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 .
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) 1, 2, 5-7 and 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nelson et al. U.S. PGPub 2003/0050736 (hereinafter “Nelson”) in view of Carpenter CA-3153454-A1 (hereinafter “Carpenter”).
Regarding claims 1, 13 and 18, Nelson discloses a bleach dilution system, comprising: a mixer that mixes (via dilution) water and sodium hypochlorite to a defined strength (e.g. desired concentration), resulting in a diluted mix (e.g. ¶42, 79-82 and 99-106). Regarding claims 12 and 17, Nelson discloses a tank storing the sodium hypochlorite (e.g. ¶8-14). Regarding claim 18, Nelson discloses a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations (e.g. ¶8-9 and 45), comprising: based on a strength of sodium hypochlorite stored on a bleach dilution and delivery vehicle and a defined output strength, determining a mixing ratio (e.g. percentage/concentration) of the sodium hypochlorite and water (e.g. ¶42, 79-82 and 99-106); and based on the mixing ratio, controlling a mixer of the bleach dilution system to mix the water and the sodium hypochlorite to the defined output strength (e.g. ¶42, 79-82 and 99-106). Regarding claims 1, 2, 12, 13, 17 and 18, Nelson does not disclose the bleach dilution system being implemented on a vehicle with a trailer that can dispense and transport a solution from one location to another.
Carpenter discloses a chemical dilution system on a mobile platform that includes a vehicle and/or a trailer that can dispense and transport a solution from one location to another (e.g. abstract; ¶41-42; Fig. 1).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement a specifically mobile bleach dilution system on a vehicle that can dispense and transport a solution from one location to another. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this in order to efficiently provide a desired concentration of bleach solution from one location to another location with the ability to produced the desired solution at one location and instantly transport it to another desired location (see Carpenter ¶40-42).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Nelson with Carpenter to obtain the invention as specified in claims 1, 2, 5-7 and 10-20.
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Nelson discloses the bleach dilution and delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the water comprises treated water, and wherein the bleach dilution system further comprises: a water treatment system that removes suspended solids, dissolved solids, and ions from untreated water, or softens the untreated water (via purification), resulting in the treated water (e.g. ¶6-7 and 104).
Regarding claim 6, Nelson discloses the bleach dilution and delivery vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: a controller (i.e. controller), comprising a processor (i.e. CPU), that controls the mixer to achieve the defined strength of the diluted mix, wherein controlling the mixer comprises adjusting a first flow rate of the water (via valves) and a second flow rate of the sodium hypochlorite (via valves) (e.g. ¶45, 69, 79-82 and 99-106).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Nelson discloses the bleach dilution and delivery vehicle of claim 6, wherein the controller further generates an output based on the mixing of the water and the sodium hypochlorite to the defined strength (e.g. ¶42, 45, 69, 79-82 and 99-106).
Regarding claims 10, Nelson discloses the bleach dilution and delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein a strength of the sodium hypochlorite comprises 5% to 35% sodium hypochlorite by weight (e.g. ¶6).
Regarding claim 11, Nelson discloses the bleach dilution and delivery vehicle of claim 1, wherein the defined strength of the diluted mix is approximately 12.5% sodium hypochlorite by weight (e.g. ¶6).
Regarding claims 15 and 19, Nelson discloses the method of claim 13, wherein a strength of the sodium hypochlorite comprises at least 25% sodium hypochlorite by weight (e.g. ¶6, wherein the initial concentration of the undiluted sodium hypochlorite is at least 25%).
Regarding claims 16 and 20, Nelson discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the defined strength of the diluted mix is approximately 12.5% to 16% sodium hypochlorite by weight (e.g. ¶6).
Regarding claim 18, Nelson discloses a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations (e.g. ¶8-9 and 45), comprising: based on a strength of sodium hypochlorite stored on a bleach dilution and delivery vehicle and a defined output strength, determining a mixing ratio (e.g. percentage/concentration) of the sodium hypochlorite and water (e.g. ¶42, 79-82 and 99-106); and based on the mixing ratio, controlling a mixer of the bleach dilution system to mix the water and the sodium hypochlorite to the defined output strength (e.g. ¶42, 79-82 and 99-106).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nelson and Carpenter as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Ditty et al. U.S. PGPub 2019/0258251 (hereinafter “Ditty”).
Nelson nor Carpenter disclose a vehicle that is self-propelled.
Ditty discloses a vehicle with trailer that uses a self-driving system (e.g. ¶668; Fig. 65).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use self-propelled vehicle to transport a mobile chemical dilution system. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this in order to save costs and improve efficiency in transporting the system since the self-driving system has the potential of being far more skilled at driving than the average human driver (see Ditty ¶47).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Nelson and Carpenter with Ditty to obtain the invention as specified in claim 2.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nelson and Carpenter as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Cho KR-101899564 (hereinafter “Cho” citations refer to the provided NPL English Translation).
Nelson discloses monitoring the flow of the dilution system (e.g. ¶104-105), but does not explicitly disclose three distinct flow meters.
Cho discloses a first flow meter, wherein the first flow meter determines water flow into the mixer (e.g. ¶9, water flow meter(s)); a second flow meter, wherein the second flow meter determines sodium hypochlorite flow into the mixer (e.g. ¶10, image flow meter unit that can measure flow rate of sodium hypochlorite); and a third flow meter, wherein the third flow meter determines diluted mix flow out of the mixer (e.g. ¶6-7, flow rate meter that measures flow rate of mixed diluted solution).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to monitor fluid flow of the water, the sodium hypochlorite and the diluted solution. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this in order for the system adjust the flow as needed to the optimal rate based on the desired flow and to monitor the state of the system to ensure the fluid flows are at desired levels.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Nelson and Carpenter with Cho to obtain the invention as specified in claim 4.
Claim(s) 8 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nelson and Carpenter as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Gathman et al. U.S. PGPub 2022/0261752 (hereinafter “Gathman”).
Nelson nor Carpenter disclose generating a receipt or a bill relating to delivery of the sodium hypochlorite.
Gathman discloses a delivery vehicle generating a bill related to the amount of material transported (e.g. ¶25 and 34).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to generating a bill related to the amount of sodium hypochlorite transported to a client. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this in order to provide an accurate recording of the transaction (see Gathman ¶25).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Nelson and Carpenter with Gathman to obtain the invention as specified in claims 8 and 9.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES R KASENGE whose telephone number is (571)272-3743. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30am to 4pm EST.
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CK
December 13, 2025
/CHARLES R KASENGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116