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 § 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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh et al. (Pub # US 2022/0063357 A1) (Applicant Admitted Prior Art), and further in view of Gibson et al. (Pub # US 2006/0010961 A1).
Consider claim 1, Singh et al. teach an air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire comprising: an air pressure acquisition unit configured to acquire data on an air pressure in a tire attached to a vehicle [0043]; a pressure-adjustment determination unit configured to determine whether the air pressure in the tire has been adjusted [0061]; and a determination unit configured to determine whether the tire has a slow puncture based on a time-course change in the data on the air pressure, wherein when the pressure-adjustment determination unit has determined that the air pressure in the tire has been adjusted [0058].
Singh et al. does not teach the determination unit corrects lastly acquired data on the air pressure and determines whether the tire has a slow puncture based on the corrected data on the air pressure.
In the same field of endeavor, Gibson et al. teaches the determination unit corrects lastly acquired data on the air pressure and determines whether the tire has a slow puncture based on the corrected data on the air pressure [0111] for the benefit of improving an accuracy of slow leak detection and reduce the false alarm.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the determination unit corrects lastly acquired data on the air pressure and determines whether the tire has a slow puncture based on the corrected data on the air pressure as shown in Gibson et al., in Singh et al. method for the benefit of improving an accuracy of slow leak detection and reduce the false alarm.
Consider claim 2, Singh et al. clearly show and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, wherein the pressure-adjustment determination unit determines whether the air pressure in the tire has been adjusted based on the lastly acquired data on the air pressure and the data on the air pressure that was acquired earlier than the lastly acquired data on the air pressure or the data on the air pressure estimated on an assumption that the air pressure in the tire was not adjusted at a timing when the data on the air pressure was lastly acquired [0052].
Consider claim 3, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, further comprising: a temperature acquisition unit configured to acquire data on an internal temperature of the tire, wherein the air pressure acquisition unit corrects the data on the air pressure based on the data on the internal temperature of the tire [0047].
Consider claim 4, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, wherein the determination unit determines whether the tire has a slow puncture based on a reduction rate of the air pressure in the tire [0055].
Consider claim 5, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, further comprising: a notification unit configured such that when the determination unit has determined that the tire has a slow puncture, the notification unit notifies occurrence of the slow puncture [0055].
Consider claim 6, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus, further comprising: a temperature acquisition unit configured to acquire data on an internal temperature of the tire, wherein the air pressure acquisition unit corrects the data on the air pressure based on the data on the internal temperature of the tire [0048].
Consider claim 7, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, wherein the determination unit determines whether the tire has a slow puncture based on a reduction rate of the air pressure in the tire [0063].
Consider claim 8, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, further comprising: a notification unit configured such that when the determination unit has determined that the tire has a slow puncture, the notification unit notifies occurrence of the slow puncture [0055].
Consider claim 9, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, wherein the determination unit determines whether the tire has a slow puncture based on a reduction rate of the air pressure in the tire [0055].
Consider claim 10, Singh et al. clearly shows and disclose the air pressure monitoring apparatus for a tire, further comprising: a notification unit configured such that when the determination unit has determined that the tire has a slow puncture, the notification unit notifies occurrence of the slow puncture [0055].
Consider claim 11, Singh et al. teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing an air pressure monitoring program for a tire, causing one or more computers to execute: acquiring data on an air pressure in a tire attached to a vehicle [0043]; determining whether the air pressure in the tire has been adjusted [0061]; and determining whether the tire has a slow puncture based on a time-course change in the data on the air pressure, wherein the determining whether the tire has a slow puncture [0058].
Singh et al. does not teach correcting lastly acquired data on the air pressure when the air pressure in the tire has been determined to be adjusted; and determining whether the tire has a slow puncture based on the corrected data on the air pressure.
In the same field of endeavor, Gibson et al. teaches correcting lastly acquired data on the air pressure when the air pressure in the tire has been determined to be adjusted; and determining whether the tire has a slow puncture based on the corrected data on the air pressure [0111] for the benefit of improving an accuracy of slow leak detection and reduce the false alarm.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include correcting lastly acquired data on the air pressure when the air pressure in the tire has been determined to be adjusted; and determining whether the tire has a slow puncture based on the corrected data on the air pressure as shown in Gibson et al., in Singh et al. method for the benefit of improving an accuracy of slow leak detection and reduce the false alarm.
Consider claim 12, the method steps herein have been performed or executed by the corresponding apparatus as shown in claim 1. Therefore, claim 12 has been analyzed and rejected with regards to claim 1 as set forth above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACK K WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-1938. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM - 5PM.
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/JACK K WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686