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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Summary
This is the initial Office action based on the 18588463 application filed 02/27/24
Claim(s) 1,2,3,4,5,6 are pending and claim(s)1,2,3,4,5,6 have been fully considered
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 5, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 20070254093 (herein known as NIJHAWAN)
With regard to claim 1, NIJHAWAN sufficiently teaches a concentration control device that is capable of being used in a raw material vaporization system that introduces a carrier gas via 220 into a liquid or solid raw material contained in a vaporization tank 215, vaporizes the carrier gas, and supplies a raw material gas generated by vaporization, the concentration control device comprising:, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26, abstract; Apparatus claims must be structurally distinguishable from the prior art in terms of structure, not function. The manner of operating an apparatus does not differentiate an apparatus claim from the prior art, if the prior art apparatus teaches all of the structural limitations of the claim (see MPEP § 2114 & § 2173.05(g))
flow rate control equipment 263 capable of that controls a flow rate of the carrier gas, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26, abstract
instruments capable of direct measurement of the concentration a concentration measurement unit that measures a concentration of the raw material gas, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,39 abstract
a flow rate control unit 552,544 that controls a flow rate operation amount input to the flow rate control equipment within the scope of the non-specific type of model predictive control based on a non-specific claimed target concentration value of the raw material gas and a non-specific claimed measured concentration value of the concentration measurement unit, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,39,42 abstract
With regard to claim 4, NIJHAWAN sufficiently teaches a raw material vaporization system comprising:, especially at abstract
a vaporization tank 215 that capable of stores a liquid or solid raw material, especially at fig 2, para 23, abstract; Apparatus claims must be structurally distinguishable from the prior art in terms of structure, not function. The manner of operating an apparatus does not differentiate an apparatus claim from the prior art, if the prior art apparatus teaches all of the structural limitations of the claim (see MPEP § 2114 & § 2173.05(g))
a carrier gas supply path 220 capable of supply of a carrier gas to the vaporization tank, especially at fig 2, para 23,25, abstract
a raw material gas lead-out path 260 capable of leading-out of a raw material gas obtained by vaporizing the raw material from the vaporization tank, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26, abstract;
With regard to claim 5, NIJHAWAN sufficiently teaches a concentration control method that is capable of being used in a raw material vaporization system that introduces a carrier gas via 220 into a liquid or solid raw material contained in a vaporization tank 215, vaporizes the carrier gas, and supplies a raw material gas generated by vaporization, the concentration control device comprising:, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26, abstract; Apparatus claims must be structurally distinguishable from the prior art in terms of structure, not function. The manner of operating an apparatus does not differentiate an apparatus claim from the prior art, if the prior art apparatus teaches all of the structural limitations of the claim (see MPEP § 2114 & § 2173.05(g))
controlling a flow rate of the carrier gas using flow rate control equipment 263, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26, abstract
measuring a concentration of the raw material gas using a concentration measurement unit, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,39 abstract
controlling a flow rate operation via 552,544 amount input to the flow rate control equipment within the scope of the non-specific type of model predictive control based on a non-specific claimed target concentration value of the raw material gas and a non-specific claimed measured concentration value of the concentration measurement unit, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,39,42 abstract
With regard to claim 6, NIJHAWAN sufficiently teaches a recording medium storing a concentration control program that is capable of controls concentration of a raw material gas in a raw material vaporization system that introduces a carrier gas via 220 into a liquid or solid raw material contained in a vaporization tank 215 vaporizes the carrier gas, and supplies the raw material gas generated by vaporization,, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,28 abstract; Apparatus claims must be structurally distinguishable from the prior art in terms of structure, not function. The manner of operating an apparatus does not differentiate an apparatus claim from the prior art, if the prior art apparatus teaches all of the structural limitations of the claim (see MPEP § 2114 & § 2173.05(g))
the concentration control program capable of being used in a concentration control device including flow rate control equipment 263 that controls a flow rate of the carrier gas , especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26, abstract
instruments capable of direct measurement of the concentration a concentration measurement unit that measures a concentration of the raw material gas, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,39 abstract
the recording medium capable of causing a computer to have a function as a flow rate control unit 552,544 that controls a flow rate operation amount input to the flow rate control equipment within the scope of the non-specific type of model predictive control based on a non-specific claimed target concentration value of the raw material gas and a non-specific claimed measured concentration value of the concentration measurement unit, especially at fig 2, para 23,25,26,39,42 abstract
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20070254093 (herein known as NIJHAWAN) in view of US 8185217 (herein known as THIELE)
With regard to claim 2, NIJHAWAN does not specifically teach wherein the flow rate control unit uses, as a prediction model of the model predictive control, a model including a dead time based on a time of arrival of the raw material gas at the concentration measurement unit provided in a raw material gas lead-out path.
But, THIELE sufficiently teaches thereby in combination a model including a dead time based on a time of arrival of the raw material gas at the concentration measurement unit provided in a raw material gas lead-out path , especially at c5ln15-40c32ln45-65, abstract, title
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (or at the time the invention was made; if pre-AIA ) to wherein the flow rate control unit uses, as a prediction model of the model predictive control of NIJHAWAN, a model including a dead time based on a time of arrival of the raw material measurement unit provided in a raw material lead-out path of THIELE, thereby in combination a model including a dead time based on a time of arrival of the raw material gas at the concentration measurement unit provided in a raw material gas lead-out path of NIJHAWAN-THIELE for the benefit of substitution of PID controller for MPC, because PID controllers suffer from overshoot in systems featuring transport delays (i.e. the time it takes the gas to travel through the pipe to the sensor). MPC is reasonably expected to utilize internal prediction models to gracefully handle such dead time delays
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20070254093 (herein known as NIJHAWAN) in view of US 7376472 (herein known as WOJSZNIS)
With regard to claim 3, NIJHAWAN does not specifically teach wherein the flow rate control unit makes a time constant of a reference trajectory related to the concentration of the raw material gas larger than a time constant of a system included in a prediction model of the model predictive control.
But, WOJSZNIS sufficiently teaches a time constant of a reference trajectory related to the "target value over time" (i.e. concentration of the raw material gas larger than a time constant of a system) included in a prediction model of the model predictive control , especially at c15ln30-40, abstract
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (or at the time the invention was made; if pre-AIA ) to provide control device of NIJHAWAN with a time constant of a reference trajectory related to the "target value over time" (i.e. concentration of the raw material gas larger than a time constant of a system) included in a prediction model of the model predictive control of WOJSZNIS for the reasonably expected benefit of optimization so that the reference trajectory time constant is larger than the system time constant in MPC to provide system stability and prevent set-point overshoot
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R SHUMATE whose telephone number is (571)270-5546. The examiner can normally be reached on M,T,Th,F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Lebron can be reached on (571)272-0475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ANTHONY SHUMATE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773
Prosecution Insights