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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of first coil from Main Species, Fig.4, from Sub Species I, Fig. 3B from Sub Species II and Figs. 3A-4-6A from Sub species III in the reply filed on 05 March 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that a search for publications relating to one of the species would reveal publications relating to the other species, and that search of all species jointly would not impose a serious burden, and that claims 2 and 3 recite features that represent alternative or complementary approaches to housing and mounting and allegedly do not reflect distinctive inventive concepts. This is not found persuasive because the species based on the instant elected Figures have additional structural features and inventive concepts other than the housing and mounting aspects that potentially can be amended into the claimed invention further limiting the claimed housing(s). The elected Figures regarding Sub Species III is directed to “circuit board and components,” and not in regards to housings and mounting structures of the circuit board. Applicant has withdrawn claims 3-6. Claims 1, 2 and 7 are pending and under examination.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Instant filed specification, page 4, is missing equation
F
=
1
2
π
L
∙
C
which is present in the Priority Document of JP2023-011659.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 2 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Instant independent claim 1 partially recites: “wherein one of the first coil is immersed in oil” in line 4. It is unclear if an additional element is being claimed and/or omitted, since “one of” inherently includes more than one element, being two or more, in addition to the recited “first coil,” rendering the claim and all its dependents indefinite. In addition, instant independent claim 1 recites an “oil state detection apparatus” and subsequently recites: “the first coil is immersed in oil.” This renders the claim indefinite, since it is unclear as to the metes-and-bounds of the structural “apparatus” invention, since the medium, being oil, is not part of the structural apparatus, and, as such, it is unclear as to the scope of the claimed apparatus invention. An identical argument is made in regards to instant dependent claims 2 and 7, which recites in part: “a tip end portion of the first housing is inserted into a case filled with the oil” and “a temperature sensor immersed in the oil.” The scope of the claimed invention is unclear regarding these limitations, since the metes-and-bounds of the claimed apparatus invention is unclear, further including a “case” and a “temperature sensor” rendering instant dependent claims 2 and 7 indefinite.
Instant dependent claim 2 recites in part: “an electric circuit element.” It is unclear as to what constitutes the recited “electric circuit element,” since the instant filed specification provides no details and/or definitions/aspects in regards to the “electric circuit element” rendering the claim indefinite.
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 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) including 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. 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(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. Applicant is invited to review PTO form 892 accompanying this Office Action listing Prior Art relevant to the instant invention cited by the Examiner.
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/JOHN FITZGERALD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855