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 Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because the claim dependency should be on claim 2, otherwise, “the comparison” lacks antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-5 and 8-10 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-3, 5-6 and 8-9 of U.S. Patent No. 12,553,931 (thereafter referred to as Patent ‘931). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
As for claim 1, Patent ‘931 discloses a method for measuring a loop impedance Zx in a single-torus ohmmeter including a single transformer having a primary winding of Np coils and a secondary winding of a single coil forming a measurement loop of impedance Zx, wherein, to compensate for a stray induction produced by an AC leakage current circulating in the measurement loop without canceling a measurement current Ip generating an alternating induction of constant average value for the measurement of the loop impedance Zx, said measurement current Ip is added to a constant current opposite and proportional to the stray induction produced by the AC leakage current, to be re-injected into the primary winding (see claim 1 of Patent ‘931).
Still referring to claim 1, the only difference between Patent ‘931 and the current application is that Patent’931 discloses compensating for AC leakage current and the current application discloses compensating for DC leakage current. However, A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the two methods disclosed for compensating AC or DC leakage current are the same and therefore not patentably distinct from each other.
As for claims 2 and 3, Patent ‘931 discloses the method for measuring a loop impedance Zx according to claim 1, wherein the measurement of the stray induction is derived from an output voltage Ub delivered across a second secondary winding of Na coils of the single transformer and integrated then successively subject to a low-pass filtering (see claim 2 of Patent ‘931).
Still referring to claims 2 and 3, Patent ‘931 does not specifically disclose wherein a comparison with a threshold in determining the duration during which the output voltage Ub is positive and the duration during which it is negative. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize that adding the comparison step to determine the difference between the positive and negative duration, for determining balanced magnetic flux over time does not make the Patent ‘931 patentably distinct from the current application.
As for claim 4, Patent ‘931 discloses a single-torus ohmmeter for measuring a loop impedance Zx, including a single transformer having a primary winding of Np coils and a secondary winding of a single coil forming a measurement loop of impedance Zx, characterized in that, to compensate for a stray induction produced by a AC leakage current circulating in the measurement loop without canceling a measurement current Ip generating an alternating induction of constant average value for the measurement of the loop impedance Zx, the transformer includes a second secondary winding of Na coils whose output voltage Ub is delivered to a processing module providing a voltage intended to be added to an alternating measurement voltage Vp in an adder delivering the current to be injected into the primary winding after passage through a voltage-current converter supplying current to the primary winding via a shunt resistance (see claim 5 of Patent ‘931; also see shunt resistance in claim 3 of patent ‘931).
Still referring to claim 4, the only difference between Patent ‘931 and the current application is that Patent’931 discloses compensating for AC leakage current and the current application discloses compensating for DC leakage current. However, A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the two ohmmeters disclosed for compensating AC or DC leakage current are the same and therefore not patentably distinct from each other.
As for claims 5 and 8, Patent ‘931 discloses (see claim 6 of Patent ‘931) the single-torus ohmmeter according to claim 4, wherein the module for processing the output voltage of the second secondary winding consists of an integrator and a low-pass filter, and that the number of ampere- turns provided by the primary winding to a magnetic core of the single transformer is equal to the number of ampere-turns provided to this magnetic core by the single-coil secondary winding (see claims 6 and 8 of Patent ‘931).
Patent ‘931 does not specifically disclose a comparator with a determined threshold wherein the comparator is configured to determine the duration during which the output voltage Ub is positive and the duration during which it is negative.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize that adding a comparator configured to determine the difference between the positive and negative duration for determining balanced magnetic flux over time does not make the Patent ‘931 patentably distinct from the current application.
As for claim 9, Patent ‘931 discloses the single-torus ohmmeter according to claim 4, wherein the ratio between the number of coils Np of the primary winding and the number of coils Na of the second secondary winding is equal to one (see claim 8 of Patent ‘931).
As for claim 10, Patent ‘931 discloses the single-torus ohmmeter according to claim 4, wherein the transformer is made in the form of a non-opening magnetic sensor left permanently on a ground connection conductor and the loop impedance Zx is transmitted periodically to a remote server via at least one communication network (see claim 9 of Patent ‘931).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim (claim 4), but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/AMY HE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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