DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/31/26 have been fully considered but they are moot as they do not apply to the current grounds of rejection made in view of amendments to the claims.
Response to Amendments
The rejections of claims 1-4, 7-14, and 17-20 under 35 USC 102(a)(1) and claims 5, 6, 15, and 16 under 35 USC 103 set forth in the prior Office action are withdrawn in order to present new rejections in view of amendments to the claims.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: “is in response” should be “in response”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: “is in response” should be “in response”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-4, 7-14, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2022096229A by Sugimoto in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 20230349087 by Kim et al. and CN113123072A by Jiang et al.
As to claim 1, Sugimoto teaches a laundry appliance comprising a cabinet (fig. 1); a tub 4 in the cabinet, the tub defining an outlet and inlet; a laundry basket 7 rotatably mounted within the tub, the basket defining a chamber; a heater to heat and remove moisture from air in the chamber (para. 20); and a controller operably coupled to the heater (para. 26) and configured to initiate an operation comprising directing a dry cycle for the articles, directing the dry cycle comprising activating the heater according to the cycle (para. 58); receiving a plurality of motion signals during the cycle (para. 64, vibration data at each detection point); evaluating the motion signals (para. 64, e.g. comparing the amount of change); determining a dry state of the articles based on the evaluation of the signals (para. 64, drying condition is determined); and modifying direction of the dry cycle based on the determined dry state (para. 60).
Sugimoto teaches that motion signals are received from a vibration sensor 4GS mounted on tub 4 (fig. 1), but does not explicitly state that the sensor may be an accelerometer. However, it was known that a tub-mounted vibration sensor may be embodied as an accelerometer (see Kim, para. 52). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to use an accelerometer as the vibration sensor taught by Sugimoto based on its established use and suitability evidenced by the teachings of Kim.
Sugimoto teaches that motion signals are received sequentially at detection points and a dry state is detected at the detection points (para. 64), but does not explicitly teach detecting at three or more sequential discrete time points. However, Sugimoto in an embodiment teaches acquiring movement data using image data at least at three sequential discrete time points (para. 97, at an interval of one minute data would be taken at least three times). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious that in an embodiment in which motion signals are received they would be received sequentially at detection points and a dry state would be detected at the detection points based on the teachings and inferences set forth by Sugimoto that suggest such detection interval so that the dry state may be continuously monitored and the cycle controlled accordingly.
Sugimoto does not teach tracking a filtered moving average of sequential signals and evaluating the moving average for an inflection point and detecting the dry state at three or more sequential time points. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to track a filtered moving average based on the teachings of Jiang. Jiang teaches that evaluating motion signals, in particular vibration, of a washing machine by tracking a filtered moving average of sequential signals is a simple and efficient calculation method that results in highly accurate data (para. 10). Based on the teachings of Jiang and Sugimoto, one of ordinary skill in the art would have also recognized as obvious to evaluating data for an inflection point based on routine mathematical skill to identify a dry state based on a change in vibration data.
Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
As to claim 2, Sugimoto teaches that directing the dry cycle comprises directing rotation of the basket (para. 58, motor activates that directs rotation of the basket).
As to claim 3, Sugimoto teaches that modifying direction comprises modifying rotation of the basket (para. 60, rotation would stop).
As to claim 4, Sugimoto teaches that modifying rotation of the basket comprises halting rotation in response to the dry state (para. 60, rotation would stop).
As to claim 7, Sugimoto teaches that evaluating may comprise using a machine learned model (para. 135).
As to claim 8, Sugimoto teaches that the machine learned model may comprise a neural network (paras. 132, 135).
As to claim 9, Sugimoto teaches that modifying direction of the cycle comprises modifying activation of the heater following determining the dry state of the articles (para. 60, heater would be deactivated upon end of drying operation).
As to claim 10, Sugimoto teaches that modifying activation of the heater comprises halting activation of the heater in response to determining the dry state (para. 60, heater would be deactivated upon end of drying operation).
As to claim 11, Sugimoto teaches a method of operation a laundry appliance, the method comprising directing a dry cycle for articles within a laundry basket 7 of the appliance (fig. 1), directing the dry cycle comprising activating a heater mounted in a cabinet of the appliance (fig. 1, para. 20) according to the cycle (para. 58); receiving a plurality of motion signals during the cycle (para. 64, vibration data at each detection point); evaluating the motion signals (para. 64, e.g. comparing the amount of change); determining a dry state of the articles based on the evaluation of the signals (para. 64, drying condition is determined); and modifying direction of the dry cycle based on the determined dry state (para. 60).
Sugimoto teaches that motion signals are received from a vibration sensor 4GS mounted on tub 4 (fig. 1), but does not explicitly state that the sensor may be an accelerometer. However, it was known that a tub-mounted vibration sensor may be embodied as an accelerometer (see Kim, para. 52). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to use an accelerometer as the vibration sensor taught by Sugimoto based on its established use and suitability evidenced by the teachings of Kim.
Sugimoto teaches that motion signals are received sequentially at detection points and a dry state is detected at the detection points (para. 64), but does not explicitly teach detecting at three or more sequential discrete time points. However, Sugimoto in an embodiment teaches acquiring movement data using image data at least at three sequential discrete time points (para. 97, at an interval of one minute data would be taken at least three times). One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious that in an embodiment in which motion signals are received they would be received sequentially at detection points and a dry state would be detected at the detection points based on the teachings and inferences set forth by Sugimoto that suggest such detection interval so that the dry state may be continuously monitored and the cycle controlled accordingly.
Sugimoto does not teach tracking a filtered moving average of sequential signals and evaluating the moving average for an inflection point and detecting the dry state at three or more sequential time points. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized as obvious to track a filtered moving average based on the teachings of Jiang. Jiang teaches that evaluating motion signals, in particular vibration, of a washing machine by tracking a filtered moving average of sequential signals is a simple and efficient calculation method that results in highly accurate data (para. 10). Based on the teachings of Jiang and Sugimoto, one of ordinary skill in the art would have also recognized as obvious to evaluating data for an inflection point based on routine mathematical skill to identify a dry state based on a change in vibration data.
Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious at its effective filing date.
As to claim 12, Sugimoto teaches that directing the dry cycle comprises directing rotation of the basket (para. 58, motor activates that directs rotation of the basket).
As to claim 13, Sugimoto teaches that modifying direction comprises modifying rotation of the basket (para. 60, rotation would stop).
As to claim 14, Sugimoto teaches that modifying rotation of the basket comprises halting rotation in response to the dry state (para. 60, rotation would stop).
As to claim 17, Sugimoto teaches that evaluating may comprise using a machine learned model (para. 135).
As to claim 18, Sugimoto teaches that the machine learned model may comprise a neural network (paras. 132, 135).
As to claim 19, Sugimoto teaches that modifying direction of the cycle comprises modifying activation of the heater following determining the dry state of the articles (para. 60, heater would be deactivated upon end of drying operation).
As to claim 20, Sugimoto teaches that modifying activation of the heater comprises halting activation of the heater in response to determining the dry state (para. 60, heater would be deactivated upon end of drying operation).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/SPENCER E. BELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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