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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 06/07/2024 and
10/28/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, each IDS is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19, 20 are rejected under 35 U. S. C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Karimi et al. (CA 3100825 A1), hereafter referred to as “Karimi”. Examiner’s rejections presented in this office action, were taken from the pdf print-out of the Karimi disclosure, placed in the application file. The disclosure page numbers members cited for the following rejections, are referenced via a pdf pagination indicator.
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Regarding claim 1, Karimi disclose a system for measuring a dielectric property of a medium, the system comprising:
a resonator (Figure 14, element 70) (page 23, line 5);
an oscillator (page 24, last 2 lines) electrically coupled to the resonator and configured to generate an electrical signal representing an oscillation of the oscillator when the resonator is disposed in a vicinity of the medium; and
measuring circuitry (system, Figure 7, element 50) (page 25, lines 1 – 10) that receives the electrical signal,
wherein the measuring circuitry determines, from the electrical signal, at least one of a resonance frequency of the resonator and a quality factor of the resonator (page 18, last two lines) (page 19, lines 1 – 10), and
wherein the measuring circuitry determines, from the at least one of the resonance frequency and the quality factor, the dielectric property of the medium (page 18, lines 16 - 26).
Regarding claim 3, Karimi disclose system, wherein:
the measuring circuitry determines, from the electrical signal, the resonance frequency of the resonator (page 18, last two lines), and
the measuring circuitry determines, from the electrical signal, the resonance frequency of the resonator based on an oscillation frequency of the oscillator (page 18, lines 16 - 26)..
Regarding claim 9, Karimi disclose the system , wherein the resonator is directly connected to the oscillator without using a coaxial cable (as shown in Figure 7).
Regarding claim 11, Karimi disclose the system, wherein the measuring circuitry determines the dielectric property of the medium in microwave frequencies (via a microwave oscillator, page 24, last 2 lines).
Regarding claim 12, Karimi disclose the system, wherein the system determines, from the dielectric property of the medium, a Water-Cut of the medium (page 32, lines 2 – 12).
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Regarding claim 15, Karimi disclose the system, wherein the resonator is a T-resonator (Figure 14, element 70) (page 23, line 17).
Regarding claim 16, Karimi disclose the system, wherein the system further comprises at least one Radio Frequency (RF) switch (Figure 7, element 52) (page 25, lines 1 – 10) that feeds the electrical signal to the measuring circuitry (system, Figure 7, element 50) (page 25, lines 1 – 10).
Regarding claim 19, Karimi disclose a method for measuring a dielectric property of a medium, the method comprising:
controlling an oscillator (page 24, last 2 lines) electrically coupled to a resonator to generate an electrical signal representing an oscillation of the oscillator when the resonator is disposed in a vicinity of the medium;
receiving, by measuring circuitry (system, Figure 7, element 50) (page 25, lines 1 – 10), the electrical signal;
determining, by the measuring circuitry, from the electrical signal, at least one of a resonance frequency of the resonator and a quality factor of the resonator (page 18, last two lines) (page 19, lines 1 – 10); and
determining, by the measuring circuitry, from the at least one of the resonance frequency and the quality factor, the dielectric property of the medium (page 18, lines 16 - 26).
Regarding claim 20, Karimi disclose a non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) storing instructions (page 34, lines 5 - 13) (page 35, lines 11 - 27) for performing an operation that measures a dielectric property of a medium, the operation comprising (as previously rejected and presented in paragraph 13, above):
controlling an oscillator electrically coupled to a resonator to generate an electrical signal representing an oscillation of the oscillator when the resonator is disposed in a vicinity of the medium;
receiving, by measuring circuitry, the electrical signal;
determining, by the measuring circuitry, from the electrical signal, at least one of a resonance frequency of the resonator and a quality factor of the resonator; and
determining, by the measuring circuitry, from the at least one of the resonance frequency and the quality factor, the dielectric property of the medium.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 10 and 18 are rejected under 35 U. S. C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karimi, as applied to claim 1, in view of Govind et al. (US 7489914 B2), hereafter referred to as “Govind”.
Regarding claim 10, Karimi do not disclose the system, wherein the oscillator is a Colpitt’s oscillator.
Regarding claim 18, Karimi do not disclose the system, wherein the oscillator comprises two capacitors that control an operating frequency range of the oscillator for generating the electrical signal.
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Regarding claims 10 and 18, Govind teach a radio frequency transceiver comprising a high performance, Colpitt’s oscillator consisting of high – Q, passive components; the oscillator circuit comprising an inductor (Figure 16A, element 1012) and two capacitors to control an operating frequency range of the oscillator (Figure 16A, elements 1014 and 1016) (column 18, lines 22 - 45).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the applicant filed for the invention, that a system for measuring a dielectric property of a medium, the system comprising a combination of features as disclosed by Karimi, for the Karimi invention can be modified to implement a Colpitt’s oscillator having features as taught by Govind (as presented paragraph 20, above) for the system to have optimum signal reception sensitivity and frequency bandwidth selectivity, to effectuate accurate determination of dielectric properties of specific substances within a medium.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4 – 8, 13, 14, 17 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.
Regarding claim 2, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein:
the measuring circuitry comprises a vector network analyzer (VNA),
the measuring circuitry determines, from the electrical signal, the resonance frequency of the resonator, and
the measuring circuitry determines the resonance frequency of the resonator, from the electrical signal, using the VNA to measure an intersection of a phase of the resonator with an inverted phase of the oscillator.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein:
the measuring circuitry determines, from the electrical signal, the quality factor of the resonator, and
the measuring circuitry determines, from the electrical signal, the quality factor of the resonator based on a power of the oscillator.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein the measuring circuitry determines the power of the oscillator in a state where the oscillator is not saturated.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein:
the measuring circuitry determines, based on the electrical signal, the quality factor of the resonator, and
the measuring circuitry determines, based on the electrical signal, the quality factor of the resonator based on a base voltage of the oscillator.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein the measuring circuitry uses the base voltage to control a gain of the oscillator.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein:
the system comprises a coaxial cable that connects the resonator to the oscillator, and
[[wherein]] a length of the coaxial cable is not more than 6 inches.
Regarding claim 13, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein the system determines, from the dielectric property of the medium, a Gas Volume Fraction of the medium.
Regarding claim 14, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, wherein:
the oscillator stabilizes the electrical signal in less than 500 nanoseconds (ns), and
[[wherein]] the measuring circuitry determines the at least one of the resonance frequency and the quality factor in less than 0.5 millisecond (ms).
Regarding claim 17, the prior art made of record neither shows nor suggests the system, where:
the measuring circuitry determines the dielectric property of the medium in a state where an operating gain of the oscillator is greater than an operating loss of the resonator and
the sum of an operating phase of the oscillator and an operating phase of the resonator is 0°.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WARREN K FENWICK whose telephone number is (571)270-3040. The examiner can normally be reached 10:30 AM to 7:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter L. Lindsay, Jr. can be reached at 571-272-1674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WALTER L LINDSAY JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2852
WKF
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