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 .
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 1-4 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.
Regarding claims 1-4:
Claims 1-4 are drawn to a water heating system, however, each of these claims recite process steps to determine and set the capacity of the tank. There is no controller, processor or CPU claimed in claims 1-4 and therefore it is unclear what is performing the process steps of claims 1-4 and further it is unclear if the recited steps for determining a first and second reference capacities are intended to further limit the structure of the claims.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jinno (JP 2013224762 A) (cited in the IDS filed on 08/13/2024).
Regarding claim 1, Jinno teaches of:
A water heating system (Fig. 1) comprising:
a tank that retains water (10);
a heat pump (50) that heats the water in the tank (50 heats water within 10 via pipe 20); and
a water heater (60) that heats supplied water by combustion heat of fuel gas (60 is a water heater that utilizes a burner), wherein
in the water heating system,
a tank use mode in which the water in the tank is mixed with tap water and supplied to a plurality of using locations including a bathtub (water in tank 10 is mixed with tap water via 30a and supplied to a plurality of using locations downstream from 44; ¶ [0020], “The downstream end of the supply line 40 is connected to a hot water usage location (for example, a kitchen, bathtub, etc.)”), and
a hot water supply use mode in which water supplied from the tank or tap water is heated by the water heater (60 receives water from the tank 10 or directly from the tap via 30b) and then supplied to the plurality of using locations (¶ [0020], “The downstream end of the supply line 40 is connected to a hot water usage location (for example, a kitchen, bathtub, etc.)”)
are executable, wherein
the tank use mode is executable at least in a predetermined second time slot, excluding a predetermined first time slot in which bath water filling to the bathtub is assumed (¶ [0007], “The controller stores time information indicating at least one of the following times within a predetermined period in the past: the time when the hot water supply started and the time when the hot water supply ended. Based on time information, the controller identifies the start time for the initial hot water supply to begin, the start time for filling the bathtub (which is after the start time for the initial hot water supply to begin) and the end time for the final hot water supply to end, all within a 24-hour time unit. The controller activates the heat pump at a first heat pump activation time, which is a first predetermined time before the hot water supply start time”), and
an amount of hot water in a time slot during which hot water is used most is used as a target water amount, the time slot is among a plurality of time slots into which the second time slot is further subdivided, the plurality of subdivided time slots are assumed to have no water use for almost one hour or more before and after the time slots based on a daily usage condition of water in a general household considered as typical,
an amount of water that allows producing mixed water with the target water amount of 40°C is used as a first reference capacity, assuming that water between 65°C and 75°C is mixed with tap water supplied in winter,
an amount of tap water whose temperature rises to a target temperature of 65°C to 75°C in one hour is used as a second reference capacity, assuming that the tap water is retained in the tank and heated with an output of the heat pump of 1.5 kw to 2.0 kw, and
a capacity of the tank is set to be equal to or more than the first reference capacity and equal to or less than the second reference capacity (the above limitations are directed towards intended uses for the claimed water heating system, these uses are simply inputs into the system and analysis of the performance of the system with the inputs, as no further structure is recited, the water heating system of Jinno would be capable of performing these steps).
Regarding claim 2, Jinno teaches of the water heating system according to claim 1, and Jinno further teaches of:
wherein
the first reference capacity is 17.73 L, and the second reference capacity is 29.96 L (the same rationale applied in claim 1 applies here, the “reference capacities” are determined through no additional structure, and therefore water heating system of Jinno would be capable of determining these reference capacities with the claimed structure)
Regarding claim 3, Jinno teaches of the water heating system according to claim 2, and Jinno further teaches of:
wherein
the first reference capacity is 19.28 L, and the second reference capacity is 25.52 L (the same rationale applied in claim 1 applies here, the “reference capacities” are determined through no additional structure, and therefore water heating system of Jinno would be capable of determining these reference capacities with the claimed structure)
Regarding claim 4, Jinno teaches of the water heating system according to claim 1, and Jinno further teaches of:
wherein
the first reference capacity is a required hot water amount derived based on a relationship between an inflow water temperature of tap water and a temperature of the water in the tank in order to output the target water amount at 40°C, and the target water amount is 34.16 L, and
the second reference capacity is a capacity that allows heating tap water in the tank up to a predetermined temperature by the heat pump within a predetermined non-use period during which water is not used in the second time slot, and the capacity is derived based on a relationship between the inflow water temperature of tap water and an output of the heat pump (the same rationale applied in claim 1 applies here, the “reference capacities” are determined through no additional structure, and therefore water heating system of Jinno would be capable of determining these reference capacities with the claimed structure)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 are allowed for the following reasons:
Claim 5 recites a specific process for analyzing a water heating system to determine an optimal tank capacity based on the performance of the system with different inputs. Specifically, the limitations of claim 5 directed towards determining the first reference capacity and the second reference capacity are not explicitly taught in any known prior art. There are known reference that teach of designing a hot water system and determining an optimal capacity of the tank, however, these references do not follow create an first and second reference capacity and set the capacity of the tank to between them and would not be obvious to modify to read on the claim. Therefore claim 5 and all claims depending from claim 5 are considered to be allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Koshimizu (JP 2019082305 A) teaches of a design method to create a water heating system for a large building, the system optimizes a capacity of the tank with the capacity of the water heater for the tank.
Su (CN 114111029 A) teaches of a method to modify the capacity of a variable capacity tank based on various parameters including the cost of electricity and demand response times.
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/MICHAEL JAMES GIORDANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/HELENA KOSANOVIC/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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