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 statement (IDS) submitted on 12/23/2024 and 06/13/2024 was considered by the examiner.
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 – 3, 5, 8 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito et al. (JP 2015135258 A).
With regards to claim 1, Ito discloses an optical gas sensor device (Figure 1) comprising:
a light source 121 that emits an infrared ray to a gas G as a detection target [0023];
an optical filter 110 that transmits the infrared ray with a wavelength corresponding to an absorption wavelength of the gas as the detection target [0023];
a light receiver 122 that generates a detection signal by detecting the infrared ray incident through the optical filter 110 [0019] [0021];
a substrate 102 on which the light source 121 and the light receiver 122 are mounted (See mounts 121 + 122); and
a signal processor 50, 61 that intermittently drives and controls on and off of the light source 121, and calculates a gas concentration value of the gas as the detection target from a difference value acquired by subtracting a detection value of the detection signal when the light source 121 is off from the detection value of the detection signal when the light source 121 is on [0019] – [0024].
Notice that the microcomputer 50 executes each process using various programs and data read from an external storage device or recording medium. Examples of recording media include portable semiconductor memories (such as USB memories and memory cards (registered trademark)), optical disks such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic disks [0055].
With regards to claim 2, Ito discloses a temperature sensor 141/142 that detects a substrate temperature of the substrate 102, wherein the signal processor 50/61 calculates the gas concentration value from the substrate temperature and the difference value [0022] – [0025], [0046]. Notice the difference by subtracting OFF from ON, then the concentration.
With regards to claim 3, Ito discloses the temperature sensor 141/142 detects the substrate temperature when the light source 121 is on and the substrate temperature when the light source 121 is off, and wherein the signal processor 50, 61 calculates a substrate average temperature which is an average value of the substrate temperature when the light source 121 is on and the substrate temperature when the light source 121 is off, and calculates the gas concentration value from the substrate average temperature and the difference value [0019] – [0022], [0046] – [0048] and Figures 9 – 11.
With regards to claim 5, Ito discloses an optical cover 102 that is provided on the substrate (i.e., cover/housing) so as to cover the light source 121 and the light receiver 122, that reflects the infrared ray passing the optical filter 110 on an inner surface of the cover (i.e. mirror-finished surface 102b), and that is provided so that at least some of the reflected light reaches the light receiver 122, and a gas introducer that introduces gas G as the detection target in the optical cover [0019] – [0022]. Examples of the infrared wavelength selection filter 110 include a wavelength selection filter, a diffraction grating, and a Fabry-Perot filter [0021].
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.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito et al. (JP 2015135258 A) in view of Udrea et al. (US Pub. No. 2012/0267532 A1).
With regards to claim 3, Ito discloses the light source 121 but failed to teach that the source is a MEMS type light source.
Udrea discloses a Mems source in order to create improved fast modulating sources [0013] [0014].
In view of the utility, to create an improved source, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Ito to include the source such as that taught by Udrea.
Claim(s) 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito et al. (JP 2015135258 A) in view of Marman et al. (US Patent 5,945,924).
With regards to claim 6, Ito discloses the signal processor as claimed according to claim 1, but fails to expressly disclose determining that there is a failure in the optical gas sensor device in a case that the difference value acquired by subtracting the detection value of the detection signal when the light source is off from the detection value of the detection signal when the light source is on is lower than a predetermined first threshold value, and a voltage value applied to the light source is a predetermined second threshold value or more.
Marman discloses the missing limitations (Col. 15, Lines 10 -23).
In view of the utility, to create an improved optical sensor, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Ito to include the source such as that taught by Marman.
With regards to claim 7, Ito discloses the claimed invention according to claim 6, but fails to expressly disclose wherein the signal processor determines a state of the optical gas sensor device from the gas concentration value, and outputs a state signal of a determined state to an external apparatus.
Marman discloses the missing limitations (Col. 18, Lines 13 -50).
In view of the utility, to create an improved optical sensor that includes instantaneous concentration rates, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Ito to include the source such as that taught by Marman.
Conclusion
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/DJURA MALEVIC/Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2884