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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-17 are rejected below.
Claims 18-20 are withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group 2 in the reply filed on 5-21-26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that a single search can cover all inventions. This is not found persuasive because Group 2 seems to adding in functions that are not combined in Group 1. Furthermore, there is no mention of a defrosting cycle whatsoever in Group 2, where claim 1 is almost exclusively the defrosting process. Furthermore claim 18 of group appear to have function language errors such as have a third instruction, but not have first or second instructions. It seems as if claim 18 is omitting steps. It is possible that claim 18 needs the defrosting of claim 1 and if placed in a rejoinder may be proper, however, at this point the requirement is upheld for this and the reasons stated in the restriction mailed on 3-25-26.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Applicant has not complied with one or more conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) as follows:
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original nonprovisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application No. PCT/CN2022/081837, fails to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. The PCT does not seem to have the defrosting methods described in claims 1 and 16 and their respective dependents and therefore do not get the benefit of this filing.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 states that there a plurality of second preset conditions. The claim defines three conditions. Each condition seems to be a group of conditions in which only one of the pieces of information is need (“using at least one of”) for example relative humidity or time unit has performed the performed the defrosting. However, the other conditions in second and third determining conditions seem to overlap. Examiner does not understand why this is done or how to interpret it because it is believed that as long as the third determining condition is met then the second and the first will be met based on the overlap and therefore there is no need for a plurality of conditions. None of the dependent claims cure this issue and are also rejected for this reason.
Claim 2 states that there are sub conditions, however, as written these seem to be taking place of the conditions of claim 1 and therefore not further limiting the claims. If the sub-conditions need to be met in addition to the conditions of claim 1 then claim 2 will need to be amended to show this.
Claim 3 seems to be similar with regards to the sub-conditions however these are not actual used. They seem to just be extra solution active/data and are not tied to claim 1 in any way, so it is believed there is a missing/omitted item that ties the limitations of claim 3 to the defrosting of claim 1.
Claims 5 states that “at least one air conditioner” can be a plurality of air conditioners. It is not possible for a single air condition to be interpreted as both. Claims 6-8 dependent on claim 5 and are rejected for the same reason. Similarly, there cannot be multiple outdoor/indoor units in there is only “at least one” defined.
Claim 7 has the same issues as claims 2-3 above with regards to sub-conditions and how they should be interpreted as in addition to or in lieu of the conditions stated in claim 1 and how they tie into the claim. Claim 7 also states “the outdoor unit” however, the preceding claim (see claim 5) has defined multiple outdoor units, and it is unclear to which outdoor unit this is referring.
Claim 8 has a similar issue as claim 7 in at least line 1 with “the outdoor unit”.
Claim 15 states obtain a maximum value of saturation pressure. It is unclear what portion/element of the system this is referring. Examiner has no idea from the claim what this saturation pressure is, what it ties to, or how to determine a maximum value.
The claims are replete with indefinite and/or functional language not supported by the recited structure. The above listing is exemplary and is not an exhaustive listing. Therefore, please review the claims and amend accordingly for compliance with 35 USC 112(b).
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) 1-14 and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawashima (U.S. PG Pub. 2024/0240820) in view of Guangdong (CN102563814) as provided by applicant.
As to claims 1 and 16 Kawashima teaches an air conditioner system, comprising: at least one air conditioner including an indoor unit (element 1) and an outdoor unit (element 2) [0022]; and a cloud platform communicatively connected to the outdoor unit (element 20)[0071], the cloud platform being configured to: in a case where the air conditioner is in a heating mode, determine the outdoor unit to perform one of defrosting and ending defrosting according to operating parameters of the outdoor unit(fig. 2); and if determining that the operating parameters satisfy any one of a plurality of second preset conditions, send a second sub-instruction to the outdoor unit, so that the outdoor unit ends defrosting according to the second sub-instruction; wherein the plurality of second preset conditions include: a first determining condition, the first determining condition including using at least one of a minimum value of a heat exchange pipe temperature, a relative humidity of an outdoor environment, time when the outdoor unit has performed defrosting, a maximum value of an exhaust pressure of the outdoor unit, or a maximum value of an exhaust temperature of the outdoor unit as a determining parameter; a second determining condition, the second determining condition including using at least one of the time when the outdoor unit has performed defrosting or the maximum value of the exhaust pressure of the outdoor unit as a determining parameter; and a third determining condition, the third determining condition including using the time when the outdoor unit has performed defrosting as a determining parameter[0054 - Thus, in the inference device 20 according to Embodiment 1, an inference value Pest of “time taken to melt frost” to be described is obtained by using a trained model. The control unit 15 of the air-conditioning apparatus 101 determines, in accordance with the inference value Pest of “time taken to melt frost”, whether or not to start the flow of FIG. 2. This can avoid the performance of an unnecessary defrosting operation with no frost depositing on the outdoor-side heat exchanger 6. A detailed description will be provided below.].
As to claim 1 and 16, Kawashima teaches most of the claim, however, it appears that the start of the defrost cycle occurs locally, however, having this done remotely is an obvious variation. This can be seen in Guangdong as follows:
As to claim 1 and 16, Guangdong if determining that the operating parameters satisfy a first preset condition, send a first sub-instruction to the outdoor unit, so that the outdoor unit starts defrosting according to the first sub-instruction (See page 4 second full paragraph).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing day to include the teachings of Guangdong into the system and method of Kawashima. The motivation to combine is that Guangdong teaches (1)can make the production firm of air-conditioning understand the running status of air-conditioning immediately by Cloud Server, air-conditioning is detected and system upgrade automatically; (2) can make air conditioner user that air-conditioning is carried out Long-distance Control, can satisfy the individual demand of air conditioner user simultaneously by Cloud Server; (3) can effectively manage air conditioner user information by Cloud Server, for the user provides better after-sale service (page 2).
As to claims 2 and 7, Kawashima teaches wherein the first preset condition includes a first preset sub-condition and a second preset sub-condition, and the cloud platform is further configured to: if the operating parameters of the outdoor unit satisfy the first preset sub-condition and the second preset sub-condition, send the first sub-instruction to the outdoor unit, so that the outdoor unit starts defrosting according to the first sub-instruction (fig. 2); wherein the first preset sub-condition includes a relationship between an accumulated heating time of the outdoor unit and a minimum value of an outdoor ambient temperature(fig. 2); the second preset sub-condition includes the outdoor ambient temperature that meets a target condition, a relationship among the minimum value of the heat exchange pipe temperature[0033], the outdoor ambient temperature[0034], and a humidity threshold of the relative humidity of the outdoor environment[0088].
As to claims 4 and 8, Kawashima teaches wherein the outdoor unit includes: a sensor configured to collect the operating parameters of the outdoor unit[0072]; a communication device configured to send the operating parameters of the outdoor unit to the cloud platform[0072] and receive the first sub-instruction and the second sub- instruction sent by the cloud platform(element 15)[0071]; and a controller configured to control the outdoor unit to perform defrosting according to the first sub-instruction and control the outdoor unit to end defrosting according to the second sub-instruction [0071].
As to claim 5, Kawashima teaches wherein the at least one air conditioner includes a plurality of air conditioners, the cloud platform is communicatively connected to a plurality of outdoor units in the plurality of air conditioners, and the cloud platform is configured to: in a case where at least one of the plurality of air conditioners is in the heating mode, determine a heat exchange mode of the plurality of outdoor units and determine an alternate defrosting decision of the plurality of outdoor units according to the heat exchange mode and the operating parameters of the plurality of outdoor units; the alternate defrosting decision including the cloud platform determining that the plurality of outdoor units each perform one of defrosting and ending defrosting; send a first instruction and a second instruction to a corresponding outdoor unit, so that the corresponding outdoor unit performs one of defrosting and ending defrosting according to the first instruction and the second instruction; the first instruction including the first sub-instruction and the second sub-instruction. This seems to be claim 1, but for other air conditioners. Kawashima teaches that other air apparatuses can be connected [0085, 0115].
Claim 6 and 17 are similar to claim 1 and can be seen above with the addition of a third preset condition which can use humidity parameter to cause an instruction to occur [0088].
As to claim 9, Kawashima teaches wherein the outdoor unit includes a compressor[0022], receive a third instruction and send the third instruction to the outdoor unit, and control an operating mode of the air conditioner; so as to send the third instruction to a corresponding outdoor unit, so that the outdoor unit adjusts a maximum value of a target frequency of the compressor according to the third instruction, and a maximum value of an actual frequency of the compressor is substantially equal to the maximum value of the target frequency[0048-0049, 0065].
Guangdong teaches the air conditioner system further comprises: a cloud management platform communicatively connected to the outdoor unit, the cloud management platform being configured to receive and send the operating parameters of the outdoor unit, wherein the cloud platform is communicatively connected to the cloud management platform, and the cloud platform is further configured to: perform a target calculation according to the operating parameters of the outdoor unit; send the third instruction to the cloud management platform (See page 3 fourth full paragraph and page 4 second full paragraph)
As to claim 10, Kawashima teaches wherein the cloud management platform includes: an Internet of Things (loT) management platform communicatively connected to the outdoor unit (element 15 is connected to element 2), the IoT management platform being configured to perform information interaction with the outdoor unit, receive the operating parameters of the outdoor unit (PEST output of element 20), and send the operating parameters to the cloud platform (element 15 control unit since the two elements can function as one it would have the data already); and a server communicatively connected to the cloud platform and the IoT management platform, the server being configured to perform human-computer interaction and update and maintain a database; the database being created by the cloud platform, and stored in the cloud platform[0070,0074].
As to claim 11, Kawashima teaches wherein the outdoor unit includes: a sensor configured to collect the operating parameters of the outdoor unit[0072]; a communication device configured to perform information interaction with the IoT management platform, send the operating parameters of the outdoor unit, and receive the third instruction from the cloud platform; and a controller configured to adjust the maximum value of the target frequency of the compressor according to the third instruction[0048-0049, 0065 since “maximum value” and target frequency” are no defined one of ordinary skill in the art can interpreted these to be the compressor setting as done in paragraphs cited].
As to claim 12, Kawashima teaches wherein the IoT management platform includes: a communication interface configured to maintain an access state of the outdoor unit, receive the third instruction, and send the third instruction to the outdoor unit (output of PEST for a second time); and a service gateway configured to receive the operating parameters of the outdoor unit (naturally the sever would have to connected to the control unit as described in [0071], send the operating parameters to the cloud platform, receive operating instructions sent by the server, and send the operating parameters to the server[0072].
As to claim 13, Kawashima teaches wherein the cloud platform is further configured to: call the database and train data models of a heating control constant and a cooling control constant; correct the data models according to latest operating parameters of the outdoor unit collected; send a target configuration to the outdoor unit according to one of a set model and historical data; and receive operation instructions sent by the server and send the data models of the heating control constant and the cooling control constant to the server (see the learning phase [0094+]).
As to claim 14, Kawashima teaches wherein when the cloud platform performs the target calculation of the outdoor unit, the cloud platform is configured to: calculate one of a heating control constant and a cooling control constant according to the operating parameters and send one of the heating control constant and the cooling control constant to the outdoor unit through the cloud management platform(output of PEST from element 20).
Other prior art of record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Nishiyama (U.S. PG Pub. 2021/0108842) teaches running a defrost cycle based on certain conditions.
Tomiyama (U.S. PG Pub. 2020/0158392) teaches determining defrost starting or ending based on at least temperature readings.
Denton (U.S. PG Pub. 2016/0238301) teaches a defrost learning algorithm for controlling a defrosting cycle.
Fulmer (U.S. PG Pub. 2012/0042667) teaches a condition system that can measure elapsed time.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN L LAUGHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1042. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mohammad Ali can be reached at 571-272-4105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN L LAUGHLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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