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 .
Response to Arguments
In this Office action, the objection to claim 5 is withdrawn. The limitations previously interpreted under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) are no longer interpreted as "means for." Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2, 4-8, 10, 11, and 13-17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Regarding the traverse of the taking of Official notice, the traverse is not found sufficient because Applicant has not stated why the noticed fact is not considered to be common knowledge or well-known in the art. See MPEP 2114.03(C).
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.
Claim 17 is 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.
Claim 17 is drawn to the structure of an apparatus and recites that the outputs of the detectors are "configured to be used to calculate a combustion efficiency of the combustion source." It is not clear what structural limitation is being imposed by the claim on the detectors so that their outputs have the claimed ability that would not be necessarily be present in the outputs of the detectors of claim 1.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 4 depends on claim 2 and is also identical to claim 2 and therefore, fails to further limit the subject matter of claim 2. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-8, 10, 11, and 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,321) in view of Zondlo et al. (US 2022/0187203) and Qing et al. (CN 110361352).
Chang shows an airborne multiband imaging spectrometer as follows:
An apparatus for analyzing a combustion source, comprising:
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a collimating assembly having a (collimating lens 62) for receiving light from a light source and producing a collimated beam,
a splitting assembly comprising:
a first beam splitter (Fig. 4, 70) configured to accept the collimated beam
a second beam splitter (88) configured to accept the second beam and produce a third beam having a wavelength that is within a third interest band and a fourth beam having a wavelength that is within a fourth interest band;
a first narrowband filter (86) that receives the first beam, the first narrowband filter allowing light having a wavelength from
a second narrowband filter (102) that receives the third beam, the second narrowband filter allowing light having a wavelength from
a third narrowband filter (116) that receives the fourth beam, the third narrowband filter allowing light having a wavelength from
a first detector (detector array 80) for processing the first beam after the first beam has passed through the first narrowband filter;
a second detector (96) for processing the third beam after the third beam has passed through the second narrowband filter; and
a third detector (110) for processing the fourth beam after the fourth beam has passed through the third narrowband filter.
Chang does not show the broadband filter and the narrowband filters with wavelength bands to be 3200 nm to 3400 nm, 4190 nm to 4330 nm, and 4700 nm to 4800 nm.
Zondlo shows a spectroscopic device and an interest in detecting methane which absorbs wavelength of 3300 nm and in the range of 3200 nm to 3400 nm (see paras. [0025], [0083], [0087]) and an interest in detecting carbon monoxide which absorbs wavelengths in the range of 4782 to 4785 nm (see para. [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to select a filter of Chang to allow light of 3200 nm to 3400 nm and another filter to allow light of 4782 to 4785 nm in order to detect methane and carbon monoxide, respectively.
Chang and Zondlo do not show the filter with pass bands to be 4190 nm to 4330 nm. Qing shows an interest to detect carbon dioxide which absorbs 4200 nm to 4300 nm (see passage discussing Figs. 7 or 8).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to select a filter of Chang to allow light of 4200 nm to 4300 nm in order to detect carbon dioxide.
Regarding the broadband filter, Official notice is taken that broadband filters for filtering out ambient light of wavelengths outside of interest was well known. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to use a broadband filter to filter out wavelengths of no interest and/or shape.
Regarding the collimating assembly having a plurality of lenses. Official notice is taken than using multiple lenses to collimate light was well known. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious use a plurality of lenses in order to select and make adjustable the desired aperture, input and output diameters of the beam, i.e. telescope).
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first beam splitter or the second beam splitter is a dichroic filter (column 6, lines 1-3: "Splitter 66, which may be a conventional dichroic mirror").
4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein at least one beam splitter is a dichroic mirror (column 6, lines 1-3: "Splitter 66, which may be a conventional dichroic mirror").
5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the bandpass width of each narrowband filter is lower than or equal to 200 nm (column 12 line 66 - column 13, line 31; See also Qing showing the center wavelength of carbon dioxide being 4600-4700 nm. It would have been obvious to optimize the range to match the center wavelength in order to detect only the gas of interest and avoid the noise of a different gas that has absorption near that of the gas of interest).
6. The apparatus of claim 1,
wherein the first beam splitter is a diffraction grating (diffraction grating 76) configured to accept and process the collimated beam and produce a diffracted collimated light including the first beam and the second beam; and
wherein the first detector and the second detector are parts of a detector array (two detectors make up a detector array 80).
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one interest band is a hydrocarbon band, a carbon dioxide band 4190-4330 nm, or a carbon monoxide band (see discussion for claim 1).
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of lenses of the collimating assembly includes a first telescope lens and a second telescope lens, the first telescope lens being configured to accept light from the light source and produce a telescope beam directed to the second telescope lens, the second telescope lens producing the collimated beam (see discussion for claim 1).
10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a scanning system configured to accept the collimated beam from the collimating assembly and redirect the collimated beam to the broadband filter, wherein the scanning system includes a fast-steering mirror (column 4, lines 30-32: "Mirrored polygon 20 is adapted for rotation at a scan rate variable"; Chan does not show a collimating assembly upstream of the fast-steering mirror. Official notice is taken that collimating lenses were well known. Chan shows input beam 62 is columnar in Fig. 3. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to use a collimating lens at the entrance of the spectrometer in order collect sufficient amount of light and concentrate the light to the fast-steering mirror).
11. As discussed above for claim 1, Chang, Qing, and Zondlo show all the elements including a scanning mirror but does not show that the scanning mirror is a MEMS scanner. Official notice is taken that MEMS scanners were well known. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to use a MEMS scanner in place of the scanning mirror in order to make the spectrometer smaller.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the broadband filter is a dichroic filter (See discussion of claim 1 for the broadband filter. The discussion does not show the broadband filter is a dichroic filter. Official notice is taken that dichroic filters were well known. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to use dichroic filters for the predictable result of filtering unwanted wavelengths.
14. (see elements cited for claim 1 above where the recited acts flow from the function of the cited elements).
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising filtering, via a broadband filter, the collimated beam to allow light having a wavelength from 3 pm to 5 pm to pass through the broadband filter and block light having a wavelength below 3 pm or above 5 pm (see discussion of the broadband filter for claim 1 above).
16. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a scanning system configured to accept the collimated beam from the collimating assembly and redirect the collimated beam to the broadband filter, wherein the scanning system includes a dual wedge prism (Chang does not show that the rotating polygon mirror includes a dual wedge prism. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to use two prismatic mirrors attached together to form the polygon mirror for the ease of using mirrors that are readily available on the market or the predictable result of a polygon mirror.)
17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first detector processes the first beam to produce a first output, the second detector processes the third beam to produce a second output, and the third detector processes the fourth beam to produce a third output, and wherein the first output, the second output, and the third output are configured to be used to calculate a combustion efficiency of the combustion source (the detectors have an output and, as interpreted by the Examiner, nothing prevents the outputs from being used as claimed).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hwa Andrew S Lee whose telephone number is (571)272-2419. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michelle Iacoletti can be reached at (571) 270-5789. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Hwa Andrew Lee/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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