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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2 and 5-13, 15, and 16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 04/13/2026.
The traversal is on the grounds that the multiple dependencies of the elected claims in the original claim set requires the intervening claims to be grouped with elected species V. This is not found persuasive because the original claim set, including several dependent claims with multiple dependencies of a form which are improper under USPTO practice, was amended with the national stage 371 filing. The amended claim set, in which nearly all dependent claims depend from claim 1, constitutes the controlling claim set for the U.S. application and thus the current requirement for unity of invention. The dependent claims at issue are no longer written in multiple dependency format and instead all depend from claim 1.
Furthermore, while the inclusion of multiple dependent claims is standard practice with international PCT applications, the embodiments are not easily transferrable to USPTO practice consistent with claim interpretation. Therefore any argument regarding what claims previously identified species V must be included in the grouping are not relevant to the national stage of U.S. examination of a PCT application.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1149 filed 12/04/2023 & 07/31/2025. These IDS have been considered.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Drawings
Figures 1 and 2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 25, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wilby (US 2011/0015773).
Regarding claim 1, Wilby discloses in figure 2 an apparatus comprising a weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) for generating measurement output indicative of a weight of an object loaded on the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) and a disturbance element (46) for temporarily disturbing the measurement output of the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) while the object is loaded on the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) (¶¶ [0071]-[0073]).
Regarding claim 2, Wilby discloses the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) is for generating measurement output indicative of the weight of a semiconductor wafer loaded on the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) (¶ [0063]).
Regarding claim 4, Wilby discloses the disturbance element (46) is configured to disturb the weighing device (22, 24, 42), or part (44) of the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) (¶ [0073]).
Regarding claim 25, Wilby discloses the apparatus comprises a controller (42) configured to calculate a mass of the object based on the measurement output (¶ [0073]).
Regarding claim 27, Wilby discloses in figure 2 a method comprising using a weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) to generate measurement output indicative of a weight of an object loaded on the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44), and temporarily disturbing the measurement output of the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) while the object is loaded on the weighing device (22, 24, 42, 44) (¶¶ [0071]-[0073]).
Claims 1, 4, 14, 17, 18, 23-25, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Riefle-Weber et al. (US 2015/0241266; “Riefle-Weber”).
Regarding claim 1, Riefle-Weber discloses in figure 1 an apparatus comprising a weighing device (1) for generating measurement output indicative of a weight of an object loaded on the weighing device (1) (¶ [0020]) and a disturbance element (2, 3) for temporarily disturbing the measurement output of the weighing device (1) while the object is loaded on the weighing device (1) (¶¶ [0021], [0029], [0034]-[0035]).
Regarding claim 4, Riefle-Weber discloses the disturbance element (2, 3) is configured to disturb the weighing device (1), or part of the weighing device (1) (¶ [0021]).
Regarding claim 14, Riefle-Weber discloses the disturbance element (2, 3) comprises a device for temporarily interrupting or changing a power supply to the weighing device (1) (¶ [0035]).
Regarding claim 17, Riefle-Weber discloses the weighing device (1) comprises a load cell (1) the apparatus comprises a circuit (4) for suppling power to the load cell (1) (¶ [0025]) and the disturbance element comprises a mechanism (2, 3) for temporarily changing an electrical property of the circuit (¶¶ [0035]-[0036]).
Regarding claim 18, Riefle-Weber discloses the disturbance element (2, 3) comprises a mechanism for temporarily changing a load, a resistance, a capacitance or an inductance of the circuit (¶¶ [0019], [0036]).
Regarding claim 23, Riefle-Weber discloses the weighing device (1) is an electronic balance (¶¶ [0024]-[0025]).
Regarding claim 24, Riefle-Weber the weighing device (1) comprises a load cell (¶¶ [0024]-[0025]).
Regarding claim 25, Riefle-Weber discloses the apparatus comprises a controller (4) configured to calculate a mass of the object based on the measurement output (¶¶ [0024]-[0026]).
Regarding claim 27, Riefle-Weber discloses in figure 1 a method comprising using a weighing device (1) to generate measurement output indicative of a weight of an object loaded on the weighing device (1) (¶ [0020]) and temporarily disturbing the measurement output of the weighing device while the object is loaded on the weighing device (1) (¶¶ [0021], [0029], [0034]-[0035]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19-22 and 26 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 19, none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses or renders obvious an apparatus as claimed wherein the disturbance element comprises an electronic component and a switch that are connected in parallel to the load cell in combination with the remaining claim limitations.
Claim 20 would be allowable based on its dependence on claim 19.
Regarding claim 21, none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses or renders obvious an apparatus as claimed comprising a controller configured to record a stable measurement output of the weighing device with the object loaded on the weighing device, control the disturbance element to temporarily disturb the measurement output of the weighing device with the object loaded on the weighing device; and record a subsequent stable measurement output of the weighing device with the object loaded on the weighing device in combination with the remaining claim limitations.
Claim 22 would be allowable based on its dependence on claim 21.
Regarding claim 26, none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses or renders obvious an apparatus as claimed wherein the controller is configured to convert the measurement output to a mass value via application of a buoyancy calculation in combination with the remaining claim limitations.
Note Wilby discloses applying a buoyancy calculation to a weighing method that uses a load cell type weigh sensor but teaches away from using it in a resonant frequency method as used in the rejection of claim 1 (see ¶¶ [0031] along with [0063]-[0067]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2022/0373386 discloses measuring weight of an object by way of a disturbance mechanism.
US 2020/0217709 discloses measuring the weight of an object and if a threshold voltage in the compensation coil is reached switching to an ADC with a different range thereby disturbing the electrical output of the scale.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATALIE HULS whose telephone number is (571)270-5914. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/NATALIE HULS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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