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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I and Species B, drawn to claims 1-10 and 12-14, in the reply filed on 06/22/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 11 and 15-20 are withdrawn from consideration. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the combination of prior art allegedly does not explicitly disclose all features in the claim, based upon a theoretical combination interpretation of the prior art. This is not found persuasive because if the entire scope of at least one claim lacks novelty, there can’t possibly exist within that scope any “special technical feature” the applicant could point to that defines a contribution (i.e. is patentable) over the prior art.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/10/2024 and 11/22/2024 was filed on or after the mailing date of the Application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 objected to because of the following informalities: the recitation of “according to the feature data of the plurality of indoor units into;”, appears to contain a typographical error, and will be interpreted as – …the plurality of indoor units – Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-7 and 12-13 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 Claim 1, the recitation of “a controller configured to:…obtain operating data…obtain feature data…,” renders the claim unclear. For example, it is unclear as to what structure performs the recited function. MPEP 2173.05(g) requires the particular structure, materials or steps that accomplish a function be recited to indicate the scope of the subject matter claimed. Specifically, it is not clear as to what structure provides data to the controller to enable it to obtain said data. Therefore, the claim and all claims depending therefrom are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Regarding Claim 5, the recitation of “...a second prompting information…,” renders the claim unclear. Specifically, it is unclear as to how a second prompting information may exist without the existence of a first prompting information. Accordingly, this discrepancy makes the claim difficult to interpret and does not meet the threshold requirements of clarity and precision as outlined in MPEP 2173.02.II. Therefore, the claim is indefinite and is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Regarding Claim 5, the recitation of “wherein the controller is further configured to to:…obtain an operating degree…,” renders the claim unclear. For example, it is unclear as to what structure performs the recited function. MPEP 2173.05(g) requires the particular structure, materials or steps that accomplish a function be recited to indicate the scope of the subject matter claimed. Specifically, it is not clear as to what structure provides data to the controller to enable it to obtain said data. Therefore, the claim and all claims depending therefrom are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Regarding Claim 12, the recitation of “...a second prompting information…,” renders the claim unclear. Specifically, it is unclear as to how a second prompting information may exist without the existence of a first prompting information. Accordingly, this discrepancy makes the claim difficult to interpret and does not meet the threshold requirements of clarity and precision as outlined in MPEP 2173.02.II. Therefore, the claim is indefinite and is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(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 1-10 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sasaki (US 20240142125 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Sasaki teaches a multi-split air-conditioning system [Figs. 1-2], comprising:
an outdoor unit [2], the outdoor unit including a compressor [11] [Figs. 1-2; ¶ 0029];
a plurality of indoor units [3], any one of the plurality of indoor units being correspondingly connected with an air pipe [57] and a liquid pipe [56], so as to communicate with the outdoor unit through the air pipe and the liquid pipe [¶ 0046; indoor units comprise liquid pipe 56 and gas pipe 57], any one of the plurality of indoor units being provided with an air outlet and an air inlet [¶ 0046; heat exchangers 51 engage with refrigerant and inside air, thus commonsensically having an air inlet and outlet for said inside air];
a plurality of electronic expansion valves [52] corresponding to the plurality of indoor units [Fig. 2; apparent from inspection], the plurality of electronic expansion valves being each disposed in the liquid pipe connected to the corresponding indoor unit [Fig. 2; apparent from inspection]; and
a controller [19] configured to [Fig. 13; ¶ 0113]:
obtain operating data of the multi-split air-conditioning system [S11]; wherein the operating data includes at least one of following: an operating current value of the compressor, an exhaust pressure value of the compressor, an exhaust temperature value of the compressor, air outlet temperature values of the air outlets of the plurality of indoor units, or air inlet temperature values of the air inlets of the plurality of indoor units [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least compressor speed, refrigerant temperatures upstream and downstream of components, refrigerant pressure upstream and downstream of components, air temperature/pressure, degree of opening of expansion valve, etc.];
determine whether the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty according to the operating data [S12-S15] [¶ 0113-0114; the controller performs arbitrary operating steps to process the acquired data to determine if an abnormality is present in the system];
obtain feature data of the plurality of indoor units in a case where the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty [¶ 0115-0116; S18 determines an abnormality in either the indoor unit or the outdoor unit, wherein S21-S22 determine a specific indoor unit abnormality if the abnormality is determined to be an inside unit]; wherein the feature data of any indoor unit includes a temperature difference between a temperature value of the liquid pipe correspondingly connected to the indoor unit and a temperature value of the air pipe correspondingly connected to the indoor unit [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least compressor speed, refrigerant temperatures upstream and downstream of components, refrigerant pressure upstream and downstream of components, air temperature/pressure, degree of opening of expansion valve, etc.];
determine an abnormal indoor unit in the plurality of indoor units according to the feature data of the plurality of indoor units [¶ 0116; S22 determines that the abnormality resides in a specific indoor unit and identifies the indoor unit that caused the abnormality in the refrigerant circuit among the plurality of indoor units]; and
determine the electronic expansion valve corresponding to the abnormal indoor unit as a faulty electronic expansion valve [¶ 0103; each indoor unit comprises its own expansion valve and the abnormality estimation model utilizes values attributed to the expansion valve, wherein if a simulated value of an indoor unit does not coincide with the feature value, the controller may flag the abnormal indoor unit, thus flagging its attributed expansion valve].
Regarding Claim 2, Sasaki teaches the multi-split air-conditioning system according to claim 1 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a fault identifying result [S15] by using a fault identifying model [see Fig. 3] based on deep neural networks (DNN) according to the feature data of the plurality of indoor units into [Fig. 3; ¶ 0038-0039; the control circuit comprises at least refrigerant amount estimation unit (45) with its own estimation model, an abnormality estimation unit (46) with its own estimation model, as well as a storage unit (43) for storing abnormality logs; the control unit periodically acquires detected values from various sensors to operate the control circuit]; and
determine the abnormal indoor unit [S22] in the plurality of indoor units according to the fault identifying result of the fault identifying model [¶ 0116; also see Fig. 4];
wherein the feature data of any indoor unit further includes at least one of following: the exhaust pressure value of the compressor, a suction pressure value of the compressor, the exhaust temperature value of the compressor, a suction temperature value of the compressor, the air outlet temperature value of the air outlet of the indoor unit, or the air inlet temperature value of the air inlet of the indoor unit [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least compressor speed, refrigerant temperatures upstream and downstream of components, refrigerant pressure upstream and downstream of components, air temperature/pressure, degree of opening of expansion valve, etc.].
Regarding Claim 3, Sasaki teaches the multi-split air-conditioning system according to claim 1 above and Sasaki teaches, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a fault diagnosis result [at least S15] by using a fault diagnosis model [¶ 0040-0043; at least refrigerant amount estimation model 45A and/or abnormality estimation model 46A] based on a support vector machine (SVM) according to the operating data [¶ 0103; Fig. 10 is distribution model of detected values, wherein the determining units utilize data clusters to infer abnormalities of the system]; and
determine whether the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty [at least S18 determines if the abnormality is in the outdoor unit or some indoor unit] according to the fault diagnosis result of the fault diagnosis model [¶ 0103; each indoor unit comprises its own expansion valve and the abnormality estimation model utilizes values attributed to the expansion valve, wherein if a simulated value of an indoor unit does not coincide with the feature value, the controller may flag the abnormal indoor unit, thus flagging its attributed expansion valve].
Regarding Claim 4, Sasaki teaches the multi-split air-conditioning system according to claim 1 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the controller is further configured to:
output a first prompting information in a case where no electronic expansion valve in the multi- split air-conditioning system is faulty [¶ 0114; Fig. 13; S15 may proceed to S16 if no abnormalities are found in the system]; wherein the first prompting information is configured to prompt that no electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty [Fig. 13; upon transitioning to S16, the system does not proceed from S18 to determine abnormality of an expansion valve].
Regarding Claim 5, Sasaki teaches the multi-split air-conditioning system according to claim 1 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the controller is further configured to:
obtain an opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve after determining the faulty electronic expansion valve [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least degree of opening of expansion valve];
determine a faulty level of the faulty electronic expansion valve according to the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve [¶ 0075-0078; at least the refrigerant amount estimation model indicates as a percentage of the actual vs. simulated values from ranges of 0% to 100% the expected value, thus determining a level of fault]; and
output a second prompting information; wherein the second prompting information is configured to prompt the faulty level of the faulty electronic expansion valve [¶ 0114-0116; Fig. 13; S15 may proceed to S18 if abnormalities are found in the system, wherein S20 forms an abnormality output process].
Regarding Claim 6, Sasaki teaches the multi-split air-conditioning system according to claim 5 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve has a corresponding relationship with the faulty level [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least degree of opening of expansion valve], and the corresponding relationship includes:
the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve being inversely proportional to the faulty level in a heating operating state [¶ 0033, 0037, 0039, 0069; Fig. 7; degree of opening of the indoor expansion valve is a known parameter considered by the controller in a heater estimation model, wherein the state of the prior art is known to incorporate various other input information described above when utilizing estimation models and thus commonsensically incorporate the known idea that heating operations are inverse to the flow of refrigerant in a cooling operation] and;
the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve being proportional to the faulty level in a cooling operating state [¶ 0033, 0037, 0039-0040; Fig. 6; degree of opening of the indoor expansion valve is a known parameter considered by the controller in a cooler estimation model, wherein the state of the prior art is known to incorporate various other input information described above when utilizing estimation models].
Regarding Claim 7, Sasaki teaches the multi-split air-conditioning system according to claim 1 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the controller is further configured to:
turn on a fault diagnosis function and a fault positioning function [Fig. 13] after the multi-split air- conditioning system operates for a preset period [¶ 0068; acquisition time information is given to the operating state quantity; alternatively, some period of time elapses between S11-S14 to acquire and process data, before determining at S15].
Regarding Claim 8, Sasaki teaches a fault positioning method [Figs. 3-14] for a multi-split air-conditioning system [Figs. 1-2], wherein the multi-split air-conditioning system includes:
an outdoor unit [2], the outdoor unit including a compressor [11] [Figs. 1-2; ¶ 0029];
a plurality of indoor units [3], any one of the plurality of indoor units being correspondingly connected with an air pipe [57] and a liquid pipe [56], so as to communicate with the outdoor unit through the air pipe and the liquid pipe [¶ 0046; indoor units comprise liquid pipe 56 and gas pipe 57], any one of the plurality of indoor units being provided with an air outlet and an air inlet [¶ 0046; heat exchangers 51 engage with refrigerant and inside air, thus commonsensically having an air inlet and outlet for said inside air]; and
a plurality of electronic expansion valves [52] corresponding to the plurality of indoor units [Fig. 2; apparent from inspection], the plurality of electronic expansion valves being each disposed in the liquid pipe connected to the corresponding indoor unit [Fig. 2; apparent from inspection];
the method comprises:
obtaining operating data of the multi-split air-conditioning system [S11]; wherein the operating data includes at least one of following: an operating current value of the compressor, an exhaust pressure value of the compressor, an exhaust temperature value of the compressor, air outlet temperature values of the air outlets of the plurality of indoor units, or air inlet temperature values of the air inlets of the plurality of indoor units [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least compressor speed, refrigerant temperatures upstream and downstream of components, refrigerant pressure upstream and downstream of components, air temperature/pressure, degree of opening of expansion valve, etc.];
determining whether the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty according to the operating data [S12-S15] [¶ 0113-0114; the controller performs arbitrary operating steps to process the acquired data to determine if an abnormality is present in the system];
obtaining feature data of the plurality of indoor units in a case where the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty [¶ 0115-0116; S18 determines an abnormality in either the indoor unit or the outdoor unit, wherein S21-S22 determine a specific indoor unit abnormality if the abnormality is determined to be an inside unit]; wherein the feature data of any indoor unit includes a temperature difference between a temperature value of the liquid pipe correspondingly connected to the indoor unit and a temperature value of the air pipe correspondingly connected to the indoor unit [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least compressor speed, refrigerant temperatures upstream and downstream of components, refrigerant pressure upstream and downstream of components, air temperature/pressure, degree of opening of expansion valve, etc.];
determining an abnormal indoor unit in the plurality of indoor units according to the feature data of the plurality of indoor units [¶ 0116; S22 determines that the abnormality resides in a specific indoor unit and identifies the indoor unit that caused the abnormality in the refrigerant circuit among the plurality of indoor units]; and
determine the electronic expansion valve corresponding to the abnormal indoor unit as a faulty electronic expansion valve [¶ 0103; each indoor unit comprises its own expansion valve and the abnormality estimation model utilizes values attributed to the expansion valve, wherein if a simulated value of an indoor unit does not coincide with the feature value, the controller may flag the abnormal indoor unit, thus flagging its attributed expansion valve].
Regarding Claim 9, Sasaki teaches the method according to claim 8 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the determining the abnormal indoor unit in the plurality of indoor units according to the feature data of the plurality of indoor units includes:
determining a fault identifying result [S15] by using a fault identifying model [see Fig. 3] based on deep neural networks according to the feature data of the plurality of indoor units [Fig. 3; ¶ 0038-0039; the control circuit comprises at least refrigerant amount estimation unit (45) with its own estimation model, an abnormality estimation unit (46) with its own estimation model, as well as a storage unit (43) for storing abnormality logs; the control unit periodically acquires detected values from various sensors to operate the control circuit]; and
determining the abnormal indoor unit [S22] in the plurality of indoor units according to the fault identifying result of the fault identifying model [¶ 0116; also see Fig. 4];
wherein the feature data of any indoor unit further includes at least one of following: the exhaust pressure value of the compressor, a suction pressure value of the compressor, the exhaust temperature value of the compressor, a suction temperature value of the compressor, the air outlet temperature value of the air outlet of the indoor unit, or the air inlet temperature value of the air inlet of the indoor [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least compressor speed, refrigerant temperatures upstream and downstream of components, refrigerant pressure upstream and downstream of components, air temperature/pressure, degree of opening of expansion valve, etc.].
Regarding Claim 10, Sasaki teaches the method according to claim 8 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the determining whether the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty according to the operating data, includes:
determining a fault diagnosis result [at least S15] by using a fault diagnosis model [¶ 0040-0043; at least refrigerant amount estimation model 45A and/or abnormality estimation model 46A] based on a support vector machine according to the operating data [¶ 0103; Fig. 10 is distribution model of detected values, wherein the determining units utilize data clusters to infer abnormalities of the system]; and
determining whether the electronic expansion valve in the multi-split air-conditioning system is faulty [at least S18 determines if the abnormality is in the outdoor unit or some indoor unit] according to the fault diagnosis result of the fault diagnosis model [¶ 0103; each indoor unit comprises its own expansion valve and the abnormality estimation model utilizes values attributed to the expansion valve, wherein if a simulated value of an indoor unit does not coincide with the feature value, the controller may flag the abnormal indoor unit, thus flagging its attributed expansion valve].
Regarding Claim 12, Sasaki teaches the method according to claim 8 above and Sasaki further teaches comprising:
obtaining an opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve after determining the faulty electronic expansion valve [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least degree of opening of expansion valve];
determining a faulty level of the faulty electronic expansion valve according to the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve [¶ 0075-0078; at least the refrigerant amount estimation model indicates as a percentage of the actual vs. simulated values from ranges of 0% to 100% the expected value, thus determining a level of fault]; and
outputting a second prompting information; wherein the second prompting information is configured to prompt the faulty level of the faulty electronic expansion valve [¶ 0114-0116; Fig. 13; S15 may proceed to S18 if abnormalities are found in the system, wherein S20 forms an abnormality output process].
Regarding Claim 13, Sasaki teaches the method according to claim 12 above and Sasaki teaches wherein the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve has a corresponding relationship with the faulty level [Figs. 6-7; ¶ 0068-0069; Sasaki discloses a range of known parameters for analyzing abnormalities and estimation models, such as at least degree of opening of expansion valve], and the corresponding relationship includes:
the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve being inversely proportional to the faulty level in a heating operating state [¶ 0033, 0037, 0039, 0069; Fig. 7; degree of opening of the indoor expansion valve is a known parameter considered by the controller in a heater estimation model, wherein the state of the prior art is known to incorporate various other input information described above when utilizing estimation models and thus commonsensically incorporate the known idea that heating operations are inverse to the flow of refrigerant in a cooling operation]; and
the opening degree of the faulty electronic expansion valve being proportional to the faulty level in a cooling operating state [¶ 0033, 0037, 0039-0040; Fig. 6; degree of opening of the indoor expansion valve is a known parameter considered by the controller in a cooler estimation model, wherein the state of the prior art is known to incorporate various other input information described above when utilizing estimation models].
Regarding Claim 14, Sasaki teaches the method according to claim 8 above and Sasaki further teaches comprising:
turning on a fault diagnosis function and a fault positioning function after the multi-split air- conditioning system operates for a preset period [¶ 0068; acquisition time information is given to the operating state quantity; alternatively, some period of time elapses between S11-S14 to acquire and process data, before determining at S15].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEITH S MYERS whose telephone number is (571)272-5102. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jerry-Daryl Fletcher can be reached at (571) 270-5054. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEITH STANLEY MYERS/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/JERRY-DARYL FLETCHER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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