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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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(s) 1-3, 9, and 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 7125163 B2 (Eigler).
Regarding claims 1 and 22: Eigler teaches a calorimeter (calorimeter 10) comprising: a housing (unlabeled exterior seen in Fig. 2A); an aperture body disposed within the housing and defining an aperture configured to allow electromagnetic radiation to move pass through a first end of the aperture body and out a second end of the aperture body along a first direction (opening 124, aperture 125); an absorber disposed within the housing and configured to receive the electromagnetic radiation (body 12, low thermal conductivity clamp 20; Figs. 1 and 2A), wherein the absorber comprises: a front portion formed of a first material that is configured to receive the electromagnetic radiation (low thermal conductivity clamp 20; Fig. 1), and a rear portion formed of a second material that is further from the aperture body than the front portion along the first direction (body 12; Fig. 2A), and wherein the second material is different from the first material (“clamp 20 is constructed of glass filled PEEK”, “the body 12 is a copper body. However, it will be appreciated that the body 12 may be made of other high thermal conductivity materials, as desired, such as without limitation aluminum.”); a thermal sensor thermally coupled to the absorber, such that the thermal sensor is configured to detect a change in temperature of the absorber (temperature sensor system 16, made of at least continuous wire 64 and helical groove 60).
Claim 22 is the method of the apparatus of claim 1. Therefore the rejection of claim 1 also applies to claim 22, mutatis mutandis.
Regarding claim 2: Eigler teaches the calorimeter of claim 1 (see above), wherein the first material is more resistant to blow off or vaporization from the electromagnetic radiation than the second material (first material is glass filled PEEK, second material is copper or aluminum).
Regarding claim 3: Eigler teaches the calorimeter of claim 1 (see above), wherein the second material has a higher atomic number than the first material. While the first material in Eigler is a composite material, it is taught to be glass filled PEEK. PEEK is primarily benzene rings, which is composed of carbon and hydrogen (atomic numbers 6 and 1, respectively). The second material according to Eigler is copper or aluminum, both of which have a higher atomic number, at 29 and 13 respectively.
Regarding claim 9: Eigler teaches the calorimeter of claim 1 (see above), wherein the second material comprises a metal (body 12 is copper or aluminum, see rejection of claim 1), and the first material comprises a non- metal (low thermal conductivity clamp 20 is glass filled PEEK, see rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 21: Eigler teaches a test mount assembly comprising: a test mount (“the flange 57 allows mounting support of the calorimeter 10”); and the calorimeter of claim 1 (see above) fixed by the test mount.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 4 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US 7125163 B2 (Eigler).
Regarding claim 4: Eigler teaches the calorimeter of claim 3 (see above), but does not directly teach that the rear portion is configured such when the electromagnetic radiation has an energy of 5 KeV or more, more of the electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by the rear portion.
However, there is inherently some threshold in a material of low conductivity such that when it is exceeded, the electromagnetic radiation passes through. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would know this threshold based on the material chosen through regular experimentation.
Regarding claim 17: Eigler teaches the calorimeter of claim 1 (see above), but does not directly teach one or more cloth thermal insulators comprises at least two first cloth thermal insulator plates that sandwich a radially outer portion of the absorber, and comprises at least one second cloth thermal insulator plate that radially inwardly faces the radially outer portion of the absorber.
However, Eigler does teach an insulation (59) fabricated from Polyimide foam and an airgap 63 that provide radiative and convective isolation of the body (12).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the insulation of Eigler with cloth insulator plates. This is because one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected a cloth insulation plate to be one of several straightforward ways of insulating an absorber by surrounding it with a material.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 11326943 B2 teaches a data collection device that includes a housing, data collection unit, a power unit, and an irradiation sensor with a thermal energy absorbing material.
US 11054311 B1 teaches a thermal radiation detector that includes a substrate, a platform suspended above the substrate, a support structure holding the platform, and a temperature sensor disposed on the platform and having an electrical parameter that varies in accordance with the temperature of the temperature sensor.
AU 2020202844 B2 teaches a fluorometer with an excitation source for emitting electromagnetic radiation with an excitation filter and an aperture.
CN 107664616 B teaches a spectral measurement device with a shell, a radiation source, a spectrometer, and a connecting device.
US 20190293809 A1 teaches a photonic calorimeter converts ionizing radiation dose to heat and includes: a radiation absorber, a temperature compensator disposed within the radiation absorber, a compensation waveguide, a compensation resonator, a compensation resonator, a thermal isolator on which the radiation absorber is disposed and that thermally isolates the radiation absorber from heat loss by thermal transfer due to physical contact by an object, and the temperature compensator changes the optical resonance of the compensation resonator in response to a change in temperature of the radiation absorber due to absorption of the ionizing radiation by the radiation absorber.
US 20170089830 A1 teaches a method for signal detection with a gas analysis system includes a radiation source; a gas measuring section containing gas to be measured; a Fabry-Perot interferometer; a thermal sensor configured to cause a change in voltage between electrodes with electromagnetic radiation falling thereon and arranged such that radiation released by a second interferometer mirror falls on the thermal sensor.
WO 2016140565 A1 teaches a pyranometer with a housing, a sensor in said housing, an inner window and an outer window both overlying the sensor. The invention is characterized in that the outer window has a relatively high transmission coefficient below an upper wavelength value that is larger than the upper wavelength value of the inner window, wherein the outer window has a thermal conductivity which is at least 2 times higher than the thermal conductivity of the inner window.
US 9291499 B2 teaches a radiometer that includes a substrate; a radiation absorber disposed on the substrate to absorb radiation; a thermal member disposed on the substrate to change electrical resistance in response to a change in temperature of the radiometer; and a thermal link to connect the radiometer to a thermal reference.
US 6888141 B2 teaches a thermal sensor for low level radiation with built-in photo-thermal gain utilizing a thin film of pyro-optical material to modulate the reflectivity and/or transmission of a photonic carrier beam.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JULIA FITZPATRICK whose telephone number is (703)756-5783. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8am-4pm.
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/JULIA FITZPATRICK/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/LAURA MARTIN/SPE, Art Unit 2855
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