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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/1/2025 has been entered.
Claim Status
Claims 1-10 and 13-22 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/5/2025 have been fully considered.
In response to “Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 112”, the rejection has been withdrawn in view of the amendment.
In response to “Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 103”, applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 10 and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection relies on a new combination of references are used for teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Parfitt teaches “on-board sensors” at paragraph [0115] and the thermal sensors are positioned within the housing of the safety device but fails to expressly teach the thermal sensors are mounted on the printed circuit board.
However, these two types of connection methods were art-recognized equivalents because they both provide the same expected results to output temperature signals to the circuit board. A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to use any one of the known connection methods to achieve the same result.
Also, in the same field of temperature detection, a newly applied reference by Min (Pub. No.: US 2021/0072941 A1) teaches a temperature sensor is mounted on a printed circuit board for sensing an internal temperature of the device. See para [0078], “The temperature sensor 131 may be installed inside the main body 101. For example, the temperature sensor 131 may be installed on a display panel 152 of the display 150, or may be installed on a printed circuit board on which various electric components are mounted.”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Parfitt’s thermal sensor to be mounted to the circuit board to reduce space usage.
In response to the argument for claim 21, the rejection has been amended in accordance to the newly introduced limitation.
In response to the argument for claim 22, Parfitt teaches that the thermal sensors are positioned within the housing of the safety device and that the safety device uses a combination of sensor outputs from the plurality of thermal sensors and current sensors to determine the presence of a hazard. The determination is performed by machine learning algorithms.
The Applicant’s argument that Parfitt’s thermal sensors fail to measure the internal temperature of the safety device appears to be inconsistent with the Parfitt’s disclosure. Paragraphs [0014], [0059] and [0061] of Parfitt clearly disclose the thermal sensors are positioned within the housing of the safety device and measure temperature increases within the safety device. Although Parfitt’s thermal sensors are primarily used to measure surface temperature in some disclosed examples, but those examples do not exclude the thermal sensors from detecting temperature changes around their surroundings when housed within the electrical safety device.
It is within the knowledge of someone having ordinary skill in the art that thermal sensors are configured to measure temperature around their surroundings. Since the thermal sensors are positioned within the housing of the electrical safety device, the thermal sensor is anticipated to the detect the temperature within the housing od the safety device because temperature can be transferred from outside to inside or from inside to outside. In addition, Parfitt is very clear that the thermal sensors are configured to detect temperature increases within the safety device in paragraph [0059].
Accordingly, the rejection is maintained based on the reasons provided.
In response to “Other Items”, the Office acknowledges the submission of the certified copy of the priority document in the parent application.
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.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4-10 and 13-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parfitt (Pub. No.: US 2021/0124327 A1) in view of Min (Pub. No.: US 2021/0072941 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Parfitt teaches an electrical socket (Fig. 1, electrical safety device 100) comprising:
a housing (Fig. 1, para [0013], “Preferably the electrical safety device includes a housing wherein the socket is provided in a surface of the housing;”);
an electrical outlet housed by the housing but accessible from outside of the housing, the electrical outlet for receiving a plug of an electrical appliance (Fig. 1, abstract “An electrical safety device is described which includes a socket arranged to receive an electrical plug of an electrical appliance to connect a current supply to the electrical appliance,” and para [0013], “Preferably the electrical safety device includes a housing wherein the socket is provided in a surface of the housing;”. The electrical safety device includes one or more sockets 120.);
a printed circuit board housed by the housing (para [0113], “When the sensed ambient thermal energy level exceeds a threshold value, the heat detector communicates with the internal circuitry to indicate a risk of fire.” And para [0015], “In the event that one of the on-board sensors detects a parameter which indicates a potential hazard and/or fire, the adapter automatically actuates the relay such that the electrical connection between the plug part and the socket is interrupted.”. The device includes a circuity in communicate with the thermal sensor to receive temperature measurements);
a plurality of sensors housed by the housing for measuring a plurality of parameters associated with operation of the electrical socket, wherein the plurality of sensors include a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature within the housing (Fig. 2A, thermal sensor 110, para [0059], “The thermal sensor may be positioned in a number of different ways to achieve the reading of surface temperature of the electrical plug. In FIG. 1 the thermal sensor 110 is positioned within the housing 130 of the device 100 between the recesses 121 forming the socket 120.” and para [0061], “Although the thermal sensor 110 is primarily configured for detection of surface temperature, which allows an early detection of possible faults, before they result in significant temperature rises leading to sparks or flames, the thermal sensor can clearly equally detect the presence of such sparks or flames as they arise in the plug due to significant emission of IR radiation. The thermal sensor 110 therefore allows for the early detection of temperature increases associated with possible hazardous faults within the device and the device can provide various alerts and actions to minimise the risk of such faults, as will now be described.” and para [0057], “As described above, the thermal sensor 110 is configured so as to detect the temperature in a region corresponding to the electrical plug when received in the socket 120 in order to sense the surface temperature of the electrical plug.”. The thermal sensors 110 are positioned within the housing of the electrical safety device nearby the connection point between the socket 120 and the electrical plug to detect temperature rises and sparks / arcs.) and one or more electrical power sensors for sensing a measure of power delivered by the electrical outlet to the electrical appliance (Fig. 2A, para [0067], “The device 100 further includes a current sensor 115 for monitoring the current supplied to an electrical appliance plugged into the electrical safety device 100. The current sensor is positioned within the device to measure current between the pins of a plug and the corresponding contact within the body of the device 100.” and para [0086], “Because the current sensor measures the current provided by each socket, the electrical safety system can also monitor power consumption across each individual electrical safety device outlet point.” The electrical safety device further includes a current sensor 115 to monitor current and power consumption of the outlet.);
a controller housed by the housing and operatively coupled to the plurality of sensors, the controller is configured to receive the plurality of parameters measured by the plurality of sensors and to apply one or more of the plurality of parameters, including the temperature within the housing sensed by the temperature sensor, to a machine learning algorithm executed by the controller to determine whether to issue an alarm for the electrical socket (para [0009], “The processor may be configured to determine the presence of hazard based on the output of the thermal sensor in combination with one or more sensors, for example a machine learning algorithm may determine the presence of a hazard based on the output of a combination of sensors.” and para [0020], “For example, the processor may employ a machine learning algorithm which uses the output of a plurality of sensors to identify a risk. In this way, a hazard can be identified more reliably than when based on the output of a single sensor. For example a combination of the output of the current sensor and thermal sensor can be used to more reliably identify the presence of an electrical fault.”. The electrical safety device includes a processor to detect for electrical faults and fire based on the measurements from current sensor and thermal sensor); and
in response to determining to issue the alarm, the controller issuing the alarm (Fig. 2A, para [0023], “The electrical safety device preferably further comprises means to provide an alert to a user. The device may include an alarm sounder or visual alarm to notify a user when the processor determines that a sensed parameter exceeds a threshold value.”. The electrical safety device includes status LEDs 142 and sounder 140 to output alerts).
Parfitt teaches “on-board sensors” at paragraph [0115] but fails to expressly teach the thermal sensor is mounted to the printed circuit board.
However, these two types of connection methods were art-recognized equivalents because they both provide the same expected results to output temperature signals to the circuit board. A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to use any one of the known connection methods to achieve the same result.
Also, in the same field of temperature detection, Min teaches a temperature sensor is mounted on a printed circuit board for sensing an internal temperature of the device. See para [0078], “The temperature sensor 131 may be installed inside the main body 101. For example, the temperature sensor 131 may be installed on a display panel 152 of the display 150, or may be installed on a printed circuit board on which various electric components are mounted.”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Parfitt’s thermal sensor to be mounted to the circuit board to reduce space usage.
Regarding claim 2, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sensors comprises two or more temperature sensors each mounted to the printed circuit board and each sensing a respective temperature within the housing, the two or more temperature sensors providing redundancy and/or verification of the temperature within the housing (para [0113] and para [0114], “Additional terminal sensors may monitor connections within the device to identify abnormal current flow or local hazard causing conditions.”. The device includes two or more thermal sensors to detect hazard.).
Regarding claim 4, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the machine learning algorithm is based at least in part on historical values of two or more of the plurality of parameters including historical values of the sensed temperature within the housing and the sensed measure power delivered by the electrical outlet to the electrical appliance (para [0068], “However more complex processing may be used to identify the presence of a hazard, for example by identifying a rate of change of a sensed parameter or where a sensed parameter change displays a particular behaviour or pattern associated with an increased risk of a hazard. The processor can also be configured to determine the presence of a hazard based on a combination of sensor outputs in order to identify a risk more reliably. For example the processor can use more complex algorithms, such as machine learning based algorithms which take the output from multiple sensors in order to determine an elevate risk. For example in a situation where the current sensor and thermal sensor readings are lower than their corresponding individual thresholds, the behaviour of the sensor readings in combination may signify a developing hazard an therefore this can be detected at an earlier stage than with a single sensor. Similarly an unusual rate of chance of one or more parameters may indicate the presence of a hazard. The device 100 may include an internal memory holding such sensor parameter data with the processor configured to compare the received data with data indicative of a hazard held in the memory in order to identify the presence of a hazard. The processor may use more complex algorithms such as machine learning algorithms which can be trained to identify changes in the parameters associated with increased risks of a potential hazard. For example, the machine learning algorithm may include a neural network (or support vector machine) which functions to receive the data from the sensors as inputs and, once trained on a set of simulated hazards, may be able to identify a real-life hazard from a combination of inputs from the sensors using weights and thresholds that may not be set of predetermined by the operator. In another example, a linear regression model may be used to identify changes of parameters over time to predict or estimate a level of risk.”. The device uses a combination of historical values, such as rate of change or behaviors of the measurements, obtained from the thermal sensor and the current sensors to determine a hazard).
Regarding claim 5, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to apply one or more of the plurality of parameters to the machine learning algorithm, along with an ambient temperature outside of the housing, to determine whether to issue an alarm for the electrical socket (para [0008], “Although the thermal sensor is configured to detect the surface temperature of an electrical appliance it is equally able to detect the presence of a flame or rise in ambient temperature. The thermal sensor is preferably arranged to detect the surface temperature of at least one, preferably both of, an electrical plug housing and cable” and para [0113], “The thermal sensor is arranged to sense ambient levels of thermal energy, and may comprise sensing components arranged to utilise either, or both, of mechanical and semiconductor heat sensing methods. The thermal sensor is capable of detecting the surface temperature or a naked flame of any electrical appliance or a faulty appliance which in turn causes a short circuit and potential fire. When the sensed ambient thermal energy level exceeds a threshold value, the heat detector communicates with the internal circuitry to indicate a risk of fire.” and para [0068], “The processor can also be configured to determine the presence of a hazard based on a combination of sensor outputs in order to identify a risk more reliably. For example the processor can use more complex algorithms, such as machine learning based algorithms which take the output from multiple sensors in order to determine an elevate risk.”. The device determines a hazard based on a combination of measurements from the thermal sensor and the current sensor. The thermal sensor measures ambient temperature outside of the housing).
Regarding claim 6, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the electrical socket comprises a sound emitting device housed by the housing, wherein issuing the alarm activates the sound emitting device (Fig. 2A, sounder 140, para [0023], “The electrical safety device preferably further comprises means to provide an alert to a user. The device may include an alarm sounder or visual alarm to notify a user when the processor determines that a sensed parameter exceeds a threshold value.”.).
Regarding claim 7, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the electrical socket comprises a wireless communication interface for wirelessly communicating with a remote device, wherein issuing the alarm wirelessly transmits the alarm from the electrical socket to the remote device via the wireless communication interface (para [0019], “Preferably the electrical safety device comprises one or more wireless communications links configured to communicate with a remote device. This allows the electrical safety device to be employed in an electrical safety system (i.e. an electrical safety device network) throughout a building to identify risks, alert a user and address the risks.”).
Regarding claim 8, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the machine learning algorithm includes artificial intelligence (para [0068], “For example, the machine learning algorithm may include a neural network (or support vector machine) which functions to receive the data from the sensors as inputs and, once trained on a set of simulated hazards, may be able to identify a real-life hazard from a combination of inputs from the sensors using weights and thresholds that may not be set of predetermined by the operator. In another example, a linear regression model may be used to identify changes of parameters over time to predict or estimate a level of risk.”. The disclosed machine learning algorithms are considered to include artificial intelligence because they are trained to learn and predict hazard.).
Regarding claim 9, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the machine learning algorithm adjusts one or more alarm thresholds based at least in part on the temperature within the housing sensed by the temperature sensor and an ambient temperature outside of the housing (paras [0061], [0113]-[0114], the device receives ambient surface temperature and the internal temperature from a plurality of thermal sensors.), and wherein the controller uses the one or more adjusted alarm thresholds to determine whether to issue the alarm for the electrical socket (para [0068], “For example, the machine learning algorithm may include a neural network (or support vector machine) which functions to receive the data from the sensors as inputs and, once trained on a set of simulated hazards, may be able to identify a real-life hazard from a combination of inputs from the sensors using weights and thresholds that may not be set of predetermined by the operator. In another example, a linear regression model may be used to identify changes of parameters over time to predict or estimate a level of risk.”. The machine learning algorithm constantly adjusts the hazard thresholds based on the received outside surface temperature and internal temperature.).
Regarding claim 10, recite a method for the electrical socket of claim 1. Therefore, they are rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 13, Parfitt in the combination teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of sensors include one or more of a pressure sensor and a humidity sensor (para [0020], “Preferably the electrical safety device comprises one or more additional local sensors, the one or more local sensors comprising one or more of: a smoke and/or gas sensor; a carbon monoxide sensor; a moisture and/or water sensor;”).
Regarding claim 14, Parfitt in the combination teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the machine learning algorithm is based at least in part on historical values of one or more of the plurality of parameters historical values of the sensed temperature within the housing and the sensed measure of power delivered by the electrical outlet to the electrical appliance (para [0042], “For example it may be configured to determine when the temperature gradients exceed a certain level, when the surface temperature distribution across the plug displays a particular behaviour or the rate of change of the surface temperature displays a particular behaviour. The processor may use a machine learning algorithm and may be trained to identify such behaviour indicative of particular hazard. The electrical safety device may additionally include a memory configured to hold data relating to surface temperature behaviour associated with particular hazard wherein the processor is configured to receive surface temperature data from the thermal sensor and compare this against the data stored in the memory to determine the presence of a hazard.” and para [0068], “The processor can also be configured to determine the presence of a hazard based on a combination of sensor outputs in order to identify a risk more reliably. For example the processor can use more complex algorithms, such as machine learning based algorithms which take the output from multiple sensors in order to determine an elevate risk. For example in a situation where the current sensor and thermal sensor readings are lower than their corresponding individual thresholds, the behaviour of the sensor readings in combination may signify a developing hazard an therefore this can be detected at an earlier stage than with a single sensor.”. The device uses machine learning to learn and store the behavior of a hazard to determine a future hazard.).
Regarding claim 15, recite a method for the electrical socket of claim 5. Therefore, they are rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 16, recites a method for the electrical socket of claim 6. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 17, recites a method for the electrical socket of claim 7. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 18, recites a method for the electrical socket of claim 9. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 19, Parfitt teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a controller of an electrical socket cause the one or more processors of the controller of the electrical socket (abstract and para [0130], the electrical safety device includes memory storing instructions and processors to perform disclosed functions) to:
receive a plurality of parameters measured by a plurality of sensors of the electrical socket, the plurality of parameters including a sensed temperature within a housing of the electrical socket sensed by a temperature sensor in the housing of the electrical socket (Fig. 2A, thermal sensors 110, para [0059], “The thermal sensor may be positioned in a number of different ways to achieve the reading of surface temperature of the electrical plug. In FIG. 1 the thermal sensor 110 is positioned within the housing 130 of the device 100 between the recesses 121 forming the socket 120.” and para [0061], “Although the thermal sensor 110 is primarily configured for detection of surface temperature, which allows an early detection of possible faults, before they result in significant temperature rises leading to sparks or flames, the thermal sensor can clearly equally detect the presence of such sparks or flames as they arise in the plug due to significant emission of IR radiation. The thermal sensor 110 therefore allows for the early detection of temperature increases associated with possible hazardous faults within the device and the device can provide various alerts and actions to minimise the risk of such faults, as will now be described.” and para [0057], “As described above, the thermal sensor 110 is configured so as to detect the temperature in a region corresponding to the electrical plug when received in the socket 120 in order to sense the surface temperature of the electrical plug.”. The thermal sensors 110 are positioned within the housing of the electrical safety device nearby the connection point between the socket 120 and the electrical plug to detect temperature rises and sparks / arcs.), and a measure of power delivered by the electrical outlet to an electrical appliance plugged into the electrical appliance (Fig. 2A, para [0067], “The device 100 further includes a current sensor 115 for monitoring the current supplied to an electrical appliance plugged into the electrical safety device 100. The current sensor is positioned within the device to measure current between the pins of a plug and the corresponding contact within the body of the device 100.” and para [0086], “Because the current sensor measures the current provided by each socket, the electrical safety system can also monitor power consumption across each individual electrical safety device outlet point.” The electrical safety device further includes a current sensor 115 to monitor current and power consumption of the outlet.);
apply two or more of the plurality of parameters including the sensed temperature within the housing of the electrical socket and an ambient temperature outside of the housing of the electrical socket to a machine learning algorithm to determine whether to issue an alarm for the electrical socket (para [0113], “The thermal sensor is arranged to sense ambient levels of thermal energy, and may comprise sensing components arranged to utilise either, or both, of mechanical and semiconductor heat sensing methods. The thermal sensor is capable of detecting the surface temperature or a naked flame of any electrical appliance or a faulty appliance which in turn causes a short circuit and potential fire. When the sensed ambient thermal energy level exceeds a threshold value, the heat detector communicates with the internal circuitry to indicate a risk of fire.”, para [0114], “Additional thermal sensors may monitor connections within the device to identify abnormal current flow or local hazard causing conditions. A further IR thermal sensor may create a thermal image of a local area and identify a hazard before it spreads.” and para [0068], “The processor can also be configured to determine the presence of a hazard based on a combination of sensor outputs in order to identify a risk more reliably. For example the processor can use more complex algorithms, such as machine learning based algorithms which take the output from multiple sensors in order to determine an elevate risk.”. The device includes at least two thermal sensors. One of the thermal sensors measures temperature rises within the device and the other thermal sensor measures ambient outside temperature. The alert is determined based on a combination of sensors); and
in response to determining to issue the alarm, issuing the alarm (Fig. 2A, para [0023], “The electrical safety device preferably further comprises means to provide an alert to a user. The device may include an alarm sounder or visual alarm to notify a user when the processor determines that a sensed parameter exceeds a threshold value.”. The electrical safety device includes status LEDs 142 and sounder 140 to output alerts).
Parfitt teaches the thermal sensor is connected to the internal circuitry but fails to expressly teach the thermal sensor is mounted on a printed circuit board.
However, these two types of connection methods were art-recognized equivalents because they both provide the same expected results to output temperature signals to the circuit board. A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to use any one of the known connection methods to achieve the same result.
Parfitt teaches “on-board sensors” at paragraph [0115] but fails to expressly teach the thermal sensor is mounted to the printed circuit board.
However, these two types of connection methods were art-recognized equivalents because they both provide the same expected results to output temperature signals to the circuit board. A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to use any one of the known connection methods to achieve the same result.
Also, in the same field of temperature detection, Min teaches a temperature sensor is mounted on a printed circuit board for sensing an internal temperature of the device. See para [0078], “The temperature sensor 131 may be installed inside the main body 101. For example, the temperature sensor 131 may be installed on a display panel 152 of the display 150, or may be installed on a printed circuit board on which various electric components are mounted.”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Parfitt’s thermal sensor to be mounted to the circuit board to reduce space usage.
Regarding claim 20, Parfitt in the combination teaches the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein issuing the alarm comprises one or more of:
activating a sound emitting device of the electrical socket (Fig. 2A, sounder 140, para [0023], “The electrical safety device preferably further comprises means to provide an alert to a user. The device may include an alarm sounder or visual alarm to notify a user when the processor determines that a sensed parameter exceeds a threshold value.”.); and
wirelessly transmitting an alarm from the electrical socket to a remote device via a wireless communication interface of the electrical socket (para [0019], “Preferably the electrical safety device comprises one or more wireless communications links configured to communicate with a remote device. This allows the electrical safety device to be employed in an electrical safety system (i.e. an electrical safety device network) throughout a building to identify risks, alert a user and address the risks.”).
Regarding claim 21, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 2, wherein at least one of the two or more temperature sensors is mounted to a front side of the printed circuit board (Fig. 2A, thermal sensor 110 is mounted to the front side).
Parfitt fails to expressly teach at least one other of the two or more temperature sensors is mounted to a back side of the printed circuit board.
However, Parfitt teaches and suggests the safety device includes additional thermal sensors to determine local hazards and the thermal sensors may be positioned in a number of different ways to achieve the reading. See para [0114].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify one of the additional thermal sensors to be mounted on the back of the circuit board, since Parfitt teaches and suggests the thermal sensors may be positioned in various ways to determine local hazards and it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Regarding claim 22, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1, wherein the machine learning algorithm is specifically configured to analyze a combination of the temperature within the housing sensed by the temperature sensor and the measure of power delivered by the electrical outlet sensed by the one or more electrical power sensors to detect electrical arc faults within the housing (para [0020], “For example a combination of the output of the current sensor and thermal sensor can be used to more reliably identify the presence of an electrical fault.” and para [0068], “The processor can also be configured to determine the presence of a hazard based on a combination of sensor outputs in order to identify a risk more reliably. For example the processor can use more complex algorithms, such as machine learning based algorithms which take the output from multiple sensors in order to determine an elevate risk.”.).
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.
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parfitt (Pub. No.: US 2021/0124327 A1) in view of Zhou (Pub. No.: US 2013/0148248 A1) as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Li (Pub. No.: US 2017/0155526 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Parfitt in the combination teaches the electrical socket of claim 1 wherein the temperature sensor comprises thermopiles mounted to the printed circuit board for sensing the temperature within the housing (Para [0010]).
Parfitt fails to expressly teach the thermal sensor comprises of a thermistor.
However, in the same field of electrical socket, Li teaches an electrical socket comprises of a thermistor to measure temperature. See Fig. 2, para [0030], “In the present implementation, the temperature detection module 107 can detect temperature using a thermistor. When the temperature is high, the resistance of the thermistor changes, so the temperature can be detected by measuring the resistance of the thermistor.”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute Parfitt’s thermal sensor with a thermistor because these two temperature measuring devices were art-recognized equivalents configured to perform the same expected function.
Conclusion
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 ZHEN Y WU whose telephone number is (571)272-5711. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 10AM-6PM, EST.
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/ZHEN Y WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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