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 .
Status
This Office Action is in response to the remarks and amendments filed on 3/23/2026. The 35 USC 112 rejections have been withdrawn. Claims 1, 3-15 remain pending for consideration on the merits.
Specification
The amendment filed 3/23/2026 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows: obtain, using training data including the input data and ground truth data indicative of the true supply amount or true processing amount of CA gas, a gas consumption model; and estimating, using the gas consumption model.
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, 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, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In claims 1 and 12, applicant has added the limitation “obtain, using training data including the input data and ground truth data indicative of the true supply amount or true processing amount of CA gas, a gas consumption model; and estimate, using the gas consumption mode a supply amount or a processing amount of CA gas with respect to the CA refrigerator in a predetermined time and setting the estimated supply amount or the estimated processing amount as output datal” (emphasis added). Applicant provides in paragraph 0088 “Further, the learning unit 52 has a comparison changing unit 53, which compares the gas amount data as output data output from the gas consumption model 50 at the time of the operation of the CA refrigeration device, with the true gas amount data (data of the supply amount or the processing amount of the CA gas) as ground truth data, and changes the model parameters of the gas consumption model 50 at the time of the operation of the CA refrigeration device according to the error. Thus, the learning unit 52 performs machine learning of the gas consumption model 50 at the time of the operation of the CA refrigeration device, and can generate the learned gas consumption model 60 at the time of the operation of the CA refrigeration device”. There is nothing in the originally filed claims, specification or drawings to support this newly added limitation. Thus, the newly added limitation is deemed to be NEW MATTER.
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.
Claims 1, 3-15 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 12 recite “obtain, using training data including the input data and ground truth data indicative of the true supply amount or true processing amount of CA gas, a gas consumption model; and estimate, using the gas consumption model a supply amount or a processing amount of CA gas with respect to the CA refrigerator in a predetermined time and setting the estimated supply amount or the estimated processing amount as output data” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear how training data is used to obtain a gas consumption model.
Claims 3-11 and 13-15 are rejected based on dependency from a rejected claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 1 and 12, the subject matter which is considered to distinguish from the closest prior art of record, Kajimoto et al (JP 2019041601).. The prior art of record teaches a gas amount estimation apparatus (fig. 1)in contrast to the claimed features of obtain, using training data including the input data and ground truth data indicative of the true supply amount or true processing amount of CA gas, a gas consumption model; and estimate, using the gas consumption model a supply amount or a processing amount of CA gas with respect to the CA refrigerator in a predetermined time and setting the estimated supply amount or the estimated processing amount as output data.
Therefore, it would not be obvious to modify the technique of the prior art structures to have the apparatus as claimed without improper hindsight and independent claims 1, 18 and 20 with dependent claims therefrom are considered allowable.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
/ELIZABETH J MARTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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