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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 6, 12 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6, “the second communications board” lacks proper antecedent basis;
Claim 12, “the main chiller control board is spaced apart from the main chiller control board.” Does not make sense. For examination purpose, the second instance of “main chiller control board” will be assumed to have meant “communications board”; and
Claim 17, “installing … in housing”. Change to “… in a housing”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 11-13 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gottschalk et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0066138 A1 (‘138) in view of Yerrace et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0064386 A1 (‘386).
As per claim 1, ‘138 discloses a chiller (e.g., See ‘138; [0085], which discloses that a BMS device can be an HVAC device, which can be a chiller), comprising:
a housing (e.g., See ‘138; [0085], which discloses internal components of the HVAC device (communications circuitry 500 and host controller 502 located inside the device 503. Therefore, in the opinion of the examiner, a housing is inferred as the manner by which the components are internally contained by the device);
a main chiller control board positioned in the housing (e.g., See ‘138; [0085], which discloses a host controller within the BMS device, wherein the host controller is used to control the BMS device. As previously discussed, the BMS device may be an HVAC device, such as a chiller, and therefore the host controller is viewed to correspond to the main control board of the chiller);
a communications board positioned in the housing (e.g., See ‘138; [0085] - [0086], which disclose a communication circuit that is a separate circuit board located within the BMS device, wherein the BMS device can be an HVAC device, such as a chiller); and
a first communication channel between the main chiller control board and the communications board (e.g., See ‘138; [0087], which discloses the host controller and communications board communicating using a UART connection).
However, ‘138 does not specifically disclose a second communication channel between the main chiller control board and the communications board, wherein the second communications channel provides higher bandwidth communications than the first communication channel.
‘386 discloses this feature (e.g., See ‘386; [0027], which discloses using a bypass channel in addition to UART because UART is not good at handling time sensitive data; therefore, the bypass channel provides a relatively faster, higher bandwidth communication channel than UART).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘386 into ‘138 for the purpose of sending time sensitive data faster between the control board and the communications board, thereby improving system responsiveness.
As per claim 2, ‘138’s combined system (‘138 in view of ‘386) further discloses having a compressor, wherein the main chiller control board is configured to control the compressor (e.g., See ‘138; [0174] and [0176], which disclose the chiller having a compressor, and its controller regulating motor speed and adjusting inlet guide vanes to operate the compressor).
As per claim 3, ‘138’s combined system further discloses that the communications board is configured to provide communications between the chiller and a network external to the chiller (e.g., See ‘138; [0085] and [0086], which disclose the communications board providing the chiller communications with outside systems over an external network).
As per claim 4, ‘138’s combined system further discloses that the communications board comprises network circuitry adapted to connect to the network external to the chiller via ethernet, Wi-Fi, and cellular connection (e.g., See ‘138; [0067], which discloses network circuitry for connecting to an external network via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and cellular).
As per claim 11, the rejection rationale, as set forth above with respect to claim 1 is incorporated herein. Further, ‘138’ discloses a computing system remote from the chiller and that the communications board enables communication between the chiller and the computing system (e.g., See ‘138; [0086], which discloses that the communications circuit 500 supports data communications between the host controller 502 and remote systems and applications 512 via network 504).
As per claim 12, and to the extent that this claim is interpreted to mean the main chiller control board is spaced apart from the communications board, ‘138 ([0085] – [0086]) disclose a host controller 502 and a separate communications board 500 within the device 503, and, as separate boards within the device, they would obviously be positioned apart from one another, even if only by a small distance.
As per claim 13, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 4, from above, is applied herein.
As per claim 17, the rational as set forth in the rejection of claim 1, from above, are applied herein. Further, the “installing” steps of claim 17 merely assemble, in a housing, the same main control board, communications board, and first and second inter communication board channels; therefore, the “installing” steps are obvious actions that are required to create the chiller structure, as defined by claim 1.
As per claim 18, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 3, from above, is applied herein.
As per claim 19, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 4, from above, is applied herein.
Claims 9-10 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gottschalk et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0066138 A1 (‘138) in view of Yerrace et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0064386 A1 (‘386), as applied to claims 1 and 11, from above, in further view of Castillo et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0209068 A1 (‘068).
As per claim 9, ‘138 in view of ‘386 does not specifically disclose that the communications board is configured to receive an over-the-air update from an external source and cause the over-the-air update to be installed on the main chiller control board via the second communication channel.
‘068 discloses these features (e.g., See ‘068; [0194], which discloses control unit 102a receiving a firmware upgrade from control server 118 and communicating the firmware upgrade to HVAC unit 104a via interface 710).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘068 into ‘138 in view of ‘386 for the purpose of updating the main controller remotely and more reliably, thereby reducing the need for on-site servicing.
As per claim 10, ‘138 in view of ‘368, in further view of ‘068, further discloses the chiller comprising a screen, wherein the communications board is configured to control the screen based on first data from the main control board and second data from a source external to the chiller (e.g., See ‘068; [0045], [0068] and [0264], which disclose an interactive display that is controlled based on chiller status data from the controller and outside weather data from an external source).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘068 into ‘138 in view of ‘386 for the purpose of presenting both equipment status and external weather data on the screen, thereby allowing a user to make a quicker and more informed operational decision.
As per claim 14, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 9, from above, is applied herein.
As per claim 15, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 10, from above, is applied herein.
Claims 7-8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gottschalk et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0066138 A1 (‘138) in view of Yerrace et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0064386 A1 (‘386), as applied to claims 1 and 11, from above, in further view of Phillips, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2016/0109871 A1 (‘871).
As per claim 7, ‘138 in view of ‘386 does not specifically disclose that the communications board provides more processing power than the main chiller control board.
‘871 discloses this feature (e.g., See ‘871; [0030] which discloses local controllers having relatively limited processing power, and [0035] and [0037] disclosing a separate site master controller that coordinates the local controllers; therefore, ‘871 adequately discloses a separate controller with greater processing capability than the limited local controller, wherein the local controller is mapped to the main chiller control board of ‘138 in view of ‘386, and the supervisory controller is mapped to the communications board of ‘138 in view of ‘386).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘871 into ‘138 in view of ‘386 for the purpose of handling more complex computing tasks without overloading the main chiller control board.
As per claim 8, ‘138 in view of ‘386 does not specifically disclose that the communications board is programmed to execute an algorithm that determines a control setting to be used by the main control board, wherein the main chiller control board has insufficient computing resources to execute the algorithm.
‘871 discloses this feature (e.g., See ‘871; [0030], [0044] and [0047], which disclose a separate controller executing control algorithms to determine setpoints and sending them to the local controller because the local controller sufficient processing power).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘871 into ‘138 in view of ‘386 so that the communications board can determine control settings that the main chiller control board cannot because it has limited computing resources.
As per claim 16, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 8, from above, is applied herein.
Claims 5 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gottschalk et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0066138 A1 (‘138) in view of Yerrace et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0064386 A1 (‘386), as applied to claims 1 and 17, from above, in further view of Harper et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0153295 A1 (‘295).
As per claim 5, ‘138 in view of ‘386 does not specifically disclose that the first communication channel uses a building networks protocol and wherein the second communications channel uses ethernet.
‘295 discloses this missing feature (e.g., See ‘295; [0169], which discloses one connection using Modbus or RS-485 building protocol, and another connection using an Ethernet cable).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘295 into ‘138 in view of ‘386 for the purpose of supporting both standard building network messaging and faster Ethernet data transfer.
As per claim 20, the rationale as applied to the rejection of claim 5, from above, is applied herein.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gottschalk et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0066138 A1 (‘138) in view of Yerrace et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0064386 A1 (‘386), as applied to claim 1, from above, in further view of Majewski et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0323917 A1 (‘917).
As per claim 6, ‘138 in view of ‘386 does not specifically disclose that the communications board comprises a wireless card configured to provide wireless communications between the second communications board and a network external to the chiller.
‘917 discloses this missing feature (e.g., See ‘917; [0025] and [0032], which disclose a controller having an option card interface 180 that supports a wireless Ethernet card, wherein the wireless Ethernet card provides wireless communications with remote site controllers over an intranet or the Internet).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of ‘917 into ‘138 in view of ‘386 for the purpose of enabling wireless network access without requiring a wired Ethernet connection.
References Considered but Not Relied Upon
The following references were considered but were not relied upon with respect to any prior art rejections:
(1) US 6,955,302 B2, which discloses remote monitoring of a rooftop chiller using an on-site unit that monitors equipment data and flags abnormal operations;
(2) US 9,599,359 B2, which discloses am HVAC system with a main controller and secondary controller that share application data over a wired or wireless system bus;
(3) US 9,638,436 B2, which discloses an on-site HVAC monitor that gathers control data and sends it through a gateway for remote monitoring, testing and troubleshooting;
(4) US 10,006,654 B2, which discloses an HVAC controller being configured by a nearby device, then using the saved settings to join and run on the HVAC network; and
(5) US 10,402,360 B2, which discloses a building manager that discovers controllers on different buses, keeps a device list, and builds live interfaces for connected HVBAC equipment.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD D HARTMAN JR whose telephone number is (571)272-3684. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 - 4:30 EST.
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/RONALD D HARTMAN JR/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2119 March 7, 2026
/RDH/