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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07 November, 2025, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been considered, but are not persuasive. The new ground of rejection cites Imade et al. US 2018/0284015 (Applicant provided reference) as teaching the amended claim limitations in claim 1.
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.
Claims 1, 3-4, and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Konno et al. JP 2020/159798 in view of Imade et al. US 2018/0284015.
Regarding claim 1, Konno teaches a gas detection device (figs. 1-2 #100), comprising a detection light emitting device (fig. 2 #202) which emits detection light used to detect a gas (pg. 8 para. 3-7), a light receiving device (fig. 2 #203) which receives a reflected light of the detection light (pg. 8 para. 3-7), and a control section (fig. 2 #204) which detects the gas on an optical path of the detection light from information on the reflected light received by the light receiving device (pg. 8 para. 3-7; pg. 9 para. 1-2), wherein the gas detection device comprises: a camera device (figs. 1-2 #101) which includes an optical axis generally aligning with an optical axis of the detection light emitted by the detection light emitting device (the arrow in fig. 1 shows the optical axis of 101 generally aligning with the optical axis of the detection light); and a displaying device (fig. 1-2 #311) which displays a camera image taken by the camera device and displays an image showing an irradiated area by the detection light, overlapping the camera image (fig. 4; pg. 5 para. 1).
Konno fails to teach the displaying device showing an image of a position currently being irradiated, overlapping the camera image.
Imade teaches the displaying device showing an image of a position currently being irradiated, overlapping the camera image (figs. 3, 5 ISn, P1; para. 0055-0060) for the purpose of increasing irradiation accuracy (para. 0060).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the displaying device showing an image of a position currently being irradiated, overlapping the camera image as taught by Imade in the gas detection device of Konno for the purpose of increasing irradiation accuracy.
Regarding claim 3, Konno teaches wherein when the control section detects the gas on the optical path of the detection light (pg. 8 para. 3-7; pg. 9 para. 1-2), the control section is configured to display information relating to the detected gas by the displaying device (pg. 9 para. 1-2; pg. 7 para. 2).
Regarding claim 4, Konno teaches wherein the control section is configured to display a detection result relating to the gas by the displaying device as the information relating to the gas (fig. 4; pg. 9 para. 1-2; pg. 11 para. 4).
Regarding claim 6, Konno teaches wherein the detection light emitting device emits infrared laser beam as the detection light (pg. 4 para. 5).
Regarding claim 7, Konno teaches wherein the gas detection device is configured to memorize information on the camera image taken when the gas is detected and the information relating to the detected gas in a storage device (fig. 2 #400; pg. 7 para. 5).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Konno et al. JP 2020/159798 in view of Miranda US 2017/0284887.
Regarding claim 2, Konno fails to teach wherein the gas detection device comprises a guide light emitting device which emits guide light having an optical axis generally aligning with the optical axis of the detection light, and wherein the guide light is visible light.
Miranda teaches wherein the gas detection device comprises a guide light emitting device (figs. 1-2 #130) which emits guide light having an optical axis generally aligning with the optical axis of the detection light (fig. 3; the visible laser projection 320 is generally aligned with the optical axis of the detection light 330), and wherein the guide light is visible light (para. 0019) for the purpose of annotating leaks in the field-of-interest (para. 0019).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wherein the gas detection device comprises a guide light emitting device which emits guide light having an optical axis generally aligning with the optical axis of the detection light, and wherein the guide light is visible light as taught by Miranda in the gas detection device of Konno for the purpose of annotating leaks in the field-of-interest.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Konno et al. JP 2020/159798 in view of Waxman US 2017/0336281.
Regarding claim 5, Konno fails to explitely teach wherein the control section is configured to display a column density of the gas by the displaying device as the detection result relating to the gas. However, Konno does teach the measurement device including a densitometer, which can be used to measure column density.
Additionally, Waxman teaches measuring column densities to be a well known technique in the art (para. 0012-0016) for the purpose of providing scale maps (para. 0014).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to measure the column density as taught by Waxman with the densitometer of Konno for the purpose of providing scale maps.
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.
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/RICHARD O TOOHEY/Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/EDWIN C GUNBERG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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