an acquisition step of acquiring operation information by a user regarding setting of the operation control information (see par. 0024, user defines experiment and selects experiment to run using computer 126), a processing step of arraying and displaying, independently for each type on a setting screen 200, a plurality of types of setting parts (plot points/parts on plots 201H and 202T) corresponding to a plurality of types of control setting items (temperature and humidity conditions shown by plots 202T and 201H on screen 200) included in the operation control information based on the operation information acquired in the acquisition step (see par. 0024, user selects experiment including start, stop, step and delta time for each of temperature and humidity; see also par. 0028 and Fig. 3 where user sets certain temperature and humidity controls that result in the plots that are produced on screen 200), and generating the operation control information based on the arrayed information (see par. 0024), and an output step of outputting the operation control information generated in the processing step (see screen 200 in Fig. 2 which is output from computer 126 on a display screen), wherein the plurality of types of control setting items include temperature condition and humidity condition (par. 0026), and the plurality of types of setting parts, arraying and displaying independently for each type on the setting screen, include a temperature setting parts array 202T comprising a plurality of setting parts related to temperature condition connected together (see Fig. 2, temperature plot 202T is a plurality of temperature plot points and line parts connected together), and a humidity setting parts array 201H comprising a plurality of setting parts related to humidity conditions connected together (Id., humidity plot 201H is plural humidity plot points and line parts connected together).
Regarding claim 11, Mahajan discloses an environment forming device comprising: an accommodation unit 101 that accommodates a target object (test probe received through ports 102-105, see par. 0019); an environment control unit (106-110 and connecting structures) that controls an environment in the accommodation unit 101 (see pars. 0019-0021); a display unit (display monitor/screen as part of computer 126, see Fig. 1 and par. 0025); and a setting unit that sets operation control information for controlling operation of the environment forming device, wherein the setting unit includes an acquisition unit (user input part of computer 126) that acquires operation information by a user regarding setting of the operation control information (see par. 0024, user defines experiment and selects experiment to run using computer 126), a processing unit (part of computer 126) that performs processing of arraying and displaying, independently for each type on a setting screen 200, a plurality of types of setting parts (plot points/lines/parts on plots 201H and 202T) corresponding to a plurality of types of control setting items (temperature and humidity conditions shown by plots 202T and 201H on screen 200) included in the operation control information based on the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit (see par. 0024, user selects experiment including start, stop, step and delta time for each of temperature and humidity; see also par. 0028 and Fig. 3 where user sets certain temperature and humidity controls that result in the plots that are produced on screen 200 in Fig. 2), and processing of generating the operation control information based on the arrayed information (par. 0024), and an output unit (screen/display electronics of computer 126) that outputs the operation control information generated by the processing unit (see screen 200 in Fig. 2), wherein the plurality of types of control setting items (201H and 202T) include temperature condition and humidity condition (par. 0026), and the plurality of types of setting parts, arraying and displaying independently for each type on the setting screen, include a temperature setting parts array 202T comprising a plurality of setting parts related to temperature condition connected together (see Fig. 2, temperature plot 202T is a plurality of temperature plot points and line parts connected together), and a humidity setting parts array 201H comprising a plurality of setting parts related to humidity conditions connected together (Id., humidity plot 201H is plural humidity plot points and line parts connected together).
Regarding claim 12, Mahajan discloses a setting method for setting operation control information for controlling operation of an environment forming device (101-119), wherein an information processing device (processor electronics in computer 126) acquires operation information by a user regarding setting of the operation control information (see par. 0024, user defines experiment and selects experiment to run using computer 126), arrays and displays, independently for each type on a setting screen 200, a plurality of types of setting parts (plot points/lines/parts on plots 201H and 202T) corresponding to a plurality of types of control setting items (temperature and humidity conditions shown by plots 202T and 201H on screen 200) included in the operation control information based on the operation information having been acquired (see par. 0024, user selects experiment including start, stop, step and delta time for each of temperature and humidity; see also par. 0028 and Fig. 3 where user sets certain temperature and humidity controls that result in the plots that are produced on screen 200), and generates the operation control information based on the arrayed information (see par. 0024), and outputs the operation control information having been generated (see screen 200 in Fig. 2), wherein the plurality of types of control setting items (201H and 202T) include temperature condition and humidity condition (par. 0026), and the plurality of types of setting parts, arraying and displaying independently for each type on the setting screen, include a temperature setting parts array 202T comprising a plurality of setting parts related to temperature condition connected together (see Fig. 2, temperature plot 202T is a plurality of temperature plot points and line parts connected together), and a humidity setting parts array 201H comprising a plurality of setting parts related to humidity conditions connected together (Id., humidity plot 201H is plural humidity plot points and line parts connected together).
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mahajan (US 2013/0138379) in view of Takami (US 2003/0169532).
Regarding claim 4, Mahajan does not explicitly disclose that a shape of a connection portion connecting two setting parts is different for each type of the plurality of types of control setting items. Takami teaches plots of humidity and temperature where parts of each of the plots are made up of and connected by differently shaped line types (see Fig. 9 and par. 0076). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have used different line shapes for the plots of humidity and temperature, as taught by Takami, thus resulting in a shape of a connection portion connecting two setting parts being different for each type of the plurality of types of control setting items, because it would have allowed for the different control setting item plots to be quickly visually distinguished by a user.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL M WEST whose telephone number is (571)272-2139. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 am - 5:30 pm (CT).
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/PAUL M. WEST/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855