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
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 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 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 of this title, 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ker (US 2010/0315754) in view of Dunnihoo (US 2016/0209456).
With regard to claim 1, Ker, in Figs. 5 & 6, teaches a voltage dot, comprising: a plurality of voltage transient detectors (30a-30c) formed on a circuit (3), each of the plurality of voltage transient detectors configured to detect transient voltages above a corresponding transient threshold voltage (V300a-V300c), wherein the corresponding transient threshold voltage is different for different ones of the plurality of voltage transient detectors (as seen in Fig. 6 each transient detector has a threshold voltage set by the size of the MOSFET and the capacitor as taught in paragraphs 0041-0043), each of the plurality of voltage transient detectors configured to provide a persistent indication of having detected a voltage transient that exceeds the corresponding transient threshold voltage (as seen in Fig. 6, the voltage level output by the detector remains persistent after the transient occurs).
Ker does not teach that the device comprises a printed circuit board, however, the circuit depicted in Fig. 5 of Ker would necessarily be mounted to some sort of substrate.
Dunnihoo, in Figures 4 & 13, teaches a circuit to detect transient events (paragraph 0047). It is further taught that the circuit is formed on a PCB (paragraph 0087).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ker with Dunihoo by forming circuit of Ker on a PCB as taught by Dunnihoo, for the purpose of mounting the circuit on well-known substrate that allows the circuit to be easily manufactured.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 2 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a voltage dot comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with a transient detection circuit having a first input connected to a node within the transient threshold voltage control circuit, the transient detection circuit having a second input connected to an output of the transient threshold voltage control circuit, the transient detection circuit having an output connected to the input of the transient detection storage circuit.
Claims 3-13 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because they depend on claim 2 which would also be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 14-19 are allowable.
Claim 14 is allowable because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a method for detecting voltage transients comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with transmitting a controlled amount of electrical current through the fuse in conjunction with an occurrence of a voltage transient that exceeds a transient threshold voltage, the voltage transient occurring at a voltage measurement location, the controlled amount of electrical current causing the fuse to blow and the light emitting diode to turn off.
Claims 15-19 are allowable as they depend from claim 14, which is also allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Corey (US 5,153,506), Kapp (US 5,412,526), Burleigh (US 5,914,662), Smith (US 6,490,142), Redding (US 6,535,369) Hess (US 9,383,405), Quigley (US 9,671,453) and Chung (US 9,728,956) all teach circuits to detect transient events and share similarities with Applicant’s invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCOTT BAUER whose telephone number is (571)272-5986. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12pm - 8pm EST.
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/Scott Bauer/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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