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 have been presented for examination.
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 1-20 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.
Specifically, claims 1 and 11 recite the limitation “update the preset frequency” on lines 14 and 18 respectively and then later refer to "an updated preset frequency” on lines 19 and 23 respectively. It is unclear if these updated preset frequencies are the same or different. For examination purposes, lines 19 and 23 of claims 1 and 11 respectively are interpreted as “the updated preset frequency”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
REASONS FOR ALLOWANCE
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
PGPUB 2021/0215568 to Hori teaches both increasing a processing frequency for a sensor when water leakage is detected and also attempts to determine the location of the leak [Figs. 7-8, 0114-0122, 0173-0174].
US Pat No 8502687 to Wang teaches using sensors to receive pipeline data, such as pressure data, and if the data is abnormal, using the pipeline data to identify a leak section [cols. 3-4 lines 40-3].
US Pat No 6976382 to Kadowaki teaches increasing a frequency of abnormality diagnosis of a gas sensor [cols. 14-15 lines 64-11].
US Pat No 5686828 to Peterman teaches determining the locations of fractures within a gas pipeline using a plurality of sensors [abstract, cols. 3-4 lines 63-14].
US Pat No 4866633 to Nakane teaches detecting an abnormality when a gas flow rate exceeds a normal rate and closing a shutoff valve in response [col. 1 lines 45-66].
US Pat No 4799166 to Shiono teaches analyzing gas to determine the presence or absence of an abnormality and adjusting a sampling rate according to the analyzed results [claim 1].
The prior art of record does not teach or suggest either individually or in combination, determining at least one suspect pipeline network segment from an abnormal second distributed gas data that is collected at an updated frequency when a first distributed gas data is abnormal.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK A CONNOLLY whose telephone number is (571)272-3666. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini 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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/MARK A CONNOLLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115 5/29/26
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