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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 08/12/2025 has been entered.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Assaf et al., US Patent 5,392,611 (Assaf) in view of Yamanoi et al., US 2023/0056663 (Yamanoi) and further in view of Hilberg et al., US 2023/0134154 (Hilberg).
Assaf discloses a method for managing operating conditions in a greenhouse (20), comprising: disposing one or mor cryogenic liquid/air exchangers (21, column 6, lines 44-48) in the greenhouse (as clearly illustrated in Figure 5); during all or some of the day (column 7, lines 1-4), injecting liquid into the all or some of the exchangers to exchange heat between the air inside the greenhouse and cold walls of the one or more exchangers, and thus lower the temperature inside the greenhouse and condense all or some of the residual humidity of an internal atmosphere on the cold walls of the one or more exchangers (column 6, lines 44-48: A suitable latent heat converter for carrying out the present invention is a heat pump that presents a cold surface to the air in the greenhouse affecting condensation of water vapor in the air).
However, Assaf discloses the use of brine water as the injecting liquid and not CO2. Yamonio teaches within the analogous art of heat exchangers that brine and CO2 are known equivalents for use in heat exchanger systems (reference paragraph [187]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use CO2 in the greenhouse of Assaf for the liquid in the heat exchanger as CO2 and brine are known equivalents and amounts to a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
Assaf further does not positively disclose the use of artificial lighting. However, Hilberg teaches within the same field of endeavor that it is notoriously well known that greenhouses which control temperature and humidity may also require multiple artificial light sources ([0003]) and that it is further known to utilize artificial lighting during low light conditions to augment natural lighting (reference [0034]) to optimize plant growth. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use artificial lighting as taught by Hilberg in the greenhouse as disclosed by Assaf to augment natural light in the greenhouse so as to ensure optimum plant growth.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 2 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. The applicant has amended the claim to introduce the limitation of “with use of artificial lighting”. The Hilberg was brought in to teach that it is known within the art and specific within the art to humidity controlled and low lighting greenhouses, that artificial lighting is known to be used.
Conclusion
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KIMBERLY BERONA
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3647
/KIMBERLY S BERONA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3647
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