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 Status
Claims 1-17 are pending for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6-11 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Christensen (Pub. No.: US 2023/0064773 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Christensen teaches a method for determining hardness of raw water of a water softening device (abstract, Fig. 1, water treatment system), comprising:
obtaining a correspondence between a geographical area and the hardness of raw water (para [0041], “Sensor 50 is positioned to sense one or more water properties of the water stream flowing into outlet 48. In one or more embodiments, sensor 50 may be optional. Sensor 50 may be a water purity sensor, a flow rate sensor and/or a pressure sensor. The water purity sensor may be configured to sense a concentration of one or more target ions (e.g., dissolved salts, divalent hard cations such as calcium and magnesium, monovalent soft cations such as sodium, etc.) The flow rate sensor may be configured to sense a flow rate of the water stream flowing through pipe 44. The pressure sensor may be configured to sense the pressure of the water stream flowing through pipe 44. Sensor 50 is configured for wireless communication with wireless hub 32.” and para [0037], “Controller 22 may be configured to sense and/or determine a water property of the water stream received from inlet 12. The water property may be the concentration of one or more target ions (e.g., dissolved salts, divalent hard cations such as calcium and magnesium, monovalent soft cations such as sodium, etc.).”. The sensor 50 determines the water hardness at the water outlet and the controller 22 determines the water hardness at the water inlet of the building.); and
determining target hardness of raw water of the water softening device based on a target geographical area where the water softening device is located and the correspondence (para [0028], “The hub may further communicate via a building's wireless router to the cloud, which in turn communicates with mobile devices and/or user computers configured to execute software that can be used to specify desired water properties (e.g., water purity) at different locations throughout the building on demand or according to a desired schedule. The water treatment system of one or more embodiments may include a model of a water control system and an associated feedback control algorithm may be used together with one or more sensors installed in the appliances and/or water outlets to regulate the valve that controls water purity. In one embodiment, a feedback control algorithm may be utilized to receive sensor data at a point of use that determines when a desired water property (e.g., water purity) is obtained and locks in a desired mix of treated and untreated water at a point of softening or other treatment.”. The water treatment system determines the desired water properties, such as hardness of the water.),
wherein the correspondence is obtained by detecting hardness of raw water of respective geographical areas and associating each of the respective geographical areas with a detection result of the hardness of raw water corresponding to each of the respective geographical areas (para [0027], “In one or more embodiments, a water treatment system centrally communicates and controls one or more water treatment devices to regulate the use of the one or more water treatment devices. The water treatment system is configured to enable a localized, on-demand supply of purified water throughout a building or a network of buildings. In one or more embodiments, the water treatment system is configured to control a degree of purity (e.g., water hardness or concentration of dissolved salts) via mixing of purified and unpurified water streams in a controllable ratio (e.g., via one or more controllable valves or one or more tunable water softening units).” And para [0030], “In one or more embodiments, a water treatment system includes one or more sensors configured to determine one or more water properties (e.g., hardness, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and electrical conductivity) at various points in the treatment system. The water treatment system may include a remote server having a database configured to record and store the one or more water properties over time.”. The water treatment system determines water properties at the water inlet 12 of each building in a network of buildings and the water properties of each water outlet 50, 58 at various locations of each building.).
Regarding claim 6, Christensen teaches the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the correspondence between the geographical area and the hardness of raw water comprises any one of the following:
receiving the correspondence between the geographical area and the hardness of raw water transmitted from a server (para [0028], “In another embodiment, the water treatment system is configured with a machine learning model that receives the sensor data to learn a layout of the home or other building and associated time constants associated with piping water streams from the point of softening or other treatment to the point of use.” and para [0030], “In one or more embodiments, a water treatment system includes one or more sensors configured to determine one or more water properties (e.g., hardness, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and electrical conductivity) at various points in the treatment system. The water treatment system may include a remote server having a database configured to record and store the one or more water properties over time.”.).; and
receiving the correspondence between the geographical area and the hardness of raw water transmitted from a terminal (para [0037], “Controller 22 may be configured to sense and/or determine a water property of the water stream received from inlet 12. The water property may be the concentration of one or more target ions (e.g., dissolved salts, divalent hard cations such as calcium and magnesium, monovalent soft cations such as sodium, etc.).”).
Regarding claim 7, Christensen teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
obtaining updated information of the correspondence between the geographical area and the hardness of raw water, and
updating the correspondence between the geographical area and the hardness of raw water with the updated information (para [0030], “In one or more embodiments, a water treatment system includes one or more sensors configured to determine one or more water properties (e.g., hardness, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and electrical conductivity) at various points in the treatment system. The water treatment system may include a remote server having a database configured to record and store the one or more water properties over time.”.).
Regarding claim 8, recites an apparatus that is configured to perform the method of claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 9, Christensen teaches an electronic device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the electronic device to perform the method for determining hardness of raw water of a water softening device of claim 1 (Fig. 1, controller 22 and/or server62).
Regarding claim 10, recites a computer-readable storage medium programmed to perform the method of claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 11, recites a computer program product executed on a processor to perform the method of claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 16, recites a computer program product executed on a processor to perform the method of claim 6. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 17, recites a computer program product executed on a processor to perform the method of claim 7. Therefore, it is rejected for the same reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 12-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Quan-Zhen Wang can be reached at 571-272-3114. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHEN Y WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685