DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claims 6 and 11 are objected to because of an administrative errors. Going forward with examination, the claims are interpreted to be:
--6. Device according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation device is designed to determine the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere, taking into account a corrosion behavior of a corroding testpiece
--11. Device according to claim 1,
wherein
at least one of the internal sensors is designed to measure a gas concentration of a corrosive gas inside the protective housing
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 7-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Munkel et al. (EP 3787165 A1; hereinafter “Munkel.” Munkel is a German Patent Office “X, D1” reference listed in an IDS with a machine translation filed on 3/27/2024).
Munkel teaches:
1. Device for determining an intensity of a corrosive ambient atmosphere in a protective housing (4), comprising (See fig. 1, reproduced below):
at least two internal sensors 5, 6 (Par. 0042: “The sensor element 6 has a sensor for measuring temperature, and a sensor for measuring air humidity) designed to detect changes over time in predefined different ambient parameters (temperature, air humidity) inside the protective housing (4), and to generate sensor signals (by using a signal module 9 of a programmable logic controller 3; Par. 0042) reflecting the respective changes over time in the predefined different ambient parameters (Par. 0045 “…the temperature and humidity are continuously measured by the sensor elements 5, 6 and corresponding measurement signals are provided”);
an evaluation device (computer 12) designed to receive the sensor signals and to evaluate the sensor signals in correlation with one another in order to determine the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere on basis of deviations of the sensor signals, or of a parameter correlated with the sensor signals, from a reference value or reference value range (i.e., a target value; Pars. 0030-0032, 0048), taking into account a time duration and/or frequency of the deviations (Par. 0032: “For example, if it turns out that the humidity is too high over a longer period of time and at the same time temperature fluctuations occur around the electrical device 1, the maintenance interval can be shortened to avoid downtime…”; and
an output device (12) designed to generate an output signal reflecting the determined intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere (Par. 0039: “The programmable logic controller 3 can be coupled to further components, for example a human-machine interface in a form of a display and/or an input unit…;” Par. 0030: “Furthermore, in the event of a defined deviation of the ACTUAL values from the TARGET values, a message to a user of the electrical device can take place automatically…and an alarm is automatically issued to a user if the actual values deviate too much from the target values”).
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2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the protective housing (4) is a switch cabinet (i.e., a control cabinet 4 which houses a frequency converter 1, for example, or any electrical device; Pars. 0021, 0040).
Note: The recited “switch cabinet” doesn’t appear to be any part of the device being claimed, thus is irrelevant. The recited “switch cabinet” also appears to be a part of an intended use, thus is unpatentable. Munkel however indeed teaches the protective housing (4) being a switch cabinet which houses a frequency converter 1, for example, or any electrical device.
3. Device according to claim 1, wherein the ambient parameters include an air temperature, a component temperature, an air humidity, and/or a gas concentration (as discussed above in claim 1).
4. Device according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation device (12) comprises a trained model which is implemented in hard- and/or software and is trained in a learning phase to classify the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere on the basis of the changes over time in the different ambient parameters (Pars. 0033-0034, 0051: “For example, if failures occur frequently in the monitored devices after certain temperature changes, the artificial intelligence is able to predict future failures due to corresponding temperature changes through independent learning and, if necessary, send appropriate maintenance instructions to a user in a timely manner.” Evidently, the artificial intelligence is trained to classify the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere, which is directly related to a frequency of failures, on the basis of the temperature changes, for example, over time in the different ambient parameters).
5. Device according to claim 4, wherein the trained model is a deep learning model (Pars. 0033-0034, 0051. Note that the recited term “deep learning model” is undefined of clearly disclosed, thus indifferentiable from Munkel teaching of an artificial intelligence described in Pars. 0033-0034, 0051).
7. Device according to claim 1, wherein
at least one of the internal sensors (6) is an air humidity sensor, and at least one further of the internal sensors (6) is a temperature sensor, the air humidity sensor (6) and the temperature sensor (6) are designed to generate the sensor signals reflecting the changes over time in the different ambient parameters, respectively (as discussed above in claim 1), and
the evaluation device (12) is designed to determine the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere taking into account a dew point (i.e., “moisture condensing”) calculated on basis of the sensor signals of the air humidity sensor and of the temperature sensor (Par. 0020).
8. Device according to claim 7, wherein the temperature sensor (6) is designed to measure a temperature of a cold spot inside the protective housing, wherein the temperature sensor (6) defines an essentially isolated measuring point at the cold spot or is designed as a surface temperature sensor (Par. 0021: “The at least one sensor element 6 can therefore either be attached to the electrical device 1 so that the corresponding state variables are measured directly on the electrical device. A direct attachment or a direct measurement on the electrical device is to be understood as meaning that the at least one sensor element 6 is in physical contact with the relevant electrical device, in particular a frequency converter 1, and thus it is able to measure the surface temperature or vibrations occurring on the electrical device directly, for example”).
9. Device according to claim 7, wherein the temperature sensor is an optical sensor (e.g., an infrared temperature sensor; Pars. 0019-0020).
10. Device according to claim 9, wherein the optical sensor is an IR sensor (as discussed above in claim 9).
11. Device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the internal sensors is designed to measure a gas concentration of a corrosive gas inside the protective housing 4 (the gas concentration of a corrosive gas being directly related to a “gas composition of foreign gases that promote aging or corrosion;” Pars. 0019-0020).
12. Device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the internal sensors is designed to measure a chloride concentration and/or hydrogen sulfide concentration inside the protective housing (4).
Note: As discussed above in claim 11, Munkel teaches that at least one of the internal sensors is designed to measure a gas concentration of a corrosive gas inside the protective housing (4). Evidently, such a corrosive gas may be any corrosive gas, including but not limited to chloride gas or hydrogen sulfide gas.
13. Device according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation device (12) is designed to receive local climate data (surrounding the device; Par. 0017) and/or geographical location data which contain information dependent on a geographical location of the protective housing (4), and to take the data into account in determining the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere (Par. 0017).
14 (essentially equivalent to claim 1).
Method (Par. 0001: “Method”) for determining an intensity of a corrosive ambient atmosphere in a protective housing (4), comprising:
measuring, by internal sensors (6) arranged inside the protective housing (4), changes over time in at least two different ambient parameters (temperature, air humidity) and generating sensor signals reflecting the changes over time in the at least two different ambient parameters (Par. 0045 “…the temperature and humidity are continuously measured by the sensor elements 5, 6 and corresponding measurement signals are provided”);
correlating (by using a computer 12) the sensor signals reflecting the changes over time in the at least two different ambient parameters with one another (Pars. 0030-0032, 0048);
determining (by using the computer 12) the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere on basis of deviations of the sensor signals, or of a parameter correlated with the deviation of the sensor signals, from a reference value or reference value range taking into account a time duration and frequency of the deviations (Pars. 0030-0032, 0048); and
generating an output signal reflecting the determined intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere (and displaying the output signal by using the computer device 12 having an display device (Pars. 0030-0032, 0048).
15. Method according to claim 14, wherein the at least two ambient parameters include an air temperature, a component temperature, an air humidity, and/or a gas concentration (as discussed above in claims 1 and 14).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 16 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 would be a statement for indication of an allowable subject matter:
With respect to claim 6, prior art of record doesn’t teach, suggest, or render obvious the total combination of the recited features, including the following allowable subject matter: “…wherein the evaluation device is designed to determine the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere, taking into account a corrosion behavior of a corroding testpiece empirically determined in advance.”
With respect to claim 16, prior art of record doesn’t teach, suggest, or render obvious the total combination of the recited features, including the following allowable subject matter: “measuring at least one electrical characteristic of at least one testpiece under given ambient conditions over a predefined time period, the testpiece being made from a test material and being arranged inside the protective housing in a learning phase and/or initialization phase; and correlating the test material with other materials installed in the protective housing; wherein a change in the at least one electrical characteristic of the testpiece and the other materials correlated therewith is taken into account in determining the intensity of the corrosive ambient atmosphere.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nguyen (Wyn) Q. Ha whose telephone number is (571) 272-2863, email: nguyenq.ha@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 am - 4:30 pm (Eastern Time).
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/Nguyen Q. Ha/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853 March 10, 2026