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 .
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.
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed on 06/18/2026 have been fully considered and are made of record.
Claims 1 and 3-8 have been amended.
Claim 2 has been cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered and are persuasive. Therefore the rejection sent on Office Action mailed on 04/01/2026 is withdrawn and new ground(s) of rejection has been applied.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 5 recites limitation “a reference electrode disposed on an opposite side from the electrode and the container across a shield electrode” is unclear. It is not clear what it means by “across a shield electrode”?
Examiner interprets Fig. 6 shows reference electrodes SR is opposite side of shield electrode S0 across container 210.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 3-4 and 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (Pub NO. US 2019/0376830 A1; hereinafter Park).
Regarding Claim 1, Park teaches an object amount detection device (device in Fig. 5-Fig. 7; See [0039]-[0050]) comprising:
a container configured to contain a solidifiable liquid object (container 40 contain liquid in Fig. 7; See [0030]-[0050]);
an electrode extending in a vertical direction in the container (electrodes 12/14 extending in vertical direction of container 40 in Fig. 7; See [0030]-[0050]), and configured to allow for detection of a change in capacitance (See [0042]) accompanying a positional change in the vertical direction of a liquid surface of the object or an exterior surface of the object having been solidified (See [0063]-[0068], [0078]-[0087]); and
a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory to detect continuously or intermittently, based on the capacitance of the electrode (See [0065]),
a position of the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object in the container (electrodes 12/14 are exterior surface of container 40 in Fig. 7),
to obtain a permittivity of the object from the capacitance of the electrode (See [0068], [0078]-[0087]), and
to determine a state of the object based on the obtained permittivity (See [0065]-[0068]),
wherein the electrode is a plate-shaped electrode having a plurality of electrode pairs having triangular portions (See the triangular shape electrodes S1-S8 in Fig. 9; See [0078]-[0087]), which are obtained by dividing rectangles by diagonals of the rectangles, and disposed on a lateral surface of the container (S1-S8 s obtained by cutting diagonally in Fig. 19; See [0078]-[0087]).
Regarding Claim 3, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to detect the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object based on a weighted average of capacitances (See [0078]-[0087]) and positions of the plurality of the electrode pairs, and to determine the state of the object based on the detected position of the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object, and a relative permittivity of the object in a liquid state or in a solid state (See [0078]-[0087]).
Regarding Claim 4, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrode pairs are disposed along a vertical direction (plurality of electrodes S1-S8 is in vertical direction in Fig. 19; See [0078]-[0087]).
Regarding Claim 7, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to correct capacitance of the electrode pairs when the position of the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object is lower than or equal to a predetermined height (See [0007], [0041]).
Regarding Claim 8, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to calculate a liquid level height by factoring into calculation a capacitance of a virtual electrode pair provided below the plurality of electrode pairs (See [0078]-[0087]).
Regarding Claim 9, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to detect the position of the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object a plurality of times as time passes, and to obtain an average of the positions of the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object, detected a plurality of times, as the position of the liquid surface or the exterior surface of the object (See [0078]-[0087]).
Regarding Claim 10, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, further comprising a notifier configured to notify an outside device of information that the object is in a frozen state when the processor determines that the state of the object is the frozen state (See [0074]).
Regarding Claim 11, Park teaches the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the object is a washer liquid for a vehicle (See [0003], [0107]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding Claim 5, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests the object amount detection device according to claim 1, further comprising a reference electrode disposed on an opposite side from the electrode and the container across a shield electrode; wherein the processor is configured to correct capacitances of the electrode pairs based on capacitance of the reference electrode.
Regarding Claim 6, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests the object amount detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to set capacitance of one or more electrodes to zero when one of a plurality of electrode pairs has a capacitance equal to or less than a predetermined value, the one or more electrodes being situated higher than the one of the plurality of electrode pairs.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SATO et al. (Pub NO. US 2017/0320469 A1) discloses Device for Heating Washer Fluid.
Kobori et al. (Pub NO. US 2017/0225659 A1) discloses Wiper Control Apparatus.
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/ZANNATUL FERDOUS/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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