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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected below.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Emmons (U.S. PG Pub. 2015/0032264) in view of McLeod (U.S. PG Pub. 2017/0189844).
As to claim 1 and 11, Emmons teaches an indoor air quality (IAQ) system, comprising: an IAQ sensor configured to measure an IAQ parameter of air within a building[0056 the server 116 may be configured to determine the ventilation needs of the building in which the HVAC controller 18 is located based, at least in part, on data received from one or more sensors indicative of the environmental conditions inside of the building, outside of the building, and/or weather related data including air quality data], the IAQ sensor being one of: a particulate sensor configured to measure an amount of particulate of at least a predetermined size present in the air[0028 In some cases, the data may be indicative of the performance of the HVAC system 4. In some cases, the data may be indicative of indoor air quality and/or outdoor air quality (e.g. temperature, humidity, CO concentration, particulate contamination (dust, pollen, etc)).]; a volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor configured to measure an amount of VOCs present in the air; and a carbon dioxide sensor configured to measure an amount of carbon dioxide present in the air; and a mitigation device configured to, when on, one of increase and decrease the IAQ parameter; a control module configured to selectively turning the mitigation device on and off based on the IAQ parameter[0004, Additionally, the controller may be configured to receive a first signal indicative of a measure of indoor air quality and a second signal indicative of a measure of outdoor air quality. The controller may be configured to determine if ventilation of the building is desired based, at least in part, on the one or more user-specified air quality thresholds stored in the memory and one or more of the measure of indoor air quality and the measure of outdoor air quality. In some instances, the controller may provide an alert on the user interface of the building controller when the controller determines that ventilation of the building is desired. In some cases, the alert may notify the user that window ventilation is desired. In some cases, an alert may be provided on a user interface of a mobile computing device (such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, lap top computer, etc.) when the controller determines that ventilation of the building is desired. 0020 In many instances, one or more air filters 30 may be used to remove dust and other pollutants from the air inside the building 2. In the illustrative example shown in FIG. 1, the air filter(s) 30 is installed in the return air duct 14, and may filter the air prior to the air entering the HVAC component 6, but it is contemplated that any other suitable location for the air filter(s) 30 may be used. The presence of the air filter(s) 30 may not only improve the indoor air quality, but may also protect the HVAC components 6 from dust and other particulate matter that would otherwise be permitted to enter the HVAC component.].
Emmons teaches some of the claimed invention, but fails to teach of claims 1 and 11. However, this is an obvious variations as taught by McLeod as follows:
As to claim 1 and 11, McLeod teaches a change module configured to, in response to a determination that the mitigation device has been on, determine a change in the IAQ parameter over time[0015 In some embodiments, the method may separately evaluate a rate of change of indoor air quality at the filter and may trigger an alert to a user or a purchase of a replacement filter where the rate of change is above a threshold rate.]; and an alert module configured to selectively generate an alert indicative of a fault in the mitigation device based on the change[0015].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teaches of McLeod into the system and methods of Emmons. The motivation to combine is that McLeod teaching predicting a failure give the user the ability to replace a filter before it fails outright[0014].
As to claim 2 and 12, Emmons teaches wherein the mitigation device is one of: an air handler unit of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system (abstract); an air purifier configured to filter particulate from air within the building[0020]; a blower of the air handler unit of the HVAC system of the building; a condenser unit of the HVAC system of the building; a humidifier configured to humidify air within the building; a dehumidifier configured to dehumidify air within the building; and a ventilator configured to vent air out of the building from within the building.
As to claim 3 and 13, McLeod teaches wherein the alert module is configured to generate an alert indicative of partial degradation of the mitigation device when the change over time is within a predetermined range[0015].
As to claim 4 and 14, McLeod teaches wherein the alert module is configured to indicate that the mitigation device is experiencing normal operation when the change over time is one of less than a lower limit of the predetermined range and greater than an upper limit of the predetermined range[0037, 0044].
As to claim 5 and 15, McLeod teaches wherein the alert module is configured to generate the alert indicative of the fault in the mitigation device when the change over time is the other one of less than the lower limit of the predetermined range and greater than the upper limit of the predetermined range[0015].
As to claim 6 and 16, McLeod teaches wherein the alert module is configured to display the alert on a display[0037].
As to claim 7 and 17, McLeod teaches wherein the alert is one of an audible alert and a haptic alert[0075].
As to claim 8 and 18, McLeod teaches wherein the change module is configured to determine the change in the IAQ parameter based on a change in the IAQ parameter that prompted the control module to turn on the mitigation device[0015, 0049].
As to claim 9 and 19, McLeod teaches wherein the change module is configured to determine the change in the IAQ parameter based on a rate of change of the IAQ parameter over the time [0015, 0049].
As to claim 10 and 20, McLeod teaches wherein the change module is configured to determine the change in the IAQ parameter based on a mathematical difference between (a) a present value of the IAQ parameter and (b) a previous value of the IAQ parameter from a previous time[0015 rate of change].
A reference to specific paragraphs, columns, pages, or figures in a cited prior artreference is not limited to preferred embodiments or any specific examples. It iswell settled that a prior art reference, in its entirety, must be considered for allthat it expressly teaches and fairly suggests to one having ordinary skill in theart. Stated differently, a prior art disclosure reading on a limitation of Applicant'sclaim cannot be ignored on the ground that other embodiments disclosed wereinstead cited. Therefore, the Examiner's citation to a specific portion of a singleprior art reference is not intended to exclusively dictate, but rather, todemonstrate an exemplary disclosure commensurate with the specificlimitations being addressed. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33,216 USPQ 1038,1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006,1009, 158 USPQ 275,277 (CCPA 1968)). In re: Upsher-Smith Labs. v. Pamlab, LLC, 412 F.3d 1319,1323, 75 USPQ2d 1213, 1215 (Fed. Cir. 2005); In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264, 23USPQ2d 1780, 1782 (Fed. Cir. 1992); Merck& Co. v. BiocraftLabs., Inc., 874 F.2d804, 807, 10 USPQ2d 1843, 1846 (Fed. Cir. 1989); In re Fracalossi, 681 F.2d792,794 n.1,215 USPQ 569, 570 n.1 (CCPA 1982); In re Lamberti, 545 F.2d 747,750, 192 USPQ 278, 280 (CCPA 1976); In re Bozek, 416 F.2d 1385, 1390, 163USPQ 545, 549 (CCPA 1969).
Other Art of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Burnett (U.S. Pat. 10,767,879) teaches a IAQ monitoring system.
Abiprojo (U.S. Pat. 9,551,495) teaches grading technique for an HVAC system.
Aultman (U.S. PG Pub. 2016/0116181) teaches monitoring IAQ parameters to threshold for control.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN L LAUGHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1042. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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/NATHAN L LAUGHLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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