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 .
The preliminary amendment received 5/20/2024 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shimada (JP2013155991).
Regarding claim 1, Shimada discloses heat pump apparatus (100) to supply a heat medium to a tank unit (70) including a water heat exchanger (71) to exchange heat between the heat medium and water stored in a hot water storage tank, the heat pump apparatus comprising:
a compressor (1) to compress refrigerant;
a heat medium heat exchanger (3) to exchange heat between the refrigerant and the heat medium;
a heat transfer performance determiner ([0008] discloses that heat exchanger performance is based on temperature and the shape of the heat exchanger; thus the determiner is one or more of the temperature sensors) to determine heat transfer performance of the water heat exchanger; and
a compressor controller (60) to adjust a rotation speed of the compressor during a hot water storage operation, which is an operation for increasing a temperature of the water in the hot water storage tank ([0046]),
wherein the compressor controller is configured to adjust the rotation speed of the compressor during the hot water storage operation such that the rotation speed of the compressor when the heat transfer performance of the water heat exchanger is determined to be relatively low is higher than the rotation speed of the compressor when the heat transfer performance of the water heat exchanger is determined to be relatively high ([0046] discloses that the compressor speed undergoes a step-wise increase of speed in response to increasing temperature. As the water temperature increases the temperature difference decreases and therefor performance decreases. Thus the compressor speed is relatively high when the performance is relatively low).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 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 is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Shimada (JP2013155991) is regarded as the closest prior art of record. Shimada applies to claim 1 as detailed above.
Claim 2 further provides that the determiner is configured to measure a required time for the hot water storage operation when the hot water storage operation is executed and determine the heat transfer performance depending on the required time as measured. Shimada does not disclose this feature. No reference of record supports providing this feature to Shimada absent impermissible hindsight.
The reasoning for claim 3 is similar.
Claim 4 further provides that the determining is configured to present a plurality of options concerning types of the tank unit on a human interface and determine the heat transfer performance depending on an option selected from among the plurality of options. While it is known to provide inputs to a controller of system conditions, the claim is directed to the specific aspects of the heat transfer performance. When the claim is taken as a whole, no known reference whether alone or in proper combination would yield the claimed invention.
The English translation of the written opinion of the Internation Searching Authority of PCT/JP2021/048010 has been reviewed. The conclusion therein is agreed with, except for Shimada (not cited therein) is provided to anticipate claim 1. The references cited in the written opinion, or equivalents, are attached.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Honda (US 2011/0302947) speed control based on heat transfer performance.
Yoshida et al (US 10,429,086) compressor speed based on temperature difference.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER R ZERPHEY whose telephone number is (571)272-5965. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00-4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jianying Atkisson can be reached at 5712707740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER R ZERPHEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799