DETAILED ACTIONS
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/11/2023 and 11/14/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Christian Weber (DE 102019207657A1, hereinafter Weber, a description translation is used for ref paragraph numbers combined with original copy is uploaded by the examiner)
Regarding Claim 1, Weber teaches,
A sensor module (Weber, Figure 1 [0036], Sensor module 10), comprising:
a sensor (Figure 1, sensor 12-1; a semiconductor device including ([0036] “the sensors are designed as electronic semiconductor devices.”):
a driver configured to drive the sensor (Weber, [0016], “the control device of the sensor module includes an output driver”); and
a processor configured to process an output signal of the sensor (Figure 1, 18-1, [0041], amplifiers 18-1, “The calibration amplifiers 18-1, 18-2 ensure the respective calibrations of the signals SS1, SS2”. NOTE: “amplifier 18-1 reads on “a processor” because the instant application specification discloses in [0018] the first processor 14A is here a single amplifier”.);
a switcher configured to switch whether or not to cut off or disable feeding of the output signal of the sensor to the processor (Figure 1, [0044], “multiplexing device 24 for generating the signal OUT using time division multiplexing of the signals SS1 'and SS2'”).;
a memory configured to store (Figure 1, 22-1, digital processing device, [0025] “the devices used to process digital signals can be implemented by means of a software-controlled computing device (e.g. a microcontroller)”) temperature correction schemes ([0003], “a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle for measuring physical quantities, such as a temperature”) on a non-volatile basis.; and
a controller configured to perform temperature correction on the driver and the processor based on the temperature correction schemes. (Figure 1, control device 14, [0037], “The sensor module 10 further comprises a control device 14th for generating the signal OUT on the basis of the signals SS1 and SS2 received from the sensors 12-1”).
Regarding Claim 6, Weber teaches the sensor module according to claim 1,
Weber further teaches further comprising a temperature sensor, wherein the controller is configured to acquire temperature information detected by the temperature sensor and perform temperature correction on the driver and the processor based on the temperature information and the temperature correction schemes (Weber, [0003] Such a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc. Figure 1, control device 14, [0037], “The sensor module 10 further comprises a control device 14th for generating the signal OUT on the basis of the signals SS1 and SS2 received from the sensors 12-1”).
Regarding Claim 7, Weber teaches the sensor module according to claim 6,
Weber further teaches further comprising: a constant voltage source configured to output a constant voltage (Weber, Figure 1, VCC, Connections for supplying the sensor module 10 with a supply voltage VCC”);
a selector configured to choose either an output of the temperature sensor or the constant voltage (Weber, Figure 1, [0044], “multiplexing device 24 for generating the signal OUT using time division multiplexing of the signals SS1 'and SS2'”).;
; and an ADC configured to perform analog-to-digital conversion on an output of the selector, wherein the controller is configured to correct the temperature information based on an output of the ADC yielded when the selector is choosing the constant voltage. (Weber, Figure 1, [an ADW (20-1 and 20-2 each in Fig. 1 and a digital processing device (22-1 and 22-2 respectively in in Fig. 1 ) formed, but in each case has a calibration amplifier 18-1 and 18-2, and an analog filter 23-1
and 23-2 for analog filtering of calibrated versions of the analog sensor signals SS1, SS2”)
Regarding Claim 8, Weber teaches claim 1,
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 1(Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.)
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 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.
Claims 2-7, 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over al. Christian Weber (DE 102019207657A1, hereinafter Weber) and in view of ISHAM et al. (US 2019/0173381 A1, hereinafter Isham)
Regarding Claim 2, Weber teaches sensor module according to claim 1,
Weber is silent on wherein the temperature correction schemes include: a first scheme with respect to an output offset of the processor alone; a second scheme with respect to an output offset of the driver; and a third scheme with respect to an output offset of the sensor.
However, Isham teaches wherein the temperature correction schemes include: a first scheme with respect to an output offset of the processor alone ; a second scheme with respect to an output offset of the driver (; and a third scheme with respect to an output offset of the sensor (Isham, Figure 4,Step 402- 412 and
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date to modify Weber’s sensor module to include Isham sensor module to measure offset temperature corrections for semiconductor device, senor and the driver as taught by Isham in order to obtain offset-corrections accurately. (Isham, [0034]-[0037] ).
Regarding Claim 3, combination of Weber and Isham teaches claim 2
Weber is silent on
wherein the processor includes:
a first processor configured to receive and process the output signal of the sensor; and a second processor configured to receive and process an output signal of the first processor, and the controller is configured to perform temperature correction on the second processor based on the first scheme, perform temperature correction on the driver based on the second scheme, and perform temperature correction on the first processor based on the third scheme.
However, isham teaches a first processor (isham, Figure 3A, 301 MOS transistor) configured to receive and process the output signal of the sensor (Isham, Figure 3A,[0018], the on-chip temperature sensor 302 can be thermally coupled to the MOS transistor switch 301 for which the current will be measured); and a second processor configured to receive and process an output signal of the first processor, and the controller (Isham, Figure 3b, 0022] “Furthermore, the driver with RDS0N correction 300A includes a gain amplifier 312 to amplify a measured
RDS0N voltage drop across the MOS transistor switch 301. The output of the gain amplifier 312 is attenuated by an attenuating digital-to-analog (DIA) converter 314, as determined by the processing device 305 and the voltage correction
function 324, in order to obtain a corrected RDS0N voltage drop across the MOS transistor switch 301, as explained in more detail below. In some embodiments, the signal from the attenuating DIA converter 314 can be buffered using a buffer 316 if the corrected RDS0N voltage drop is used outside the driver with RDS0N correction 300A”) is configured to perform temperature correction on the second processor based on the first scheme, perform temperature correction on the driver based on the second scheme, and perform temperature correction on the first processor based on the third scheme (Isham,Figure 5 [0037] “FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method 500 for determining a temperature sensor gain and offset correction function. Method 500 comprises comparing a first on-chip temperature sensor reading of a MOS transistor switch with a first off-chip temperature sensor reading of a MOS transistor switch at a first temperature (block 502) and comparing a second on-chip temperature sensor reading of a MOS transistor switch with a second off-chip temperature sensor reading of a MOS transistor switch at a second temperature (block 504). The devices and circuit elements used to measure off-chip temperature and the on-chip temperature, respectively, can have some or all of the same characteristics as described above in FIGS. 3A-3B.”)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date to modify Weber’s sensor module to include Isham sensor module to measure offset temperature corrections for semiconductor device, senor and the driver as taught by Isham in order to obtain offset-corrections accurately. (Isham, [0034]-[0037] ).
Regarding Claim 4, combination of Weber and Isham teaches the sensor module according to claim 2,
Weber is further teaches further comprising a first DAC, a second DAC, and a third DAC, (Weber, Figure1 , the multiplexing device 24 includes a DAW (digital/analog converter) 28 for applying a digital/analog conversion to the signal OUT' and thus for supplying the analog sensor module signal OUT, which is output by the sensor module 10”), Weber is silent on .wherein the controller is configured to perform temperature correction on the second processor via the first DAC, perform temperature correction on the driver via the second DAC, and perform temperature correction on the first processor via the third DAC (Weber, Figure 1, control device 14, [0037], “The sensor module 10 further comprises a control device 14th for generating the signal OUT on the basis of the signals SS1 and SS2 received from the sensors 12-1”), ” NOTE: It is inherent to use a D/A and design choice for a processing unit and amplifier).
Regarding Claim 5, combination of Weber and Isham teaches the sensor module according to claim 2,
Weber is silent on wherein the first, second, and third schemes are data tables respectively, and temperature data in the data tables can be set to different values among the first, second, and third schemes.
However, Isham teaches wherein the first, second, and third schemes are data tables respectively, and temperature data in the data tables can be set to different values among the first, second, and third schemes. (Isham, Figure 6, step 602-603, first temperature, second temperature, [0041] The above measurements can be repeated at different gate drive voltages at different temperatures to determine
the relationship between the gate drive voltage, temperature
and a RDS0 N measured voltage drop”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date to modify Weber’s sensor module to include Isham sensor module to measure offset temperature corrections for semiconductor device, senor and the driver as taught by Isham in order to obtain offset-corrections accurately. (Isham, [0034]-[0037] ).
Regarding Claim 9, combination of Weber and Sacco teaches claim 2
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 2. (Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.)
Regarding Claim 10, combination of Weber and Sacco teaches claim 3
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 3. (Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.)
.
Regarding Claim 11, combination of Weber and Sacco teaches claim 4
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 4. (Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.)
.
Regarding Claim 12, combination of Weber and Sacco teaches claim 5
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 5. (Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.).
.
Regarding Claim 13, combination of Weber and Sacco teaches claim 6
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 6. (Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.).
Regarding Claim 14, combination of Weber and Sacco teaches claim 7,
Weber further teaches A vehicle, comprising the sensor module according to claim 7. (Weber, [0003], a sensor module can be used, for example, in a vehicle to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, etc.).
Conclusion
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
ARISAKA et al. (US 2012/0265473 A1) describes “Improvement in the accuracy of a temperature sensor is aimed at, suppressing the number of the test temperature in a test process. The semiconductor device comprises a coefficient
calculation unit which calculates up to the N-th order coefficient (N is an integer equal to or greater than one) of a correction function as an N-th order approximation of a characteristic function indicating correspondence relation of temperature data measured by a temperature sensor unit and temperature, based on N+l pieces of the temperature data including a theoretical value at a predetermined temperature in the characteristic function and N measured values of the temperature data measured by the temperature sensor unit at N points of temperature; and a correction operation unit which generates data including information on temperature, by performing calculation using the correction function to which the coefficients calculated are applied, based on temperature
data measured by the temperature sensor unit”. (abstract).
SACCO et al. (US 2018/0203059 A1) recites “A sensor system for providing a main signal and an error signal, comprising: a sensor unit providing a sensor signal; a first signal processor downstream of the sensor unit, adapted for receiving a second signal equal to or derived from a sensor signal, and for performing a first operations on the second signal so as to provide a first processed signal; a second signal processor for receiving the first processed
signal and for performing second operations inverse of the first operations, so as to provide a second processed signal; and an evaluation unit for receiving the second signal and the second processed signal, and for evaluating whether the
second signal matches the second processed signal within a predefined tolerance margin, and for providing the error signal” (abstract)
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/DILARA SULTANA/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/EMAN A ALKAFAWI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858 3/17/2026
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