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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Examiner’s Note: The examiner has cited particular passages including column and line numbers, paragraphs as designated numerically and/or figures as designated numerically in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claims, other passages, paragraphs and figures of any and all cited prior art references may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing an eventual response, to fully consider the context of the passages, paragraphs and figures as taught by the prior art and/or cited by the examiner while including in such consideration the cited prior art references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. MPEP 2141.02 VI: “PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS."
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/12/2024 was filed after the mailing date of the first office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The claim recites “collecting data on at least one of a position of a user and use of an appliance and adjusting at least one of said increasing and said predicting according to said position”. The specification is completely silent with regard to the limitation above.
Claims 19-20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The claims recite “said heating is adjusted for matching a government regulation and collecting data on performance of said matching. The specification, in paragraph 0204, merely said, in some embodiments, the recuperation system can be used for retro-fitting existing central water heating systems. For example, retrofitting may revive performance, reducing pollution and/or help match government regulations. The specification is completely silent with regard to heating is adjust for matching a government regulation.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. “Application of an exhaust heat recovery system for domestic hot water” Energy 35 (2020) 1476-1481 (“Liu”).
Regarding claim 1, Liu disclose a method of recovering heat comprising:
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feeding a warm waste [Gray water pool] flow into a heat exchanger array [6];
directing heat from said heat exchanger array to a cold cycle of a heat pump;
The gray water is filtered through the filters and then pumped to the heat exchanger to heat the tap water. [Right Col. page 1477]
heating clean water for with a hot cycle of said heat pump.
After, the gray water is piped to the evaporator of the heat pump to release additional heat. The tap water is heated through the heat exchanger and goes to the condenser of the heat
pump to recover additional heat. [Right Col. page 1477]
Regarding claim 2, Liu discloses wherein said warm waste flow includes a heated fluid [Public shower facilities tend to have a high occupancy rate because they are only opened during specified times. This means the waste heat in the water drain could be a valuable resource - 1476].
Regarding claim 3, Liu disclose said warm waste flow consists of warm gray waste water [SEE fig. 1].
Regarding claim 4, Liu disclose storing heat from said heated fluid prior to said feeding [gray water pool].
Regarding claim 5, Liu disclose said warm waste flow includes waste water from a building wherein said directing is to a hot water system of said building [SEE fig. 1].
Regarding claim 6, Liu disclose said directing is to a source of said warm waste flow [SEE fig. 1].
Regarding claim 9, Liu disclose distributing said clean water after said heating to a suer to fill a real demand [SEE fig. 1 – public shower facility]
Regarding claim 10, Liu disclose storing said clean water after heating prior to said distributing [3 – heat storage tank].
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:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 7-8, 11-13, 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tanaka JP 2019020023.
Regarding claim 7, Liu does not teach predicting a future heat supply and heat demand; increasing a rate of said heating in response to at least one of a predicted increase in said heat demand and a predicted reduction of said heat supply. Tanaka teaches another system configured to provide hot water in a household that capable of reducing electricity and heating expenses. Specifically, Liu teaches predicting a future heat supply and heat demand; increasing a rate of said heating in response to at least one of a predicted increase in said heat demand and a predicted reduction of said heat supply.
In surplus judgment, first, based on the actual usage of hot water over the past few days in the parent household (for example, the actual usage for a week), the estimated daily usage (average value + adjustment parameter) of hot water in the parent household is calculated… When the estimated heat collection amount on the day by the solar heat collector 61 is equal to or less than the estimated use amount, it is determined that there is no surplus [page 8].
If a negative determination is made in step S207, that is, if there is no surplus hot water in the parent household, the first interchange process is terminated as it is. If there is a shortage of hot water in the child household and there is no surplus in the parent household, the operation of the gas water heater 72 in the child household is started [page 9]
The control device 55 specifies whether or not the child household is scheduled to be absent the next day based on the operation of the absent button. Thus, when the child household is absent (when the required amount of hot water in the child household decreases), the amount of preparation of the hot water storage tank 60 decreases [page 21].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Liu with the step of predicting a future heat supply and heat demand; increasing a rate of said heating in response to at least one of a predicted increase in said heat demand and a predicted reduction of said heat supply of Tanaka. The motivation for doing so would has been to ensure an adequate amount of hot water supply for the household while still reduce cost when demand is low.
Regarding claim 8, Tanaka predicting includes regard for at least one of a cost of electricity [par. 15],
Regarding claim 11, Tanaka teaches controlling a plurality of automatic valves to adjust distribution between a plurality of usage zones to increase efficiency [SEE fig. 5; page 7, 9-10].
Regarding claim 12, Tanaka teaches at least one of said usage zones, said heat pump and a heat storage unit are in a functional block and the plurality of automatic valves control flow to said functional block [SEE fig. 1].
Regarding claim 13, Liu teaches efficiency includes at least one of increasing a ratio of use of renewable resources with respect to non-renewable resources, reduce grid load and reduce cost [SEE fig. 1].
Regarding claim 14, Tanaka teaches collecting data on at least one of a position of a user and use of an appliance and adjusting at least one of said increasing and said predicting according to said position [SEE page 21].
Regarding claim 16, Tanaka teaches providing an incentive to a user who receives marginal benefit from the method [par. 5, 11 -reduce utility costs].
Regarding claim 17, Tanaka teaches energy flow of said clean water is monitored [page 10 and 16].
Regarding claim 18, Tanaka teaches a user is billed for said energy flow [page 10 and 16].
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu/Tanaka as applied to claims 1+7, above, and further in view of Zhou US Pub. No. 2020/0300664.
Regarding claim 15, Liu/Tanaka does not teach collecting data on performance of a distribution and sending a recommendation to improve system performance.
Zhou teaches a method and system for monitors water distribution in a home. Specifically, Zhou teaches collecting data on performance of a distribution and sending a recommendation to improve system performance [SEE par. 0026-0029, 0032, 0041-0042].
[0027] In one embodiment, the waterflow monitoring device 102 measures the waterflow through the one or more plumbing fixtures. The waterflow monitoring device 102 transmits waterflow monitoring data from the waterflow monitoring device 102 to the waterflow analysis system 104. The waterflow monitoring data indicates characteristics of the flow of water through the one or more plumbing fixtures monitored by the waterflow monitoring device 102.
[0032] In one embodiment, the waterflow analysis system 104 receives the waterflow monitoring data from the waterflow monitoring device 102 via the one or more networks 110. The waterflow analysis system 104 analyzes the waterflow monitoring data and identifies characteristics of the waterflow through the one or more plumbing fixtures. The waterflow analysis system 104 generates waterflow notification data based on the characteristics of the waterflow.
[0042] In one embodiment, the waterflow analysis system 104 generates waterfowl notification data based on water usage of a community of users of the waterflow analysis system 104. The waterflow analysis system can generate notification data that informs a user how the user's water usage compares to other users of the waterflow analysis system 104. For example, the waterflow notification data can indicate to the user that a plumbing fixture of the user utilizes more water on average than plumbing fixtures of that type of other users. The waterflow notification data can include recommendations to improve conservation of water in the plumbing fixture. If the waterflow notification data indicates that the plumbing fixture uses less water than typical plumbing fixtures of that type, then the waterflow notification data can include positive feedback for the user to encourage the user in the user's water conservation efforts. The waterflow notification data may request that the user provide the model of the plumbing fixture so that the waterflow analysis system can provide recommended models of plumbing fixtures to possibly replace an inefficient model.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Liu/Tanaka with the step of collecting data on performance of a distribution and sending a recommendation to improve system performance of Zhou. The motivation for doing so would has been to improve the effectiveness of the water distribution system, as suggested by Zhou in par. 0199. Thus, reduce water cost.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 19, Liu teaches a heat recovery system combined with a solar energy collection system. Therefore, it is obvious to one of skill in the art that Liu teaches said heating is adjusted for matching a government regulation (using heat recovery and solar energy would reduce pollution which is a government regulation).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu as applied to claims 1+7, above, and further in view of Zhou.
Regarding claim 20, Zhou teaches collecting data on performance. Therefore, Liu in view of Zhou teaches collecting data performance of said matching [See discussion in claims 15 and 19]
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Pub. No. 2020/0208848 to Muxworthy et al. teach a method and apparatus for transferring heat energy from a waste-liquid, wherein the apparatus (100) comprises at least one heat exchange element (107) for transferring heat energy from waste liquid in a first container (101) to a first target fluid, at least one heat pump clement (111) for transferring heat energy from waste-liquid transferred from the first container to the further container (102), at least one selectively operable exit-valve element (115) for selectively providing at least one fluid communication path for allowing waste-liquid to exit from the further container, and at least one controller element for selectively operating the heat pump element to transfer heat energy from waste-liquid in the further container to a further target fluid and/or for selectively operating the at least one selectively operable exit-valve element.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINCENT HUY TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7210. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini S Shah can be reached at 571-272-2279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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VINCENT H TRAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2115
/VINCENT H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115