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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP 2023-016771, filed on 7 February 2023.
Election/Restrictions
Claim 2 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 10 March 2026.
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, 4, and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kannan et al. (US 2015/0013470).
Regarding Claim 1, Kannan discloses an ultrasonic time measurement device that measures a propagation time of a measurement wave transmitted from a first sensor (3a) to a second sensor (3b), the device comprising: a transmission circuit configured to cause the first sensor to repeatedly transmit measurement waves one at a time (inherently present in the invention as thee device transmits ultrasonic waves) [0045]; a reception circuit configured to detect reception at the second sensor, of the respective measurement wave transmitted from the first sensor (inherently present in the invention as thee device receives ultrasonic waves) [0045]; a time measurer configured to measure elapsed times for the measurement waves, each of the elapsed times being an elapsed time from a reference time to a reception time of the respective measurement wave received by the second sensor [0054]; and a calculator configured to calculate the propagation time of the measurement wave from the first sensor to the second sensor based on the elapsed times measured by the time measurer [0054].
Regarding Claim 4, Kannan discloses the calculator is configured to: calculate propagation times of the measurement waves repeatedly transmitted from the first sensor based on the elapsed times measured by the time measurer [0054], and specify the propagation time of the measurement wave from the first sensor to the second sensor using propagation times within a predetermined time range among the propagation times calculated based on the elapsed times measured by the time measurer [0054].
Regarding Claim 7, Kannan discloses an ultrasonic time measurement method for measuring a propagation time of a measurement wave transmitted from a first sensor (3a) to a second sensor (3b), the method comprising: causing the first sensor to repeatedly transmit measurement waves one at a time [0045]; detecting reception at the second sensor, of the respective measurement wave transmitted from the first sensor [0045]; measuring elapsed times for the measurement waves, each of the elapsed times being an elapsed time from a reference time to a reception time of the respective measurement wave received by the second sensor [0054]; and calculating the propagation time of the measurement wave from the first sensor to the second sensor based the measured elapsed times [0054].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, and 6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claim 3, the prior art fails to anticipate nor render obvious the recited claim limitations. These features are critical to the applicant’s invention as they allow for effects of error and residual vibrations can be decreased, as discussed in [0067, 0068, 0105, 0106] of the filed specification.
Regarding Claim 5, the prior art fails to anticipate nor render obvious the recited claim limitations. These features are critical to the applicant’s invention as they allow for measurements with a suitable resolution according to flow velocity, as discussed in [0111] of the filed specification.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER MERCADO whose telephone number is (571)270-7094. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Laura Martin can be reached at (571) 272-2160. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ALEXANDER A. MERCADO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/ALEXANDER A MERCADO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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