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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1 and 4-13 set forth in the preliminary amendment submitted 7/24/2024 form the basis of the present examination.
Response to Arguments
The interpretation of claims 1 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, set forth to the Non-Final Office action mailed on 3/20/2026 has been withdrawn because of the amendment filed on 6/18/2026.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks page 10, filed 6/18/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of Claim 1 provisionally on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1+portion of claim 4 of copending Application No. 18730798 (US 20250102285 A1) have been fully considered as follows:
Applicant’s Argument:
Applicant argues on page 10, of the remarks, filed on 6/18/2026, regarding the rejection(s) of Claim 1 provisionally on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1+portion of claim 4 of copending Application No. 18730798 (US 20250102285 A1), that “Since the non-statutory double patenting rejection of Claim 1 is provisional, Applicant respectfully requests that the rejection be held in abeyance until all other issues in this application have been resolved.”
Examiner Response:
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks page 10 (stated above), filed 6/18/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of Claim 1 provisionally on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1+portion of claim 4 of copending Application No. 18730798 (US 20250102285 A1) have been fully considered. Applicant did not file terminal disclosure to obviate the double patenting rejection. However, applicant has amended claim 1. Therefore claim 1 is now provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1+portion of claim 4 of copending Application No. 18730798 (US 20250102285 A1) in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20), as set forth below. See the rejection set forth below.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks page 11, filed 6/18/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 7 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 2-3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and the rejection of Claim(s) 6 and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 have been fully considered as follows:
Applicant’s Argument:
Applicant argues on page 11, of the remarks, filed on 6/18/2026, regarding the rejection(s) of Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 7 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 2-3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and the rejection of Claim(s) 6 and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, that “Claim 1 is amended to recite features that are not found in the art of record. Therefore, it is believed that the rejection of Claims 1 and 4-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) is moot.
For substantially similar reasons as discussed above, it is believed that the rejection of Claim 7 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) is moot.
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 rely on one or more of Park and Saito for the above-distinguished features. However, Park and Saito do not disclose or suggest the above-distinguished features, alone, in combination, or in combination with any other art of record. Therefore, it is believed that a prima facie case of obviousness cannot be maintained. Withdrawal of the rejections of Claims 2-3, 6, and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 is respectfully requested.
New Claims 11-13 recite features not disclosed in the art of record and are believed to be in condition for allowance. Non-limiting support for the new claims may be found at least at paragraphs [0081], [0084], and [0089] of the published application.”
Examiner Response:
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks page 11 (stated above), filed 6/18/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 7 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 2-3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and the rejection of Claim(s) 6 and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, as applied to the Non-Final Office Action mailed on 3/20/2026 have been fully considered and is persuasive. Because applicant has amended the claims and add the limitation in claim 1, “wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.” which necessities a new ground of rejection because claim now recites, “thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands” which changes the scope of the claim. The limitation was not in the claim before. Now claim requires any thinning (breakage) of the strands. Before the amendment filed on 6/18/2026, claim 2 required breakage of some of the strands. And breakage could be any kind of fault. But now claim recites “thinning (or breakage) of at least some of the plurality of strand”. Therefore, claim now requires either thinning or breakage of the strand not any other type of defect. Therefore, present amendment overcomes the rejection(s) of Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 7 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, the rejection of Claim(s) 2-3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and the rejection of Claim(s) 6 and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park ‘730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1, as applied to the Non-Final Office Action mailed on 3/20/2026. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20) is applied to meet at least the amended limitation of claim 1. Therefore claim 1 is now rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20), as set forth below. Similarly independent Claim(s) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20) and independent claims 6 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 and KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A, and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20)., as set forth below, because of the same reason as stated for claim 1 because claims 6-9 has similar amendment to independent claim 1 as explained above. Applicant’s argument is moot in view of newly applied combination of references. See the rejection set forth below.
Dependent claim(s) 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20) and dependent claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 and KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A, and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20)., as set forth below because of the same reason as stated above. See the rejection set forth below.
New Claims 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 and KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A, and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20).
New claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claim 1 is provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1+portion of claim 4 of copending Application No. 18730798 (US 20250102285 A1) in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claim 1 of the present application is anticipated by claim 1 of the ‘798 copending application, as shown in the table below:
Present application (18664670)
18730798
1. A detection device comprising: a signal output unit configured to output a measurement signal having a frequency component to a transmission line; a measurement unit configured to receive, from the transmission line, a response signal including a signal in which the measurement signal is reflected, and measure at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the received response signal; and a detection unit configured to calculate an evaluation value based on a measurement result obtained by the measurement unit, and detect a partial damage of the transmission line, based on the calculated evaluation value; wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are
bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core
wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line,
thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
1. A detection device comprising: a signal output unit configured to output a measurement signal having a frequency component to a target line; a measurement unit configured to receive, from the target line, a response signal including a signal in which the measurement signal is reflected, and measure at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the received response signal; and a detection unit configured to calculate an evaluation value based on a measurement result obtained by the measurement unit, and detect a change in a level of bending of the target line, based on a change over time in the calculated evaluation value.
4. The detection device according to claim 1, wherein the target line is a transmission line,
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
With respect to claim 1 of the present application ‘518, claim 1 and 4 of the copending application ‘798 discloses all the limitation of claim 1 of the present application with the exception of wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Raymond teaches to provide techniques and apparatus for Locating the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems (Column 1 Line 22-24),
wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34),
wherein the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34). The purpose of doing so is to locate the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, to implement for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify ‘798 by including a plurality of strands and a core wire in the transmission line as disclosed by Raymond, because Raymond teaches to include a plurality of strands and a core wire in which plurality of strands are bundled in the transmission line locates the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, implements for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable (Column 1 Line 23-24).
The combination of ‘798 and Raymond fails to teach the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Yoshida teaches a method for determining a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor and a device for determining wire breakage rate, which are suitable for detecting half-breakage of a strand of a stranded conductor in an electric wire or cable for use (Paragraph [0001] Line 4-6),
wherein the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands (Generally, a conductor of an electric wire or cable is configured by twisting a plurality of strands. When the strand of the stranded conductor is broken, problems such as a reduction in the conductor cross-sectional area of the electric wire or cable and an increase in impedance occur. For this reason, as a method used for detecting disconnection of a conductor of an electric wire or a cable, in particular, detection of disconnection of an element wire, a method of measuring the conductor resistance value of the element wire is generally used; Paragraph [0003] Line 1-5). The purpose of doing so is to detect an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and to detect a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, to determine a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify ‘798 and Raymond in view of Yoshida, to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands, because Yoshida teaches to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands detects an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and detects a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, determines a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand (Paragraph [0008]).
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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, 4-5 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20).
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a detection device (a new apparatus and methodology in instrumentation and measurement for detection and localization of the faults in a wire or cable of an electric or electronic system; Paragraph [0001] Line 1-4; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry apparatus; Paragraph [0035] Line 1-2; FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry method in accordance with the present invention; Paragraph [0043] Line 1-3) comprising:
a signal output circuit [300] (AWG 300 as the signal output unit) configured to output a measurement signal (input reference signal-chirp signals as the measurement signal) having a frequency component (A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time; Paragraph [0040] Line 3-4; chirp signal has the frequency component) to a transmission line [600] (different conductors 600 as the transmission line) (For the execution of the detection and localization, the above AWG 300 generates input reference signal-chirp signals. A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time. The chirp signal adopted here is one, of which the frequency rises linearly with time; Paragraph [0040] Line 1-6; the step: of inputting (S10) values for physical and electric characteristics of a wire/cable under test 600 under test using GUI, after the wire/cable under test has been connected to a system via a cable and then the system has been initialized; of selecting a frequency domain (S11) suitable to the estimated characteristics of the wire/cable under test in a frequency domain; Paragraph [0043] Line 7-13);
a measurement circuit [400] (Data Acquisition Instrument 400 as the measurement unit) configured to receive, from the transmission line [600], a response signal (reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test) including a signal (input signal) in which the measurement signal is reflected (Numeral 400, representing a DAI, acquires reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test as well as input signal generated by an AWG via a circulator, and stores the same; Paragraph [0039] Line 1-4; after the above architected wave form has been transmitted to the AWG 300 via a GPIB; of storing wave form of the reflected wave (S15) passed through the wire/cable under test 600 from the DAI 400 and transmitting the wave form to the inner program in form of a file simultaneously with the above step of generating reference signal; of computing a time-frequency distribution function (S16) from the received wave form signal by the DSP 200 for a rapid calculation; Paragraph [0042] Line 24-32), and measure at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the received response signal (FIG. 8 illustrates physical characteristics of the wire/cable under test in this experiment in terms of amplitude in (a) and phase in (b); Paragraph [0067] Line 11-13; On the other hand, FDR often uses a swept frequency signal which allows one to place the energy of the reference or probing signal in the RF band of interest. The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor; Paragraph [0008] Line 1-7); and
a detection circuit [130] (process control program 130 as the detection unit) configured to calculate an evaluation value ([S(t)] as the evaluation value) based on a measurement result obtained by the measurement unit (The process control program 130 receives the two files inputted from the PC through a GPIB cable and transmits the same to the DSP 200; Paragraph [0042] Line 16-18), and detect a partial damage of the transmission line, based on the calculated evaluation value (The process control program 130 receives the two files inputted from the PC through a GPIB cable and transmits the same to the DSP 200. The DSP 200 compares signal [S(t)] information with data fetched from the oscilloscope to detect faults in the wire/cable under test computes to localize the faults using a time-frequency domain reflectometry detection and estimation algorithm 120 of the DSP program; Paragraph [0042] Line 16-23; of detecting faults (S17) in the wire/cable under test 600 considering the inputted electromagnetic characteristics of the wire/cable under test after time-frequency cross correlation functions have been computed from the input signal and the time-frequency distribution functions of the reflected wave; of localizing the reflected wave (S18) using the time-frequency correlation function, if any fault is diagnosed; and of estimating the correct location of faults in the wire/cable under test (S19) after localized time delays, frequency displacements of the reflected wave have been computed from marginal of the time-frequency distribution function for the above localized signal and then the signal distortions have been compensated by time-frequency increase rate of the architected signal; Paragraph [0043] Line 32-45).
However, Park fails to teach that wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Raymond teaches to provide techniques and apparatus for Locating the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems (Column 1 Line 22-24),
wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34),
wherein the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34). The purpose of doing so is to locate the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, to implement for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park by including a plurality of strands and a core wire in the transmission line as disclosed by Raymond, because Raymond teaches to include a plurality of strands and a core wire in which plurality of strands are bundled in the transmission line locates the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, implements for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable (Column 1 Line 23-24).
The combination of Park and Raymond teaches damage in the transmission line.
However, the combination of Park and Raymond fails to teach the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Yoshida teaches a method for determining a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor and a device for determining wire breakage rate, which are suitable for detecting half-breakage of a strand of a stranded conductor in an electric wire or cable for use (Paragraph [0001] Line 4-6),
wherein the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands (Generally, a conductor of an electric wire or cable is configured by twisting a plurality of strands. When the strand of the stranded conductor is broken, problems such as a reduction in the conductor cross-sectional area of the electric wire or cable and an increase in impedance occur. For this reason, as a method used for detecting disconnection of a conductor of an electric wire or a cable, in particular, detection of disconnection of an element wire, a method of measuring the conductor resistance value of the element wire is generally used; Paragraph [0003] Line 1-5). The purpose of doing so is to detect an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and to detect a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, to determine a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park and Raymond in view of Yoshida, to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands, because Yoshida teaches to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands detects an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and detects a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, determines a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand (Paragraph [0008]).
Regarding claim 4, Park teaches a detection device,
wherein the detection circuit further detects a degree of damage of the transmission
line that is partially damaged (
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; Paragraph [0077] Line 1-6; The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor, wherein a sinusoidal wave serves as the reference signs; Paragraph [0008] Line 3-8; FIG. 8 illustrates physical characteristics of the wire/cable under test in this experiment in terms of amplitude in (a) and phase in (b); Paragraph [0067] Line 11-13; detection unit determines phase and location of the fault location and thereby determines the degree of the damage of the line).
Regarding claim 5, Park teaches a detection device,
wherein the detection circuit calculates, as the evaluation value, at least one of (any one limitation is required by the claim): a phase difference between the measurement signal and the response signal (On the other hand, FDR often uses a swept frequency signal which allows one to place the energy of the reference or probing signal in the RF band of interest. The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor; Paragraph [0008] Line 1-7); a reflection coefficient that is a ratio of an amplitude of the response signal to an amplitude of the measurement signal; an impedance of the transmission line (On the other hand, FDR often uses a swept frequency signal which allows one to place the energy of the reference or probing signal in the RF band of interest. The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor; Paragraph [0008] Line 1-7); a reactance of the transmission line; a resistance of the transmission line; a capacitance of the transmission line; an inductance of the transmission line; and a characteristic impedance of the transmission line ([0021] FIG. 8 illustrates frequency response of the coaxial cable for normal and faulty state in amplitude in (a) and phase (b) characteristics of the conductor under experiment of FIG. 6.
Regarding claim 12, Park teaches a detection device according to claim 1,
further comprising a storage circuit [400] (data acquisition instrument) configured to store a predefined number of digital signals (An oscilloscope captures the reflected wave as well as the transmitted wave from each channel, and then displays them on a screen, which operation is performed also by GPIB programming Also the acquired data is stored as a numerical file which is transferred to the PC 100 for the execution of the detection and localization algorithm; Paragraph [0042] Line 7-14) obtained by subjecting a predetermined cycle of a sine wave to digital conversion (The Gaussian envelope provides time localization, while the chirp allows one to excite the system under test with a swept sinewave covering a frequency band of interest; Abstract),
wherein the signal output circuit [300] generates the measurement signal using the stored digital signals (Claim 10: A time-frequency domain reflectometry apparatus for detecting and locating faults in an electric conductor comprising: a wire/cable to be tested; an arbitrary wave form generator that generates a designed input reference signal in time and frequency domain for said conductor under test; a data acquisition instrument that stores said reference signal and said reflected signal from said conductor under test, and transmits stored files to a device control program of a personal computer; a personal computer (PC) configured to perform a main control program of a predetermined time-frequency domain reflectometry, including: a device control program that controls data acquisition devices).
Claim(s) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 in view of KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20).
Regarding claim 7, Saito teaches a transmission line (apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] Line 1-3) comprising:
a cable part (transmission line A and transmission line B) in Figure 1 (As shown in FIG. 1, the first embodiment of the multimedia transmission system 100 is configured with a first terminal 1 and a second terminal 2 that each have send and receive function capabilities. The transmission line set between the terminals 1, 2 is configured with various cables (wired) of redundant transmission line A and transmission line B; Paragraph [0040] Line 4-10); and
a connection part [Termina1 1/Terminal 2] provided at a first end of the cable part [transmission line A and transmission line B],
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Figure 1: Modified Figure 1 of Saito
the connector part[Termina1 1/Terminal 2] including a switching device [64] in Figure 2 (As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 1 is equipped with a controller 50, a media access control (MAC) circuit 62, a switch circuit (SW) 64; Paragraph [0042] Line 1-3),
configured to perform a process of switching a state of the first end between a normal state where communication via the transmission line is allowed (The SW 64 is the circuit for changing over the transmission line when the MAC frame is sent to and received from the opposition terminal (i.e., the terminal 2). In addition, as detailed above, the changeover signal output from the controller 50 changes over in response to the effectiveness of transmission line A and transmission line B. The SW 64 outputs the provided MAC frame from the MAC 62 to the PHY (66a and 66b) that are connected to the effective transmission line in response to the output changeover signal (SW changeover signal) from the controller 50. Also, the provided decoded MAC frame from the PHY (66a, 66b) connected to the effective transmission line (allowed transmission line) is output to the MAC 62; Paragraph [0047] Line 1-12), and
a test state where a test of the transmission line is allowed (In the controller 50, when an active received-data-valid (RXDV) signal is received from PHY 66a or PHY 66b within a set timeframe (e.g., 256 .mu.s), it determines that the transmission line that links to the receipt source PHY (66a or 66b) is a sending and receiving capable transmission line, and that transmission line used for sending and receiving sends the SW changeover signal to the SW 64 (this is the test state); Paragraph [0045] Line 1-7), wherein
the process of switching the state of the first end to the test state (In the controller 50, when an active received-data-valid (RXDV) signal is received from PHY 66a or PHY 66b within a set timeframe (e.g., 256 .mu.s), it determines that the transmission line that links to the receipt source PHY (66a or 66b) is a sending and receiving capable transmission line, and that transmission line used for sending and receiving sends the SW changeover signal to the SW 64; Paragraph [0045] Line 1-7) is at least one of a process of switching to a state (In this multimedia transmission system 200, the MAC frame is output from the terminal 1 to transmission line A and transmission line B and transmitted to transmission line C and transmission line D according to the switching hub 5. On the other hand, the terminal 2, via transmission line C and transmission line D, receives the MAC frame from the effective transmission line that is changed over to according to the SW 64 (FIG. 2); Paragraph [0069] Line 1-8) where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node ([0052] Specifically, when the MAC frame is input to the PHY 66a, the MAC frame is output to transmission line A via the TR 68a and the connector 70a; Paragraph [0072] Line 1-4; As shown in FIG. 4, an embodiment of multimedia transmission system 200 is configured with a terminal 1 and a terminal 2 that have send and receive function capabilities. Further, it is configured with a switching hub 5 between those the terminals. Transmission line A and transmission line B are configured as various cables (wired) between the terminal 1 and the switching hub 5. Transmission line C and transmission line D are configured as various cables between the terminal 2 and the switching hub 5. Consequently, the transmission line set up is redundant between the terminal 1 and the terminal 2; Paragraph [0068] Line 1-11), and
a process of switching to a state where the first end is connected to a load for the test (Claim 21. The multimedia transmission system of claim 20, further comprising: at least one switching hub positioned between the first terminal and the second terminal, the two transmission lines connecting the first terminal to the switching hub; and at least two transmission lines connecting the switching hub to the second terminal; wherein the switching hub is adapted to direct multimedia data along lines selected by the first terminal, the second terminal or both terminals).
However, Saito fails to teach that the cable part of the transmission line includes a plurality of strands and a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the test states permits detection of thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands as partial damage of the transmission line.
Raymond teaches to provide techniques and apparatus for Locating the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems (Column 1 Line 22-24),
wherein the cable part of the transmission line includes a plurality of strands (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34),
and a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34). The purpose of doing so is to locate the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, to implement for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Saito by including a plurality of strands and a core wire in the transmission line as disclosed by Raymond, because Raymond teaches to include a plurality of strands and a core wire in which plurality of strands are bundled in the transmission line locates the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, implements for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable (Column 1 Line 23-24).
The combination of Saito and Raymond teaches damage in the transmission line.
However, the combination of Saito and Raymond fails to teach the test states permits detection of thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands as partial damage of the transmission line.
Yoshida teaches a method for determining a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor and a device for determining wire breakage rate, which are suitable for detecting half-breakage of a strand of a stranded conductor in an electric wire or cable for use (Paragraph [0001] Line 4-6),
wherein the test states permits detection of thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands as partial damage of the transmission line (Generally, a conductor of an electric wire or cable is configured by twisting a plurality of strands. When the strand of the stranded conductor is broken, problems such as a reduction in the conductor cross-sectional area of the electric wire or cable and an increase in impedance occur. For this reason, as a method used for detecting disconnection of a conductor of an electric wire or a cable, in particular, detection of disconnection of an element wire, a method of measuring the conductor resistance value of the element wire is generally used; Paragraph [0003] Line 1-5). The purpose of doing so is to detect an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and to detect a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, to determine a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Saito and Raymond in view of Yoshida, to permit detection of thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands as partial damage of the transmission line, because Yoshida teaches to permit detection of thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands as partial damage of the transmission line detects an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and detects a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, determines a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand (Paragraph [0008]).
Claim(s) 6, 8-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (Hereinafter, “Park”) in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20060097730 A1 in view of Saito et al. (Hereinafter, “Saito”) in the US patent Application Publication Number US 20080151925 A1 and KEMPF RAYMOND (Hereinafter, “Raymond”) in the US Patent Number US 2499759 A, and further in view of YOSHIDA KIYOSHI (Hereinafter, “Yoshida”) in the Patent Publication Number JP 4673724 B2 (Publication Date 2011-04-20).
Regarding claim 6, Park teaches a detection system (a new apparatus and methodology in instrumentation and measurement for detection and localization of the faults in a wire or cable of an electric or electronic system; Paragraph [0001] Line 1-4) comprising:
a detection device (FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry apparatus; Paragraph [0035] Line 1-2; FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry method in accordance with the present invention; Paragraph [0043] Line 1-3); the detection device configured to perform a detection process that includes:
outputting a measurement signal (input reference signal-chirp signals as the measurement signal) having a frequency component (A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time; Paragraph [0040] Line 3-4; chirp signal has the frequency component) to a transmission line [600] (different conductors 600 as the transmission line) (For the execution of the detection and localization, the above AWG 300 generates input reference signal-chirp signals. A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time. The chirp signal adopted here is one, of which the frequency rises linearly with time; Paragraph [0040] Line 1-6; the step: of inputting (S10) values for physical and electric characteristics of a wire/cable under test 600 under test using GUI, after the wire/cable under test has been connected to a system via a cable and then the system has been initialized; of selecting a frequency domain (S11) suitable to the estimated characteristics of the wire/cable under test in a frequency domain; Paragraph [0043] Line 7-13);
receiving, from the transmission line, a response signal (reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test) including a signal in which the measurement signal is reflected (Numeral 400, representing a DAI, acquires reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test as well as input signal generated by an AWG via a circulator, and stores the same; Paragraph [0039] Line 1-4; after the above architected wave form has been transmitted to the AWG 300 via a GPIB; of storing wave form of the reflected wave (S15) passed through the wire/cable under test 600 from the DAI 400 and transmitting the wave form to the inner program in form of a file simultaneously with the above step of generating reference signal; of computing a time-frequency distribution function (S16) from the received wave form signal by the DSP 200 for a rapid calculation; Paragraph [0042] Line 24-32), measuring at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the received response signal (FIG. 8 illustrates physical characteristics of the wire/cable under test in this experiment in terms of amplitude in (a) and phase in (b); Paragraph [0067] Line 11-13; On the other hand, FDR often uses a swept frequency signal which allows one to place the energy of the reference or probing signal in the RF band of interest. The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor; Paragraph [0008] Line 1-7); and
calculating an evaluation value ([S(t)] as the evaluation value) based on a measurement result, and detecting a partial damage of the transmission line, based on the calculated evaluation value (The process control program 130 receives the two files inputted from the PC through a GPIB cable and transmits the same to the DSP 200. The DSP 200 compares signal [S(t)] information with data fetched from the oscilloscope to detect faults in the wire/cable under test computes to localize the faults using a time-frequency domain reflectometry detection and estimation algorithm 120 of the DSP program; Paragraph [0042] Line 16-23; of detecting faults (S17) in the wire/cable under test 600 considering the inputted electromagnetic characteristics of the wire/cable under test after time-frequency cross correlation functions have been computed from the input signal and the time-frequency distribution functions of the reflected wave; of localizing the reflected wave (S18) using the time-frequency correlation function, if any fault is diagnosed; and of estimating the correct location of faults in the wire/cable under test (S19) after localized time delays, frequency displacements of the reflected wave have been computed from marginal of the time-frequency distribution function for the above localized signal and then the signal distortions have been compensated by time-frequency increase rate of the architected signal; Paragraph [0043] Line 32-45).
Park fails to teach a switching device, the switching device configured to perform a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line, between a normal state where the detection device is allowed to communicate with another device via the transmission line, and a test state where the detection device is allowed to perform the detection process, wherein the process of switching the state of the end to the test state is at least one of a process of switching to a state where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node, and a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a load for a test the detection device transmits a control signal to the switching device via the transmission line, and the switching device performs the process of switching the state of the end to the test state, according to the control signal received from the detection device; wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Saito teaches apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] .
a switching device [64] in Figure 2 (As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 1 is equipped with a controller 50, a media access control (MAC) circuit 62, a switch circuit (SW) 64; Paragraph [0042] Line 1-3),
the switching device [64] configured to perform a process of switching a state of an end [64], different from an input end for the measurement signal , of the transmission line [Line A, Line B] in Figure 2, between a normal state where the detection device is allowed to communicate with another device via the transmission line (The SW 64 is the circuit for changing over the transmission line when the MAC frame is sent to and received from the opposition terminal (i.e., the terminal 2). In addition, as detailed above, the changeover signal output from the controller 50 changes over in response to the effectiveness of transmission line A and transmission line B. The SW 64 outputs the provided MAC frame from the MAC 62 to the PHY (66a and 66b) that are connected to the effective transmission line in response to the output changeover signal(SW changeover signal) from the controller 50. Also, the provided decoded MAC frame from the PHY (66a, 66b) connected to the effective transmission line is output to the MAC 62; Paragraph [0047] Line 1-12), and
a test state where the detection device is allowed to perform the detection process, wherein the process of switching the state of the end to the test state (In the controller 50, when an active received-data-valid (RXDV) signal is received from PHY 66a or PHY 66b within a set timeframe (e.g., 256 .mu.s), it determines that the transmission line that links to the receipt source PHY (66a or 66b) is a sending and receiving capable transmission line, and that transmission line used for sending and receiving sends the SW changeover signal to the SW 64; Paragraph [0045] Line 1-7) is at least one of a process of switching to a state where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node (As shown in FIG. 4, an embodiment of multimedia transmission system 200 is configured with a terminal 1 and a terminal 2 that have send and receive function capabilities. Further, it is configured with a switching hub 5 between those the terminals. Transmission line A and transmission line B are configured as various cables (wired) between the terminal 1 and the switching hub 5. Transmission line C and transmission line D are configured as various cables between the terminal 2 and the switching hub 5. Consequently, the transmission line set up is redundant between the terminal 1 and the terminal 2; Paragraph [0068] Line 1-11), and
a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a load for a test the detection device transmits a control signal to the switching device via the transmission line (Claim 21. The multimedia transmission system of claim 20, further comprising: at least one switching hub positioned between the first terminal and the second terminal, the two transmission lines connecting the first terminal to the switching hub; and at least two transmission lines connecting the switching hub to the second terminal; wherein the switching hub is adapted to direct multimedia data along lines selected by the first terminal, the second terminal or both terminals), and
the switching device performs the process of switching the state of the end to the test state, according to the control signal received from the detection device (In this multimedia transmission system 200, the MAC frame is output from the terminal 1 to transmission line A and transmission line B and transmitted to transmission line C and transmission line D according to the switching hub 5. On the other hand, the terminal 2, via transmission line C and transmission line D, receives the MAC frame from the effective transmission line that is changed over to according to the SW 64 (FIG. 2); Paragraph [0069] Line 1-8; As stated above, in the third embodiment of the multimedia transmission system 300 of FIG. 5, when the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 output packeted multimedia data that includes sound and/or video, the same packeted multimedia data is output using the two strains of transmission lines. Therefore, if there is a defect on any of the switching hubs 6, 7 on the transmission line, if another transmission line is effective, the opposition terminal can receive the packeted multimedia data. Similarly, if there is a defect in transmission lines A, B, C or D, according to the use of the remaining transmission lines, the packeted multimedia data can be transmitted from one the terminal to another the terminal; Paragraph [0081] Line 1-12). The purpose of doing so is to reduce the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover, to change over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park in view of Saito, because Saito teaches to include a switching device performing a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line reduces the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover (Paragraph [0003]), changes over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device (Paragraph [0004]).
However, the combination of Park and Saito fails to teach that wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Raymond teaches to provide techniques and apparatus for Locating the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems (Column 1 Line 22-24),
wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34),
wherein the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34). The purpose of doing so is to locate the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, to implement for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park and Saito by including a plurality of strands and a core wire in the transmission line as disclosed by Raymond, because Raymond teaches to include a plurality of strands and a core wire in which plurality of strands are bundled in the transmission line locates the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, implements for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable (Column 1 Line 23-24).
The combination of Park, Saito and Raymond teaches damage in the transmission line.
However, the combination of Park, Saito and Raymond fails to teach the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Yoshida teaches a method for determining a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor and a device for determining wire breakage rate, which are suitable for detecting half-breakage of a strand of a stranded conductor in an electric wire or cable for use (Paragraph [0001] Line 4-6),
wherein the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands (Generally, a conductor of an electric wire or cable is configured by twisting a plurality of strands. When the strand of the stranded conductor is broken, problems such as a reduction in the conductor cross-sectional area of the electric wire or cable and an increase in impedance occur. For this reason, as a method used for detecting disconnection of a conductor of an electric wire or a cable, in particular, detection of disconnection of an element wire, a method of measuring the conductor resistance value of the element wire is generally used; Paragraph [0003] Line 1-5). The purpose of doing so is to detect an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and to detect a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, to determine a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park, Saito and Raymond in view of Yoshida, to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands, because Yoshida teaches to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands detects an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and detects a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, determines a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand (Paragraph [0008]).
Regarding claim 8, Park teaches a detection method (a new apparatus and methodology in instrumentation and measurement for detection and localization of the faults in a wire or cable of an electric or electronic system; Paragraph [0001] Line 1-4) in a detection device (FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry apparatus; Paragraph [0035] Line 1-2; FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry method in accordance with the present invention; Paragraph [0043] Line 1-3) comprising:
outputting a measurement signal (input reference signal-chirp signals as the measurement signal) having a frequency component (A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time; Paragraph [0040] Line 3-4; chirp signal has the frequency component) to a transmission line [600] (different conductors 600 as the transmission line) (For the execution of the detection and localization, the above AWG 300 generates input reference signal-chirp signals. A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time. The chirp signal adopted here is one, of which the frequency rises linearly with time; Paragraph [0040] Line 1-6; the step: of inputting (S10) values for physical and electric characteristics of a wire/cable under test 600 under test using GUI, after the wire/cable under test has been connected to a system via a cable and then the system has been initialized; of selecting a frequency domain (S11) suitable to the estimated characteristics of the wire/cable under test in a frequency domain; Paragraph [0043] Line 7-13);
receiving, from the transmission line, a response signal (reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test) including a signal in which the measurement signal is reflected (Numeral 400, representing a DAI, acquires reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test as well as input signal generated by an AWG via a circulator, and stores the same; Paragraph [0039] Line 1-4; after the above architected wave form has been transmitted to the AWG 300 via a GPIB; of storing wave form of the reflected wave (S15) passed through the wire/cable under test 600 from the DAI 400 and transmitting the wave form to the inner program in form of a file simultaneously with the above step of generating reference signal; of computing a time-frequency distribution function (S16) from the received wave form signal by the DSP 200 for a rapid calculation; Paragraph [0042] Line 24-32), measuring at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the received response signal (FIG. 8 illustrates physical characteristics of the wire/cable under test in this experiment in terms of amplitude in (a) and phase in (b); Paragraph [0067] Line 11-13; On the other hand, FDR often uses a swept frequency signal which allows one to place the energy of the reference or probing signal in the RF band of interest. The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor; Paragraph [0008] Line 1-7); and
performing a detection process of calculating an evaluation value ([S(t)] as the evaluation value) based on a measurement result, and detecting a partial damage of the transmission line, based on the calculated evaluation value (The process control program 130 receives the two files inputted from the PC through a GPIB cable and transmits the same to the DSP 200. The DSP 200 compares signal [S(t)] information with data fetched from the oscilloscope to detect faults in the wire/cable under test computes to localize the faults using a time-frequency domain reflectometry detection and estimation algorithm 120 of the DSP program; Paragraph [0042] Line 16-23; of detecting faults (S17) in the wire/cable under test 600 considering the inputted electromagnetic characteristics of the wire/cable under test after time-frequency cross correlation functions have been computed from the input signal and the time-frequency distribution functions of the reflected wave; of localizing the reflected wave (S18) using the time-frequency correlation function, if any fault is diagnosed; and of estimating the correct location of faults in the wire/cable under test (S19) after localized time delays, frequency displacements of the reflected wave have been computed from marginal of the time-frequency distribution function for the above localized signal and then the signal distortions have been compensated by time-frequency increase rate of the architected signal; Paragraph [0043] Line 32-45).
Park fails to teach wherein the performing the detection process includes performing a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line. between a normal state where the detection device is allowed to communicate with another device via the transmission line, and a test state where the detection device is allowed to perform the detection process, the process of switching the state of the end to the test state is at least one of a process of switching to a state where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node, and a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a load for a test. And the performing the detection process includes transmitting a control signal for switching the state of the end via the transmission line, as the process of switching the state of the end to the test state; wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Saito teaches apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] Line 1-3), includes
performing the detection process includes performing a process a process of switching a state of an end [64], different from an input end for the measurement signal , of the transmission line [Line A, Line B] in Figure 2, between a normal state where the detection device is allowed to communicate with another device via the transmission line (The SW 64 is the circuit for changing over the transmission line when the MAC frame is sent to and received from the opposition terminal (i.e., the terminal 2). In addition, as detailed above, the changeover signal output from the controller 50 changes over in response to the effectiveness of transmission line A and transmission line B. The SW 64 outputs the provided MAC frame from the MAC 62 to the PHY (66a and 66b) that are connected to the effective transmission line in response to the output changeover signal(SW changeover signal) from the controller 50. Also, the provided decoded MAC frame from the PHY (66a, 66b) connected to the effective transmission line is output to the MAC 62; Paragraph [0047] Line 1-12), and
a test state where the detection device is allowed to perform the detection process,
the process of switching the state of the end to the test state (In the controller 50, when an active received-data-valid (RXDV) signal is received from PHY 66a or PHY 66b within a set timeframe (e.g., 256 .mu.s), it determines that the transmission line that links to the receipt source PHY (66a or 66b) is a sending and receiving capable transmission line, and that transmission line used for sending and receiving sends the SW changeover signal to the SW 64; Paragraph [0045] Line 1-7) is at least one of a process of switching to a state where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node (As shown in FIG. 4, an embodiment of multimedia transmission system 200 is configured with a terminal 1 and a terminal 2 that have send and receive function capabilities. Further, it is configured with a switching hub 5 between those the terminals. Transmission line A and transmission line B are configured as various cables (wired) between the terminal 1 and the switching hub 5. Transmission line C and transmission line D are configured as various cables between the terminal 2 and the switching hub 5. Consequently, the transmission line set up is redundant between the terminal 1 and the terminal 2; Paragraph [0068] Line 1-11), and
a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a load for a test, and
the performing the detection process includes transmitting a control signal (Claim 21. The multimedia transmission system of claim 20, further comprising: at least one switching hub positioned between the first terminal and the second terminal, the two transmission lines connecting the first terminal to the switching hub; and at least two transmission lines connecting the switching hub to the second terminal; wherein the switching hub is adapted to direct multimedia data along lines selected by the first terminal, the second terminal or both terminals) for switching the state of the end via the transmission line, as the process of switching the state of the end to the test state (In this multimedia transmission system 200, the MAC frame is output from the terminal 1 to transmission line A and transmission line B and transmitted to transmission line C and transmission line D according to the switching hub 5. On the other hand, the terminal 2, via transmission line C and transmission line D, receives the MAC frame from the effective transmission line that is changed over to according to the SW 64 (FIG. 2); Paragraph [0069] Line 1-8; As stated above, in the third embodiment of the multimedia transmission system 300 of FIG. 5, when the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 output packeted multimedia data that includes sound and/or video, the same packeted multimedia data is output using the two strains of transmission lines. Therefore, if there is a defect on any of the switching hubs 6, 7 on the transmission line, if another transmission line is effective, the opposition terminal can receive the packeted multimedia data. Similarly, if there is a defect in transmission lines A, B, C or D, according to the use of the remaining transmission lines, the packeted multimedia data can be transmitted from one the terminal to another the terminal; Paragraph [0081] Line 1-12). The purpose of doing so is to reduce the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover, to change over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park in view of Saito, because Saito teaches to include a switching device performing a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line reduces the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover (Paragraph [0003]), changes over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device (Paragraph [0004]).
However, the combination of Park and Saito fails to teach that wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Raymond teaches to provide techniques and apparatus for Locating the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems (Column 1 Line 22-24),
wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34),
wherein the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34). The purpose of doing so is to locate the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, to implement for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park and Saito by including a plurality of strands and a core wire in the transmission line as disclosed by Raymond, because Raymond teaches to include a plurality of strands and a core wire in which plurality of strands are bundled in the transmission line locates the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, implements for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable (Column 1 Line 23-24).
The combination of Park, Saito and Raymond teaches damage in the transmission line.
However, the combination of Park, Saito and Raymond fails to teach the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Yoshida teaches a method for determining a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor and a device for determining wire breakage rate, which are suitable for detecting half-breakage of a strand of a stranded conductor in an electric wire or cable for use (Paragraph [0001] Line 4-6),
wherein the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands (Generally, a conductor of an electric wire or cable is configured by twisting a plurality of strands. When the strand of the stranded conductor is broken, problems such as a reduction in the conductor cross-sectional area of the electric wire or cable and an increase in impedance occur. For this reason, as a method used for detecting disconnection of a conductor of an electric wire or a cable, in particular, detection of disconnection of an element wire, a method of measuring the conductor resistance value of the element wire is generally used; Paragraph [0003] Line 1-5). The purpose of doing so is to detect an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and to detect a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, to determine a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park, Saito and Raymond in view of Yoshida, to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands, because Yoshida teaches to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands detects an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and detects a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, determines a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand (Paragraph [0008]).
Regarding claim 9, Park teaches a detection device (a new apparatus and methodology in instrumentation and measurement for detection and localization of the faults in a wire or cable of an electric or electronic system; Paragraph [0001] Line 1-4; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry apparatus; Paragraph [0035] Line 1-2; FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing control process in a time-frequency domain reflectometry method in accordance with the present invention; Paragraph [0043] Line 1-3) comprising:
a signal output circuit [300] (AWG 300 as the signal output unit) configured to output a measurement signal (input reference signal-chirp signals as the measurement signal) having a frequency component (A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time; Paragraph [0040] Line 3-4; chirp signal has the frequency component) to a transmission line [600] (different conductors 600 as the transmission line) (For the execution of the detection and localization, the above AWG 300 generates input reference signal-chirp signals. A chirp signal is a signal, of which the frequency changes in a linear manner with elapse of time. The chirp signal adopted here is one, of which the frequency rises linearly with time; Paragraph [0040] Line 1-6; the step: of inputting (S10) values for physical and electric characteristics of a wire/cable under test 600 under test using GUI, after the wire/cable under test has been connected to a system via a cable and then the system has been initialized; of selecting a frequency domain (S11) suitable to the estimated characteristics of the wire/cable under test in a frequency domain; Paragraph [0043] Line 7-13);
a measurement circuit [400] (Data Acquisition Instrument 400 as the measurement unit) configured to receive, from the transmission line [600], a response signal (reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test) including a signal (input signal) in which the measurement signal is reflected (Numeral 400, representing a DAI, acquires reflected signal from a wire/conductor under test as well as input signal generated by an AWG via a circulator, and stores the same; Paragraph [0039] Line 1-4; after the above architected wave form has been transmitted to the AWG 300 via a GPIB; of storing wave form of the reflected wave (S15) passed through the wire/cable under test 600 from the DAI 400 and transmitting the wave form to the inner program in form of a file simultaneously with the above step of generating reference signal; of computing a time-frequency distribution function (S16) from the received wave form signal by the DSP 200 for a rapid calculation; Paragraph [0042] Line 24-32), and measure at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the received response signal (FIG. 8 illustrates physical characteristics of the wire/cable under test in this experiment in terms of amplitude in (a) and phase in (b); Paragraph [0067] Line 11-13; On the other hand, FDR often uses a swept frequency signal which allows one to place the energy of the reference or probing signal in the RF band of interest. The FDR detects and locates faults as well as characteristic impedance of an electric conductor by directly measuring the phase differences between an input wave and the reflected wave of the conductor; Paragraph [0008] Line 1-7); and
a detection circuit [130] (process control program 130 as the detection unit) configured to calculate an evaluation value ([S(t)] as the evaluation value) based on a measurement result obtained by the measurement unit (The process control program 130 receives the two files inputted from the PC through a GPIB cable and transmits the same to the DSP 200; Paragraph [0042] Line 16-18), and detect a partial damage of the transmission line, based on the calculated evaluation value (The process control program 130 receives the two files inputted from the PC through a GPIB cable and transmits the same to the DSP 200. The DSP 200 compares signal [S(t)] information with data fetched from the oscilloscope to detect faults in the wire/cable under test computes to localize the faults using a time-frequency domain reflectometry detection and estimation algorithm 120 of the DSP program; Paragraph [0042] Line 16-23; of detecting faults (S17) in the wire/cable under test 600 considering the inputted electromagnetic characteristics of the wire/cable under test after time-frequency cross correlation functions have been computed from the input signal and the time-frequency distribution functions of the reflected wave; of localizing the reflected wave (S18) using the time-frequency correlation function, if any fault is diagnosed; and of estimating the correct location of faults in the wire/cable under test (S19) after localized time delays, frequency displacements of the reflected wave have been computed from marginal of the time-frequency distribution function for the above localized signal and then the signal distortions have been compensated by time-frequency increase rate of the architected signal; Paragraph [0043] Line 32-45).
Park fails to teach the detection circuit performs a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line, between a normal state where the detection device is allowed to communicate with another device via the transmission line, and a test state where the detection device is allowed to perform the detection process, the process of switching the state of the end to the test state is at least one of a process of switching to a state where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node, and a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a load for a test, and the detection circuit transmits a control signal for switching the state of the end via the transmission line, as the process of switching the state of the end to the test state; wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Saito teaches apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] Line 1-3), includes
the detection circuit performs a process of switching a state of an end [64], different from an input end for the measurement signal , of the transmission line [Line A, Line B] in Figure 2, between a normal state where the detection device is allowed to communicate with another device via the transmission line (The SW 64 is the circuit for changing over the transmission line when the MAC frame is sent to and received from the opposition terminal (i.e., the terminal 2). In addition, as detailed above, the changeover signal output from the controller 50 changes over in response to the effectiveness of transmission line A and transmission line B. The SW 64 outputs the provided MAC frame from the MAC 62 to the PHY (66a and 66b) that are connected to the effective transmission line in response to the output changeover signal(SW changeover signal) from the controller 50. Also, the provided decoded MAC frame from the PHY (66a, 66b) connected to the effective transmission line is output to the MAC 62; Paragraph [0047] Line 1-12), and a test state where the detection device is allowed to perform the detection process,
the process of switching the state of the end to the test state (In the controller 50, when an active received-data-valid (RXDV) signal is received from PHY 66a or PHY 66b within a set timeframe (e.g., 256 .mu.s), it determines that the transmission line that links to the receipt source PHY (66a or 66b) is a sending and receiving capable transmission line, and that transmission line used for sending and receiving sends the SW changeover signal to the SW 64; Paragraph [0045] Line 1-7) is at least one of a process of switching to a state where the end is open, a process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a ground node (As shown in FIG. 4, an embodiment of multimedia transmission system 200 is configured with a terminal 1 and a terminal 2 that have send and receive function capabilities. Further, it is configured with a switching hub 5 between those the terminals. Transmission line A and transmission line B are configured as various cables (wired) between the terminal 1 and the switching hub 5. Transmission line C and transmission line D are configured as various cables between the terminal 2 and the switching hub 5. Consequently, the transmission line set up is redundant between the terminal 1 and the terminal 2; Paragraph [0068] Line 1-11), and
the process of switching to a state where the end is connected to a load for a test, and
the detection circuit transmit a control signal (Claim 21. The multimedia transmission system of claim 20, further comprising: at least one switching hub positioned between the first terminal and the second terminal, the two transmission lines connecting the first terminal to the switching hub; and at least two transmission lines connecting the switching hub to the second terminal; wherein the switching hub is adapted to direct multimedia data along lines selected by the first terminal, the second terminal or both terminals) for switching the state of the end via the transmission line, as the process of switching the state of the end to the test state (In this multimedia transmission system 200, the MAC frame is output from the terminal 1 to transmission line A and transmission line B and transmitted to transmission line C and transmission line D according to the switching hub 5. On the other hand, the terminal 2, via transmission line C and transmission line D, receives the MAC frame from the effective transmission line that is changed over to according to the SW 64 (FIG. 2); Paragraph [0069] Line 1-8; As stated above, in the third embodiment of the multimedia transmission system 300 of FIG. 5, when the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 output packeted multimedia data that includes sound and/or video, the same packeted multimedia data is output using the two strains of transmission lines. Therefore, if there is a defect on any of the switching hubs 6, 7 on the transmission line, if another transmission line is effective, the opposition terminal can receive the packeted multimedia data. Similarly, if there is a defect in transmission lines A, B, C or D, according to the use of the remaining transmission lines, the packeted multimedia data can be transmitted from one the terminal to another the terminal; Paragraph [0081] Line 1-12). The purpose of doing so is to reduce the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover, to change over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park in view of Saito, because Saito teaches to include a switching device performing a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line reduces the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover (Paragraph [0003]), changes over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device (Paragraph [0004]).
However, the combination of Park and Saito fails to teach that wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Raymond teaches to provide techniques and apparatus for Locating the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems (Column 1 Line 22-24),
wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34),
wherein the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, and the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire (The invention is particularly useful for the location of high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable, whether 31 in single or twisted multiple strands, and also in other types of cable circuits such as lightning protected cable having a sheath-to-corrugated- copper path; Column 1 Line 28-34). The purpose of doing so is to locate the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, to implement for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park and Saito by including a plurality of strands and a core wire in the transmission line as disclosed by Raymond, because Raymond teaches to include a plurality of strands and a core wire in which plurality of strands are bundled in the transmission line locates the precise physical points of high- voltage faults in electrical transmission systems, implements for the large-scale factory inspection of certain types of cable for high-voltage faults in disk-insulated longitudinal seam coaxial cable (Column 1 Line 23-24).
The combination of Park, Saito and Raymond teaches damage in the transmission line.
However, the combination of Park, Saito and Raymond fails to teach the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.
Yoshida teaches a method for determining a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor and a device for determining wire breakage rate, which are suitable for detecting half-breakage of a strand of a stranded conductor in an electric wire or cable for use (Paragraph [0001] Line 4-6),
wherein the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands (Generally, a conductor of an electric wire or cable is configured by twisting a plurality of strands. When the strand of the stranded conductor is broken, problems such as a reduction in the conductor cross-sectional area of the electric wire or cable and an increase in impedance occur. For this reason, as a method used for detecting disconnection of a conductor of an electric wire or a cable, in particular, detection of disconnection of an element wire, a method of measuring the conductor resistance value of the element wire is generally used; Paragraph [0003] Line 1-5). The purpose of doing so is to detect an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and to detect a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, to determine a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park, Saito and Raymond in view of Yoshida, to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands, because Yoshida teaches to detect, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands detects an accurate wire breaking position of a conductor strand in the longitudinal direction of a wire or cable regardless of a wire breaking position of a stranding conductor of the wire or cable, and detects a wire breakage of a strand of a twisted conductor, determines a wire breakage rate of a stranded conductor, which can early detect a half-break state and detect a wire breakage rate of a strand (Paragraph [0008]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Park, Raymond and Yoshida fails to teach a detection device, wherein the transmission line includes a switching device configured to perform the process of switching the state of the end, and the detection unit transmits the control signal to the switching device.
Saito teaches apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] Line 1-3), wherein
the transmission line includes a switching device [64] in Figure 2 (As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 1 is equipped with a controller 50, a media access control (MAC) circuit 62, a switch circuit (SW) 64; Paragraph [0042] Line 1-3), configured to perform the process of switching the state of the end [64] (The SW 64 is the circuit for changing over the transmission line when the MAC frame is sent to and received from the opposition terminal (i.e., the terminal 2). In addition, as detailed above, the changeover signal output from the controller 50 changes over in response to the effectiveness of transmission line A and transmission line B. The SW 64 outputs the provided MAC frame from the MAC 62 to the PHY (66a and 66b) that are connected to the effective transmission line in response to the output changeover signal(SW changeover signal) from the controller 50. Also, the provided decoded MAC frame from the PHY (66a, 66b) connected to the effective transmission line is output to the MAC 62; Paragraph [0047] Line 1-12), and
the detection circuit transmits the control signal (Claim 21. The multimedia transmission system of claim 20, further comprising: at least one switching hub positioned between the first terminal and the second terminal, the two transmission lines connecting the first terminal to the switching hub; and at least two transmission lines connecting the switching hub to the second terminal; wherein the switching hub is adapted to direct multimedia data along lines selected by the first terminal, the second terminal or both terminals) to switching device (In this multimedia transmission system 200, the MAC frame is output from the terminal 1 to transmission line A and transmission line B and transmitted to transmission line C and transmission line D according to the switching hub 5. On the other hand, the terminal 2, via transmission line C and transmission line D, receives the MAC frame from the effective transmission line that is changed over to according to the SW 64 (FIG. 2); Paragraph [0069] Line 1-8; As stated above, in the third embodiment of the multimedia transmission system 300 of FIG. 5, when the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 output packeted multimedia data that includes sound and/or video, the same packeted multimedia data is output using the two strains of transmission lines. Therefore, if there is a defect on any of the switching hubs 6, 7 on the transmission line, if another transmission line is effective, the opposition terminal can receive the packeted multimedia data. Similarly, if there is a defect in transmission lines A, B, C or D, according to the use of the remaining transmission lines, the packeted multimedia data can be transmitted from one the terminal to another the terminal; Paragraph [0081] Line 1-12). The purpose of doing so is to reduce the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover, to change over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park, Raymond and Yoshida in view of Saito, because Saito teaches to include a switching device performing a process of switching a state of an end, different from an input end for the measurement signal, of the transmission line reduces the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover (Paragraph [0003]), changes over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device (Paragraph [0004]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Park, Raymond and Yoshida fails to teach a detection device, wherein the signal output circuit outputs the measurement signal to the transmission line via a corresponding communication port during a period in which a relay does not perform a relay communication process via the transmission line.
Saito teaches apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] Line 1-3), wherein
wherein the signal output circuit outputs the measurement signal to the transmission line via a corresponding communication port during a period in which a relay [64] in Figure 2 does not perform a relay communication process via the transmission line. (As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 1 is equipped with a controller 50, a media access control (MAC) circuit 62, a switch circuit (SW) 64; Paragraph [0042] Line 1-3; The SW 64 is the circuit for changing over the transmission line when the MAC frame is sent to and received from the opposition terminal (i.e., the terminal 2). In addition, as detailed above, the changeover signal output from the controller 50 changes over in response to the effectiveness of transmission line A and transmission line B. The SW 64 outputs the provided MAC frame from the MAC 62 to the PHY (66a and 66b) that are connected to the effective transmission line in response to the output changeover signal(SW changeover signal) from the controller 50. Also, the provided decoded MAC frame from the PHY (66a, 66b) connected to the effective transmission line is output to the MAC 62; Paragraph [0047] Line 1-12; As stated above, in the third embodiment of the multimedia transmission system 300 of FIG. 5, when the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 output packeted multimedia data that includes sound and/or video, the same packeted multimedia data is output using the two strains of transmission lines. Therefore, if there is a defect on any of the switching hubs 6, 7 on the transmission line, if another transmission line is effective, the opposition terminal can receive the packeted multimedia data. Similarly, if there is a defect in transmission lines A, B, C or D, according to the use of the remaining transmission lines, the packeted multimedia data can be transmitted from one the terminal to another the terminal; Paragraph [0081] Line 1-12). The purpose of doing so is to reduce the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover, to change over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park, Raymond and Yoshida in view of Saito, because Saito teaches to output the measurement signal to the transmission line via a corresponding communication port during a period in which a relay does not perform a relay communication reduces the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover (Paragraph [0003]), changes over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device (Paragraph [0004]).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Park, Raymond and Yoshida fails to teach a detection device, wherein the measurement circuit includes an analog-to-digital converter, and samples the response signal received from the transmission line using the analog-to-digital converter during a designated detection period to generate a digital signal.
Saito teaches apparatuses and methods of multimedia transmission using redundant multiple transmission lines that shorten the changeover time (Paragraph [0001] Line 1-3),
wherein the measurement circuit includes an analog-to-digital converter, and samples the response signal received from the transmission line using the analog-to-digital converter during a designated detection period to generate a digital signal (The terminal 1 is also equipped with four analog-to-digital converters (A/D) 74 that are connected to each of the input terminals, four digital-to-analog converters (D/A) 76 that are connected to each of the output terminals, and an interface (I/O) 72 that connects the controller 50 (which includes a CPU 52) to the A/Ds 74 and the D/As 76; Paragraph [0043] Line 1-6). The purpose of doing so is to reduce the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover, to change over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Park, Raymond and Yoshida in view of Saito, because Saito teaches to include an analog-to-digital converter reduces the time necessary for fault detection and transmission line changeover (Paragraph [0003]), changes over to a selected sending and/or receiving capable transmission line from among the redundant multiple strain transmission lines based on the carrier detection by the carrier detection device (Paragraph [0004]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Faulkner et al. (US 20120307982 A1) discloses, “HOME WIRING TEST SYSTEM USING FREQUENCY-BASED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES- [0007] Some embodiments relate to a method to detect a service affecting condition in a conductor of a communications network. The method includes determining whether any device connected to the conductor is transmitting on the conductor for communicating over the communications network. The method also includes, with a test device connected to the conductor at a customer premises, measuring a noise spectrum on the conductor. The method further includes analyzing the noise spectrum to determine whether the noise spectrum comprises a pattern of noise corresponding to a source of interference for the communications network. [0046] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of a customer premises, which in this example is building 2 which may be a residence or other structure. The customer premises is provided with one or more service(s), such as telephone service and/or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line, which comes in multiple forms, such as ADSL and VDSL) service by service provider network 6 via one or more external conductors 3 (e.g., electrical conductors, such as telephone, wiring, in this example). External conductors 3 may be any suitable types of conductors, such as wires, cables, etc., and may be formed of any suitable electrically conductive material (e.g., copper). In the example of FIG. 1, in which telephone service may be provided via external conductors 3, the external conductors 3 may be a twisted pair cable, such as a Tip-Ring pair. External conductors 3 may be connected to the internal conductors 5 (e.g., electrical conductors, such as telephone, wiring, in this example) of the customer premises at an interface 4. Although interface 4 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as being located on the exterior of the customer premises, in some embodiments, an interface between the internal conductors 5 and external conductors 3 may be located on the inside of the customer premises, or in any other suitable location. Interface 4 is an example of a network demarcation point, which in this example is connected between the internal conductors 5 and external conductors 3 of a building 2-However Faulkner does not disclose a detection circuit unit configured to calculate an evaluation value based on a measurement result obtained by the measurement circuit unit, and detect a partial damage of the transmission line, based on the calculated evaluation value, wherein the transmission line includes a plurality of strands, the transmission line includes a core wire in which the plurality of strands are bundled, the plurality of strands are insulated from each other in a partial area of the core wire, and the detection circuit detects, as the partial damage of the transmission line, thinning of at least some of the plurality of strands.”
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 NASIMA MONSUR whose telephone number is (571)272-8497. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am-6:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eman Alkafawi can be reached at (571) 272-4448. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NASIMA MONSUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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