DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 11-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carrieri (US 2022/0010996) in view of Scialo et al. (US 2021/0136722).
Regarding claims 1, 16 and 17, Carrieri discloses a particle monitoring system comprising: a sampling section 20a for performing a sampling process on a sample gas, the sampling section comprising one or both of a particle collector and a particle counter (pars. 0174-0175, IAQ 20 includes particulate detector which may be a Particulate Laser Diode; par. 0177, filtration layers which collect particles); a control section (40b,30,32,25) for determining, collecting and collating data regarding the sampling section and/or the sampling process (par. 0029); and a display device (display on device 30a, 30c, 30d, 30e, e.g.) functionally linked to the control section for visualizing at least part of the data regarding the sampling section and/or the sampling process in the form of a visual, machine-readable form (par. 0112), including in the form of a bar code (Id., report details in the form of a QR code 32b); and wherein the particle monitoring system is an airborne particle counter or active air sampler or liquid particle counter or airborne molecular contamination detection system (see par. 0176, particulate laser diode that detects dust and viral particles).
Carrieri does disclose particle monitoring being any and multiple of various types of particle monitoring devices including a microbial air sampler (par. 0175). Carrieri does not disclose explicitly that the particle monitoring system is a mobile microbial air sampler and that the detector section includes an impactor head configured to removably receive a sampling plate/dish. Scialo et al. disclose a particle monitoring system that is a mobile microbial air sampler and its detector section includes an impactor head configured to removably receive a sampling plate/dish (pars. 0071-0073 and par. 0141, impactor head 18 that includes a removably placed petri dish for sampling). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have employed the mobile microbial air sampler with a removable petri dish, as taught by Scialo et al., in the system of Carrieri because it would have allowed for accurate identification of and analysis of microbes sampled by the particle monitoring system, thereby providing more information about the quality of the air in the system.
Regarding claim 2, Carrieri discloses that the control section is adapted to be configured to select the data regarding the sampling section and/or the sampling process that is to be encoded in the visual, machine-readable form (par. 0112, results of analytic processes are reported, details of air quality condition or score reported by control section, which necessarily includes selecting the data that is reported).
Regarding claim 3, Carrieri discloses that the display device is implemented in the form of a software application running on an external device (par. 0112, display is implemented on software of laptop 30b, tablet 30c, etc.).
Regarding claim 4, Carrieri discloses that the control section or, if provided, the software application running on the external device includes a section for encoding the data regarding the sampling section and/or the sampling process into the visual, machine-readable form (par. 0112, reports provided by control section presented in form of QR code, which requires some section for encoding the data that way).
Regarding claims 5 and 18, Carrieri discloses that transfer of data between the control section and the integrated display device and/or the external device is implemented in a wireless communication protocol, and is done using radio waves (see par. 0111, system communicates using WIFI; par. 0112, data reports are sent to mobile devices such as mobile tablet 30c, mobile phone 30d and smart device 30e; see also par. 0199, communications hub includes any of various wireless protocols).
Regarding claims 6 and 7, Carrieri discloses that the data regarding the sampling section and/or the sampling process includes one or more selected from the group consisting of: sampling section related data, sampling process related data, instrument related data, environment related data, user related data (see par. 0215, system reports data related to air quality measurements, which is sampling process related data; see par. 0234 and Fig. 9, system reports environment related data), wherein the sampling process related data is number of particles (par. 0215, particulate levels data is reported), wherein the environment related data comprises ambient temperature and ambient humidity (par. 0234) and location (par. 0235, and Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 8, Carrieri does not disclose explicitly that the particle monitoring system includes a printer configured to print the data in the visual, machine-readable form, preferably on a label. Carrieri does disclose that the data is reported in the form of a grade placard and a QR code (par. 0112). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have included a conventional printer as part of the system of Carrieri for printing the report placard and QR code or other analysis results, because this would have allowed for the data results to be easily posted in the relevant facilities to be easily viewed and accessed by users of the monitored areas.
Regarding claims 11, 19 and 20, Carrieri discloses a process of monitoring particles in a sample fluid, the process comprising the steps of: a) providing a particle monitoring system as defined in claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above); b) performing a sampling process by flowing the sample fluid, where the fluid is a gas, through the sampling section, the sampling process comprising one or both of collecting particles onto/into a particle collector and counting particles in a particle counter (see par. 0074, measures air for particulates; par. 0176, uses particulate laser diode detector); c) during and/or following the performance of step (b), determining, collecting and collating data relating to the sampling process of step (b) in the control section (par. 0029); d) visualizing at least part of the data determined, collected, and collated in step (c) on a display device in the form of a visual, machine-readable form, in the form of a bar code (par. 0112, data displayed on a tablet, laptop, mobile phone, smart phone etc., data reported as a QR code which is a type of bar code).
Regarding claims 12 and 21, Carrieri discloses that the data determined, collected, and collated in step (c) is transferred between the control section and the integrated display device and/or the external device by a wireless communication protocol, wherein the transfer of data is done using radio waves (see par. 0111, system communicates using WIFI; par. 0112, data reports are sent to mobile devices such as mobile tablet 30c, mobile phone 30d and smart device 30e; see also par. 0199, communications hub includes any of various wireless protocols).
Regarding claim 13, Carrieri discloses that in step c), before visualizing in step d), the data to be visualized is selected from the group consisting of sampling section related data, sampling process related data, instrument related data, environment related data, and user related data (see par. 0215, system displays and reports data related to air quality measurements, which is sampling process related data; see par. 0234 and Fig. 9, system reports environment related data).
Regarding claim 14, Carrieri does not explicitly disclose that the data determined, collected, and collated in step c) is printed. Carrieri does disclose the data being displayed and/or reported in the form of the visual, machine-readable form, in the form of a bar code (par. 0112, data reported in QR code 32b), and Carrieri also disclose the bar code in the form of a QR code 80 being posted on a door (Fig. 7 and par. 0216). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have used a conventional printer to print the QR code in the process of Carrieri because it would have allowed it to be easily reproduced in a form that can be conveniently posted on doors and windows for viewing by users of the area.
Regarding claim 15, Carrieri do not explicitly disclose the process comprising subsequent to step (d), the steps of e) reading the data in the visual, machine-readable form using a scanner; and f) transferring the so-read data to a target system, for example, a laboratory information management system (LIMS). However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a QR code such as the code 80 on the door of a building (see par. 0216 and Fig. 7) is meant to be read by a scanner in order for the data that is encoded in it to be accessed, i.e. this is the inherent use and purpose of a QR code. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have scanned the QR code with a scanner such as on a conventional smart phone and thereby transfer the read data to some system on the smart phone in order for it to be easily reviewed by a user.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 25 August 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant has argued that Scialo does not disclose an impactor head configured to removably receive a sampling plate/dish because Scialo’s support 7 is not an impactor head and is not part of a detector section. This argument is not relevant however, because Scialo’s support 7 by itself has not been relied on as a teaching of an impactor head. Scialo states that element 7 is a support that holds a microbiological particle sampler including a petri dish (pars. 0071-0073). The particle sampler with petri dish is what includes an impactor head. For example, in pars. 0140-0141 describes in more detail the sampler with an impactor 18, where there is a petri dish that is placed in the impactor and then later removed.
Applicant has also argued that one skilled in the in art would not be motivated to incorporate air sampling of Scialo in the HVAC system of Carrieri because Scialos monitoring device would be overwhelmed by the amount of bacteria in the air of the HVAC system in Carrieri, and that no benefit would be obtained by the combination. This argument is not persuasive because Carrieri discloses an HVAC system with air purification functions and air quality monitoring, including microbial sampling/monitoring, and therefore, any air monitoring elements that can provide information about the microbial particles in the air would be advantageous in the system of Carrieri. There is no reason to believe that sampling in Carrieri would overwhelm a particular microbiological sampler such as the one of Scialo because there is no clear limit on the amount of particles or microbe concentration that can be monitored by Scialo, and even sampled air with large amounts of microbial particles would still result in collected particles using Scialo’s sampler. Furthermore, any amount of information about the amount and types of microbiological particles sampled in the system of Carrieri would provide useful information to one of ordinary skill in the art and therefore would provide an advantage and motivation for combining Scialo’s teachings with Carrieri.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/PAUL M. WEST/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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