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 § 103
2. 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.
3. Claim(s) 1-2, 6, 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Dish Network LLC (US20210190847A1) in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD
(JPS59142479A).
4. As to claim 1, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) wire mounted sensor module (120) including: a housing (122) including a mounting means (104) adapted to mount the module (120) to (fig. 1) a power line wire (10); (fig. 2) a power supply (126); a physical sensor unit (130) supported by the housing (122), wherein the physical sensor unit (130) includes at least one of the group including: (fig. 1) a weather station (12, 50, 51); and a communications unit (128) housed within the housing (122) for facilitating external communication of output (line fault, line inclination, lack of current, transmission line to shut down, transmit its location as part of fault report) of the at least one physical sensor unit (130), (paragraphs [0012]-[0018]). Dish Network LLC does not disclose that the wire is a non-live type. However, such an arrangement is known from the abstract of Furukawa Electric CO LTD. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC to include the wire is a non-live type as taught by Furukawa Electric CO LTD in order to acquire and/or seek a solution to install the sensor on a transmission line, to arrive at a non-live wire mounting arrangement which is the same as the claimed invention, (see Written Opinion of the International Search Authority, PCT/AU2022/051482).
5. As to claim 2, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the physical sensor unit (130) includes a plurality of the group including: (fig. 1) the weather station (12, 50, 51), (paragraphs [0012]-[0013]), and (fig. 2) (multiple sensors 130 can include sensors for detecting, measuring and/or deriving: electricity (e.g., current, voltage, EM fields), smoke, air quality, heat, ozone, noise, line swing (e.g., accelerometer), line inclination, wind direction, and/or ambient temperature), (see paragraph [0016]) which defines a plurality of the group including: the conductor temperature sensor, the line sag detection sensor, object proximity sensor; and the line move sensor).
6. As to claim 6, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein (fig. 1) the weather station (12, 50, 51) includes one or more sensors (multiple sensors 130 used for detecting, measuring, wind direction and/or ambient temperature), (paragraph [0016]) define one or more sensors, i.e., temperature sensor and/or wind speed sensor.
7. As to claim 10, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the line movement sensor (line swing sensor) includes one of accelerometer (accelerometer), (paragraph [0016]).
8. As to claim 11, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the physical sensor unit (130) includes an integrated sensor (sensor used for detecting, measuring and/or deriving: electricity, e.g., current voltage, EM), (paragraph [0016]) defines integrated sensor (multiple sensors) including the functionality of both the line sag detection sensor (line swing sensor) and the object proximity sensor (sensor used for detecting/measuring), (paragraph [0016]).
9. As to claim 12, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the physical sensor unit (100) is mounted externally to the housing (122), (paragraph [0016]).
10. As to claim 13, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the physical sensor unit (130) is mounted within the housing (122), (paragraph [0016]).
11. As to claim 14, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 1, fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the physical sensor unit (100) is mounted externally, (see fig. 1, paragraph [0012]) and within the housing (see fig. 2) physical sensor unit (130) mounted within the housing (122), (paragraph [0016]).
12. As to claim 15, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the mounting means (102) includes at least one clamp mechanism (104), (paragraphs [0014], [0016]).
13. As to claim 16, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) wherein the mounting mean (122) include a pair of clamp mechanisms (104, 112, 116), (paragraphs [0014], [0016]).
14. As to claim 17, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) wherein the clamp mechanism (104) includes a raptor clamp (102), (paragraphs [0014], [0016]).
15. As to claim 18, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 1) a method for mounting (positioned) a sensor module (100) on a power line wire (10), (paragraph [0012]) using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (20), the method including the steps of: providing a power line wire (10) mounted (positioned) sensor module (100); (drone 20 can deposit each sensor 100 on a corresponding transmission line 10) defines releasably attaching the sensor module (100) to the UAV (20); from a launch point (tower numbers, unique identifier, location code 50-51:2), (paragraph [0013]), controlling to initiate mounting (positioned) to the non-live wire (10); and controlling the UAV (20) to release the sensor module (100) once mounted (positioned) to the power line wire (10), (paragraphs [0012]-[0015]), (see Written Opinion of the International Search Authority, PCT/AU2022/051482). Dish Network LLC does not disclose that the wire is a non-live power line. However, such an arrangement is known from the abstract of Furukawa Electric CO LTD. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC to include the wire is a non-live power line wire as taught by Furukawa Electric CO LTD in order to acquire and/or seek a solution to install the sensor on a transmission line, to arrive at a non-live wire mounting arrangement which is the same as the claimed invention, (see Written Opinion of the International Search Authority, PCT/AU2022/051482).
16. As to claim 19, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 1) a system (system) for sensing (detecting) one or more physical measurements (detect line fault on power transmission line), (see Abstract), the system (system) including: at least one wire mounted sensor (100), (fig. 2) a communication arrangement (128) for facilitating digital communication with (fig. 3) a server (); and communication gateway node (142) for facilitating digital communications between the at least (fig. 2) one sensor module (120) and the communication arrangement (128), ([0014], [0016]-[0017]). Dish Network LLC fail to disclose non-live wire. However, such an arrangement is known from the abstract of Furukawa Electric CO LTD. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC to include the wire is a non-live power line wire as taught by Furukawa Electric CO LTD in order to acquire and/or seek a solution to install the sensor on a transmission line, to arrive at a non-live wire mounting sensor arrangement which is the same as the claimed invention, (see Written Opinion of the International Search Authority, PCT/AU2022/051482).
17. As to claim 20, Dish Network LLC disclose (fig. 2, fig. 3) a system (system) wherein the system (system) for sensing one or more physical measurements (wind direction, ambient temperature, detecting a loss of current, voltage, and/or EM fields) includes a plurality of sensor modules (120) and the respective communication units (128) of the plurality of sensor modules (120) create a mesh network (142) for communicating the plurality of sensor modules (120) with the communication gateway node (140), (paragraphs [0016]-[0018]).
18. Claim(s) 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dish Network LLC (US2021/0190847A1) in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD (JPS59142479A), and further in view of Sham (US2021/0122258A1)
19. As to claim 3, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120), (paragraph [0016]). Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD fail to disclose wherein the power supply includes a solar panel mounted externally on the housing. Sham discloses (fig. 1) wherein the power supply (145) includes a solar panel (125) mounted (affixed) externally on the housing (105), (paragraphs [0011], [0014]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electronic CO LTD to include wherein the power supply includes a solar panel mounted externally on the housing as taught by Sham in order to convert solar energy from the sun light into electrical energy, and transfer the electrical energy to other components such as battery in the housing, (see paragraph [0014] to Sham).
20. As to claim 4, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120), (paragraph [0016]). Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD fail to disclose wherein the power supply includes at least one battery disposed within the housing. Sham discloses (fig. 1) wherein the power supply (145) includes at least one battery (110) disposed within the housing (105), (paragraph [0014]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD to include wherein the power supply includes at least one battery disposed within the housing as taught by Sham in order to provide power to desired components within the house.
21. As to claim 5, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120), (paragraph [0016]). Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD fail to disclose wherein the at least one battery is rechargeable. Sham discloses (fig. 1) wherein the at least one battery (110) is rechargeable (rechargeable), (paragraph [0017]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD to include wherein the at least one battery is rechargeable as taught by Sham in order to reliably provide power to desired electrical components required to perform various tasks and operations.
22. Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dish
Network LLC (US20210190847A1) in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD
(JPS59142479A), and further in view of Georgiou et al (US20090015239A1).
23. As to claim 7, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120), (paragraph [0016]). Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD (JPS59142479A fail to disclose wherein the conductor temperature sensor includes an infrared sensor. Georgiou et al disclose wherein the conductor temperature sensor (200) includes infrared sensor (610, 620), (paragraphs [0067]-[0071]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD to include wherein the conductor temperature sensor includes an infrared sensor as taught by Georgiou et al in order to more accurately determine the precise temperature and/or current in the transmission lines resulting in transmit data being used to identify line faults and/or line lags, (see Written Opinion of the International Search Authority, PCT/AU2022/051482).
24. Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dish
Network LLC (US20210190847A1) in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD
(JPS59142479A), and further in view of Luckey et al (US2020/0167059A1).
25. As to claim 8, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120) comprising the line sag detection sensor (line swing accelerometer), (paragraph [0016]). Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD fail to disclose a LiDAR sensor. Luckey et al disclose (fig. 1) a LiDAR sensor (LiDAR components, LiDAR sensors, 102), (paragraph [0017]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD to include LiDAR sensor as taught by Luckey et al in order to capture a real-world environment and the objects it contains, (see paragraph [0022] to Luckey et al).
26. As to claim 9, Dish Network LLC discloses (fig. 2) the sensor module (120), (paragraph [0016]). Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD fail to disclose wherein the object proximity sensor includes a LiDAR sensor. Luckey et al disclose wherein the object proximity sensor (position sensor), (paragraph [0014]) includes LiDAR sensor (LiDAR components, LIDAR sensors, 102), (paragraphs [0017], [0022]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Dish Network LLC in view of Furukawa Electric CO LTD to include object proximity sensor includes LIDAR sensor as taught by Luckey et al in order to capture a real-world environment and the objects it contains, (see paragraph [0022] to Luckey et al).
Conclusion
27. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DON J WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-8538. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 a.m.-5 p.m..
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/DON J WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2878
/GEORGIA Y EPPS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2878