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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 25 June 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant first argues that the rejection of instant dependent claim 2 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) is definite, since paragraph 0024 (note: the instant filed specification does not have numbering for paragraphs, and it’s assumed Applicant is referring to the pre-grant publication of the instant application U.S. 2024/0255488 A1, which states: “[0024] where L is the inductance of the coil 1 and C is the capacity of the capacitor 2.”) allegedly states that the electric circuit element 21 includes, for example, the capacitor 2. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The claimed limitations of “electric circuit element” does not appear in paragraph 0024 of the pre-grant publication, and only appears in the instant claims and in paragraph 0043 of the pre-grant publication stating: “That is, an electric circuit element which has a heat resistance performance of a predetermined temperature or less, of the detection device is only required to be arranged inside the housing 12.” In addition, paragraph 0043 states that element 21 is an “electronic circuit element,” not an “electric circuit element.” As such, the claim limitation of “electric circuit element” in instant dependent claim 2 is not clearly defined and/or described within the instant filed specification, rendering the claim indefinite.
Applicant then argues that the combination of Toyo and Arbogast et al. is improper, since Arbogast discloses four thermistors that potentially are not all immersed in the fluid. This is unpersuasive, since all four of the thermistors can also be immersed in the fluid. Thus, at a fundamental level, at least one of the thermistors is always immersed in the fluid. Arbogast et al. clearly teaches to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date that sensing/detection elements/devices (20) can be mounted on a single circuit board/substrate (22), along with detection circuitry (24) and heating circuitry (26), thus providing a single thin, flat, ceramic circuit board with sensors and circuitry allowing for compact detection apparatus and level detection, all on an identical circuit board, as recited in instant independent claim 1. Lastly, it is noted that Applicant has not addressed the Examiners obviousness rationale employed in the prior art rejection of instant independent claim 1 regarding employing a single/identical circuit board in regards to the Toyo reference, as well as the obviousness rationale employed in the combination of the Toyo and Arbogast et al. references.
Lastly, new grounds of rejection are made due to Applicant’s amendment to instant independent claim 1, altering the scope of the claimed invention, as well as new claims 8 and 9.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s cited foreign prior art reference JP 2000-321248 to NTN Toyo Bearing Co. LTD (hereinafter Toyo) and U.S. 4,609,913 to Arbogast et al. Toyo discloses an oil state detection apparatus (see Figs 1 and 5 and associated text within the English translation) a case/drain portion (i.e. oil pan) filled with oil, a first oscillation circuit (10, 30, 31) including a first coil (10) and a first detection device (40, 41, 50, 51) that detects an oscillatory frequency of the first oscillation circuit (see claim 5 and associated paragraphs regarding frequency and/or phase analysis in the English translation), wherein the first coil is immersed in oil (see claim 5 and paras 0014 and 0018 of the English translation)(as recited in instant independent claim 1); wherein the inductance of the first coil changes in accordance with an amount of magnetic substance (metal powder) contained in the oil (see para 0014, 0027) (as recited in instant dependent claim 8); and wherein the amount of the magnetic substances (metal powder) increases, a voltage value of a tuning voltage increases (see claims 1, 5 and paras 0014, 0016, 0018, 0025, 0028, 0031, 0033) (as recited in instant dependent claim 9). Toyo does not explicitly disclose that the first oscillation circuit and the first detection device are arranged on an identical circuit board, as recited in instant independent claim 1. However, Toyo clearly discloses that the first oscillation circuit and the first detection device are arranged in a single “main body” portion/unit (120, 121) as clearly indicated by Figs. 1 and 5 and associated text within the English translation. As such, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the instant invention to mount/place the circuity and/or circuitry components of the first oscillation circuit and first detection device on a single/identical circuit board, such as a commonly known printed circuit board (PCB) or other types of common electronic boards/substrates (i.e. ceramic/alumina substrates), to provide a compact, organized and efficient way to interconnect the first detection device and the first oscillation circuit components, as well as provide mechanical support of the circuit/device components and facilitate flow of electricity through electrical, typically copper/gold, traces, all of which allows for smaller (i.e. miniaturization), more reliable and easier in regards to mass production.
In addition, evidence of mounting circuitry and detection device circuit on a single/identical circuit board in regards to sensor/detection devices related to fluids is disclosed by Arbogast et al. Arbogast et al. disclose an oil state detection apparatus (i.e. crankcase oil level/state) (see col. 4, lines 3-5 and the entire reference) wherein a sensing circuit/element (20), detection circuitry (24), heating circuitry (26) as well as other necessary circuitry for certain applications, including an amplifier/switch circuit are all mounted to a single circuit board/substrate (22) (see Figs 1 and 2 and col. 2, lines 4-41). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to employ the teachings of Arbogast et al., modifying the oil state detection apparatus disclosed by Toyo, thus providing a single thin, flat, ceramic heat-conducting substrate/circuit board to mount all the necessary circuitry and allowing for a compact detection apparatus and level detection (see claim 1 and Summary of Arbogast et al.).
Claim 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. 2002/0093344 to Park et al. and JP 2000-321248 to Toyo. Park et al. disclose an oil state detection apparatus (see entire reference), for determining oil deterioration in an internal combustion engine, the apparatus mounted in a case filled with oil (oil pan, which contains the oil to be sensed, see para 0022) including a first circuit element/capacitor (20) and a first detection device (22) containing signal processing electronics (see para 0025), wherein the first circuit element and the first detection device are arranged on an identical/single circuit board/ceramic plate (56) (see Figs. 1, 4 and 5, and paras 0007-0009, 0013, 0022, 0025 and 0029). Park et al. does not explicitly disclose a first oscillation circuit including a first coil; and the first detection device which detects an oscillatory frequency of the first oscillation circuit, wherein the first coil is also immersed in the oil, wherein the first oscillation circuit is also arranged on the identical circuit board, as recited in instant independent claim; wherein the inductance of the first coil changes in accordance with an amount of a magnetic substance, as recited in instant dependent claim 8, wherein as the amount of the magnetic substance increases, a voltage value increases, as voltage value of a tuning voltage increases, as recited in instant dependent claim 9. Toyo discloses an oil state detection apparatus (see Figs 1 and 5 and associated text within the English translation) a case/drain portion (i.e. oil pan) filled with oil, a first oscillation circuit (10, 30, 31) including a first coil (10) and a first detection device (40, 41, 50, 51) that detects an oscillatory frequency of the first oscillation circuit (see claim 5 and associated paragraphs regarding frequency and/or phase analysis in the English translation), wherein the first coil is immersed in oil (see claim 5 and paras 0014 and 0018 of the English translation)(as recited in instant independent claim 1); wherein the inductance of the first coil changes in accordance with an amount of magnetic substance (metal powder) contained in the oil (see para 0014, 0027) (as recited in instant dependent claim 8); and wherein the amount of the magnetic substances (metal powder) increases, a voltage value of a tuning voltage increases (see claims 1, 5 and paras 0014, 0016, 0018, 0025, 0028, 0031, 0033) (as recited in instant dependent claim 9). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to modify the oil detection apparatus disclosed by Park et al., employing the teachings of Toyo, thus providing the ability to detect the amount of metal powder/magnetic substance in the engine oil due to abrasion of parts in the engine with long-term use, which reduces the original lubrication performance, and thus damage to the engine (see para 0002 of Toyo).
Claim(s) 2 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2000-321248 to Toyo and U.S. 4,609,913 to Arbogast et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. 2015/0303679 to Li et al. Toyo and Arbogast et al. disclose an oil state detection apparatus having all of the elements stated previously. Arbogast et al. further disclose the oil state detection device includes a first housing (16) and a second housing (14) that cover the circuit board, wherein a tip end portion of the first housing is inserted into a case filled with oil (see col. 2, lines 4-9), the second housing is arranged, at a base end portion of the first housing, apart from the case and the detection circuitry is arranged inside the second housing (14) housing electronic components, thus the recited first detection device and the first oscillation circuit), meeting many of the limitations recited in instant dependent claim 2, and temperature sensor elements (30, 32, 34, 36) as part of the sensing element (20) being immersed in the oil to detect a temperature, as partially recited in instant dependent claim 7. Toyo and Arbogast et al. do not explicitly disclose an electric circuit element, which has a heat resistance performance of a predetermined temperature or less, of the first detection device, is arranged inside the second housing, as recited in instant dependent claim 2, or wherein according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, the first detection device operates within an operation guarantee temperature range, and stops outside the operation guarantee temperature range, as recited in instant dependent claim 7. As preliminary matter, all electric elements have a heat resistance performance of a predetermined temperature or less, meaning, that they will only function/operate below some threshold temperature, and thus have an operational range, and will malfunction or fail if the threshold temperature is exceeded. Li et al. disclose a thermal protection circuit and system (see entire reference) including a temperature sensor (021), a detection circuit (022), or multiple temperature sensors distributed a key positions of a printed circuit board (PCB) (see Fig. 3 and associated text within the disclosure), wherein one of the temperature sensor(s) detect if the temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold, or when N sensors simultaneously detect that the temperature threshold and/or operational range between a negative temperature coefficient or positive temperature coefficient, the system’s thermal protection circuit starts a protection action, wherein load-switch is shut down automatically under control of a detection circuit (022), so as to cut off power supply, and the power-off state is maintained, and restarted due to decrease in temperature below the threshold (see paras 0040-0047). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the instant invention to employ the teachings of Li et al., so that any electric circuit element in the oil state detection apparatus disclosed by Toyo and Arbogast et al. wherein the first detection device that is housed in the second housing operates within an operation guarantee range, and/or below an operation threshold, and stops outside the operation guarantee temperature range and/or above the operation predetermined threshold, as recited in the remaining limitations of instant dependent claims 2 and 7, thus providing protection from high temperatures which may damage the oil state detection apparatus, or cause it to malfunction (see Background and Summary of Li et al.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, see WO 2007121879 to Meindorf et al. which discloses inductive and capacitive sensing of magnetic particles in engine oil
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 Primary Examiner John Fitzgerald whose telephone number is (571) 272-2843. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM E.S.T. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor John Breene, can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-4107. 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. The central fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOHN FITZGERALD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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