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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/25/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bye US 20190064962 in view of Radislav US 20200386728.
As to claim 1, Bye teaches “a sensor element (Figure 1, 10) with a sensor material having a semiconductor ([0063]), a plurality of measuring electrodes electrically connected to the sensor material for exciting and reading the sensor material (Figure 1, 14 and 16), and a control and evaluation device configured to generate excitation signals and evaluate read measurement signals (Figure 1, 12 has a driver 15 and sensing unit 17), and wherein a surface of the sensor material is exposed to a gaseous medium ([0008]), the method comprising the following steps: applying a first excitation signal and a second excitation signal to the sensor material ([0015]).” Bye does not teach generating excitations signals at different frequencies.
Radislav teaches “A method for operating a semiconductor gas sensor (Abstract), wherein the semiconductor gas sensor has, wherein the first and the second excitation signals have different excitation frequencies relative to one another (Abstract); reading a first measurement signal based on the first excitation signal, and a second measurement signal based on the second excitation signal; and ascertaining a sensor signal based on the first and second excitation signals and the first and second measurement signals (Abstract; [0042]).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Radislav with Bye. Using multiple signals of different frequencies is common since the range of frequencies allows the sensor to interact with particles of multiple sizes. This increases the sensitivity and accuracy of the sensing system.
As to claim 9, Bye teaches “a sensor element (Figure 1, 10) with a sensor material having a semiconductor ([0063]); a plurality of measuring electrodes electrically connected to the sensor material configured for exciting and reading the sensor material, and a control and evaluation device connected to the measuring electrodes (Figure 1, 14 and 16), configured to generate excitation signals and evaluate read measurement signal (Figure 1, 12 has a driver 15 and sensing unit 17); wherein a surface of the sensor material is exposed to a gaseous medium ([0008]), and wherein the control and evaluation device is configured to: apply a first excitation signal and a second excitation signal to the sensor material ([0015]).” Bye does not teach generating excitations signals at different frequencies.
Radislav teaches “A semiconductor gas sensor, comprising: wherein the first and the second excitation signals have different excitation frequencies relative to one another; read a first measurement signal based on the first excitation signal, and a second measurement signal based on the second excitation signal; and ascertain a sensor signal based on the first and second excitation signals and the first and second measurement signals (Abstract; [0042]).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Radislav with Bye. Using multiple signals of different frequencies is common since the range of frequencies allows the sensor to interact with particles of multiple sizes. This increases the sensitivity and accuracy of the sensing system.
As to claim 10, Radislav teaches “The semiconductor gas sensor according to claim 9, further comprising a heater configured to heat the sensor material ([0040]).”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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. As to claim 2, the concept of creating a superposition of 2 signals is known, but none of the prior arts teach that within the field of a semiconductor gas sensor. As to claim 3, none of the prior arts teach a sinusoidal signal within a gas sensor with the claimed elements. As to claims 4-8, these method steps pertain directly to the claimed elements and their specific configuration. Although many signal processing steps are known, none of the prior arts teach them within the field of the instant application.
Conclusion
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/TARUN SINHA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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