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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites “the potable water source” in line 14. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, “the potable water source” is interpreted to read --the potable water tank--.
Any remaining dependent claim(s) are indefinite insofar as they depend on a rejected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Donati (US 5937455).
Regarding claim 9, Donati discloses a system for utilizing gray water to flush a toilet (50), the system comprising:
a potable water source (14) configured to provide potable water to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 12-36);
a gray water tank (1, 60);
a sensor (21, 40) positioned within the gray water tank and configured to detect the level of gray water within the gray water tank (col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23);
a gray water pump (8, 29) configured to pump gray water from the gray water tank to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44; col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23); and
a controller (controller of 12, 19, Fig. 9) configured to control the position of an electric valve (12, 19; col. 5, ll. 4-44), the electric valve configured to:
control the flow of gray water from the gray water tank to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44); and
control the flow of potable water from the potable water source to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44).
Regarding claim 10, Donati discloses a filter (56) interposed between the gray water tank and the toilet (see Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Donati discloses a check valve (11, 20) interposed between the toilet and the fresh water source (see Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 12, Donati discloses a gray tank dump gate valve (22).
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) 1-6, 8, and 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Donati (US 5937455) in view of Mehta (US 6317898).
Regarding claim 1, Donati discloses a system for utilizing gray water to flush a toilet (50), the system comprising:
a potable water source (14);
a first electric valve (19) configured to control the flow of water from the potable water source to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44);
a gray water tank (1, 60);
a gray water pump (8, 29) configured to pump gray water from the gray water tank (col. 5, ll. 4-44; col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23); and
a second electric valve (12) configured to control the flow of water from the gray water tank to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44).
However, Donati does not disclose a potable water tank; a potable pump configured to pump potable water from the potable water tank as claimed.
Mehta discloses an apparatus for selecting marine toilet flush water including a potable water tank (44); a potable pump (col. 5, ll. 53-56) configured to pump potable water from the potable water tank (col. 5, ll. 53-56). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the system of Donati, to have a potable water tank and a potable pump configured to pump potable water from the potable water tank as claimed, as taught by Mehta, since it was known in the art to provide a pressurized potable water supply by using an electrical pump (col. 5, ll. 53-56).
Regarding claim 2, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses a filter (56) interposed between the gray water tank and the toilet (see Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 3, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses a check valve (11, 20) interposed between the toilet and the second electric valve (see Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses a gray tank dump gate valve (22).
Regarding claim 5, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses a gray tank sensor (21, 40) configured to detect the gray water level within the gray water tank (col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23).
Regarding claim 6, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses a controller (controller of 8, 29, 12, 19, Fig. 9) configured to receive data from the sensor (col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23) and to actuate one or more of the first electric valve (col. 5, ll. 4-44), the second electric valve, the gray water pump, and the potable water pump (as modified by Mehta above).
Regarding claim 8, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses at least one battery (col. 3, l. 66 - col. 4, l. 9) configured to power the potable pump (as modified by Mehta above), the gray pump, the first electric valve, and the second electric valve (col. 3, l. 66 - col. 4, l. 9).
Regarding claim 15, Donati discloses a system for utilizing gray water to flush a toilet (50), the system comprising:
a potable water source (14);
a gray water tank (1, 60);
a sensor (21, 40) positioned within the gray water tank and configured to detect the level of gray water within the gray water tank (col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23);
a gray water pump (8, 29) configured to pump gray water from the gray water tank to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44; col. 6, l. 66 - col. 7, l. 23);
a first controller (controller of 12, Fig. 9) configured to control the position of at least one electric valve (12, 19),
the at least one electric valve configured to:
control the flow of gray water from the gray water tank to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44); and
control the flow of potable water from the potable water source to the toilet (col. 5, ll. 4-44);
a filter (56) interposed between the gray water tank and the toilet (see Fig. 1); and
a check valve (11, 20) interposed between the gray water pump and the potable water source (see Fig. 1).
However, Donati does not disclose a potable water tank; a potable pump configured to pump potable water from the potable water tank to the toilet as claimed.
Mehta discloses an apparatus for selecting marine toilet flush water including a potable water tank (44); a potable pump (col. 5, ll. 53-56) configured to pump potable water from the potable water tank to the toilet (6, col. 5, ll. 53-56). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the system of Donati, to have a potable water tank and a potable pump configured to pump potable water from the potable water tank to the toilet as claimed, as taught by Mehta, since it was known in the art to provide a pressurized potable water supply by using an electrical pump (col. 5, ll. 53-56).
Regarding claim 16, the combination above and specifically Donati further discloses a second controller (controller of 19, Fig.9), wherein the first controller controls the position of the at least one electric valve by communicating through the second controller (Fig. 9).
Claim(s) 7 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Donati (US 5937455) in view of Mehta (US 6317898) as applied to claims 6 and 16 above, and further in view of Plate (US 20140373263).
Regarding claim 7, the combination above discloses substantially all of the elements of the present invention as stated above in the rejection of claim 6.
However, Donati does not disclose wherein the controller further comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto as claimed.
Plate discloses smart toilet systems and methods wherein the controller further comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto (¶ 0063, 0098). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the controller of Donati, to have a wireless transceiver coupled thereto as claimed, as taught by Plate, in order to conduct data communications with the fixture or other local or remote devices or systems and enable the device to exchange data or operate commands (¶ 0063, 0098).
Regarding claim 17, the combination above discloses substantially all of the elements of the present invention as stated above in the rejection of claim 16.
However, Donati does not disclose wherein each controller comprises a respective wireless transceiver coupled thereto, the wireless transceivers configured to communicate with one another as claimed.
Plate discloses smart toilet systems and methods wherein the controller comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto (¶ 0063, 0098), the wireless transceivers configured to communicate with one another (¶ 0063, 0098). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the controllers of Donati, to have a wireless transceiver coupled thereto as claimed, as taught by Plate, in order to conduct data communications with the fixture or other local or remote devices or systems and enable the device to exchange data or operate commands (¶ 0063, 0098).
Claim(s) 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Donati (US 5937455) in view of Plate (US 20140373263).
Regarding claim 13, Donati discloses substantially all of the elements of the present invention as stated above in the rejection of claim 9.
However, Donati does not disclose wherein the controller further comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto and configured to transmit the status the system to a user device as claimed.
Plate discloses smart toilet systems and methods wherein the controller further comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto and configured to transmit the status the system to a user device (¶ 0063, 0098). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the controller of Donati, to have a wireless transceiver coupled thereto as claimed, as taught by Plate, in order to conduct data communications with the fixture or other local or remote devices or systems and enable the device to exchange data or operate commands (¶ 0063, 0098).
Regarding claim 14, Donati discloses substantially all of the elements of the present invention as stated above in the rejection of claim 9.
Donati further discloses the second controller configured to actuate the electric valve (col. 5, ll. 4-44); however, Donati does not disclose wherein the controller further comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto and configured to communicate to a second controller as claimed.
Plate discloses smart toilet systems and methods wherein the controller further comprises a wireless transceiver coupled thereto (¶ 0063, 0098) and configured to communicate to a second controller (¶ 0063, 0098). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the controller of Donati, to have a wireless transceiver coupled thereto as claimed, as taught by Plate, in order to conduct data communications with the fixture or other local or remote devices or systems and enable the device to exchange data or operate commands (¶ 0063, 0098).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record in the PTO-892 form and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Aylward (US 20040050429) is directed to the state of the art as disclosing systems and methods for collecting and distributing gray water including main drain line (150), a sensor (144), flow sensor assemblies (145), collection valve (160), pump housing (182), filtration system (186), collection tank (188), and a gray water appliance (190).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM R KLOTZ whose telephone number is (571)272-0274. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 11AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David P Angwin can be reached at (571)270-3735. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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WILLIAM R. KLOTZ
Examiner
Art Unit 3754
/DAVID P ANGWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754