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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the examiner is unable to ascertain the metes and bounds of “associating the emission of the gas with equipment”. It is unclear what equipment the claim is referring to and it is also unclear how the association is made. It is unclear whether the equipment is the tool used for associating the emission of the gas or if the emission of gas is linked to (associated with) an equipment as the source. Claims 2-8 are rejected based on their dependency to claim 1.
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 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hedberg (US 2020/0116583).
Regarding claim 1, Hedberg teaches a method for monitoring an emission of a gas, comprising: receiving, from an imaging device, a gas density image (step 702, in Fig. 7); detecting the emission of the gas in the gas density image (step 708, in Fig. 7); determining an emission rate, an emission location, or both, of the gas based on the gas density image (Fig. 7); associating the emission of the gas with equipment (IR imaging device (the equipment) is used to capture an IR image and associate it with a type of gas [0038]); and causing a user interface to be displayed on a display device [0055], wherein the user interface comprises one or more indications of the emission rate, the emission location, or both, of the gas [0055][0070].
Regarding claim 7, Hedberg teaches the method of claim 1, comprising determining if a gas leak is occurring based on the gas density image [0022].
Regarding claim 8, Hedberg teaches the method of claim 1, comprising creating an emission event based on the emission rate, the emission location, or both, of the gas [0007].
Regarding claim 9, Hedberg teaches a system for monitoring an emission of a gas, comprising: an imaging device 170; a methane gas sensor 400 [0038]; a display device [0055]; a memory storage including a non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions [0056]; and a hardware-based processor that executes the instructions to carry out stages comprising: receiving, from the imaging device, a gas density image [0065]; detecting the emission of the gas in the gas density image [0065]; determining an emission rate, an emission location, or both, of the gas based on the gas density image [0065]; associating the emission of the gas with equipment [0038]; and causing a user interface to be displayed on the display device [0055], wherein the user interface comprises one or more indications of the emission rate, the emission location, or both, of the gas [0055][0070].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-15 are allowable.
Claims 2-6 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Thorpe et al. (US 2017/0097274) teaches measurement approaches and data analysis methods for gas monitoring and leak detection but remains silent as to generating and training a machine learning model.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW V DO whose telephone number is (571)270-3420. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter L Lindsay 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
/A.V.D/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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