Water Monitoring and Management System in Distribution Networks
DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/18/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “A system for monitoring and managing water consumption in interior house supply networks, comprising at least one flow meter installed in the interior water supply network” should read “A system for monitoring and managing water consumption in interior house water supply networks, comprising at least one flow meter installed in the interior house water supply network”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “branches the interior supply network through a set of valves” should read “branches the interior house water supply network through a set of valves”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “branching of the interior supply network through a set of valves” and “comprise the installation of at least a flow meter” should read “branching of the interior house water supply network through [[a]]the set of valves” and “comprise the installation of the at least [[a]]one flow meter”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “a flow meter and a pressure transducer” should read “one flow meter and a pressure transducer”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 12-16 are objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “the flow meter” should read “the at least one flow meter”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 5-8 and 12-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 5, the limitation “wherein the branching of the interior supply network through a set of valves” lacks antecedent basis. For the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets claim 5 to depend on claim 3. Further, the limitation “circuits that independently feed each of said valves” is unclear if the circuit is a water circuit or electrical circuit. For the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as “water circuits that independently feed each of said valves”.
Regarding claims 6, the limitation “wherein each distribution box” lacks antecedent basis. For the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as “further comprising at least one distribution box, wherein each distribution box”.
Regarding claims 7, the limitation “wherein each of the distribution boxes” lacks antecedent basis. For the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as “further comprising a plurality of distribution boxes, wherein each of the distribution boxes”.
Regarding claim 8, the limitation “the decentralized control assemblies” lacks antecedent basis. For the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets claim 8 to depend on claim 7.
Regarding claim 12, the limitation “wherein the flow meter comprises at least two inner service pipes, a first service pipe and a second service pipe, under which they are installed independently” is unclear what element “they” refers and it is unclear if the claim requires at least two inner pipes and a first and second pipe. For the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as “wherein the at least one flow meter individually comprises at least two inner service pipes comprising a first service pipe and a second service pipeinstalled under the at least one flow meter”. The dependent claims are likewise rejected and interpreted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mason (US 20220049478; "Mason").
Regarding claim 1, Mason discloses, in figures 1-16, a system for monitoring and managing water consumption (10) in interior house supply networks (not enumerated, see fig. 1), comprising at least one flow meter (14) installed in the interior water supply network (see fig. 2, examiner notes Mason depicts monitoring apparatus mounting at the supply line service entry point and at the hot supply and cold supply); and at least one control system (66, 68, 262) configured to receive data (¶ 0037, “monitoring apparatuses 14 may communicate the flow rate information captures via the fluid sensor 22b, as well as the additional sensor data, to a central controller 66 or remote server 68”, ¶ 0043, “enable the controller of the monitoring apparatus 14 to receive sensor data from the sensors 22”) from the at least one flow meter (14); wherein the control system (262) transmits to a server (68) by means of a wireless communication system (268) the data (see previous comment regarding the remote server sensor data from a monitoring apparatus) received from the at least one flow meter (14) and also displays (70) them to a user by means of an LCD screen (¶ 0038, “alpha/numeric LCDs (e.g., liquid crystal displays)”).
Regarding claim 2, Mason discloses, in figures 1-16, the control system (66, 68, 262) comprises at least one microcontroller (¶ 0072, “processor 264, microcontroller”) and a current converter (¶ 0073, “power supply 270 may include one or more transformers, rectifiers, capacitors, and various electrical components to condition the power”).
Regarding claim 4, Mason discloses, in figure 2, the interior house (48) water supply network (see figs. 1-2) comprises at least one cold water network (62a) and one hot water network (62b).
Regarding claim 9, Mason discloses, in figures 1-16, a measuring device (262, 22a, 22b) comprising a flow meter (22b) and a pressure transducer (22a), which are internally connected (see fig. 16) to a microcontroller (262) configured to collect and analyse the data coming therefrom (¶ 0052, “the controller of the monitoring apparatus 14 may be configured to store and process the flow rate data communicated from the fluid sensor 22b and compare the flow rate data”).
Regarding claim 10, Mason discloses, in figures 1-16, a monitoring device (68) consisting of a server (¶ 0071, “remote server”) configured to collect, by means of wireless communication networks (16), data (¶ 0037, “monitoring apparatuses 14 may communicate the flow rate information captures via the fluid sensor 22b, as well as the additional sensor data, to a central controller 66 or remote server 68”, ¶ 0043, “enable the controller of the monitoring apparatus 14 to receive sensor data from the sensors 22”) from a measuring device (14), and by at least one configured microcontroller (264) and an LCD screen configured to display (70) the information to a user (¶ 0038, examiner notes Mason’s LCD displays pressure, flow rate, temperature, operating status, freeze warnings and network connection status).
Regarding claim 11, Mason discloses, in figures 2 and 16, the server (68) is configured to provide information to a user apparatus (¶ 0031, Mason’s server provides remote monitoring and control via mobile device 20) by means of a user device (20), for example, a smartphone or other technically suitable device.
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.
Claims 3 and 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mason (US 20220049478; "Mason") as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Eom (KR 200362986; "Eom").
Regarding claim 3, Mason discloses, in figures 1-2, the interior house water supply network (not enumerated, see fig. 1) comprises at least one room equipped (see fig. 1, examiner notes Mason depicts the supply line entering the building through the lowest floor wall of a room) with branches of the interior supply network (see fig. 1, examiner notes Mason depicts the supply line entering a heater and branching to a number of water related elements within the building, the heater providing an additional line that also branches to most of the water related elements).
Mason fails to explicitly disclose a distribution box that branches the interior supply network through a set of valves.
Eom teaches, in figure 1, a distribution box (1) that branches the interior supply network (5, 7) through a set of valves (2, 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Eom’s distributor scheme to teach Mason to control water flow through the network using a valve controlled manifold layout since it is well known to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Doing so provides a reliable way of providing local isolation.
Regarding claim 5, Mason and Eom disclose, in Mason’s figures 1-16 and Eom’s figure 1, the branching of the interior supply network (Mason, not enumerated, see fig. 1) through a set (see fig. 1) of valves (Eom (2, 3), Mason (24)) comprises water circuits that independently feed each of said valves (see Eom’s fig. 1, examiner notes Eom depicts the distributor feeding 5 individual water pipes through valves ) and that comprise the installation of at least a flow meter (Mason (14)) in each of said water circuits (see previous comment).
Regarding claim 6, Mason discloses, in figures 1-2, at least one cold water network (62a) and at least one hot water network (62b) under which flow meters (14) are individually installed.
Mason fails to explicitly disclose connecting the inlets of distribution boxes to a cold supply and hot supply.
Eom teaches, in figure 1, at least one distribution box (1), wherein the at least one distribution box (1) having at its inlet (5) at least one raw water network (5, 7) under which flow meters (3, 6) are individually installed (see fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Eom’s distributor scheme to teach Mason to connect and control water flow through the cold and hot water networks using a valve controlled manifold layout since it is well known to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Doing so provides a reliable way of providing local isolation.
Regarding claim 7, Mason discloses, in figures 1-16, distribution connections (see fig. 2, examiner notes Mason flow monitored and controlled hot supply and cold supply are derived from the distributed supply line) with decentralized (¶ 0071, Mason’s monitoring apparatus communicate directly with one another via device network) control assemblies (¶ 0071, “monitoring apparatus”) comprising at least one microcontroller (262) configured to collect and analyse data (¶ 0072, Mason’s monitoring apparatuses perform analysis of sensor data) from at least one flow meter (14).
Mason fails to disclose distribution boxes.
Eom teaches, in figure 1, a distribution box (1) having flow meters (3, 6) installed (see fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Eom’s distributor scheme to teach Mason to layout a water circuit to measure and analyze water flow through water networks using water meters individually connected to each branch line since it is well known to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Doing so provides a reliable way of providing local analysis.
Regarding claim 8, Mason and Eom disclose, in Mason’s figures 2 and 16, the decentralized control assemblies (Mason, ¶ 0071, “monitoring apparatus”) communicate remotely with the control system (Mason (68)) by means of a wireless communication system (¶ 0071-0072, Mason’s monitoring apparatuses communicate with a network via wireless network communication).
Claims 12-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mason (US 20220049478; "Mason") as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li (CN 215726170; "Li").
Regarding claim 12, Mason fails to disclose a flow meter with two inner service pipes.
Li teaches, in figure 4, the at least one flow meter (not enumerated, see fig. 4) individually comprises at least two inner service pipes (see fig. 4) comprising a first service pipe (see Li’s translation, p. 4, ¶ 7, “main circuit”) and a second service pipe (see Li’s translation, p. 4, ¶ 7, “branch”) independently installed under the at least one flow meter (300, 400, 500, 600).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Li’s flow metering system with main and branch metered routes to teach Mason layout a flow meter with main and branch routes connected to at least one flow meter since it is well known to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Doing so provides a reliable way of providing zero downtime maintenance.
Regarding claim 13, Mason and Li disclose, in Li’s figure 4, the at least two inner service pipes of the flow meter comprise equal sections (see fig. 4, examiner notes Li depicts the main and branch as equal length’s between inlet valves C and E and outlet valves D and F).
Regarding claim 14, Mason and Li disclose, in Li’s figure 4, the at least two inner service pipes of the flow meter comprise different sections (see fig. 4, examiner notes Li depicts the main pipe as a straight path from the branch inlet tee to the branch outlet tee and the branch pipe having extensions at the branch inlet tee and the branch outlet tee).
Regarding claim 16, Mason and Li disclose, in Li’s figure 4, at least one of the two inner service pipes of the flow meter (see Li’s fig. 4) comprises more than one flow meter mounted in series on the service pipe (Li’s fig. 4, flow meters 300 and 400 are in series on the main route, and flow meters 500 and 600 are in series on the branch route).
Claims 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mason (US 20220049478; "Mason") as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee (KR 20130025104; “Lee”).
Regarding claim 12, Mason fails to disclose a flow meter with two inner service pipes.
Lee teaches, in figure 1, the at least one flow meter (not enumerated, see fig. 1) individually comprises at least two inner service pipes (see fig. 1) comprising a first service pipe ((100), see Lee’s translation, ABSTRACT, “main pipe”) and a second service pipe ((200), see Lee’s translation, ABSTRACT, “bypass pipe”) independently installed under the at least one flow meter (110, 210).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Lee’s flow metering system with main and bypass metered routes to teach Mason layout a flow meter with main and branch routes connected to at least one flow meter since it is well known to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Doing so provides a reliable way of providing zero downtime maintenance.
Regarding claim 15, Mason and Lee discloses, in Lee’s figures 1 and 3, at least one of the two inner service pipes (Lee (100, 200)) of the flow meter (see Lee’s fig. 1) comprises a non-return valve (170, 130) configured to prevent the occurrence of flow (see fig. 3, the examiner asserts Lee’s spring loaded valve in the main pipeline and flap valve in the bypass pipeline are one-way valves) in the flow meter (Lee, (100, 200)) installed in series in the respective service pipe (Lee, (100, 200)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY P GRAVES whose telephone number is (469)295-9072. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 a.m. - 5 p.m..
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/TIMOTHY P GRAVES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
