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 .
Response to Amendments
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 11-13, 15, 16, and 19 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzbari et al., U.S. 2019/0302231 (see IDS) in view of Katan Baf Nezhad et al., U.S. 2021/0377859 (hereinafter 859).
On claim 1, Kuzbari cites except as underlined:
A monitoring system for monitoring assets in an environment, the system comprising:
at least one sensor package configured to couple to an asset,
[0146] FIG. 3 shows a tag 40 and further illustrates schematically two ways in which energy may be generated and used to power the control unit 70 and electrical components within the tag 40. In particular, the piezo vibration sensor 210 is shown connected to an AC to DC convertor. An RF source 230 (e.g. from the tag reader 20) produces RF energy received by an integrated antenna 220, which is connected to a DC to DC convertor in order to condition the signal for use as power within the tag 40. Additionally, energy storage may be included within the tag for storing harvested energy either from a mechanical to electrical converter and/or from the RF source 230.
[0167] The tag 40 may include any or all of the following sensors: humidity, temperature, light, an external GPIO (general purpose input output) component.
each of the sensor packages comprising:
an antenna configured to receive radio frequency (RF) energy,
figure 3, integrated antenna 220
rectifier circuitry configured to convert a portion of the RF energy to electrical energy,
[0144] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an individual tag 40 in further detail. The control unit 70 is shown connected to the RF transceiver (or transmitter) 60 and mechanical to electrical converter 50, which provides DC or AC power (e.g. using a DC/DC or AC/DC converter) to the control unit 70. Additional peripherals or sensors 110 may be attached to the control unit 70. The cited AC/DC converter, by definition, is the same as a rectifier.
at least one sensor powered by the electrical energy and configured to sense a condition of the asset,
[0167] The tag 40 may include any or all of the following sensors: humidity, temperature, light, an external GPIO (general purpose input output) component.
[0083] Optionally, the one or more sensors measure may be any one or more of: humidity, vibration, movement, motion, acceleration (an accelerometer), gyroscope, GPS, temperature, light or sound. Other sensors or peripherals may be included. Any one or more of the sensors may be formed from MEMS.
and
transmission circuitry
Figure 2 and [0144] RF transceiver 60
powered by the electrical energy
figure 2, DC power supply 50
and configured to cause the antenna
figure 2, communication circuit 60
to transmit one or more signals comprising data indicative of the sensed condition.
[0162] 3. On the tag 40, multiple circuits may be implemented to deliver a stable and reliable voltage to a low power control unit (controller 70), sensors 110 and transmitter or transceiver 60.
[0053] Preferably, the one or more tag readers may further comprise one or more sensors configured to generate data indicating a location or movement of the tag reader.
Except for the claimed:
sensed condition using backscatter transmission, and control circuitry configured to process the sensed condition prior to transmission while powered by the electrical energy harvested from the RF energy.
Regard the above excepted claim limitations, Kuzbari, as previously stated, included an embodiment in which sensors are used to monitor different parameters wherein the monitored results are processed by a control unit. However, Kuzbari is silent regarding the use of backscatter transmissions.
In the same art of radio communications processing of sensor data, 859 discloses:
[0043] In at least one example, controller circuit 74 may be coupled to a sensor S. Sensor S may provide data relative to a device to which backscatter node 20 is coupled. For example, continuing with the example shown in FIG. 1, sensor S may be a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, or other data sensor which provides information about the tea kettle 26, the cookpot 28, or the knife 30. As discussed below, backscatter node 20 may send a backscatter transmission that comprises this sensor data.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention wherein Kuzbari’s parameter monitoring and transmission embodiment is replaced with 859’s backscatter parameter monitoring system. 859 discloses a known way of using backscatter communications for sensor data retrieval. One of ordinary skill, apprised of this known alternative would have substituted one know embodiment for another and the results would have provided an embodiment meeting the claimed invention.
On claim 2, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor package further comprises a power storage and circuitry configured to charge the power storage using the electrical energy.
[0073] Advantageously, the tag may further comprise an energy storage device configured to store electrical energy provided by the mechanical to electrical energy converter and to supply the stored electrical energy for use by the controller and RF communication circuit (e.g. transmitter or transceiver).
On claim 3, Kuzbari cite:
The system of claim 2, wherein the power storage is a battery, a supercapacitor, or a capacitor.
[0164] 5. A capacitor or battery may be used to store the generated energy (from either or both sources) and provide regulated power to the tag 40.
On claim 5, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a flow meter, ultrasonic, or a pressure sensor.
[0167] The tag 40 may include any or all of the following sensors: humidity, temperature, light, an external GPIO (general purpose input output) component.
On claim 6, Kuzbari cites:
The method of claim 5, wherein the condition is vibration, acceleration, temperature, flow rate or pressure.
[0167] The tag 40 may include any or all of the following sensors: humidity, temperature, light, an external GPIO (general purpose input output) component.
On claim 7, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 5, wherein the sensor comprises an accelerometer configured to sense vibration of a portion of the asset to determine vibration data.
[0083] Optionally, the one or more sensors measure may be any one or more of: humidity, vibration, movement, motion, acceleration (an accelerometer), gyroscope, GPS, temperature, light or sound. Other sensors or peripherals may be included. Any one or more of the sensors may be formed from MEMS.
On claim 11, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 1, wherein the transmission circuitry is configured to associate an identifier indicative of the sensor with the transmitted one or more signals.
[0058] The signal from the reader may be used to provide power to the tag and/or may be absent of any data (or may not in itself cause any response, for example). For example, the signal or response may be the tag's unique identifier or may include other data that is received and processed by the reader. The tag is powered by a mechanical energy harvester, which generates at least sufficient energy to send the data to the reader (and to receive any interrogating signal where used or in range). This energy may be optionally stored, for instance, using a battery, storage unit, capacitor, super capacitor or solid state device. A plurality of tags may operate in this way. Advantageously, the tags may have a timer or operate intermittently (e.g. on for one minute and then sleep for one hour or longer or other periods) to converse energy or to allow enough energy to be harvested for a brief operation. The tags may form an energy harvesting wireless sensor network (EHWSN).
And
[0018] Optionally, the location of the one or more tag readers may be determined from one or more sensors within the one or more tag readers. This allows the position of the tag reader to be taken into consideration when calculating or calibrating the locations of the tag or tags (or items attached to the tags).
On claim 12, Kuzbari cites: The system of claim 1, wherein the RF energy has a frequency of 902 to 928 MHz.
[0156] Any one or more of these bands or protocols may also be used to send data back to the central server 80. More generally, two frequency bands may be used, e.g.: 820 MHz to 960 MHz and 2.40 GHz to 2.45 GHz.
On claim 13, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 1, wherein the RF energy has a frequency of 2.4-2.5 GHZ.
[0156] Any one or more of these bands or protocols may also be used to send data back to the central server 80. More generally, two frequency bands may be used, e.g.: 820 MHz to 960 MHz and 2.40 GHz to 2.45 GHz.
On claim 15, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more remote antennas configured to broadcast the RF energy throughout at least a portion of the environment.
[0141] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a tracking system 10. Several items are enclosed in a dashed box 15 and these may be in close proximity to each other (several millimetres up to several tens of metres from each other). For example, all of the items within the dashed box 15 may be within a particular item (e.g. vehicle, aircraft, ship, train, automobile, truck, power module plant, solar module plants, etc.). A tag reader or interrogator 20 has an antenna 30 for wirelessly communicating with individual tags 40. In this figure, three tags 40 are shown but a number from one upwards may be used. Each tag may contain a mechanical to electrical energy convertor 50, an RF communication circuit or circuits (e.g. transmitter, transceiver or separate receiver and transmitter) 60 and a controller 70. The RF communication circuit 60 may provide at least two functions. These may be to communicate with the tag 40 (e.g. using WiFi) and also to provide RF power to the tag 40. At a remote site, there may be a server 80 that has an associated database 90. The server 80 is in communication with the tag reader 20 over a wide area network 100 that may be the internet, a cellular network, a satellite system, or other wireless (or in part wired) communications network. The server 80 (which may be physical or cloud-based) may monitor a plurality of different tag readers 20 although only one is shown in this figure for simplicity. More than one tag reader 20 may be used in each locality or vehicle, for example.
In this teaching, each tag reader includes at least each tag reader includes its own antenna controlled by the cited server 80. Accordingly, this qualifies each tag reader as a “remote antenna.”
On claim 16, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more transponders are configured to receive the one or more signals.
[0141] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a tracking system 10. Several items are enclosed in a dashed box 15 and these may be in close proximity to each other (several millimetres up to several tens of metres from each other). For example, all of the items within the dashed box 15 may be within a particular item (e.g. vehicle, aircraft, ship, train, automobile, truck, power module plant, solar module plants, etc.). A tag reader or interrogator 20 has an antenna 30 for wirelessly communicating with individual tags 40.
On claim 19, Kazbari cites:
The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor package is configured to be triggered based on one or more signals received from one or more second sensors.
[0016] Optionally, the method may further comprise the step of determining a location of the one or more tag readers when the signal is received. This enables the location of the tag (or tags) to be determined more accurately.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzbari et al., U.S. 2019/0302231 in view of Katan Baf Nezhad et al., U.S. 2021/0377859 (hereinafter 859) and Abebe et al., U.S. 2017/0255489.
On claim 4, Kuzbari cites except as underlined:
The system of claim 1, wherein the asset is a pump, engine, motor, compressor, or fan.
Kuzbari cites:
[0018] Optionally, the location of the one or more tag readers may be determined from one or more sensors within the one or more tag readers. This allows the position of the tag reader to be taken into consideration when calculating or calibrating the locations of the tag or tags (or items attached to the tags).
Kuzbari doesn’t disclose the tags being associated with a pump.
In the same art of tag tracking, Abebe cites;
[0050] Certain tags may be physically limited from moving away from/out of the associated location (e.g., a tag secured relative to a stationary fuel pump; a tag secured relative to a stationary car wash sprayer; and/or the like)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include into Kuzbari the cited tag associated with Abebe’s pump such that the claimed invention is realized. Associating a tag with an item is known in the art, as indicated by Kuzbari, and one of ordinary skill would have included the pump disclosed as Abebe as another known item tracked by a tag and the results of this pairing would have realized the claimed invention.
Claims 8, 9,16-and18 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzbari et al., U.S. 2019/0302231 in view of Katan Baf Nezhad et al., U.S. 2021/0377859 (hereinafter 859) and Gettings et al. U.S. 2014/0283144
On claim 8, Kuzbari cites except as underlined/italicized:
The system of claim 7, wherein the sensor package
[0144] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an individual tag 40 in further detail. The control unit 70 is shown connected to the RF transceiver (or transmitter) 60 and mechanical to electrical converter 50, which provides DC or AC power (e.g. using a DC/DC or AC/DC converter) to the control unit 70. Additional peripherals or sensors 110 may be attached to the control unit 70. The cited AC/DC converter, by definition, is the same as a rectifier.
[0083] Optionally, the one or more sensors measure may be any one or more of: humidity, vibration, movement, motion, acceleration (an accelerometer), gyroscope, GPS, temperature, light or sound. Other sensors or peripherals may be included. Any one or more of the sensors may be formed from MEMS.
further comprises control circuitry
figure 2, control unit 70
configured to process the vibration data.
[0083] Optionally, the one or more sensors measure may be any one or more of: ,,, vibration,
Regarding the excepted “configured to process the vibration data,” while Kuzbari discloses, in figure 2, a control unit 70 and sensors 110, the cited control unit isn’t disclosed as processing the vibration data of the vibration sensor.
In the same art of environmental monitoring devices, Gettings discloses:
[0195] In other examples, the electronic device may use sensor data from one or more environmental monitoring devices to assess the environmental quality of: a chemical, water, food, medicines (such as those that need to be maintained at certain temperatures), biological agents, packages or shipping containers (which may be sensitive to vibration or shock), etc.
In short, Gettings’s electronic device is using sensor data to ascertain environmental quality of items which may be sensitive to, among other things, vibrations
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include into Kuzbari the electronic device disclosed in Gettings such that the claimed invention is realized. Gettings discloses a known embodiment of employing an electronic device to process sensor data to provide environmental data of items exposed to the monitored parameters, to include vibration. One of ordinary skill, apprised of these known elements, would have substituted Gettings’s embodiment into Kuzbari and the results of the substitution would have produced an embodiment for determining the environment of which items are being monitored and any corrective action to reduce those items to exposure to, among other things, vibration.
On claim 9, Kuzbari cites except as underlined:
The system of claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to use the vibration data to determine an indicium of health of the asset.
As disclosed in Kuzbari, control circuitry is used to facilitate wirelessly communicating sensor information across a sensor, to include vibration data. Kuzbari doesn’t disclose the excepted claim limitations.
In the related art of industrial processes monitoring, Kwon cites:
In the same art of environmental monitoring devices, Gettings cites:
[0092] In a second group of embodiments, an electronic device that determines a risk metric for a physical object associated with an environment is described. This electronic device receives sensor data from a set of electronic devices (which may or may not include the electronic device) that are located in separate, neighboring or proximate environments. The sensor data represents environmental conditions in these environments. By analyzing and comparing the sensor data, the electronic device assesses the environmental condition and determines the risk metric for at least one of the environments (such as a risk metric for a power failure). Furthermore, the risk metric may be used to calculate a financial value, such as a commercial value or an insurance premium of the physical object associated with at least the one environment. Note that the physical object may be included in at least the one environment or at least the one environment may include the physical object. For example, at least the one environment may include: a portion of a building, the building, a container, a vehicle, a liquid, and/or a train car.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include into include into Kazbari Gettings’s environmental monitoring system wherein the modified embodiment meets the claimed limitations. Gettings discloses a known embodiment wherein depending on the measured sensor data, the product being monitored is deemed to have experienced damages or other detriments leading to a change in status. In this case, because of the results of the monitored data, the monitored product experiences a change in economic value, which is likely a negative value, a condition which means the monitored product’s condition is degraded in accordance with an environment that would degrade the value of the product.
One of ordinary skill would have combined Gettings’s embodiment into Kazbari to provide an implementation to reduce or mitigate financial loss.
On claim 17, Kuzbari cites except as underlined:
The system of claim 16, further comprising a processor configured to receive the one or more signals from the remote antenna and to use the signals to determine an indicium of health of the asset.
Kuzbari cites:
[0141] The server 80 is in communication with the tag reader 20 over a wide area network 100 that may be the internet, a cellular network, a satellite system, or other wireless (or in part wired) communications network. The server 80 (which may be physical or cloud-based) may monitor a plurality of different tag readers 20 although only one is shown in this figure for simplicity. More than one tag reader 20 may be used in each locality or vehicle, for example.
[0146] FIG. 3 shows a tag 40 and further illustrates schematically two ways in which energy may be generated and used to power the control unit 70 and electrical components within the tag 40. In particular, the piezo vibration sensor 210 is shown connected to an AC to DC convertor. An RF source 230 (e.g. from the tag reader 20) produces RF energy received by an integrated antenna 220, which is connected to a DC to DC convertor in order to condition the signal for use as power within the tag 40. Additionally, energy storage may be included within the tag for storing harvested energy either from a mechanical to electrical converter and/or from the RF source 230.
As disclosed in Kuzbari, control circuitry is used to facilitate wirelessly communicating sensor information across a sensor, to include vibration data. Kuzbari doesn’t disclose the excepted claim limitations.
In the same art of environmental monitoring devices, Gettings cites:
[0092] In a second group of embodiments, an electronic device that determines a risk metric for a physical object associated with an environment is described. This electronic device receives sensor data from a set of electronic devices (which may or may not include the electronic device) that are located in separate, neighboring or proximate environments. The sensor data represents environmental conditions in these environments. By analyzing and comparing the sensor data, the electronic device assesses the environmental condition and determines the risk metric for at least one of the environments (such as a risk metric for a power failure). Furthermore, the risk metric may be used to calculate a financial value, such as a commercial value or an insurance premium of the physical object associated with at least the one environment. Note that the physical object may be included in at least the one environment or at least the one environment may include the physical object. For example, at least the one environment may include: a portion of a building, the building, a container, a vehicle, a liquid, and/or a train car.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include into include into Kazbari Gettings environmental monitoring system wherein the modified embodiment meets the claimed limitations. Gettings discloses a known embodiment wherein depending on the measured sensor data, the product being monitored is deemed to have experienced damages or other detriments leading to a change in status. In this case, because of the results of the monitored data, the monitored product experiences a change in economic value, which is likely a negative value, a condition which means the monitored product’s condition is degraded in accordance with an environment that would degrade the value of the product.
One of ordinary skill would have combined Gettings’s embodiment into Kazbari to provide an implementation to reduce or mitigate financial loss.
On claim 18, Kuzbari cites:
The system of claim 17, wherein the condition is vibration, proximity, temperature, pressure, flow, and or location.
[0167] The tag 40 may include any or all of the following sensors: humidity, temperature, light, an external GPIO (general purpose input output) component.
[0124] Location information for each tag, transmitter or radio frequency (RF) communication circuit may be bound to the properties of the received signal at different readers and/or different receiving locations. The location information may be absolute (x, y, z) or relative (e.g. on the shelf, near the desk, close to the door, the fourth shelf to the right, etc.)
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzbari et al., U.S. 2019/0302231 in view of Katan Baf Nezhad et al., U.S. 2021/0377859 (hereinafter 859) and Gettings et al. U.S. 2014/0283144 and Ume et al., U.S. 2012/0111115.
On claim 10, Kuzbari and Gettings cites except:
The system of claim 8, wherein the processing comprises performing a fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the vibration data.
Kuzbari cites:
[0083] Optionally, the one or more sensors measure may be any one or more of: humidity, vibration, movement, motion, acceleration (an accelerometer), gyroscope, GPS, temperature, light or sound. Other sensors or peripherals may be included. Any one or more of the sensors may be formed from MEMS.
However, Kuzbari is silent with respect to the excepted claim limitations.
In the related art of device inspections, Ume cites:
[0013] As discussed in more detail below, embodiments of the present invention can utilize an energy source (e.g., a high-power pulsed laser) focused on a device (e.g., a chip's surface) to generate stress waves that induce vibrations. A vibrometer (e.g., a laser Doppler vibrometer) can be positioned to measure resulting out-of-plane displacement of the chip surface. Package quality can then be assessed by correlating measured vibration response of a known-good reference sample to the response of the sample under inspection to identify the changes in structural vibrations caused by abnormal interconnects. Error Ratio analysis and Correlation Coefficient analysis in the time domain, spectral analysis in the frequency domain based on fast Fourier transform (FFT), and defect pattern recognition, wavelet analysis, and Local Temporal Coherence (LTC) analysis methods have been successfully used in quantifying changes in vibration response caused by missing, misaligned, and cracked solder bumps in flip chips, chip scale packages (CSPs), land grid array (LGA) packages, ball grid array (BGA) packages and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kuzbari’s vibration detection features using the FFT spectral analysis embodiment of Ume such that the claimed invention is realized. Ume includes a known embodiment wherein vibration responses measured using FFT analysis is used to determine defects in a product. One of ordinary skill would have adapted Ume’s FFT analysis system
Claims 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kuzbari et al., U.S. 2019/0302231 in view of Katan Baf Nezhad et al., U.S. 2021/0377859 (hereinafter 859) and Glennon et al., U.S. 2021/0123835.
On claim 14, Kuzbari cites except as underlined:
The system of claim 1, wherein the RF energy is ambient RF energy generated by one or more motors.
Kuzbari cites:
[0146] FIG. 3 shows a tag 40 and further illustrates schematically two ways in which energy may be generated and used to power the control unit 70 and electrical components within the tag 40. In particular, the piezo vibration sensor 210 is shown connected to an AC to DC convertor. An RF source 230 (e.g. from the tag reader 20) produces RF energy received by an integrated antenna 220, which is connected to a DC to DC convertor in order to condition the signal for use as power within the tag 40. Additionally, energy storage may be included within the tag for storing harvested energy either from a mechanical to electrical converter and/or from the RF source 230.
Kuzbari doesn’t disclose the excepted claim limitations.
In the related art of energy harvesting, Glennon discloses:
[0061] More generally, implementations are enabled by the present disclosure in which energy may be harvested from multiple different energy sources and used in any combination to power such monitor. Other potential sources for harvesting include vibration energy (e.g., using a piezoelectric-based or a linear motion, electromagnetic-based device), magnetic fields (e.g., using magnetic field sensor(s) 226), RF energy, electromagnetic fields (e.g., using a coil to harvest stray leakage of the rotating electromagnetic field originating from a motor stator coil), etc.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention include into Kazbari the energy harvesting feature disclosed in Glennon such that the claimed invention is realized. Glennon discloses a known way to obtain energy, and therefore, rotational information from motors via electromagnetic transfer and one of ordinary skill would have incorporated this feature into Kuzbari’s embodiment and the results of the substitution would have realized an embodiment meeting the claimed invention.
On claim 20, Kuzbari cites except as underlined:
The system of claim 19, wherein the second sensors comprise a rotation sensor.
Kuzbari cites:
[0146] FIG. 3 shows a tag 40 and further illustrates schematically two ways in which energy may be generated and used to power the control unit 70 and electrical components [0083] Optionally, the one or more sensors measure may be any one or more of: humidity, vibration, movement, motion, acceleration (an accelerometer), gyroscope, GPS, temperature, light or sound. Other sensors or peripherals may be included. Any one or more of the sensors may be formed from MEMS.
Kuzbari doesn’t disclose the excepted claim limitations.
In the related art of energy harvesting, Glennon discloses:
[0061] More generally, implementations are enabled by the present disclosure in which energy may be harvested from multiple different energy sources and used in any combination to power such monitor. Other potential sources for harvesting include vibration energy (e.g., using a piezoelectric-based or a linear motion, electromagnetic-based device), magnetic fields (e.g., using magnetic field sensor(s) 226), RF energy, electromagnetic fields (e.g., using a coil to harvest stray leakage of the rotating electromagnetic field originating from a motor stator coil), etc.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention using the cited “coil used to harvest stray leakage of the rotating electromagnetic field” from the cited motor as disclosed in Glennon adapted as a sensor as disclosed in Kuzbari such that the claimed invention is realized. Glennon discloses a known way to obtain rotating electromagnetic fields useful for monitoring an electric motor and one of ordinary skill would have used the movement sensor disclosed in Kuzbari to obtain rotational information to determine if the motors disclosed in Glennon are operational.
Response to Arguments
The applicant’s argument with respect to the rejection of claim 1 has been carefully reviewed. However, the claimed “sensed condition using backscatter transmission, and control circuitry configured to process the sensed condition prior to transmission while powered by the electrical energy harvested from the RF energy ” was not examined in a prior Office Action. Accordingly the applicant’s arguments are moot since the amended claim limitation require a new search and consideration.
The applicant’s argument with respect to the rejection of claims 8-10, 17, and 18 regarding Kuzbari in view of Kwon has been reviewed. The examiner agrees with the applicant. Accordingly, the rejection of the above claims have been amended. Furthermore, the rewriting of the rejection of the above claims would not allow another non-final as claim 1 has been amended as indicated in item 10 above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAL EUSTAQUIO whose telephone number is (571)270-7229. The examiner can normally be reached on 8am-5pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Brian Zimmerman, can be reached at (571) 272-3059. 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 lnformation 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 PAlR only. For more information about the PAlR system, see http:/lpair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAlR 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 800-786-91 99 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CAL J EUSTAQUIO/Examiner, Art Unit 2686
/BRIAN A ZIMMERMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2686