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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the following reasons:
In response to Applicant’s arguments regarding the use Denis to teach of the limitations “a dry cooler, configured to maintain a preset temperature of the water in the water tank kit”, the Examiner disagrees. While the Examiner does acknowledge that Denis does not teach of cycling the water itself through the dry cooler, such a feature is not explicitly claimed. The limitation “configured to maintain a preset temperature of the water in the water tank kit” is a function that can be achieved indirectly, such as through regulation of the temperature of the dielectric fluid that then cycles through and transfers heat to the water in the tank. Further, Denis explicitly states “Upon operation of remote radiator with fan 46, the heated engine coolant is cooled and, in turn, cools exhaust conduit 36 and moderates the temperature of interior 14 of liquid storage tank 12” (see ¶ [0023] of Denis’ specification). Therefore, the use of Denis to teach of the above limitation is maintained.
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) 1-4, 6-8, 10-14 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garnier (FR 3034851 A1) in view of Minnoy (US 20190338962 A1) and Denis (US 20040173164 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Garnier teaches of:
A system, comprising:
a liquid cooling chassis (Fig. 10, CsN), comprising
a miner (Fig. 10, PrC can operate as a cryptocurrency miner; Pg. 7, ¶ [0005], Furthermore, when no calculation order is pending and the water heater ChE has a need for heating, the PtG control means initiate ancillary tasks in order to operate the PrC processors. These tasks are for example the following: cryptocurrency mining), the miner generating heat (Fig. 10, PrC generates heat and transfers it to fluid in MoC); and
a water tank kit, the water tank kit storing water (Fig. 10, RsV);
wherein the heat generated from the miner is transferred to the water stored in the water tank kit, producing a heat source thereof (Fig. 10, heat is transferred from PrC via MoC to RsV).
Garnier fails to explicitly teach:
a dielectric fluid enclosure
a dry cooler, configured to maintain a preset temperature of the water in the water tank kit
Minnoy teaches of:
a dielectric fluid enclosure (Fig. 7C, CPU and GPU are filled with a dielectric fluid that is pumped in and out of the enclosure to a set of coils in a water heater positioned above it; ¶ [0149], FIG. 7c shows a heating system 1 with a sealed enclosure 44 filled with a dielectric fluid […] Optionally, to improve heat transfer towards the vessel 4, the oil may be pumped outside of the sealed enclosure 44 by means of a pump 49, e.g. through drip-free plugs, transferring the oil e.g. to spirals or heat pipes 8 installed on the vessel).
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
replace the enclosure CsN of Fig. 10 of Garnier with the enclosure of Fig. 7C of Minnoy and further connect the new enclosure to the existing coils of Garnier so that the PrC of Garnier is submerged in dielectric fluid that is transferred in and out of the enclosure and circulated through the existing coils within the RsV to heat the water therewithin
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
Immersion cooling of electronic processing components provides better heat transfer than traditional cooling methods, allowing for higher power usage by the processing components (Minnoy, ¶ [0059], Optionally, the at least one processing unit is cooled by means of immersion cooling. The at least one processing unit may be immersed in a liquid inside a sealed enclosure so as to improve heat transfer. Immersion cooling may also allow higher power usage by the electronic components of the processing unit, since a more efficient cooling may be provided.)
Denis teaches of:
comprises a dry cooler, the dry cooler maintains a preset temperature of the water in the water tank kit (Figs. 1-3, the heat transfer fluid within the coil 42 is cooled by a radiator with a fan 46 that functions as a dry cooler as it utilizes air to cool the fluid and not liquid).
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add a branch in the fluid circuit of the combined teachings that can selectively divert dielectric fluid from the primary circuit through the dry cooler of Denis
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
It would allow for the temperature of the dielectric fluid in the combined teachings to be regulated and in turn for the water within the water heater tank to be regulated (Denis, ¶ [0023], for operation in warmer conditions, thermostatically controlled valve 44 diverts heated engine coolant to remote radiator with fan 46. Upon operation of remote radiator with fan 46, the heated engine coolant is cooled and, in turn, cools exhaust conduit 36 and moderates the temperature of interior 14 of liquid storage tank 12)
Regarding claim 2, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the water tank kit comprises a coil heating the water stored in the water tank kit (Garnier, Fig. 10, CdP).
Regarding claim 3, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 2, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the dielectric fluid flows through the coil (see combination made in the rejection of claim 1 above, the dielectric fluid flows through the existing coils of Garnier)
Regarding claim 4, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises a pump circulating the dielectric fluid between the liquid cooling chassis and the water tank kit for transferring heat from the miner in the liquid cooling chassis to the water in the water tank kit (Minnoy, Fig. 7C, 49 pumps the dielectric fluid to coils)
Regarding claim 6, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises at least one of:
a water replenishing kit (Garnier, Fig. 10, EnE replenishes the water in the water tank RsV); or
an open expansion tank kit, supplying water to the water tank kit.
Regarding claim 7, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises hot water reservoirs storing the water heated in the water tank kit (Garnier, Fig. 10, the interior of RsV is a hot water reservoir as it stores water heated within RsV).
Regarding claim 8, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, however, the combined teachings fail to explicitly teach:
further comprises multiple liquid cooling chassis, wherein the dielectric fluid is distributed between the multiple cooling chassis based on a heat generated by a respective miner in each of the multiple liquid cooling chassis.
A further embodiment of Minnoy teaches of:
further comprises multiple liquid cooling chassis, wherein the dielectric fluid is distributed between the multiple cooling chassis based on a heat generated by a respective miner in each of the multiple liquid cooling chassis (Fig. 13, see multiple liquid cooled chassis 2; ¶ [0166], Also here, at least one heat exchanging spiral in or on a vessel 4 is used so as to facilitate the heat exchange of specific computer components of the at least one processing unit 2 to the medium 10 inside the vessel 4 (e.g. water).; ¶ [0167], The at least one processing unit 2 can have an enclosure which is arranged to be sled underneath the vessel 4, the enclosure containing the computer equipment to be cooled. The equipment inside the sealed enclosure can be water cooled, cooled by a two-phase immersive fluid or by mineral or transformer oil. Other solutions can be envisaged. A phase change material can be used to store the heat of the at least one processing unit 2 (e.g. computer server(s))).
The combined teachings can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
position more than one dielectric liquid cooled chassis in the system of the combined teachings and have their fluid circuits be interconnected to the immersed coils of Garnier and utilize the control scheme of the further embodiment of Minnoy so that the dielectric fluid flowing through the chassis can be selectively cycled through the immersed coils on an as needed bases based on heat generated
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
it would allow for more miners to be added to the system depending on the heating requirements of the endpoint user of the water heater (Minnoy, ¶ [0162], The system of FIG. 13 comprises a plurality of processing units 2. In this example three computer servers are stacked on top of each other. Other numbers and/or arrangements are also possible. This could be more or less depending on the energy requirements of the building. As less high temperatures are needed to warm a building it could be envisioned that a server could have one or more CPUs, and little or no GPUs. This depends on the computational tasks that needs to be performed.)
Regarding claim 10, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the miner is a cryptocurrency miner (Garnier, Pg. 7, ¶ [0005], Furthermore, when no calculation order is pending and the water heater ChE has a need for heating, the PtG control means initiate ancillary tasks in order to operate the PrC processors. These tasks are for example the following: cryptocurrency mining)
Regarding claim 11, Garnier teaches of:
A system comprising:
means for generating heat (Fig. 10, PrC);
means for absorbing the generated heat (Fig. 10, fluid inside of water inside RsV absorbs generated heat from PrC); and
Garnier fails to explicitly teach:
means for transferring the generated heat to the heat absorbing means (this is interpreted as a dielectric fluid based upon the further structure added in dependent claim 12)
means for maintain a preset temperature in the absorbing means
Minnoy teaches of:
means for transferring the generated heat to the heat absorbing means (Fig. 7C, CPU and GPU are filled with a dielectric fluid that is pumped in and out of the enclosure to a set of coils in a water heater positioned above it; ¶ [0149], FIG. 7c shows a heating system 1 with a sealed enclosure 44 filled with a dielectric fluid […] Optionally, to improve heat transfer towards the vessel 4, the oil may be pumped outside of the sealed enclosure 44 by means of a pump 49, e.g. through drip-free plugs, transferring the oil e.g. to spirals or heat pipes 8 installed on the vessel).
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
replace the enclosure CsN of Fig. 10 of Garnier with the enclosure of Fig. 7C of Minnoy and further connect the new enclosure to the existing coils of Garnier so that the PrC of Garnier is submerged in dielectric fluid that is transferred in and out of the enclosure and circulated through the existing coils within the RsV to heat the water therewithin
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
Immersion cooling of electronic processing components provides better heat transfer than traditional cooling methods, allowing for higher power usage by the processing components (Minnoy, ¶ [0059], Optionally, the at least one processing unit is cooled by means of immersion cooling. The at least one processing unit may be immersed in a liquid inside a sealed enclosure so as to improve heat transfer. Immersion cooling may also allow higher power usage by the electronic components of the processing unit, since a more efficient cooling may be provided.)
Denis teaches of:
Means for maintain a preset temperature in the absorbing means (Figs. 1-3, the heat transfer fluid within the coil 42 is cooled by a radiator with a fan 46 that functions as a dry cooler as it utilizes air to cool the fluid and not liquid).
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add a branch in the fluid circuit of the combined teachings that can selectively divert dielectric fluid from the primary circuit through the dry cooler of Denis
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
It would allow for the temperature of the dielectric fluid in the combined teachings to be regulated and in turn for the water within the water heater tank to be regulated (Denis, ¶ [0023], for operation in warmer conditions, thermostatically controlled valve 44 diverts heated engine coolant to remote radiator with fan 46. Upon operation of remote radiator with fan 46, the heated engine coolant is cooled and, in turn, cools exhaust conduit 36 and moderates the temperature of interior 14 of liquid storage tank 12)
Regarding claim 12, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 11, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the heat transferring means comprises pumping a dielectric fluid between the heat generating means and the heat absorbing means (see combination made in the rejection of claim 11 above, Minnoy, Fig. 7C, 49 is a pump for pumping the dielectric fluid)
Regarding claim 13, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 12, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises the dielectric fluid flowing in an enclosure of the heat generating means, wherein the heat from the heat generating means is transferred to the dielectric fluid (see combination made in the rejection of claim 11 above).
Regarding claim 14, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 12, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises the dielectric fluid flowing in a coil in the heat absorbing means, wherein the heat from the dielectric fluid is transferred to the absorbing means surrounding the coil (see combination made in the rejection of claim 11 above)
Regarding claim 17, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 11, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises a means for storing heat absorbed by the absorption means (Garnier, Fig. 10, the interior of RsV is a means for storing the hot water formed within the hot water tank)
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garnier (FR 3034851 A1) in view of Minnoy (US 20190338962 A1) and Denis (US 20040173164 A1) as presented in claims 1 and in further view of Bell (GB 2468015 A).
Regarding claim 9, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 1, however, the combined teachings fail to explicitly teach:
further includes a secondary fluid circle operating in one of the following modes:
as a secondary/auxiliary heat source to heat the water in the water tank kit; or
as a secondary/auxiliary heat sink to cool the water in the water tank kit.
Bell teaches of:
further includes a secondary fluid circle operating in one of the following modes:
as a secondary/auxiliary heat source to heat the water in the water tank kit (Fig. 6, 100 is an auxiliary heat source made from a secondary fluid circuit); or
as a secondary/auxiliary heat sink to cool the water in the water tank kit.
The combined teachings can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
replace the immersion heater TpG of Garnier with the immersion heater of Bell that utilizes a fluid circuit to provide auxiliary heat
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
It has been found that the simple substation of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is obvious based upon the following rationale:
The combined teachings contain a system that differs from the claimed system by the substation of an electric auxiliary immersion heater with a fluid circuit auxiliary heater;
A fluid circuit auxiliary heater is known in the art as shown by Bell;
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have substituted one auxiliary heater for another and the result of the substitution would predictably be that the system would be able to provide auxiliary heat as needed
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garnier (FR 3034851 A1) in view of Minnoy (US 20190338962 A1) and Denis (US 20040173164 A1) as presented in claim 11 and in further view of “Thermal Expansion Within the Plumbing System” hereinafter referred to as NPL1 (copy of NPL provided in filewrapper) and “What is a Water Heater Filter and How Does It Work?” hereinafter referred to as NPL2 (copy of NPL provided in filewrapper)
Regarding claim 16, the combined teachings teach of the system of claim 11, however, the combined teachings fail to explicitly teach:
further comprises a means to replenish the means for absorbing (see 112f interpretation above)
NPL1 teaches of:
a check valve (see first figure, labeled as a backflow preventer), a first isolation valve (first figure, shut-off valve), a second isolation valve (first figure, valve) and an expansion tank (first figure, Thermal Expansion Tank)
The combined teachings can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add all of the components within the first figure of NPL1 to the inlet of the tank of Garnier
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
it would allow for thermal expansion to occur, preventing issues like leaky faucets (NPL1, Paragraphs 2-4, When a backflow preventer device is installed in your meter box, water from the building/house will be unable to flow back into the water system. The backflow preventer creates an isolated or closed plumbing system. For some homeowners, thermal expansion could produce leaky faucets or set off the relief valve on hot water heaters, or in some cases, other damage may occur. Thermal expansion occurs when your hot water heater heats the water, causing it to expand. In order to control thermal expansion, simply lowering the temperature setting of the hot water tank to 115-125 degrees (which is sufficient for most purposes) might reduce the possibility of thermal expansion. A plumber may recommend the installation of one of the following two types of products to control thermal expansion: Thermal expansion tank on your hot water heater. Layout shown below is for demonstration purposes only.)
NPL2 teaches of:
a filter (Pg. 2, A water heater filter protects your appliances from scale by retaining minerals in a solution so they cannot accumulate and damage your water heater)
The combined teachings can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add a filter upstream from all the components of the water replenishing kit
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
it would prevent scale buildup in the water heater (NPL2, (Pg. 2, A water heater filter protects your appliances from scale by retaining minerals in a solution so they cannot accumulate and damage your water heater)
Claim(s) 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garnier (FR 3034851 A1) in view of Minnoy (US 20190338962 A1) and Denis (US 20040173164 A1).
Regarding claim 18, Garnier teaches of:
A digital boiler system, comprising:
a miner liquid cooling chassis (Fig. 10, CsN), comprising a miner within a fluid enclosure, the miner configured to generate heat and transfer the heat to a fluid within the fluid enclosure (Fig. 10, PrC can operate as a cryptocurrency miner and generates hear; Pg. 7, ¶ [0005], Furthermore, when no calculation order is pending and the water heater ChE has a need for heating, the PtG control means initiate ancillary tasks in order to operate the PrC processors. These tasks are for example the following: cryptocurrency mining);
a water tank kit, comprising a heating coil immersed in water, the fluid flows through the heating coil to heat the water in the water tank (Fig. 10, RsV has an immersed coil CdP and a heat transfer fluid flows from CsN to CdP);
a water replenishing kit, the water replenishing kit configured to provide water to the water tank kit (Fig. 10, EnE);
a pump, configured to circulate the fluid between the liquid cooling chassis and the water tank kit to transfer the heat from the miner in the liquid cooling chassis to the water in the water tank kit (Fig. 10, P1).
Garnier fails to explicitly teach:
the fluid is a dielectric fluid
a dry cooler comprising a coil and a fan, and configured to maintain a preset temperature of the water in the water tank kit
Minnoy teaches of:
the fluid is a dielectric fluid (Fig. 7C, CPU and GPU are filled with a dielectric fluid that is pumped in and out of the enclosure to a set of coils in a water heater positioned above it; ¶ [0149], FIG. 7c shows a heating system 1 with a sealed enclosure 44 filled with a dielectric fluid […] Optionally, to improve heat transfer towards the vessel 4, the oil may be pumped outside of the sealed enclosure 44 by means of a pump 49, e.g. through drip-free plugs, transferring the oil e.g. to spirals or heat pipes 8 installed on the vessel).
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
replace the enclosure CsN of Fig. 10 of Garnier with the enclosure of Fig. 7C of Minnoy and further connect the new enclosure to the existing coils of Garnier so that the PrC of Garnier is submerged in dielectric fluid that is transferred in and out of the enclosure and circulated through the existing coils within the RsV to heat the water therewithin
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
Immersion cooling of electronic processing components provides better heat transfer than traditional cooling methods, allowing for higher power usage by the processing components (Minnoy, ¶ [0059], Optionally, the at least one processing unit is cooled by means of immersion cooling. The at least one processing unit may be immersed in a liquid inside a sealed enclosure so as to improve heat transfer. Immersion cooling may also allow higher power usage by the electronic components of the processing unit, since a more efficient cooling may be provided.)
Denis teaches of:
a dry cooler comprising a coil and a fan, configured to maintain a preset temperature of the water in the water tank kit (Figs. 1-3, the heat transfer fluid within the coil 42 is cooled by a radiator with a fan 46 that functions as a dry cooler as it utilizes air to cool the fluid and not liquid).
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add a branch in the fluid circuit of the combined teachings that can selectively divert dielectric fluid from the primary circuit through the dry cooler of Denis
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
It would allow for the temperature of the dielectric fluid in the combined teachings to be regulated and in turn for the water within the water heater tank to be regulated (Denis, ¶ [0023], for operation in warmer conditions, thermostatically controlled valve 44 diverts heated engine coolant to remote radiator with fan 46. Upon operation of remote radiator with fan 46, the heated engine coolant is cooled and, in turn, cools exhaust conduit 36 and moderates the temperature of interior 14 of liquid storage tank 12)
Regarding claim 20, the combined teachings teach of the digital boiler system of claim 18, and the combined teachings further teach:
further comprises hot water reservoirs storing the water heated in the water tank kit (Garnier, Fig. 10, the interior of RsV is a hot water reservoir as it stores water heated within RsV)
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garnier (FR 3034851 A1) in view of Minnoy (US 20190338962 A1) and Denis (US 20040173164 A1) as presented in claim 18, and in further view of Joo (KR 20090129829 A)
Regarding claim 19, the combined teachings teach of the digital boiler system of claim 18, however, the combined teachings fail to explicitly teach:
further comprises an open expansion tank kit, supplying water to the water tank kit.
Joo teaches of:
further comprises an open expansion tank kit, supplying water to the water tank kit (Fig. 3, 100 has an open expansion tank 120)
The combined teachings can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add the open expansion tank 120 of Joo to the inlet pipe of Garnier and further at the pressure reducing member 143 in the same position as it is shown in Joo to Garnier so that it can provide adequate pressure drop
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
It would allow for expanding water heated within the water heater tank kit of the combined teachings to be compensated for (Joo, Pg. 7, lines 17-22, As illustrated in FIG. 3, the water heater (100) according to the present invention has a hot water tank (110) that heats water through a heater (115) and stores the heated hot water, and an expansion tank (120) that receives hot water expanded in the hot water tank (110) when the hot water tank (110) is overheated.)
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J GIORDANO whose telephone number is (571)272-8940. The examiner can normally be reached M-Fr 8 AM - 5 PM EST.
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, Steve McAllister can be reached at (571) 272-6785. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL JAMES GIORDANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/STEVEN B MCALLISTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762