IoT Panel for Diagnostics and Monitoring of LAN Cable Conductors

Application No. 18/440,447

• Filed: Feb 13, 2024
• Priority: Nov 24, 2020 — CIP of 11/902,142
• Examiner: YEA, JI-HAE P
• Art Unit: 2471
• Tech Center: 2400 — Computer Networks
• Assignee: Nflexon LLC
• OA Round: 1 (Non-Final)

Office Action

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
This application is a CIP of 17/103,890 field on 11/24/2020, now patented US 11,902,142.
17/103,890 is a CIP of 16/161,293 filed on 10/16/2018, now patented US 10,848,404.
17/103,890 has a provisional application 62/944,155 filed on 12/05/2019.
16/161,293 has a provisional application 62/572,866 field on 10/16/2017.

Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) has not been submitted.

Claim Objections
Claims 8 and 9 are objected because of the following informalities:
In claims 8 and 9, it is suggested to complete the missing sentences or limitations for correction of incomplete sentences and for clarity.
Appropriate correction is required.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bennett et al. (US 2018/0238971 A1, hereinafter Bennett).

Regarding claim 1:
Bennett teaches a current unbalance protection apparatus for a power-over-ethernet network (see, Bennett: Fig. 6), the apparatus comprising:
a plurality of current sensors comprising a first current sensor and a second current sensor (see, Bennett: Fig. 2, DC Current Measurement Circuit 113 and DC Current Measurement Circuit 114);
the first current sensor being configured to take a first current measurement in an outgoing conducting path via a first twisted pair wire (see, Bennett: Fig. 6, Port 131 and 132);
the second current sensor being configured to take a second current measurement in a return conducting path via a second twisted pair wire (see, Bennett: Fig. 6, Port 135 and 136);
a controller configured to receive the first current measurement and the second current measurement (see, Bennett: Fig. 6, Controller 140); and
the controller being able to detect a DC current unbalance condition based on current readings comprising the first current measurement and the second current measurement (see, Bennett: para. [0048], “The DC current measurement circuits 113 and 114 provide average and instantaneous measurements. The pair of controllable electrical resistances 111 and 112 is configurable to system source resistances for evaluating the Ethernet powered device as described within the IEEE 802.3 clause 145 specification to create pair-to-pair resistance unbalance in wire pairs attached to the Ethernet powered device port coupling circuits.”).

Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 are 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.

Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JI-HAE YEA whose telephone number is [phone]. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI, 7am-3pm, ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SUJOY K KUNDU can be reached on [phone]. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JI-HAE YEA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471

Prosecution Timeline

• Feb 13, 2024: Application Filed
• Jun 03, 2026: Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)