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 statements (IDS) submitted on 08/26/2024 and 01/17/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 8, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Odom (US 2006/0184335).
Regarding claim 1, Odom teaches a diverse sensor integration system (Fig. 1A, System shown) for collecting data from one or more sensors (Fig. 1A, Sensor 112) at respective data collection nodes in an industrial production site (Fig. 1A, System includes measurement modules in 107 for industrial production uses; Paragraph 0153, the measurement modules/cartridges may be rugged, i.e., may be suitable for industrial use), wherein each of the one or more sensors produces signals according to a respective signal protocol (Fig. 1A, Sensors 112 uses an analog signal 310 (i.e. protocol is analog); Paragraph 0109, sensor 112 may measure a phenomenon, such as temperature, pressure, voltage, current, or any other phenomenon, and send signals to the measurement module, as indicated by the analog input 310), comprising: a system controller (Fig. 1A, Computer system 102); and a plurality of selectable sensor modules (Figs. 2 and 6 (i.e. same embodiment as Figure 1A) shows plurality of measurement modules 108 which are selected to be output; Paragraph 0098, carrier 110 is coupled to a measurement module 108 (or multiple measurement modules), which may itself be coupled to a sensor 112), wherein each sensor module is configured, upon being operably connected between the system controller and a respective one of the at least one system sensor (Fig. 2, Measurement module 108 (i.e. sensor module) is coupled to computer system 102 (i.e. system controller)), to: receive an input signal having a set of first characteristics corresponding at least in part to the respective signal protocol from the at least one system sensor (Fig. 4B same embodiment as measurement module 108 in Figure 2, sensor signal 310 is an analog signal protocol that is received as an input 310; Paragraph 0109, sensor 112 may measure a phenomenon, such as temperature, pressure, voltage, current, or any other phenomenon… Paragraph 0110, the input is analog (310), therefore the signal converter 304 is an ADC 304); convert the input signal into an output signal having a set of second signal characteristics corresponding at least in part to a signal protocol associated with the system controller (Fig. 4B, Signal conditioner 302 and signal converter 304 translates the signals and outputs SPI signal 316 which is associated with the computer system 102; Paragraph 0110, conditioned signals may then be processed by the signal converter 304… Paragraph 0111, conditioned converted signals may then be transmitted by the interface circuitry to the carrier 110 using the specified interface protocol… Paragraph 0083, carrier 110 may be coupled to computer system 102 via a network (e.g., the Internet) 104 as shown, or, as mentioned above, may be coupled to the computer system 102 by other transmission means, including serial or parallel bus, wireless, and CAN, among others); and transmit the output signal to the system controller (Fig. 2, Measurement module 108 transmits SPI signals to computer system 102; Paragraph 0084, carrier 110 may be operable to receive data from the measurement module 108 and communicate the data… to the computer system 102, e.g., over the transmission medium 104), wherein the system controller is configured to perform operations based on the output signals from the one or more sensor modules connected thereto, independent of the respective signal protocol for each of the one or more sensors (Fig. 1A, Computer system 102 receives the output sensor data and performs analysis operations on the data independent of the protocol of the sensors; Paragraph 0082, computer 102 may operate with the measurement device 107 to analyze or measure data from the sensor 112 and/or measurement device 107).
Regarding claim 2, Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system of claim 1. Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system comprising wherein each selectable sensor module (Fig. 2, Measurement module 108) further comprises: a sensor probe corresponding to one or more of the at least one system sensor (Fig. 2, Sensor 112 probes for measurements (i.e. sensor probe) is coupled to measurement module 108; Paragraph 0109, sensor 112 may measure a phenomenon, such as temperature, pressure, voltage, current, or any other phenomenon); a control board comprising a signal conversion circuitry (Fig. 5A/B, Measurement module 108 comprises a form factor board; Paragraph 0124, the measurement cartridge may have a compact form factor); and a system controller connector (Fig. 5A/B, RIO interface 303 couples measurement module to computer system 102 of Figure 2 via RIO carrier; Paragraph 0123, cartridge 108 may include a RIO (Reconfigurable I/O) interface 303 for communicating with a RIO carrier).
Regarding claim 8, Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system of claim 1. Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system comprising wherein: the system controller is a general-purpose input/output controller (Fig. 1A, Computer system 102 is a general purpose system that performs I/O control over the peripherals; Paragraph 0082, host computer 102 may comprise a CPU, a display screen, memory, and one or more input devices such as a mouse or keyboard).
Regarding claim 12, Odom teaches a method of implementing a diverse sensor integration system utilizing at least one selectable modular sensor attachment (Figs. 2 and 5A/B, Measurement module 108), each selectable modular sensor attachment comprising a sensor probe (Fig. 2, Sensor 112 probes for measurements (i.e. sensor probe) is coupled to measurement module 108; Paragraph 0109, sensor 112 may measure a phenomenon, such as temperature, pressure, voltage, current, or any other phenomenon), a control board (Fig. 5A/B, Measurement module 108 is a control board; Paragraph 0123, FIG. 5A shows, the cartridge 108… Paragraph 0124, the measurement cartridge may have a compact form factor), and a system controller connector (Fig. 5A/B, RIO interface 303 couples measurement module to computer system 102 of Figure 2 via RIO carrier; Paragraph 0123, cartridge 108 may include a RIO (Reconfigurable I/O) interface 303 for communicating with a RIO carrier), the method comprising the steps of: connecting the selectable modular sensor attachment between a system sensor and a system controller (Fig. 5A/B, Measurement module cartridge 108 is connected to a sensor 112 and computer system 102; Paragraph 0010, cartridge controller may be operable to detect coupling of the cartridge to the cartridge controller… in response to detecting coupling, the cartridge controller may query the cartridge for a cartridge type, determine a communication protocol usable to communicate with the cartridge from a plurality of communication protocols based on the cartridge type, and establish communications with the cartridge based on the determined communication protocol, e.g., using interface circuitry); and at the selectable modular sensor attachment, determining a sensor mode (Fig. 4B, FPGA 308 of measurement module 108 is used to determine a sensor protocol mode; Paragraph 0116, the programmable hardware element of the measurement module 108, e.g., the FPGA 308, may retrieve the interface protocol information from memory, as represented by the DAQ-EDS 307, and communicate the interface protocol information to the carrier 110).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Odom (US 2006/0184335) in view of Rollings (US 2021/0229058).
Regarding claim 5, Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system of claim 2. Odom does not teach the diverse sensor integration system comprising wherein the sensor probe further comprises a cable arrangement, the cable arrangement corresponds to at least one of: a dispenser arrangement; a corrosion arrangement; a toroid conductivity arrangement; an electrode conductivity arrangement; a pH arrangement; or an oxidation reduction potential (ORP) arrangement.
Rollings teaches the diverse sensor integration system comprising wherein the sensor probe further comprises a cable arrangement (Fig. 28, Cartridge system with sensor probes that include cables; Paragraph 0591, plurality of pneumatic valves 69 control the flow of fluid (e.g. compressed air) in the pneumatic interface. These valves are controlled by the cartridge module control PCB 72 and are actuated dependent on the experimental protocol specific to the mounted cartridge. The valves are electronically connected to the cartridge module control PCB 72 via a ribbon cable to allow the electronic control of each valve), the cable arrangement corresponds to at least one of: a dispenser arrangement; a corrosion arrangement; a toroid conductivity arrangement; an electrode conductivity arrangement; a pH arrangement; or an oxidation reduction potential (ORP) arrangement (Fig. 28, Cartridges include pH sensor arrangements; Paragraph 0361, electronic devices can be fabricated in cartridge 10… Paragraph 0362, Other sensors such as: pH sensors).
Odom and Rollings are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of using sensor cartridges in an industrial plant.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s system to incorporate the teachings of Rollings and include a cable arrangement to the sensor probe with a pH sensor arrangement.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to extend the use cases of sensors to biomanufacturing industrial plants, thus improving the number of heterogeneous devices that can be supported by the system at a low cost (See Rollings: Paragraphs 0001-0003 and 0010).
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Odom (US 2006/0184335) in view of Johnson (US 2017/0255209).
Regarding claim 7, Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system of claim 1. Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system further comprising: a system relay operably connected to the system controller (Fig. 2, Carrier 110 relays data to computer system 102); wherein the system relay outputs a control signal (Fig. 2, Carrier 110 sends read command control signals to read data from measurement module cartridge 108; Paragraph 0364, communications with a measurement module 108 may include sending setup information (e.g., a channel number or, in the case of an output module, data) sending a trigger, waiting for a busy line, sending commands (e.g., to read data) and reading the response).
Odom does not teach the diverse sensor integration system further comprising: a dosing pump; outputs a control signal for the dosing pump.
Johnson teaches the diverse sensor integration system further comprising: a dosing pump (Fig. 1, Dosing pump 120A controlled via sensors 124A/B and 118A/B; Paragraph 0033, A conductivity sensor 118A is in fluid communication with liquid from the CV 116A and a dosing pump 120A); outputs a control signal for the dosing pump (Fig. 6, Processing circuitry 456 controls dosing pump 120; Paragraph 0084, increasing or decreasing a displacement rate of the dosing pump 120A based on one or more signals received from one or more of the conductivity sensors 118A-B).
Odom and Johnson are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of using sensors in an industrial plant.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s system to incorporate the teachings of Johnson and include a dosing pump and associated sensors controlled by the carrier of Odom.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to extend the use cases of sensors to food production and water treatment industrial plants, thus improving the number of heterogeneous devices that can be supported by the system at a low cost (See Johnson: Paragraphs 0007 and 0101).
Regarding claim 17, Odom teaches the method of claim 12. Odom teaches the method further comprising: at the sensor probe, measuring a system value (Fig. 4B, Analog input 310 is a sensor value measured by sensor probe; Paragraph 0109, sensor 112 may measure a phenomenon, such as temperature, pressure, voltage, current, or any other phenomenon, and send signals to the measurement module, as indicated by the analog input 310); at the control board, converting the system value to an output value (Fig. 4B, Analog input 310 converted by signal conditioner 302 and converter 304; Paragraph 0110, conditioned signals may then be processed by the signal converter 304, which may be operable to perform one or more of analog to digital (A/D) conversion and digital to analog (D/A) conversion. In this embodiment, the input is analog (310), therefore the signal converter 304 is an ADC 304); at the control board, transmitting the output value to the system controller and a system relay (Fig. 2, Measurement module 108 transmits output value to computer system 102 (i.e. system controller) and carrier 110 (i.e. a system relay); Paragraph 0111, conditioned converted signals may then be transmitted by the interface circuitry to the carrier 110 using the specified interface protocol. In other words, the processor 306 may transmit the conditioned, converted signals to the carrier 110 over the serial transmission medium SPI 316. The carrier 110 may then transmit the signals to an external system, such as computer system 102); and providing a control signal from the system relay (Fig. 2, Carrier 110 sends read command control signals to read data from measurement module cartridge 108; Paragraph 0364, communications with a measurement module 108 may include sending setup information (e.g., a channel number or, in the case of an output module, data) sending a trigger, waiting for a busy line, sending commands (e.g., to read data) and reading the response).
Odom does not teach the method further comprising: providing a control signal from the system relay to a dosing pump.
Johnson teaches the method further comprising: providing a control signal from the system relay to a dosing pump (Fig. 6, Processing circuitry 456 controls dosing pump 120; Paragraph 0084, increasing or decreasing a displacement rate of the dosing pump 120A based on one or more signals received from one or more of the conductivity sensors 118A-B).
Odom and Johnson are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of using sensors in an industrial plant.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s method to incorporate the teachings of Johnson and include a dosing pump and associated sensors controlled by the carrier of Odom.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to extend the use cases of sensors to food production and water treatment industrial plants, thus improving the number of heterogeneous devices that can be supported by the system at a low cost (See Johnson: Paragraphs 0007 and 0101).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Odom (US 2006/0184335) in view of Perslow (US 2019/0141964).
Regarding claim 11, Odom teaches the diverse sensor integration system of claim 1. Odom does not teach the diverse sensor integration system comprising wherein: the system is implemented on a water treatment skid.
Perslow teaches the diverse sensor integration system comprising wherein: the system is implemented on a water treatment skid (Fig. 9, Water treatment skid; Paragraph 0073, corresponding water treatment skid system can be sized to fit within an ISO shipping container, such as without disassembly).
Odom and Perslow are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of using sensors in an industrial plant.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s system to incorporate the teachings of Perslow and include water treatment sensors and devices.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to extend the use cases of sensors to food production and water treatment industrial plants, thus improving the number of heterogeneous devices that can be supported by the system while providing efficient food to aquaculture ratio (See Perslow: Paragraphs 0003 and 0074).
Claims 13-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Odom (US 2006/0184335) in view of Mc Cleland (US 2015/0151960).
Regarding claim 13, Odom teaches the method of claim 12. Odom teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode further comprises: identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment (Fig. 10A, Cartridge controller interface 508 of cartridge 110 of Figure 2 is used to detect measurement module 108 via module detection 524 and ID select 523; Paragraph 0169, a module detection component 524 may also be included which may be operable to detect the cartridge 108A, e.g., via an ID select line 523).
Odom does not teach the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode further comprises: identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment through an I2C communication protocol.
Mc Cleland teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode further comprises: identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment through an I2C communication protocol (Fig. 6, Sensor is plugged into I2C port 468 and identified via I2C; Paragraph 0086, once a sensor probe is plugged into the I2C communication port (468) of the remote monitoring unit (460), and consequently placed in electrical communication with the master node (462)… master node can identify specific sensor probes from information stored in the digital storage module of the sensor probe).
Odom and Mc Cleland are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of identifying connected sensor modules.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s system to incorporate the teachings of Mc Cleland and include I2C protocol communication in the measurement module of Odom.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to utilizing the well-known and commonly used I2C protocol, thus creating compatibility with a wide range of diverse and heterogeneous devices/sensors via a robust communication standard that is low-cost (See Mc Cleland: Paragraphs 0005 and 0066).
Regarding claim 14, Odom teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode comprises wherein: the step of identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment (Fig. 10A, Cartridge controller interface 508 of cartridge 110 of Figure 2 is used to detect measurement module 108 via module detection 524 and ID select 523; Paragraph 0169, a module detection component 524 may also be included which may be operable to detect the cartridge 108A, e.g., via an ID select line 523).
Odom does not teach the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode comprises wherein: the step of identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment is based at least upon a physical connector located at the sensor probe.
Mc Cleland teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode further comprises: the step of identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment is based at least upon a physical connector located at the sensor probe (Fig. 6, Sensor includes a physical I2C connector that enables it to be plugged into the I2C port 468; Paragraph 0086, once a sensor probe is plugged into the I2C communication port (468) of the remote monitoring unit (460), and consequently placed in electrical communication with the master node (462)… master node can identify specific sensor probes from information stored in the digital storage module of the sensor probe).
Odom and Mc Cleland are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of identifying connected sensor modules.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s system to incorporate the teachings of Mc Cleland and include I2C protocol communication in the measurement module of Odom.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to utilizing the well-known and commonly used I2C protocol, thus creating compatibility with a wide range of diverse and heterogeneous devices/sensors via a robust communication standard that is low-cost (See Mc Cleland: Paragraphs 0005 and 0066).
Regarding claim 16, Odom teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode further comprising: reading a memory unit of the selectable modular sensor attachment (Fig. 4B, EPROM 307 stores identification of the measurement module 108; Paragraph 0169, software may then read a status register to determine if a cartridge has been inserted or removed from the slot so that it may take appropriate action, e.g., reading the EPROM 307 on the cartridge 108).
Odom does not teach the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode is based at least on a sensor probe identification stored in the memory unit.
Mc Cleland teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode is based at least on a sensor probe identification stored in the memory unit (Fig. 6, Sensor includes a physical I2C connector that enables it to be plugged into the I2C port 468 and a memory of the sensor probe can be read to determine sensor capabilities (i.e. mode); Paragraph 0086, once a sensor probe is plugged into the I2C communication port (468) of the remote monitoring unit (460), and consequently placed in electrical communication with the master node (462)… master node can identify specific sensor probes from information stored in the digital storage module of the sensor probe).
Odom and Mc Cleland are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of identifying connected sensor modules.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s system to incorporate the teachings of Mc Cleland and include I2C protocol communication in the measurement module of Odom to read the sensor memory for identification of mode.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to utilizing the well-known and commonly used I2C protocol, thus creating compatibility with a wide range of diverse and heterogeneous devices/sensors via a robust communication standard that is low-cost (See Mc Cleland: Paragraphs 0005 and 0066).
Claims 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Odom (US 2006/0184335) in view of Ludlow (US 10,571,147).
Regarding claim 15, Odom teaches the method of claim 12. the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode comprises wherein: the step of identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment (Fig. 10A, Cartridge controller interface 508 of cartridge 110 of Figure 2 is used to detect measurement module 108 via module detection 524 and ID select 523; Paragraph 0169, a module detection component 524 may also be included which may be operable to detect the cartridge 108A, e.g., via an ID select line 523).
Odom does not teach the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode comprises wherein: the step of identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment is based at least upon a cable arrangement located at a sensor pigtail of the selectable modular sensor attachment.
Ludlow teaches the method comprising wherein the step of determining the sensor mode comprises wherein: the step of identifying hardware of selectable modular sensor attachment is based at least upon a cable arrangement located at a sensor pigtail of the selectable modular sensor attachment (Fig. 2, Cable 110 coupled to sensors 221 and 222 to Module 101 and is identified via the cable and pigtail; Col. 9, Lines 47-49, the communication interface 211 may comprise twisted-pair pigtail for wiring the remote sensor 111 via two wires to the thermostat 101… Col. 9, Lines 57-62, each sensor part 221/222 may comprise a complementary or integrated memory 214/218, such as EEPROM or memory 202 described above, for storing general purpose data, such as sensor data. Each internal memory 214/214 may further store a unique identification code or serial number adapted to identify the particular sensing part).
Odom and Ludlow are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of identifying connected sensor modules.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Odom’s method to incorporate the teachings of Ludlow and include a sensor pigtail wiring with a cabling arrangement.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to provide synchronized timing adjustments for communications, thus enabling high-speed communication with digital sensors over a simple and robust two-wire interface (See Ludlow: Col. 1, Lines 35-53 and Col. 8, Lines 33-42).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 6, and 9-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2022/0360629 to Dziekonski discloses multiple sensor adapters coupled to a plurality of industrial plant controllers and sensors, wherein a protocol conversion occurs at the adapter to transmit data to a climate computer.
US PGPUB 2019/0116080 to Oshima discloses a plurality of sensor relay apparatuses coupled to a plurality of sensor terminals that translate a communication format between the sensor and a processing apparatus.
US PGPUB 2017/0134536 to Tessiore discloses a sensor gateway device comprising multiple multi-protocol sensor data communication interfaces each coupled to a sensor and capable of translating the protocol of the sensor data to an Internet protocol.
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/H.Z.W./Examiner, Art Unit 2184
/HENRY TSAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2184
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