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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinyon (US 4,978,403) in view of Heizer et al (US 2014/0305930).
With respect to claim 1, Kinyon discloses the tire repair system claimed including a heat pad (24) and a control panel (50) for detecting an operational condition (e.g., temperature of the heat pad) during an operation of the heat pad not to exceed a predetermined temperature (e.g., 280º F; also, see column 4, lines 38-43). But, Kinyon does not show an RFID tag (known as radio frequency identification device) coupled to the heat pad wherein the RFID tag includes a machine -readable medium on which is stored information indicating an electrical flow parameter fault condition of the heat pad, and an RFID reader to read the information of the RFID tag wherein the control panel receives the information from the RFID reader and detects the presence of the electrical flow parameter fault condition as claimed.
Heizer discloses it is known to provide a heating device/cable having an RFID device/tag (18) coupled thereto wherein the RFID includes sensors for detecting and storing parameters including an electrical flow parameter fault condition (e.g., a temperature deviation of the heat pad from its expected temperature as electric power is applied to the heat pad; para 0025 and 0029), and Heizer shows an RFID reader (30/38) reading the detected parameter/condition stored by the RFID tag, and the detected fault condition is transmitted to and received by a processing system such as a computer for the fault analysis of the heating device/cable (para 0029).
In view of Heizer, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt Kinyon with the heat pad coupled with an RFID tag for detecting an electrical flow parameter fault condition (i.e., resulting in a temperature deviation of the heat pad from its expected temperature as the electric power is applied to the heat pad) which is read by an RFID reader wherein the control panel of Kinyon, as modified by Heizer, would receive the information from the RFID reader to detect the presence of the electrical flow parameter fault condition wherein the heat pad would be further controlled to maintain a set heating temperature without exceeding its set temperature for proper heating operation of the heat pad for satisfactory repairing of a tire.
With respect to claim 2, Heizer discloses that the RFID device can be programmable which allows the RFID device to write or store information thereto (also, see para 0026 and 0029).
With respect to claim 9, Kinyon in view of Heizer discloses for the information (e.g., temperature) wherein the desired temperature (e.g., 280º F; also, see column 4, lines 38-43 of Kinyon) would be a nominal specified value wherein a range outside of the nominal specified value would be when the fault condition is present.
Claim(s) 3-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinyon in view of Heizer as applied to claims 1, 2 and 9 above, and further in view of Biller et al (US 2014/0219087).
Kinyon in view of Heizer discloses the system claimed including for the electrical flow parameter fault condition that is based on temperature but does not teach for the fault condition that is a resistance value that is less than or equal to a minimum specified value.
Biller disclose it is known provide an electric heating element having a temperature monitoring and controlling system that includes a sensor that measures the temperature of the heater based on resistance of the heater wherein the system includes varying a set point values including high limits or low limits in RFID tags that calculates a minimum resistance or a maximum temperature of the heating element corresponding with that resistance as a limit (para 0024) as Biller discloses for the measured resistance that corresponds to a temperature as illustrated in Figure 2.
In view of Biller, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt Kinyon, as modified by Heizer, with the electric flow parameter fault condition that is based on measured resistance as another predictable parameter that is indicative of the fault condition (i.e., exceeding the set temperature) wherein when the measured resistance is equal or less than a minimum specified value (predetermine or set point value), the temperature would exceed the desired temperature which would be indicative of a fault condition.
With respect to claim 4, as Biller discloses for the set point values of the resistance that can be high (maximum) and low (minimum) limits (para 0024), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to set the electric flow parameter fault conditions including the resistance value that is greater than or equal to a maximum specified value (set point value) to control the heating element within the desired heating temperature for an optimized heating operation of the repair system.
With respect to claims 5 and 6, Kinyon, as modified by Heizer and Biller, shows measuring the electrical flow parameter fault condition based on the resistance including high (maximum) and lower (minimum) limits thereof (para 0024 of Biller), and since it is known in the art that conductance G is reciprocal of resistance R (i.e., conductance G = 1 / R where R is resistance), it would have been obvious to use the electric conductance G in place of resistance for the electric flow parameter fault condition in the manner used with the electric resistance R, as an alternative means, to determine the fault condition as taught in Biller.
With respect to claims 7-8, Biller discloses for the information (set point values of resistance in para 0024) that can be stored in RFID, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the information including a minimum and maximum specified value such as high and low limits of the set point values of the electro flow parameter (resistance) wherein outside of the specified value would be wherein fault condition is present (i.e., outside of the set point temperature or resistance of the heater).
Claim(s) 10-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinyon (US 4,978,403) in view of Heizer et al (US 2014/0305930) and Biller et al (US 2014/0217087).
With respect to claim 10, Kinyon discloses the tire repair system claimed including a heat pad (24) with a control panel (50) to determine an electrical flow parameter fault condition (e.g., a temperature fault condition of the heat pad such exceeding a predetermined temperature; also, column 4, lines 38-43). But Kinyon does not disclose for measuring an electrical flow parameter (e.g., resistance) to determine whether the electrical flow parameter meets or exceeds the electrical flow parameter fault condition.
Heizer discloses it is known to provide a heating device/cable having an RFID device/tag (18) coupled thereto wherein the RFID includes sensors for detecting and storing parameters including an electrical flow parameter fault condition (e.g., a temperature deviation of the heat pad from its expected temperature as electric power is applied to the heat pad; para 0025 and 0029).
Biller disclose it is known provide an electric heating element having a temperature monitoring and controlling system that includes a sensor that measures the temperature of the heater based on resistance of the heater wherein the system includes varying a set point values including high limits or low limits in RFID tags that calculates a minimum resistance or a maximum temperature of the heating element corresponding with that resistance as a limit (para 0024) as Biller discloses for the measured resistance that corresponds to a temperature as illustrated in Figure 2.
In view of Heizer and Biller, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt Kinyon with the heat pad coupled with an RFID tag for detecting an electrical flow parameter fault condition (i.e., resulting in a temperature deviation of the heat pad from its expected temperature as the electric power is applied to the heat pad) wherein it would have been obvious measure such deviation of temperature based on the electrical flow parameter such as a resistance that is associated with the temperature of the heater as taught by Biller to determine if the electrical flow parameter meets or exceeds the electrical flow parameter fault condition so that the heating temperature is predictably monitored and controlled to achieve the desired heating temperature of the heat pad without overheating or underheating of the heat pad which would result in unsatisfactory tire repairing.
With respect to claim 11, Kinyon in view of Heizer and Biller discloses for incrementing or increasing an operating temperature (i.e., increasing the heater temperature to the desired temperature 280º F) over a predetermined period (i.e., during its operation) wherein the electric flow parameter (resistance) is continuously measured and monitored to meet the desire heating temperature as taught by Biller (also, see Abstract).
With respect to claims 12 and 13, Kinyon in view of Heizer and Biller further discloses for determining the electrical flow parameter (resistance) that is less or equal to a minimum or maximum specified value as Biller teaches for determining or setting the high and low limits of the set point values of the resistance of the heater element (para 0024).
With respect to claims 14 and 15, Kinyon in view of Heizer and Biller further discloses for a user alert as Heizer discloses for an alarm for a low or high temperature (para 0026 of Heizer) wherein such low or high temperature is determined by the electric flow parameter (resistance) as taught by Biller (see Abstract of Biller), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to stop power delivery to the heat pad to predictably prevent underheating or overheating of the heat pad which would result in unsatisfactory repairing of the tire.
With respect to claim 16, Heizer further discloses for writing or storing a heater information on the RFID tag (paras 0029 and 0031), and Biller also disclose for writing or storing a heating element usage information to the RFID tag (para 0024 and 0026).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Imura (US 2005/0242086) discloses for a heater having an electrical resistance of a RTD sensor whose resistance is measured by RFID tag.
Graf (US 2019/0018068) and Moertl et al discloses for the conductance being reciprocal of the resistance that is well known in the art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG Y PAIK whose telephone number is (571)272-4783. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:30; M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven W. Crabb can be reached at 571-270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SANG Y PAIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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