DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 11-23 are presented for examination. Claims 1-10 are canceled.
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly
indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/22/23 and 10/11/24 were considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
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 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.
5. 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.
6. Claims 11-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishida et al. (Nishida), US publication no. 2018/01957551 in view of Higuchi et al. (Higuchi), US publication no. 2022/0333809.
As per clam 11, Nishida discloses an information processing device [figures 1, 2] comprising: memory storing an information processing program; a processor configured to execute the information processing program to:
acquire device information on an air conditioner [para 12];
acquire space information on a target space where the air conditioner is installed [para 13];
acquire environment information including at least a temperature at a measurement position in the target space [para 14, 65];
estimate an environment including at least a temperature at a specific position different from the measurement position in the target space based on the device information, the space information, and the environment information [para 95, 97, 102; claim 4]; and
present, based on the estimation of the environment, an environment including a temperature [para 15, 95].
Nishida fails to disclose presents a range of (an environment including a temperature) adjustable by the air conditioner at the specific position and/or a spatial range in the target space adjustable to a predetermined environment including a temperature by the air conditioner.
Higuchi discloses presents a range of (an environment including a temperature) adjustable by the air conditioner at the specific position and/or a spatial range in the target space adjustable to a predetermined environment including a temperature by the air conditioner [figures 4, 23; para 95, 99-100, 330, 333-334].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention to combine the teachings of Nishida and Higuchi because they both disclose a cooling system, the specify teachings of Higuchi stated above would have further enhanced the performance and functionality of Nishida system to obtain predictable results by allowing to achieve a more flexible control of the air conditioning operation.
Nishida teaches
[0012] air conditioning operation data acquiring means for acquiring air conditioning operation data of at least one air conditioner installed in a room;
[0013] room information acquiring means for acquiring room information indicating a configuration of the room;
[0014] environmental information data acquiring means for acquiring environmental information data from at least one sensor arranged in the room; and
[0015] outputting means for outputting heat load data that is calculated based on the acquired air conditioning operation data, the acquired room information, and the acquired environmental information data.
[0095] Further, by combining the heat flows of the respective components, the air conditioning operation analysis device 1 can calculate image data indicating a temperature distribution of the room. On the basis of the position of each component and the heat amount supplied by such component, the air conditioning operation analysis device 1, by performing a simulation, calculates for each position in the
room the heat flows, such as the direction and the magnitude of the heat flows. On the basis of the calculated heat flows and the temperature data of each sensor position stored in the environmental information data, two-dimensional data (temperature distribution data) indicating the temperatures at each position of the room is calculated. The air conditioning operation analysis device 1 can generate an image that overlays the calculated temperature distribution data on data indicating the layout of the room, and can output to the display 140 the image as temperature distribution data D6A
as illustrated in FIG. 15.
Higuchi discloses:
[0099] The coordinates acquiring unit 13 acquires the position coordinates output from the touch panel 17 as position coordinates indicating a point at which the set temperature is to be changed (step ST3 in FIG. 4).
[0100] The coordinates acquiring unit 13 outputs the position coordinates indicating the desired point, which is a point at which the set temperature is to be changed, to each of the icon display processing unit 14 and the control signal outputting unit 16.
[0330] In an eighth embodiment, description will be given on a temperature setting device 5 including a temperature control range displaying unit 64 that displays, to be superimposed on a contour map, a temperature control range in which the temperature can be brought close to a set temperature by an air conditioner 2.
As per claim 12, Nishida discloses the processor acquires the space information
including information on a size of the target space and information on an arrangement of the air conditioner in the target space [para 13, 58].
As per claim 13, Nishida discloses the processor acquires the space information
including information on an object that is different from the air conditioner and that affects a temperature environment in the target space [para 13, 58].
As per claim 14, Nishida discloses the processor presents information in a vertical direction and/or a horizontal direction of the target space [para 13, 58, 95].
As per claim 15, Higuchi discloses the processor displays information on a range of an environment including at least a temperature at the specific position adjustable by the air conditioner so as to be superimposed on an image representing the target space [para 41, 330, 334].
As per claim 16, Higuchi discloses the processor displays information on a range of an environment including at least a temperature at the specific position adjustable by the air conditioner so as to be superimposed on an image representing the target space [para 41, 330, 334].
As per claim 17, Higuchi discloses the processor displays information on a range of an environment including at least a temperature at the specific position adjustable by the air conditioner so as to be superimposed on an image representing the target space [para 41, 330, 334].
As per claim 18, Higuchi the processor displays information on a range of
an environment including at least a temperature at the specific position adjustable by the air conditioner so as to be superimposed on an image representing the target space [para 41, 330, 334].
As per claim 19, Higuchi discloses the processor presents a range of the environment at a plurality of the specific positions [figure 23; para 99-100, 330, 347].
As per claim 20, Higuchi discloses that the processor presents time information about a time it takes for the environment at the specific position to become a predetermined environment [para 229, 230].
As per claim 21, Higuchi discloses while maintaining an environment at a first
specific position among the specific positions, the processor presents a range of an environment adjustable at a second specific position different from the first specific position [para 253, 254].
As per claim 22, is contained the same limitations as set forth in claim 11, and Nishida discloses an air conditioning system [figure 1; para 40]. Therefore, same rejection is applied.
As to claim 23, directed to a computer readable storage medium storing the program instructions to perform the method of steps executed by the system as set forth in claim 11. Therefore, it is rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove.
6. Examiner's note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs and columns and
line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the
applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art
and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and
figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing
responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part
of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art
or disclosed by the examiner. MPEP 2141.02 VI: “PRIOR ART MUST BE
CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY
FROM THE CLAIMS."
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Ozaki, US publication no. 2019/0360716, discloses an environment estimation device, comprising: an obtainment unit configured to obtain an operation state
of at least one appliance provided in a space from the at least one appliance or a control device of the at least one appliance, and obtain environmental information
inside the space; a generation unit configured to generate, based on the operation state obtained and the environmental information inside the space obtained, an estimation unit configured to estimate a three-dimensional environmental distribution inside the space; a determination unit configured to change, by varying the boundary variable from an initial value, first environmental information in a specific region of the three dimensional environmental distribution estimated, and determine, as an object boundary variable, the boundary variable at a time when a difference between the first environmental information and second environmental information in the specific region included in the environmental information inside the space obtained is within a predetermined range.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUN CAO whose telephone number is (571)272-3664. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7:30 am-4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini Shah can be reached on 571-272-2279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/CHUN CAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 Nishida is cited by applicant.