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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/25/2024 are 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 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 1-14 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "a minimum temperature" line 9 is a relative phrase which renders the claim indefinite. The phrase "a minimum temperature" is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear what would necessarily constitute the degree of temperature in the refrigerant circuit is “a minimum temperature” in order to meet the claim limitation which is not clear.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "a minimum temperature" line 22 is a relative phrase which renders the claim indefinite. The phrase "a minimum temperature" is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear what would necessarily constitute the degree of temperature in the refrigerant circuit is “a minimum temperature” in order to meet the claim limitation which is not clear.
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under pre-AlA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mancini (US 2019/0070924 A1) in view of TAKEI (JPH02251053A).
In regards to claim 1, Mancini discloses a vehicle heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system (Figs. 3 and 10), comprising: a compressor (214) including a compression section, a motor section (motor/inverter of the compressor 214; par. 118) configured to drive the compression section, and an inverter (motor/inverter of the compressor 214; par. 118) configured to allow the motor section to operate in any one of an efficiency mode and a lossy mode (an efficient mode and a lossy mode; par. 13). Mancini fails to explicitly teach a controller configured to control the inverter of the compressor based on a minimum temperature of a refrigerant and a freezing temperature of refrigerant oil contained in the refrigerant.
TAKEI teaches a system that has a controller (a control circuit 10) configured to control the inverter (inverter 11) of the compressor (compressor 1) based on a minimum temperature of a refrigerant and a freezing temperature of refrigerant oil contained in the refrigerant (refer to page 3, lines 6-16).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mancini such that a controller configured to control the inverter of the compressor based on a minimum temperature of a refrigerant and a freezing temperature of refrigerant oil contained in the refrigerant as taught by TAKEI in order to suppressing the rapid evaporation of the refrigerant, and preventing the refrigerant oil from freezing (refer to page 5 of TAKEI).
In regards to claim 8, Mancini discloses a method of controlling a vehicle heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system (Figs. 3 and 10) including a compressor (214) having a compression section, a motor section (motor/inverter of the compressor 214; par. 118) configured to drive the compression section (motor/inverter of the compressor 214; par. 118), and an inverter (302) configured to allow the motor section to operate in any one of an efficiency mode and a lossy mode (an efficient mode and a lossy mode; par. 13), the method comprising: operating the HVAC system in a heating mode (refer to par. 65);
Mancini fails to explicitly teach controlling, by a controller, the inverter of the compressor based on a minimum temperature of a refrigerant and a freezing temperature of refrigerant oil contained in the refrigerant.
TAKEI teaches a method that controlling, by a controller (a control circuit 10), the inverter (inverter 11) of the compressor (compressor 1) based on a minimum temperature of a refrigerant and a freezing temperature of refrigerant oil contained in the refrigerant (refer to page 3, lines 6-16).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of of Mancini such that controlling, by a controller, the inverter of the compressor based on a minimum temperature of a refrigerant and a freezing temperature of refrigerant oil contained in the refrigerant as taught by TAKEI in order to suppressing the rapid evaporation of the refrigerant, and preventing the refrigerant oil from freezing (refer to page 5 of TAKEI).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 9-14 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims and 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARTHA TADESSE whose telephone number is (571)272-0590. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:30am-5:00pm EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Frantz Jules can be reached on 571-272-6681. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR)system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/M.T/
Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/FRANTZ F JULES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
Prosecution Insights