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 .
INFORMATION DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 20 December 2023, 28 February 2024, 11 July 2024, and 06 August 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDSs have been considered by the Examiner.
CLAIM STATUS
Claims 1-7 are originally filed and have been examined herein.
INITIAL REMARKS
Applicant is reminded that in order to be entitled to reconsideration or further examination, the Applicant or patent owner must reply to the Office action. The reply by the Applicant or patent owner must be reduced to a writing which distinctly and specifically points out the supposed errors in the examiner' s action and must reply to every ground of objection and rejection in the prior Office action. The reply must present arguments pointing out the specific distinctions believed to render the claims, including any newly presented claims, patentable over any applied references. If the reply is with respect to an application, a request may be made that objections or requirements as to form not necessary to further consideration of the claims, be held in abeyance until allowable subject matter is indicated. The Applicant's or patent owner's reply must appear throughout to be a bona fide attempt to advance the application or the reexamination proceeding to final action. A general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references does not comply with the requirements of this section.
Should the Applicant believe that a telephone conference would expedite the prosecution of the instant application, Applicant is invited to call the Examiner.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ghods et al., US20250164413 (“GHODS”).
Re claim 1, GHODS discloses:
A system, comprising:
a sensor device configured to monitor one or more properties of a building material within which the sensor device is to be embedded [0137], wherein the sensor device comprises:
a controller [0152];
a memory coupled to the controller [0152];
one or more sensors communicatively connected to the controller and configured to measure one or more properties of the building material [0152];
a power supply configured to power components of the sensor device, wherein the power supply comprises a battery and a power regulator [0199];
one or more motion sensors communicatively connected to the controller and configured to sense a movement pattern of the sensor device, wherein the one or more motion sensors are configured to determine if the movement pattern matches a known gesture pattern [0243]; and
a power management subcircuit configured to activate the sensor device by activating the power regulator to power "ON" components of the sensor device, wherein the power management subcircuit is configured to receive an activation signal from the one or more motion sensors if the movement pattern matches the known gesture pattern [0239], [0243]
Re claim 2, GHODS discloses the system of claim 1, as shown above.
GHODS further discloses:
wherein the power management subcircuit comprises an activation switch that is triggered by the activation signal [0243], [0240]
Re claim 3, GHODS discloses the system of claim 1, as shown above.
GHODS further discloses:
wherein the controller is configured to receive data on the one or more properties of the building material from the one or more sensors after the sensor device is activated and embedded into the building material [0237]
Re claim 4, GHODS discloses the system of claim 3, as shown above.
GHODS further discloses:
wherein the controller is configured to wirelessly transmit data on the one or more properties of the building material to a computing device external to the building material [0163]
Re claim 5, GHODS discloses the system of claim 4, as shown above.
GHODS further discloses:
wherein the computing device is a smartphone, a personal computer, a tablet, a gateway, a wearable computer, or a personal digital assistant [0134-0135]
Re claim 6, GHODS discloses the system of claim 1, as shown above.
GHODS further discloses:
wherein the building material comprises concrete, asphalt, or epoxy [0138-0139]
Re claim 7, GHODS discloses the system of claim 1, as shown above.
GHODS further discloses:
wherein the one or more properties comprise building material strength, relative humidity, temperature, vibration, pH, gas and particle presence, load, and/or acoustic properties [0253], [0243]
CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS M HAMMOND III whose telephone number is 571-272-2215. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 0800-1700.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Peter Macchiarolo can be reached on 571-272-2375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. For more information about the PAIR system, see: https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair.
Respectfully,
/Thomas M Hammond III/Primary Examiner, GAU 2855