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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-9, 12, 14, 18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Del Vecchio et. al (US 4,655,041).
With respect to claim 1 Del Vecchio discloses a method for pressure monitoring a pressure-dependent process comprising: measuring over time a pressure of the pressure-dependent process [see “actual pressure” in Fig 9]; processing the measured pressure by determining if the measured pressure or a filtered pressure obtained from the measured pressure is inside or outside defined pressure ranges, each pressure range being defined by a respective lower limit and by a respective upper limit1 [see reference characters 126, 128, 134, 136, 142, and 144]; generating a pressure monitoring signal [via “AND” gates 142 and 144] in such a way that: the pressure monitoring signal has a first value or first status if the measured pressure or the filtered pressure is inside a respective pressure range2; the pressure monitoring signal has a second value or second status if the measured pressure or the filtered pressure is outside a respective pressure range violating a safety relevant limit3 [see “Exceed rate/Press. Trip”, reference character 176], the pressure monitoring signal has a third value or third status [see “Exceed limit/pressure alarm”, reference character 150] if the measured pressure or the filtered pressure is outside a respective pressure range violating a non-safety relevant limit.
With respect to claim 5 Del Vecchio discloses that an absolute pressure is measured as pressure of the pressure-dependent process. Note that although Del Vecchio does not explicitly disclose absolute pressure the pressure is indicated in PSI and not PSIG in Fig. 2, indicating that the pressure is absolute and not gauge.
With respect to claim 6 Del Vecchio discloses that if the pressure monitoring signal has the first value or first status, the pressure dependent pressure-dependent process is continued unchanged [see Fig. 9 if the output from the “AND” is low then the controller takes no action].
With respect to claim 7 Del Vecchio discloses that if the pressure monitoring signal has the second value or second status the pressure dependent pressure-dependent process is stopped [see reference character 176 and column 8 lines 62-63].
With respect to claim 8 Del Vecchio disclose that if pressure monitoring signal has the third value or third status, the pressure dependent pressure-dependent process is continued unchanged [see Fig. 9, pressure within the second range only produces an alarm].
With respect to claim 9 Del Vecchio discloses a combustion process of a gas burner appliance [see boiler 46] is controlled as pressure-dependent process.
With respect to claim 12 Del Vecchio discloses that the measuring is executed by a measuring unit of an electrical or electronic pressure sensor [reference character 67]; the processing and generating are executed by a processing unit [reference character 68] of the electrical or electronic pressure sensor on basis of the measured pressure provided by the measuring unit and on basis of the defined pressure ranges stored in a memory unit [see “storage devices” in column 8 lines 3-5] of the electrical or electronic pressure sensor.
With respect to claim 14 Del Vecchio discloses that if the pressure monitoring signal has the first value or first status, the pressure dependent pressure-dependent process is continued unchanged [see Fig. 9 if the output from the “AND” is low then the controller takes no action].
With respect to claim 18 Del Vecchio discloses that if the pressure monitoring signal has the second value or second status the pressure dependent pressure-dependent process is stopped [see reference character 176 and column 8 lines 62-63].
With respect to claim 20 Del Vecchio disclose that if pressure monitoring signal has the third value or third status, the pressure dependent pressure-dependent process is continued unchanged [see Fig. 9, pressure within the second range only produces an alarm].
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Del Vecchio et. al (US 4,655,041).
With respect to claim 10 Del Vecchio discloses a pressure sensor [reference character 64] for monitoring a pressure-dependent process comprising: a measuring unit [reference character 68] being configured to measure over time a pressure of the pressure-dependent process; a memory unit [see refence characters 126 and 128] for storing defined pressure ranges, each pressure range being defined by a respective lower limit and by a respective upper limit [see Fig. 9]; a processing unit being configured to process the measured pressure by determining if the measured pressure or a filtered pressure obtained from the measured pressure is inside or outside the defined pressure ranges4 [see reference characters 126, 128, 134, 136, 142, and 144] and to generate a pressure monitoring signal in such a way that the pressure monitoring signal has a first value or first status if the measured pressure or the filtered pressure is inside a respective pressure range5; has a second value or second status if the measured pressure or the filtered pressure is outside a respective pressure range violating a safety relevant limit6 [see “Exceed rate/Press. Trip”, reference character 176]; has a third value or third status if the measured pressure or the filtered pressure is outside a respective pressure range violating a non-safety relevant limit [see “Exceed limit/pressure alarm”, reference character 150].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 11, 13, 15-17, and 19 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VIVEK K SHIRSAT whose telephone number is (571)272-3722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:20AM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at 571-272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
1 “…storage devices 126 and 128 maintain signals representing low and high pressure limits thereby establishing a predetermined acceptable range of actual pressure variations. The outputs of these two devices on lines 130 and 132 respectively are coupled to comparators 134 and 136 respectively. Also coupled to comparators 134 and 136 is a signal on line 66 which represents the actual pressure variations being transmitted by transmitter 64” [column 8 lines 5-13].
2 A person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that an AND gate is a digital logic gate that will provide a low output when either input to the AND gate is low. In other words when comparators 134 and 136 have a low output indicating the pressure is within range the AND gate will produce a low output.
3 “…there should be a predetermined maximum rate of change of pressure or temperature which, if exceeded, should produce a third alarm indicating that a dangerous condition is existing” [column 1 line 67- column 2 line 2].
4 See footnote 1.
5 See footnote 2.
6 See footnote 3.
Prosecution Insights