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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The three information disclosure statements filed 09/26/2023 have been considered.
Drawings
The drawings filed 09/26/2023 are considered acceptable for examining proceedings.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in paragraph 52, lines 21-22, "the target operating parameter range and the target operating parameter range" should read "target operating parameter range and the target fan parameter range" .
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 6 and 16 objected to because of the following informalities: bo. The limitations will be interpreted to recite “the target operating parameter range and the target fan parameter range”. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-5, 7-15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fan Control of CPU, GPU, Mainboard and AIO Fans (herein Argus).
Regarding claim 1, Argus teaches a fan speed control method, performed by a controller (page 1 Preface), comprising:
obtaining a first load parameter associated with a main board (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”);
obtaining a second load parameter associated with an expansion board (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”);
determining a greater one of the first load parameter and the second load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”); and
controlling a fan according to the greater one (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”).
Regarding claim 2, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 1.
Argus also teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 1, wherein controlling the fan according to the greater one comprises:
controlling the fan according to an operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function (page 8 Available methods for fan control “All controllers are based on characteristic curves…”) corresponding to the greater one (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”).
Regarding claim 3, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 2, wherein the first load parameter is a load parameter of a first processor disposed on the main board (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”), the second load parameter is a load parameter of a second processor disposed on the expansion board (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”), wherein controlling the fan according to the operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function corresponding to the greater one comprises:
controlling the fan according to a first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function and an operating parameter of the first processor when the second load parameter is lower than the first load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”);
controlling the fan according to a second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function and an operating parameter of the second processor when the second load parameter is greater than the first load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”); and
controlling the fan according to the first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function and the operating parameter of the first processor or controlling the fan according to the operating parameter and the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function of the second processor when the second load parameter is equal to the first load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec” when the first and second load parameters - CPU/GPU temperature - are equal, Argus controls according to either the first or second corresponding function as it will always use one of the mainboard/GPU characteristic curves).
Regarding claim 4, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the first load parameter associated with the main board comprises:
obtaining a first operating parameter of a first processor disposed on the main board (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”); and
obtaining a first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter from a first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function as the first load parameter (page 8 Image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for fans connected to the mainboard”),
wherein obtaining the second load parameter associated with the expansion board comprises:
obtaining a second operating parameter of a second processor disposed on the expansion board (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”);
and obtaining a second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter from a second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function as the second load parameter (page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”).
Regarding claim 5, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 3, wherein the expansion board is further disposed with a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the second processor (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”), and controlling the fan according to the operating parameter and the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function of the second processor comprises:
obtaining a plurality of operating temperatures of the second processor during a preset duration (page 7 Available methods for fan control “Both the CPU temperature and the GPU temperature can also be used as an average value over an adjustable period of time”);
calculating an average temperature according to the plurality of operating temperatures (page 7 Available methods for fan control “Both the CPU temperature and the GPU temperature can also be used as an average value over an adjustable period of time”);
obtaining a duty cycle corresponding to the average temperature from the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function (page 8 Available methods for fan control “PWM value”, page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”); and
controlling the fan according to the duty cycle (page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller” ).
Regarding claim 7, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 3, wherein when the second load parameter is equal to the first load parameter, the fan is controlled according to the operating parameter and the first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function of the first processor (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”).
Regarding claim 8, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 4, wherein a physical unit of the first fan parameter or the second fan parameter is a duty cycle of a pulse-width modulation (page 8 Available methods for fan control “PWM value”), or revolutions per minute of the fan.
Regarding claim 9, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 4, wherein the first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function describes a first corresponding policy of the first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter, or a first numerical lookup table listing the first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter, or a first function graph presenting the first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter (page 8 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for fans connected to the mainboard”).
Regarding claim 10, Argus teaches the fan speed control method according to claim 4, wherein the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function describes a second corresponding policy of the second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter, or a second numerical lookup table listing the second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter, or a second function graph presenting the second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter (page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”).
Regarding claim 11, Argus teaches a fan speed control device, comprising:
a main board (page 1 General information “CPU”);
an expansion slot disposed on the main board and configured to electrically connect an expansion board (page 1 General information “CPU”);
a fan disposed on the expansion board (page 1 General information “GPU”); and
a controller disposed on the main board, electrically connected to the expansion slot (page 1 General information “CPU”), and configured to perform (page 1 Preface):
obtaining a first load parameter associated with the main board (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”);
obtaining a second load parameter associated with the expansion board (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”);
determining a greater one of the first load parameter and the second load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”); and
controlling a fan according to the greater one (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”).
Regarding claim 12, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 11, wherein the controller performs controlling the fan according to the greater one comprises:
controlling the fan according to an operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function (page 8 Available methods for fan control “All controllers are based on characteristic curves…”) corresponding to the greater one.
Regarding claim 13, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 12, further comprising a first processor disposed on the main board (page 1 General information “CPU”), wherein the first load parameter is a load parameter of the first processor (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”), the second load parameter is a load parameter of a second processor disposed on the expansion board (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”), and the controller performs controlling the fan according to the operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function corresponding to the greater one comprises:
controlling the fan according to a first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function and an operating parameter of the first processor when the second load parameter is lower than the first load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”);
controlling the fan according to a second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function and an operating parameter of the second processor when the second load parameter is greater than the first load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”); and
controlling the fan according to the first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function and the operating parameter of the first processor or controlling the fan according to the operating parameter and the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function of the second processor when the second load parameter is equal to the first load parameter (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec” when the first and second load parameters - CPU/GPU temperature - are equal, Argus controls according to either the first or second corresponding function as it will always use one of the mainboard/GPU characteristic curves).
Regarding claim 14, Argus teaches The fan speed control device according to claim 11, wherein
the controller performs obtaining the first load parameter associated with the main board comprises:
obtaining a first operating parameter of a first processor disposed on the main board (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”); and
obtaining a first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter from a first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function as the first load parameter (page 8 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for fans connected to the mainboard”),
the controller performs obtaining the first load parameter associated with the main board comprises:
obtaining a second operating parameter of a second processor disposed on the expansion board (page 1 General information “CPU temperature”); and
obtaining a second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter from a second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function as the second load parameter (page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”).
Regarding claim 15, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 13, wherein the expansion board is further disposed with a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the second processor (page 1 General information “GPU temperature”), and the controller performs controlling the fan according to the operating parameter and the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function of the second processor comprises:
obtaining a plurality of operating temperatures of the second processor during a preset duration (page 7 Available methods for fan control “Both the CPU temperature and the GPU temperature can also be used as an average value over an adjustable period of time”);
calculating an average temperature according to the plurality of operating temperatures (page 7 Available methods for fan control “Both the CPU temperature and the GPU temperature can also be used as an average value over an adjustable period of time”);
obtaining a duty cycle corresponding to the average temperature from the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function (page 8 Available methods for fan control “PWM value”, page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”); and
controlling the fan according to the duty cycle (page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”).
Regarding claim 17, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 13, wherein when the second load parameter is equal to the first load parameter, the controller controls the fan according to the operating parameter and the first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function of the first processor (page 7 Available methods for fan control “max. (CPU, GPU), filtered over [n] sec”.
Regarding claim 18, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 14, wherein a physical unit of the first fan parameter or the second fan parameter is a duty cycle of a pulse-width modulation, or revolutions per minute of the fan (page 8 Available methods for fan control “PWM value”).
Regarding claim 19, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 14, wherein the first operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function describes a first corresponding policy of the first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter, or a first numerical lookup table listing the first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter, or a first function graph presenting the first fan parameter corresponding to the first operating parameter (page 8 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for fans connected to the mainboard”).
Regarding claim 20, Argus teaches the fan speed control device according to claim 14, wherein the second operating parameter-fan parameter corresponding function describes a second corresponding policy of the second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter, or a second numerical lookup table listing the second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter, or a second function graph presenting the second fan parameter corresponding to the second operating parameter (page 2 image captioned “Controller characteristic curve for GPU fan controller”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Treffler et al. (US 20150268705 A1) and Michael et al. (US 20120215359 A1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM XIANG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-1276. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (9:30 AM - 5:30 PM EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Fennema can be reached at 5712722748. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIAM XIANG ZHANG/ Examiner, Art Unit 2117
/ROBERT E FENNEMA/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2117