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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “passive chamber”, “first heat flux detector”, “second heat flux detector” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. In particular, it is unclear from the specification how the limitations “passive chamber”, “first heat flux detector”, “second heat flux detector”, are incorporated within the structures and method.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-7, 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Pub. 2016/0282203 (“Garden”).
Claim 1
Garden discloses a calorimeter comprising: an active chamber (chamber 12); a passive chamber (chamber 22); a first heat flux detector connected to the active chamber (conductances 33); a second heat flux detector connected to the passive chamber (sensor 4); a heat removal block (substrate 10); and a vacuum chamber configured to hold the active chamber and passive chamber (paragraphs [0062-0064], chambers in vacuum).
Claim 2
Garden discloses the calorimeter of claim 1 further comprising: a vacuum assembly connected to the vacuum chamber (Garden, paragraph [0062-0064], vacuum).
Claim 4
Garden discloses the calorimeter of claim 1 further comprising: at least one thermo-electric cooler (peltier elements 23).
Claim 5
Garden discloses the calorimeter of claim 1 further comprising: two active Peltiers, wherein the active Peltiers maintain temperature of an isotherm block (Garden, paragraph [0084], peltier elements 23).
Claim 6
Garden discloses the calorimeter of claim 5 further comprising: two passive Peltiers, wherein voltage signals are collected from the passive Peltiers to calculate a differential signal (Garden, paragraph [0130], peltier elements 23a).
Claim 7
Garden discloses the calorimeter of claim 1 further comprising: at least one waterline thermally coupled to the heat removal block (Garden, paragraph [0067], water circulated).
Claim 14
Garden discloses a method for measuring heat transfer comprising: introducing a test object to an active cell in a vacuum chamber (paragraph [0156], sample measurements); introducing a dummy object to a passive cell in the vacuum chamber (paragraph [0007], sample and reference); collecting a signal from the active cell and the passive cell (paragraph [0053, 0055], signals collected); performing common mode rejection analysis on the signal from the active cell and the passive cell (paragraph [0008]).
Claim 15
Garden discloses the method for measuring heat transfer of claim 14 further comprising: calibrating the active cell and the passive cell (Garden, paragraph [0008]).
Claim 16
Garden discloses the method for measuring heat transfer of claim 15 wherein calibrating the active cell and the passive cell further comprises: determining a correction factor; and determining a scaling factor (Garden, paragraph [0150]).
Claim 17
Garden discloses the method for measuring heat transfer of claim 16, wherein the correction factor is determined by averaging the signal from the active cell and the passive cell (Garden, paragraphs [0130,0150]).
Claim 18
Garden discloses the method for measuring heat transfer of claim 14 wherein performing common mode rejection analysis on the signal from the active cell and the passive cell further comprises: subtracting the signal from the active cell from the signal from the passive cell (paragraphs [0008-0010]).
Claim 19
Garden discloses the method for measuring heat transfer of claim 14 further comprises: removing heat from the active cell and the passive cell with a heat removal block (Garden, substrate 10).
Claim 20
Garden discloses the method of claim 14 further comprising: drawing a vacuum in the vacuum chamber with a vacuum assembly connected to the vacuum chamber (Garden, paragraph [0062-0064], vacuum).
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2016/0282203 (“Garden”) in view of JP2006187799 (“Izumi”).
Claim 3
Garden discloses the calorimeter of claim 2.
Garden does not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the vacuum assembly further comprises: a turbomolecular pump; and a scroll pump backing the turbomolecular pump.
Izumi discloses a device including calorimeter with a vacuum assembly using a turbo pump and scroll pump (translation, page 2, paragraph 6; page 3, last 2 paragraphs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the vacuum assembly further comprises: a turbomolecular pump; and a scroll pump backing the turbomolecular pump, as disclosed by Izumi, into the device of Garden, for the purpose of evenly maintaining vacuum pressure (Izumi translation, page 2, paragraph 6).
Claims 8-10 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2016/0282203 (“Garden”) in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2010/0046573 (“Schick”).
Claim 8
Garden discloses a system comprising: an active chamber (chamber 12); a passive chamber (chamber 22); two active Peltiers, wherein the active Peltiers maintain temperature of an isotherm block (paragraph [0084], peltier elements 23); two passive Peltiers, wherein voltage signals are collected from the passive Peltiers to calculate a differential signal (Garden, paragraph [0130], peltier elements 23a); a vacuum chamber configured to hold the active chamber and passive chamber (paragraphs [0062-0064], chambers in vacuum).
Garden does not appear to explicitly disclose a computer system, the computer system further comprising: at least one processor; a graphical user interface; and a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer-usable medium capable of communicating with the at least one processor, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor and configured to: receive the voltage signals; and calculate a differential signal.
Schick discloses a similar calorimeter including a computer system with processor, computer usable medium with program code and instructions for receiving and calculating a differential signal (paragraph [0044-0046, 0057]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated a computer system, the computer system further comprising: at least one processor; a graphical user interface; and a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer-usable medium capable of communicating with the at least one processor, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor and configured to: receive the voltage signals; and calculate a differential signal, as disclosed by Schick, into the device of Garden, for the purpose of providing user and network access to acquired data (Schick, paragraph [0044]).
Claim 9
Garden in view of Schick discloses the system of claim 8 further comprising: a first heat flux detector connected to the active chamber (Garden, conductances 33); a second heat flux detector connected to the passive chamber (Garden, sensor 4); and a heat removal block (Garden, substrate 10).
Claim 10
Garden in view of Schick discloses the system of claim 9 further comprising: a vacuum assembly connected to the vacuum chamber (Garden, paragraph [0062-0064], vacuum).
Claim 12
Garden in view of Schick discloses the system of claim 8 further comprising: at least one thermo-electric cooler (peltier elements 23).
Claim 13
Garden in view of Schick discloses the system of claim 8 further comprising: at least one waterline thermally coupled to a heat removal block (Garden, paragraph [0067], water circulated).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2016/0282203 (“Garden”) in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2010/0046573 (“Schick”), further in view of JP2006187799 (“Izumi”).
Claim 11
Garden in view of Schick discloses the system of claim 10.
Garden does not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the vacuum assembly further comprises: a turbomolecular pump; and a scroll pump backing the turbomolecular pump.
Izumi discloses a device including calorimeter with a vacuum assembly using a turbo pump and scroll pump (translation, page 2, paragraph 6; page 3, last 2 paragraphs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the vacuum assembly further comprises: a turbomolecular pump; and a scroll pump backing the turbomolecular pump, as disclosed by Izumi, into the device of Garden in view of Schick, for the purpose of evenly maintaining vacuum pressure (Izumi translation, page 2, paragraph 6).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERICA S Y LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7911. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4, TW M,W.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERICA S LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853