DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6 November 2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-4 are pending. Claim 2 is withdrawn due to a prior restriction.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toon (US 4,989,452) in view of Padgett (US 9,227,279).
Regarding claim 1, Toon discloses a submersible pump (submersible pump is intended use of detection apparatus and will not be given patentable weight, as the body of the claim recites a structurally complete invention that does not include any elements which require the use of a submersible pump, See MPEP 2111.02) detection apparatus comprising:
a pair of sensors (fig 4, conductivity sensor, electrodes 86, 87, c 5 ln 50-61; and photo-transistor 16, c 4 ln 43-65) in electric communication (electrical circuit for signaling, c 6 ln 7-13) with a controller (operator is signaled at the surface via lamps or alarm, c 6 ln 13, 22; an operating receiving signals meets the plain meaning of controller under a BRI; the plain meaning of controller is a person or thing that directs or regulates something) comprising:
a conductivity sensor (86/87) configured as a plate (wire 87 is disclosed as having a large area with low axial dimensions, c 5 ln 50-55; the low axial dimensions and area meet the plain meaning of plate under a BRI; this plate has a large central hole, the term plate does not exclude plates with holes) having a lower horizontal, planar surface (lower ring 87, is arranged circumferentially of a ring, which lies on an axial plane with a preferably small axial dimension, c 5 ln 45-50);
an optical sensor (16) configured to measure reflectivity (measures whether light has been reflected by liquid away from the sensor); wherein the optical sensor is disposed in the plane of the lower horizontal, planar surface (c 6 ln 23-27)
wherein the pair of sensors and controller are adapted to:
detect air when the conductivity sensor measures low conductivity (air when no refraction, c 2 ln 31-40) and the optical sensor measures high reflectivity (when liquid is not present, the light is not reflected away from the sensor 16, c 2 ln 31-51);
detect hydrocarbon when the conductivity sensor measures low conductivity (c 5 ln 67-c 6 ln 2) and the optical sensor measures low reflectivity (c 5 ln 60-66);
detect water when the conductivity sensor measures high conductivity (small electrical resistance at the electrodes, c 6 ln 3-8) and the optical sensor measures low reflectivity (c 5 ln 60-66).
Toon is silent on a stilling tube having a first opening disposed above a second opening, and a middle portion disposed therebetween, said pair of sensors being disposed within said middle portion, wherein said stilling tube is configured to stabilize the fluid within an area proximate said pair of sensors so that said pair of sensors can register an accurate reading of a property of the fluid.
PNG
media_image1.png
526
360
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Padgett fig 1
Padgett teaches a stilling tube (tube protector 24, c 3 ln 65-66) having a first opening (open top, c 4 ln 2) disposed above a second opening (opening 26 at the bottom of the protector 24, c 4 ln 3), and a middle portion (interior of protector 24 with height H1, c 4 ln 66-67) disposed therebetween, said pair of sensors being disposed within said middle portion (sensor is disposed in length of protector 24, c 4 ln 67), wherein said stilling tube is configured to stabilize the fluid within an area proximate said pair of sensors so that said pair of sensors can register an accurate reading of a property of the fluid (the protector prevents debris from interfering with sensors and causing inaccurate detection of fluid level, c 1 ln 51- c 2 ln 3, c 5 ln 10-15); wherein the system is usable in any sort of liquid storage tank (c 2 ln 65-67).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the tank fluid level indicator of Toon by adding the protective tube 24 of Padgett in order to protect the level sensor from debris which would interfere with an accurate fluid level reading.
Regarding claim 3, Toon in view of Padgett makes obvious the detection apparatus of claim 1. Toon is silent on further comprising one or more additional sensors, each sensor selected from the group consisting of: a conductivity sensor, a capacitance sensor, an inductance sensor, a level sensor, a refractive index sensor, and a reflectivity sensor.
Padgett further teaches a plurality of sensors at different levels in order to measure the level of fluid (c 2 ln 30, 42-43).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use a plurality of fluid level sensors of Toon as taught by Padgett in order to measure the level of the fluid at discrete positions without moving the sensor.
As a result of the modification, the claims meet the limitation that the one or more additional sensors comprise a conductivity sensor, a level sensor, and a reflectivity sensor.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toon in view of Padgett in view of McKiernan (US 5,079,950).
PNG
media_image2.png
516
224
media_image2.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image3.png
284
416
media_image3.png
Greyscale
McKiernan fig 1 and fig 2
Regarding claim 4, Toon in view of Padgett makes obvious the detection apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
…
an insulating block (Toon, housing is made of inert plastic material such as PTFE, c 5 ln 60-61) adapted to electrically isolate said conductivity sensor (electrodes are isolated from each other in order to measure the conductance of the liquid, c 5 ln 60-c 6 ln 2), said one or more level sensors (obviously the electrodes from a plurality of level sensors would be isolated from each other in order to retain their function, each electrode is at a specific horizontal level, if the sensors at different levels were not isolated from each other otherwise the controller would not be able to distinguish between the fluid at different levels) and said stilling tube (obviously the electrodes from a plurality of level sensors would be isolated from the stilling tube in order to retain their function, the stilling tube runs vertically while the electrodes measure from a specific horizontal level, if the tube were not isolated from the electrode the controller would be affected by liquid along the length of the stilling tube instead of at the electrodes specific horizontal level);
…
electrically isolated feed-throughs for said pair of sensors and said one or more level sensors (housing is of inert material, c 5 ln 60-61);
and a cable connecting said feed-throughs to said controller (tape 3 with suitable connections for electrical conductors, c 3 ln 4[-34), thereby forming a hydrocarbon detection module (c 5 ln 68).
Padgett further teaches a plurality of sensors at different levels in order to measure the level of fluid (c 2 ln 30, 42-43), such that one or more level sensors disposed below said pair of sensors (a lower sensor from the plurality will meet the limitation).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use a plurality of fluid level sensors of Toon as taught by Padgett in order to measure the level of the fluid at discrete positions without moving the sensor.
Toon in view of Padgett does not make obvious a manifold disposed at the top of said stilling tube, said manifold further comprising:
an access cover.
McKiernan teaches a level assembly (fig 1) for a tank (fig 2) with a manifold (fig 1, fitting body 12 provides a single mounting point for the plurality of sensor probe 17, 18, 19; c 3 ln 50-55; the fitting fits the plain meaning of manifold because it reduces several potential mounting points for each probe to a single common mounting point for all the probes together), the manifold comprising an access cover (body 12 covers an opening 13 of the tank via a threaded connection, c 3 ln 41, 44-48), using with rigid probe shafts (c 6 ln 22)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enable the mounting of the plurality of probes of Toon in view of Padgett to a tank via a single manifold type mount and cover (12) as taught by McKiernan in order to ease the adjustment of the levels of the probes with respect to the single manifold type mount and cover (12) when outside the tank thereby easy assembly of probes at their relative heights while outside the tank before inserting the probes as a unit into the tank (McKiernan, c 2 ln 50-62, c 4 ln 45-46).
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the combination by using the attachment cable (Padgett, 28) of Toon to retain the tube protector (Padgett, 64) of Toon in view of Padgett beneath the manifold type mount and cover (McKiernan, 12) for the expected result of mounting the protector (Padgett, 24) within the tank (Padgett, c 4 ln 11-18). As a result the combination meets the limitation that the manifold is disposed at the top of the stilling tube.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEOFFREY S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5354. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 0900-1800.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Essama Omgba can be reached on (469) 295-9278. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GEOFFREY S LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 3746
/DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746