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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II in the reply filed on 9/24/2025 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/16/2023 has been considered by the examiner, however, the NPL citations lack the required date and page information, the NPL documents have not been received and have not been considered. Copies of the foreign patent citations have not been received and have not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the circuit breaker circuit as in claim 5, the electric motor is inside said circuit breaker as in claim 6, the electric motor is attached to the outside of said circuit breaker as in claim 7, the sensor lies within the circuit breaker, as in claim 10, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 5-7 and 10-13 are rejected as failing to define the invention in the manner required by 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
The claims fail 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. The claim(s) are narrative in form and replete with indefinite language. The structure which goes to make up the device must be clearly and positively specified. The structure must be organized and correlated in such a manner as to present a complete operative device. Note the format of the claims in the patent(s) cited.
The preamble of independent Claim 5 states “A circuit breaker circuit comprising” but later requires “an electric motor controlled remotely to switch said circuit breaker” making the claim, when interpreted in light of the specification, unclear how a circuit breaker circuit switches itself and what is switched. If Applicant intends that the electric motor switches a circuit breaker (as opposed to a circuit breaker circuit) Applicant should formally state so. Furthermore, the claim, when interpreted in light of the specification, is unclear whether the circuit breaker circuit itself insures the circuit breaker circuit has been switched or whether something external to the circuit breaker circuit makes the determination. For the purpose of examination, claim 5 shall be interpreted as ‘A circuit breaker circuit comprising an electric motor controlled remotely to switch a circuit breaker and a sensor to sense current through the circuit breaker to determine an operational state of the circuit breaker.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "The circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim (since Applicant previously has claimed the circuit breaker circuit). Claim 6 recites the limitation "said circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Furthermore, Claim 6, when interpreted in light of the specification, does not make clear what is the boundary of the claimed “said circuit breaker” so the claim is indefinite as to what is required for the electric motor to be inside the circuit breaker.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "The circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Furthermore, Claim 7, when interpreted in light of the specification, does not make clear what is the boundary of “said circuit breaker” so the claim is indefinite as to what is required for the electric motor to be outside of the circuit breaker.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "The circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Furthermore, Claim 10, when interpreted in light of the specification, does not make clear what is the boundary of “said circuit breaker” so the claim is indefinite as to what is required for the sensor to lie within the circuit breaker.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "The circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 11 recites the limitation "said electronic motor" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "The circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "The circuit breaker" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 13 recites the limitation "the circuit breaker" in line 2. It is unclear what circuit breakers must register with said APP since no circuit breakers have been previously recited in the bodies of claims 5, 11 or 12, from which claim 13 depends. Furthermore, independent claim 5 requires “A circuit breaker circuit” but the claimed APP is external to the claimed circuit breaker circuit, making the limitations of the APP appear to be intended use claim language which is intended to not be required of the claimed circuit breaker circuit, but merely recite an intended use that the circuit breaker circuit be capable of the intended use.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 12-13 claim limitations of an APP which is external to the claimed circuit breaker circuit and are not comprised in the claimed circuit breaker circuit. Therefore the claim limitations of the APP of claims 12-13 have been interpreted as intended use with the claimed circuit breaker circuit, and the limitations may be met when the disclosed circuit breaker circuit is capable of the intended use.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 5, 7 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Revach (US 2020/0112163).
With respect to claim 5, Revach discloses a circuit breaker circuit (Fig. 4 128) comprising an electric motor (Fig. 6 180) controlled remotely (Fig. 8 252) to switch said circuit breaker circuit (Fig. 6 160) and a sensor (Fig. 4 150) to sense current (paragraph 56) through said circuit breaker circuit (Fig. 4 136) to insure the circuit breaker circuit has been switched (paragraph 56).
With respect to claim 7, Revach discloses the circuit breaker of claim 5, wherein the electric motor (Fig. 6 180) is attached (Fig. 6 186) to the outside of said circuit breaker (Fig. 6 160).
With respect to claim 11, Revach discloses the circuit breaker of claim 5, wherein said electronic motor is controlled remotely (Fig. 10 362) via an APP on a mobile device (Fig 10 352).
With respect to claim 12, Revach discloses the circuit breaker of claim 11, wherein the APP on the mobile device is Breaker APP, an APP dedicated to remote circuit breaking (circuit breaker circuit capable of intended use).
With respect to claim 13, Revach discloses the circuit breaker of claim 11, wherein the APP contains a Settings function, wherein each and every circuit breaker must register with said APP through said Settings (circuit breaker capable of intended use).
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) 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Revach (US 2020/0112163) in view of Smith (US 6,531,938).
With respect to claim 6, Revach discloses the circuit breaker of claim 5 as set forth above, and does not require wherein the electric motor is inside said circuit breaker.
Smith discloses a circuit breaker wherein the electric motor (Fig. 6 112) is inside the circuit breaker (Fig. 6 12). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the invention to implement wherein the electric motor is inside said circuit breaker in order to provide the circuit breaker circuit in a compact, enclosed and protected structure.
With respect to claim 10, Revach discloses the circuit breaker of claim 5 as set forth above, and remains silent as to whether the sensor lies within said circuit breaker.
Wei discloses a circuit breaker circuit wherein the sensor (Fig. 3 96) lies with said circuit breaker. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the invention to implement wherein the sensor lies within said circuit breaker, in order to reduce the size and cost of the circuit breaker circuit and improve the reliability of the protection..
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bailey (US 2016/0196938) discloses remote control of a circuit.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY RAYMOND BEHM whose telephone number is (571)272-8929. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thienvu Tran can be reached at 571-270-1276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARRY R BEHM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838