DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claims 1-2 were withdrawn from consideration based on Election Restriction response date 07/17/2025. Therefore, Claims 3-7 are still pending and subject to Examination.
Response to Amendments/Remarks
Applicant’s argument/remarks, on pages 5-7, with respect to rejections to claims 3-7 under 35 USC § 103(a) have been fully considered but they are respectfully unpersuasive. Therefore, rejections to the claims have been maintained.
On page 6, the Applicant argues that:
“However, the dynamic barcode 44 in Lundell simply includes instructions about how to address an identified anomaly. It does not "identify" a particular indoor unit. (See Lundell, column 4, lines 31-33.) For example, Lundell discloses that "the dynamic barcode 44 may include a link (e.g., a uniform resource loader, or URL) to a site containing the troubleshooting instructions." (See Lundell, column 4, lines 40-42.) Nothing in Lundell discloses or suggests that the dynamic barcode 44 "identify" a particular indoor unit, as required by amended claim 3. Furthermore, having not identified any particular device, it cannot then pick up an image of the inside from outside of the indoor unit identified by the two-dimensional code, and transmit image data obtained as a result of that image pick-up”. These arguments are respectfully unpersuasive.
Lundell teaches that the barcode comprises information for identifying an machine as well as using the information of the barcode to link the terminal to a server (see 0013 the static barcode 26 may encode information relating to a nameplate of the motor drive 28, and may include information such as the model, manufacturer, rated power, warranty, and the like. A user device 27 scans and decodes the static barcode 26 into plain text containing the nameplate information, which may assist an operator in troubleshooting the machine system 14…”; also, see [0014] “…(see also, see [0014] “…the static barcode 26 may encode a link to a site (e.g., an internal site or an external website) containing the aforementioned nameplate information…”; and see [0031]). Thus, the combination of Keita-Lundell-Wolfe teach or suggest each of the limitations of the claims as recited.
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.
Claim(s) 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keita et al (JP 2021032451 A as supported by the machine translation provided), in view of Lundell (US 20140103122) and Wolfe et al (US 20180279563).
As per claim 3, Keita teaches an air-conditioning system (see Fig. 1 air conditioning system 10 and Fig. 14; also, see 0026] “air conditioner” ) comprising:
an indoor unit (see [0026] Fig. 1 -3 indoor unit 11; The air conditioner (10) includes an indoor unit (11) ) ;
a terminal (see Fig. 8 and Fig. 14 terminal 90; also, see [0071] “communication terminal (90) is composed of a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile phone, a personal computer, and the like…”), to pick up an image of the inside from outside of the indoor unit (the terminal 90 pick up the image of the inside components of the indoor unit, the terminal is outside; see [0060] “…The shooting control unit (83) outputs an ON signal for causing the camera (70) to perform shooting in response to a shooting command received from the communication terminal (90)…”; also, see [0081]), and to transmit image data obtained as a result of image pick-up (see [0069] “…The image data stored in the storage unit (85) is transmitted by the communication unit (87) to the cloud server (95) via the network (N). The cloud server (95) stores the received image data”; also, see [0099], [0112], [0130]); and
a server to make determination as to maintenance of the indoor unit based on the image data transmitted from the terminal (see Fig. 14 server 95; also, see [0078-0079] “Service providers and users can also use the imaging system (S1) to estimate the type of dirt on the inner surface of the drain pan (50).”; also, see [0096] “As described above, the service provider or the user can estimate the type of stain on the inner surface of the drain pan (50) based on a plurality of image data. As a result, it becomes possible to carry out appropriate maintenance on the drain pan (50) according to the type of dirt…”; also, see [0099] “The estimation unit (86) estimates the degree of stain and the location of the stain by comparing each of the plurality of image data acquired by the manual operation of the communication terminal (90) with the corresponding reference image data”; also, see [0113-0114]) ,
wherein the terminal is permitted to transmit the image data obtained as a result of image pick-up to the server (see [0069], [0130]) b
the server inputs the image data received from the indoor unit to a trained model for inference as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit based on the image data of the terminal to make determination as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit (see [0100]-[0101] “The cloud server (95) has a dirt estimation model. The estimation unit (86) estimates the type of dirt using a dirt estimation model. The stain estimation model inputs a plurality of image data and outputs the type of stain for each stain location. The stain estimation model is a learned model that learns the relationship between the information on the stain color included in the image data acquired by shooting in a plurality of lighting environments and the type of the stain. The dirt estimation model is pre-built by machine learning such as deep learning…”; also, see [0104] and [0105] “the air conditioner (10) according to the first modification, the estimation unit (86) may estimate the necessity of maintenance based on the degree of contamination inside the drain pan (50). In this case, the estimated maintenance necessity information is stored in the cloud server (95) together with the image data and the ID information. The service provider or user can check the information on the necessity of the maintenance together with the type of dirt on the inner surface of the drain pan (50) on the display unit (92) of the communication terminal (90)”).
Keita does not explicitly teach an indoor unit comprising a translucent member, inside of which can be seen through the translucent member, a display apparatus to show two-dimensional code information identifying the indoor unit, the terminal to pick up an image of the two-dimensional code information shown on the display apparatus, wherein the terminal is permitted to transmit the image data based on the two-dimensional code information obtained by image pick-up.
However, Lundell teaches system comprising a display apparatus to show two-dimensional code information identifying an apparatus or machine (see Fig. 1 display 29 or 34, and two-dimensional code 12, 44, and see [0015] and [0019]; also, see [0013] “The motor 18 and/or the motor drive 28 may include the barcodes 12 (e.g., static barcodes 26). In certain embodiments, the static barcodes 26 may be stickers applied to viewable portions of the motor 18 and/or, the motor drive 28. The static barcodes 26 encode static information relating to their respective components, which is useful for troubleshooting the motor drive system 10, or more generally, for accessing data relating to the motor or motor drive. For example, the static barcode 26 may encode information relating to a nameplate of the motor drive 28, and may include information such as the model, manufacturer, rated power, warranty, and the like. A user device 27 scans and decodes the static barcode 26 into plain text containing the nameplate information, which may assist an operator in troubleshooting the machine system 14…”; also, see [0014] “…(see also, see [0014] “…the static barcode 26 may encode a link to a site (e.g., an internal site or an external website) containing the aforementioned nameplate information…”; and see [0031), a terminal to pick up an image of the two-dimensional code information shown on the display apparatus (see Fig. 1 terminal 27 and display apparatus 34 and dynamic barcode 44; see [0010] “….The dynamic barcode encodes a site (e.g., website) containing information on how to resolve the operational issue, thereby enabling an operator to perform maintenance on the motor drive system efficiency and effectively. In certain embodiments, the code may lead to various motor or drive evaluation aids, such as error logs, historical data, performance data, catalog data, and so forth…”; also, see [0013]-[0014] “…the static barcode 26 may encode a link to a site (e.g., an internal site or an external website…the user device 27 scans and decodes the website link from the static barcode 26. Subsequently, the user device 27 is directed to and displays one or more pages from the site.”; also, see [0019]; also, see [0020] “The operator may use the user device 27 to scan and decode the troubleshooting instructions from the dynamic barcode 44…”), wherein the terminal is permitted to transmit data based on the two-dimensional code information obtained by image pick-up (see also, see [0014] “…the static barcode 26 may encode a link to a site (e.g., an internal site or an external website) containing the aforementioned nameplate information,…the user device 27 scans and decodes the website link from the static barcode 26. Subsequently, the user device 27 is directed to and displays one or more pages from the site.”; also, see [0019]; also, see [0020] “The operator may use the user device 27 to scan and decode the troubleshooting instructions from the dynamic barcode 44…”; also, see [0023] “Accordingly, the user device 27 may be communicatively coupled to both the external resources 54 (e.g., the Internet) and the plant monitoring system 46, but may selectively receive troubleshooting information from either.”, thus, once a connection to the website data of the maintenance is established, the terminal 27 is permitted receives and transmits data. Kieta teaches that its terminal transmits image data to a server; also, see [0016], [0027], [0028], and [0030]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to which said subject matter pertains to have modified Keita’s invention to include a display apparatus to show two-dimensional code information identifying the indoor unit, a terminal to pick up an image of the two-dimensional code information shown on the display apparatus, wherein the terminal is permitted to transmit data based on the two-dimensional code information obtained by image pick-up as taught by Lundell in order to easily connect a terminal to an external website of a server or the internet (see [0016], [0023] and [0030]) to transmit image data as suggested by Keita and also to allow a user to easily identify a machine (see [0013] “…thereby enabling the operator to efficiently look up nameplate information…”) to apply the teachings of Lundell to the machine Keita such as the indoor unit to identify the indoor unit of Keita.
While Keita teaches a portable terminal such as phone and Lundell teaches a portable terminal/phone to pick images with a camera installed in the portable terminal/phone, Keita-Lundell does not explicitly teach an indoor unit comprising a translucent member, inside of which can be seen through the translucent member.
Wolfe teaches a system comprising a cooling enclosure unit comprising a translucent member, inside of which can be seen through the translucent member (see Fig. 4 translucent member 116b, 116c, or 116d; also, see [0084] “…the sidewalls 116 are made of a transparent material such as glass, acrylic glass or the like to allow the inside of the enclosure 102 to be viewed from the exterior and to allow light to enter the enclosure 102 from the exterior of the enclosure 102” and see [0111] “…positioned to capture images of the inside of the enclosure through the transparent front wall 116b or lateral walls 116c, 116d.”), and a camera to pick up an image of the inside from outside of the unit (see [0111] “The camera 174 is pointed towards the inside of the enclosure to capture images of the inside the enclosure 102 and transmitting the captured images to the controller 750. Alternatively, the camera 174 could be disposed outside of the enclosure 102 and be pointed at the enclosure 102 and positioned to capture images of the inside of the enclosure through the transparent front wall 116b or lateral walls 116c, 116d.”; also, see [0214]-[0215]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to which said subject matter pertains to have modified Keita-Lundell’s combination as taught above to include an enclosure unit comprising a translucent member, inside of which can be seen through the translucent member, and a camera to pick up an image of the inside from outside of the unit as taught by Wolfe in order to allow a user or technician to view and inspect the components/objects inside the enclosure without the need of opening the enclosure, and to take the images from the outside and through the translucent member without the need of opening the enclosure as well (see [0084] “…the sidewalls 116 are made of a transparent material such as glass, acrylic glass or the like to allow the inside of the enclosure 102 to be viewed from the exterior and to allow light to enter the enclosure 102 from the exterior of the enclosure 102”).
As per claim 4, Keita-Lundell-Wolfe teaches the air-conditioning system according to claim 3, Keita further teaches wherein the server estimates a location to be maintained, in the inference as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit (this has been interpreted in the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) in light of the disclosure as the part such as the drain pan, pump, filter, etc. to be maintained; see [0018], [0096]-[0097] and [0099] “the estimation unit (86) determines the degree of stain, the location of the stain, and the stain on the inner surface of the drain pan (50). Estimate the type of. The cloud server (95) stores reference image data acquired by the initial shooting in which the air conditioner (10) is installed for a plurality of image data in the above-mentioned different lighting environments. The estimation unit (86) estimates the degree of stain and the location of the stain by comparing each of the plurality of image data acquired by the manual operation of the communication terminal (90) with the corresponding reference image data”; also, see [0172] e.g. different components/locations can be estimated to be maintained).
Claim(s) 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keita et al (JP 2021032451 A as supported by the machine translation provided), in view of Lundell (US 20140103122) and Wolfe et al (US 20180279563) as applied to claim 4, and further in view of Kitagawa er al (US 20210389015).
As per claim 5, Keita-Lundell-Wolfe teaches the air-conditioning system according to claim 4, While Keita further teaches wherein the server further estimates maintenance is necessary based on the estimated location to be maintained in the inference as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit (see [0105]),
Keita does not explicitly teach wherein the server further estimates timing when maintenance is necessary based on the estimated location to be maintained in the inference as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit and makes determination as to necessity of maintenance in accordance with the estimated timing of maintenance (e.g. time or urgency of maintenance based on the inference).
However, Kitagawa teaches a system that estimates timing when maintenance is necessary based on the estimated location to be maintained in the inference as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit (see [0088]-[0090] estimates maintenance of a location based on the degree of contamination, and [0091] determines if maintenance is necessary or unnecessary, and see [0093] “The above (a6) is information indicating a timing at which maintenance of the air conditioner (10) is recommended by a time or a length of time from the present. For example, the above timing represents maintenance as “now”, “around June 2020”, or “after three months”, thus, if maintenance of a location is necessary, then a timing for maintenance is determined; also, see [0185]) and makes determination as to necessity of maintenance in accordance with the estimated timing of maintenance (see [0091] and see [0093] “The above (a6) is information indicating a timing at which maintenance of the air conditioner (10) is recommended by a time or a length of time from the present. For example, the above timing represents maintenance as “now”, “around June 2020”, or “after three months”, thus, the timing of maintenance is immediately/now or a future time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to which said subject matter pertains to have modified Keita-Lundell-Wolfe’s combination as taught above to include estimating a timing when maintenance is necessary based on the estimated location to be maintained in the inference as to necessity of maintenance of the indoor unit, and makes determination as to necessity of maintenance in accordance with the estimated timing of maintenance as taught by Kitagawa in order to estimate the timing of a maintenance for a cooling system and send it to a user to facilitate the user to grasp the current condition of the system and perform the corresponding maintenance (see [0075] “…. The calculator (80) transmits contamination information as an estimation result estimated by the calculator, to the communication terminal (90) via the network N”; also, see [0076]; also, see [0177-0178] “ The calculator (80) transmits the contamination information in step St13 to the communication terminal (90)… The display (92) and the sound output unit (93) notify the contamination information (step St14). As a result, a user such as the service provider can recognize the contamination information of the drain pan (50) and cleaning of the drain pan (50) or the like is performed as necessary”).
As per claim 6, Keita-Lundell-Wolfe-Kitagawa teaches the air-conditioning system according to claim 5, Keita wherein when the server determines that maintenance of the indoor unit is necessary, the server determines contents of works in maintenance of the indoor unit in accordance with a contamination state of the indoor unit (see [0016] “…A fifth aspect provides a system that contributes to the
estimation of the type of dirt attached to such components (40,40a, 40b,
43,44,45a, 50).”; also, see [0017] and [0020], thus, the maintenance to different components is estimated and displayed in the terminal 90, see [0104] “The service provider or user downloads the information about the type of
dirt stored in the cloud server (95) together with the image data over the
network (N) or to the communication terminal (90) and displays the display unit
(92). You can check with. By doing so, the service provider or the user can
perform appropriate maintenance on the drain pan (50) according to the type of
dirt on the inner surface” ; also, see [0105] and [0108]).
Kitagawa also teaches wherein when the server determines that maintenance of the indoor unit is necessary, the server determines contents of works in maintenance of the indoor unit in accordance with a contamination state of the indoor unit (see [0092] “] The above (a5) is information indicating at least one of a name of a component requiring maintenance, a name of a chemical recommended to be used in maintenance, or a specific process of maintenance. For example, when the contamination on the drain pan (50) is caused by black mold, use of a chemical containing hypochlorite is recommended for maintenance of the drain pan (50). When the contamination on the drain pan (50) is caused by contamination on the indoor heat exchanger (43), the drain pan (50) and the indoor heat exchanger (43) are subjected to maintenance”; also, see [0111] and [0142], [0143]).
As per claim 7, Keita-Lundell-Wolfe teaches the air-conditioning system according to claim 5, Wolfe further wherein when the server determines that maintenance of the indoor unit is not necessary (see [0091]), the server determines timing of future maintenance which will be necessary for the indoor unit based on the estimated timing of maintenance (see [0091] determines if maintenance is necessary or unnecessary, and see [0093] “The above (a6) is information indicating a timing at which maintenance of the air conditioner (10) is recommended by a time or a length of time from the present. For example, the above timing represents maintenance as “now”, “around June 2020”, or “after three months”, thus, if maintenance of a location is necessary, then a timing for maintenance is determined; also, see [0185]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to which said subject matter pertains to have modified Keita-Lundell-Wolfe’s combination as taught above to include wherein when the server determines that maintenance of the indoor unit is not necessary (see [0091]), the server determines timing of future maintenance which will be necessary for the indoor unit based on the estimated timing of maintenance as taught by Kitagawa in order to estimate the timing of a maintenance for a cooling system and send it to a user to facilitate the user to grasp the current condition of the system and perform the corresponding maintenance at the timing determined (see [0075] “…. The calculator (80) transmits contamination information as an estimation result estimated by the calculator, to the communication terminal (90) via the network N”; also, see [0076]; also, see [0177-0178] “ The calculator (80) transmits the contamination information in step St13 to the communication terminal (90)… The display (92) and the sound output unit (93) notify the contamination information (step St14). As a result, a user such as the service provider can recognize the contamination information of the drain pan (50) and cleaning of the drain pan (50) or the like is performed as necessary”).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon, as cited in PTO form 892, is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Previously cited reference Vainberg et al (US 20150066782), teach a two dimensional code displayed or attached to an asset device or product and which contains a connection to a server/website (which is a function widely was used and known before the effective filing date of this application) and also provide information identifying the asset (see 0043 “The QR code contains data identifying the asset and identifying the URL of the website or online platform/central computer associated with the computer system 10.) .
Sentz et al (US 20180109906) teaches a terminal to pick an image of a barcode identifying an HVAC unit (see 0048 the user device 124 is able to scan a barcode or other identification information from the HVAC unit, or if user input or other detection devices indicate that the user device 124 is within a same building as the HVAC unit 102. Additional uses of the location of the user device 124 will be discussed below with reference to FIGS. 6-9.; also, see 0056).
Nelson et al (US 20170191690) teaches a terminal to pick an image of a barcode identifying an HVAC component (see 0035 and 0044 ).
Yenni et al (US 20140262130) teaches a terminal/phone to pick an image of a barcode identifying an AC unit (0192 Another advantage of the smart HVAC manifold system 100 realized through the implementation of the smart platform 104 is that the smart phone built-in camera functions of the smart platform 104 can be utilized to scan equipment label data 280, such as bar codes or QR codes, to obtain identifying data for the A/C unit 106).
Lin et al (CN 105465947) teaches a terminal to pick up an image of a barcode identifying an AC unit (see page 3, 7, and 10).
Examiner respectfully requests, in response to this Office action, support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line number(s) in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist Examiner in prosecuting the application.
When responding to this Office Action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. Applicant must also show how the amendments avoid or differentiate from such references or objections. See 37 CFR 1.111 (c).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLVIN LOPEZ ALVAREZ whose telephone number is (571) 270-7686 and fax (571) 270-8686. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Robert Fennema, can be reached at (571) 272-2748. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/O. L./
Examiner, Art Unit 2117
/Christopher E. Everett/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2117