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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: “wherein harvester voltage value” in line 1 shall be “wherein the harvester voltage value”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In Reference to Claims 8-10
Claims 8-10 recites “a number of the at least one sensing device “ It is not clear whether the “number” refer to the number of sensors or the measurement results from the plurality of sensors. BRI is given to Claim 8, the Office considers that the number is the measurement results from the plurality of sensors. The art rejection is made based on the above BRI.
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)(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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent 9,951,465 to Herschler.
In Reference to Claim 1
Herschler discloses a dryer comprising: a communication interface (Fig. 2, 70/56/70); a drum (Fig. 2, 26) to receive a subject to be dried; a driving motor (Fig. 2, 31) to drive the drum; a hot wind supplying device (Fig. 2, 48) to supply hot air to the drum; a sensing device (Fig. 4, 122) that is self-generating whereby power is generated according to a movement of the sensing device as the drum rotates while being driven by the driving motor, the sensing device being enabled to transmit, through the communication interface, a harvester voltage value obtained in association with the sensing device (Col. 7, Line 55, the power supply 145 can be a piezoelectric membrane) and sensing data sensed by the sensing device; and a processor (Fig. 2, 56) configured to: acquire the sensing data from the sensing device based on the harvester voltage value which is transmitted from the sensing device while the driving motor is being controlled based on an input of a user (Col. 5, Line 15-25), and control an operation of the hot wind supplying device based on the acquired sensing data.
In Reference to Claim 2
Herschler discloses the processor (Fig. 2, 56) is further configured to acquire the sensing data from the sensing device based on a plurality of harvester voltage values (Col. 7, Line 5-10) received while the driving motor is being controlled.
In Reference to Claim 5
Herschler discloses on a user input to register the sensing device in association with the dryer, control the driving motor so that the drum rotates or stops for a predetermined time. (Col. 8, Line 40-50)
In Reference to Claim 6
Herschler discloses the sensing device is among a plurality of sensing devices (Fig. 13, shows a plurality of sensor attached to lifters), and the processor (Fig. 2, 56) is further configured to: acquire a respective harvester voltage value (Col 7, Line 5-10) from the plurality of sensing devices while the driving motor is being controlled based on the input of the user, determine whether at least one sensing device, among the plurality of sensing devices, is identifiable in association with the dryer based on the acquired respective harvester voltage value (Col. 7, Line 5-10), and acquire the sensing data from at least one identified sensing device.
In Reference to Claim 11
Herschler discloses a method of controlling a dryer comprising: communicating with a sensing device (Fig. 4, 122) that is self-generating whereby power (Col. 7, Line 55-60) is generated according to a movement of the sensing device as a drum, which is to receive a subject to be dried, rotates while being driven by a driving motor (Fig. 2, 31); the sensing device being enabled to transmit a harvester voltage (Col. 7, Line 5-10) value obtained in association with the sensing device and sensing data sensed by the sensing device; acquiring the sensing data from the sensing device based on the harvester voltage value which is transmitted from the sensing device while the driving motor is being controlled based on an input of a user; and controlling (Fig. 2, 70/56/70) an operation of a hot wind supplying device(Fig. 2, 40) that supplies hot air to the drum based on the acquired sensing data.
In Reference to Claim 12
Herschler discloses the acquiring the sensing data comprises acquiring the sensing data from the sensing device based on a plurality of harvester voltage values (Fig. 11, shows a plurality of sensors) received while the driving motor is being controlled.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 3 , 4 , and 13 -15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herschler in view of CN 107974813 to Chen.
In Reference to Claim 3, 4, and 13-15
Herschler discloses the harvester voltage value from sensors
Herschler does not teach a first and a second time point operation.
Chen teaches a first harvester voltage value received at a first time point at which the drum rotates, and the processor is further configured to: based on the first harvester voltage value received at the first time point at which the drum rotates being less than a second harvester voltage value received at a second time point at which a predetermined time has elapsed, acquire the sensing data from the sensing device. (Chen teaches the clothes to be dried by heating time reaches a first preset time, controlling motor to stop running and standing for a second preset time , the drying time of the clothes to be dried as estimated)
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate teachings from Chen into the design of Herschler. Doing so, would result in the control algorithm of Chen being used to operate the dryer of Herschler. Both inventions of Herschler and Chen are in the same field of endeavor, Chen teaches a method of accurately predicting clothes to be dried of the drying time, which not only improves the intelligent degree of the cloth dryer and improve the use experience of the user (Abstract of Chen)
The combination of Herschler and Chen as applied to Claims 3 and 4 does not teach the second time is less than the second time frame. One having an ordinary skill in the turbocharger art, would have found said length of each time frame as a matter of design choice depending on the drying requirements, such as material of the drying objects, the load size etc. Moreover, there is nothing in the record which establishes that the claimed time frame, presents a novel of unexpected result.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herschler.
In Reference to Claim 7
Herschler discloses the dryer comprising the plurality of sensors.
Herschler does not teach how to position the sensors. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to position the sensors where the measurement represents the worst condition since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herschler in view US Patent 6,983,552 to Park.
In Reference to Claims 8-10
Hershler discloses the plurality of the sensors.
Hershler does not teach the feed back number of the sensor exceed a predetermined number.
Park teaches a control method of dryer based on measurement of moisture sensors. (Fig. 4). The moisture sensor send voltage to a controller to control the operation of the motor (Fig. 3)
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate teachings from Park in the dryer on Herschler. Doing so, would result in the control method of Park being implemented into the system of Herschler. Both inventions of Herschler and Park are in the same field of endeavor having moisture sensor control the operation of a dryer, Park teaches positive control method of a dryer based on the object condition, so the efficiency is improved.
Conclusion
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DEMING . WAN
Examiner
Art Unit 3762
/DEMING WAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 1/15/25