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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on 28 March 2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently presented in the instant application.
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) 1-5, 8-12, and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Halleland (Publication No.: GB 2620989 A, herein known as D1, a machine translated copy is provided with this Office Action).
With respect to claim 1, D1 discloses a fire early detection system for use with a gateway device ([00032]), the gateway device being configured to wirelessly receive a detection signal via a first communication protocol and to communicate via a network communication protocol ([00061] describes gateway 214a and [00065] and [00068]-[00069] describes the wireless, Bluetooth and other communication methods between the sensors, systems, and gateway), said fire early detection system comprising:
a sensory node configured to be disposed at a location (multi-sensors 206, 208, 208a, 208b, and 208c; [00061]); and
a warning system configured to receive the detection signal from the gateway device via the network communication protocol and to output a fire warning signal based on the detection signal (fire control multisensory 206 and associated systems that trigger a fire alert; [00061]),
wherein said sensory node comprises:
a sensor configured to detect a parameter of an environment surrounding said sensory node at the location and to output a parameter signal based on the detected parameter ([00067] multi-sensors can include microphones 304, smoke/air quality sensors 308, temperature/humidity sensor 314, image/motion sensor 310);
a communicator configured to wirelessly transmit the detection signal ([00068] wi-fi access point 306 and/or Bluetooth sensor 312);
a memory having instructions stored therein; a processor configured to execute the instructions stored in said memory to ([00069] processor circuitry 318 to execute code stored on memory 320):
generate, based on the parameter signal, the detection signal; and cause said communicator to wirelessly transmit the detection signal (see overall process of [00061]-[00069] which describes measuring an environment for fires and triggering an alarm based on the detected results); and
a power source configured to supply power to said sensor, said communicator, said memory and said processor (primary power supply 216a or alternatively ports 302a,b,c may include one or more power over ethernet communication ports; [00065]).
With respect to claim 2, D1 further discloses a system wherein said sensor is configured to detect the parameter as one of a group of parameters comprising sound volume, sound frequency composition, temperature, pressure, humidity, gas composition, wind magnitude, wind direction, change in sound volume, change in sound frequency composition, change in temperature, change in pressure, change in humidity, change in gas composition, change in wind magnitude, change in wind direction, and combinations thereof ([00067] multi-sensors can include microphones 304, smoke/air quality sensors 308, temperature/humidity sensor 314, image/motion sensor 310).
With respect to claim 3, D1 further discloses a system wherein said sensory node further comprises: a second sensor configured to detect a second parameter of the environment surrounding said sensory node at the location and to output a second parameter signal based on the detected second parameter, wherein said processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in said memory to generate, based on the parameter signal and the second parameter signal, the detection signal, wherein said power source is further configured to supply power to said second sensor, wherein said sensor is configured to detect the parameter as one of a group of parameters comprising sound volume, sound frequency composition, temperature, pressure, humidity, gas composition, wind magnitude, wind direction, change in sound volume, change in sound frequency composition, change in temperature, change in pressure, change in humidity, change in gas composition, change in wind magnitude, change in wind direction, and combinations thereof, and wherein said second sensor is configured to detect the second parameter as another one of the group of parameters (multi-sensor as described in claim 1, all of the sensors of microphones 304, smoke/air quality sensors 308, temperature/humidity sensor 314, image/motion sensor 310 are all contained within the same node, and use the same processor and transmission methods as seen in Fig. 3A).
With respect to claim 4, D1 further discloses a system wherein the gateway device is additionally configured to wirelessly receive a second detection signal via the first communication protocol, wherein the warning system being additionally configured to output a second fire warning signal based on the second detection signal, said fire early detection system further comprising: a second sensory node configured to be disposed at a second location, said second sensory node comprising: a second sensor configured to detect a second parameter of an environment surrounding said second sensory node at the second location and to output a second parameter signal based on the detected second parameter; a second communicator configured to wirelessly transmit the second detection signal; a second memory having second instructions stored therein; a second processor configured to execute the second instructions stored in said second memory to: generate, based on the second parameter signal, the second detection signal; and cause said second communicator to wirelessly transmit the second detection signal; and a second power source configured to supply power to said second sensor, said second communicator, said second memory and said second processor (there are shown to be at least 5 multi-sensors 206, 208, 208a, 208b, 208c of each multi-sensor network which all work together to determine fire alerts; [00061] as a non-limiting example).
With respect to claim 5, D1 further discloses a system wherein said communicator is additionally configured to wirelessly receive the second detection signal and to transmit the second detection signal, wherein said second communicator is additionally configured to wirelessly receive the detection signal and to transmit the detection signal, wherein said processor is additionally configured to execute the instructions stored in said memory to cause said communicator to wirelessly transmit the second detection signal, and wherein said second processor is additionally configured to execute the second instructions stored in said second memory to cause said second communicator to wirelessly transmit the detection signal ([000115] the controllers of the multi-sensors can control the data transmission between the multi-sensors and any application servers).
With respect to claim 8, see the rejection of claim 1 above which claims these features and method.
With respect to claim 9, see the rejection of claim 2 above for the parameters detected.
With respect to claim 10, see the rejection of claim 3 above for the method and structures of the second multi-sensor.
With respect to claim 11, see the rejection of claim 4 above for the method and structure of detecting, transmitting, and receiving the parameter signals.
With respect to claim 12, see the rejection of claim 5 above for wirelessly receiving and transmitting the second detection signal.
With respect to claim 15, see the rejection of claim 1 above for the structure and method performed by the processors of the device.
With respect to claim 16, see the rejection of claim 2 above for the parameters detected.
With respect to claim 17, see the rejection of claim 3 above for the structure and processing involving the second sensor system and detected parameters.
With respect to claim 18, see the rejection of claim 4 above for the structure and processing involving the communications with the second sensor.
With respect to claim 19, see the rejection of claim 5 above for the structure and processing involving the receiving and transmitting of the detected signal.
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 (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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 6-7, 13-14, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Halleland (Publication No.: GB 2620989 A, herein known as D1, a machine translated copy is provided with this Office Action) alone or in view of Martinsson et al. (see full citation in reference cited below, herein known as D2, and submitted with this Office Action).
With respect to claim 6, D1 further discloses a system wherein said sensor comprises a microphone configured to detect sound, as the parameter, of the environment surrounding said sensory node at the location and to output an audio signal as the parameter signal ([00067] multi-sensors can include microphones 304, smoke/air quality sensors 308, temperature/humidity sensor 314, image/motion sensor 310).
D1 does not explicitly disclose a system wherein said processor is additionally configured to execute the instructions stored in said memory to generate the detection signal by band-pass filtering the audio signal to eliminate any frequencies above 10KHz and any frequencies below 100Hz (no filtering is described).
However, filtering audio signal to eliminate unwanted noise is well-known in the art and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to filter the noise to only the range needed to detect the fires.
Furthermore, D2 teaches a method of detecting fires using acoustic measurements, and performing machine learning to automatically detect fires (abstract, overall paper). In Fig. 4 in particular, the table shows the different noise levels and frequencies detected for non-fire and fire events over time, which uses a range between 0 and 16394hz.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to utilize the machine learning system of the D2 paper in the processing for fire detection, which focuses on a range of detection similarly to 100hz-10Khz as seen in Fig. 4 of D2, and filter out frequences outside of that range as noise.
With respect to claim 7, D1 does not explicitly disclose a system wherein said power source is selected from the group of power sources comprising a battery, a capacitor, an energy harvesting system, a generator, and combinations thereof (the primary/secondary power sources are not described in detail).
However, all of these are known means of supplying power to a device, and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to utilize any of these known power sources as the power sources of D1 with known advantages and disadvantages such as power drain, supply, and size.
With respect to claim 13, see the rejection of claim 6 above for using a microphone to detect the sound parameter and the obvious filtering of the sound.
With respect to claim 14, see the rejection of claim 7 above for the obviousness use of known power devices.
With respect to claim 20, see the rejection of claim 6 above for utilizing a microphone with a band-pass filtered signal for the specific method of detecting.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Martinsson, J., Runefors, M., Frantzich, H. et al. A Novel Method for Smart Fire Detection Using Acoustic Measurements and Machine Learning: Proof of Concept. Fire Technol 58, 3385–3403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-022-01307-1
Thompson et al. (Publication No.: US 2023/0316888 A1)
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIANA HANCOCK whose telephone number is (571)270-7547. The examiner can normally be reached on 10AM-6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached on (571) 272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/D.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
7/24/2026
/STEPHANIE E BLOSS/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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