DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “evaluation unit” of claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 3, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dam US 6631639.
As to claim 1, Dam teaches “A sensor assembly for monitoring the structure of a housing structure for holding fluid or solid media (Abstract; Figure 2 shows liquid inside a tank), with an outer casing (Figure 2, 12), wherein the sensor assembly has a central control unit (Figure 2, 30), wherein the central control unit is designed to generate and to receive structure-borne sound signal patterns (Figure 2, 30 is connected to a pulse which is connected to a transducer 30, therefore the control unit can generate sound signal patterns via a transducer. The high speed A/D converter transmits received signals into 30 via transducer 22. Therefore control unit can receive sound signal patterns as well), wherein the sensor assembly has at least one transmitter unit, wherein the transmitter unit is separated spatially from the central control unit, wherein the at least one transmitter unit is designed to generate and receive structure-borne sound signal patterns (Figure 2, 30 and 22 are transmits units), and wherein the central control unit has at least one evaluation unit for evaluating the structure-borne sound signal patterns emitted by the transmitter units (Figure 2 is an expanded view of processing module 24; Abstract teaches how these components determine presence or absence of liquid at a certain point/height within the housing structure).”
As to claim 2, Dam teaches “wherein the central control unit is designed to control the at least one transmitter unit by means of structure-borne sound signal patterns (Figure 2).”
As to claim 3, Dam teaches “wherein the sensor assembly includes multiple transmitter units (Figure 2).”
As to claim 5, Dam teaches “wherein the central control unit is designed to be arranged on the outside of the housing structure (Figures 1 and 2).”
As to claim 6, Dam teaches “wherein the transmitter units have at least one structure-borne sound sensor (Figure 2, the transducers can receive sound waves from the container wall and then transmit an electrical signal to an A/D converter so it can be processed) and/or at least one power supply and/or at least one processing device.
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) 4, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dam US 6631639 in view of Hess US 6157894.
As to claim 4, the prior arts do not explicitly teach “wherein at least one transmitter unit is designed to be arranged inside the housing structure.”
Hess teaches “wherein at least one transmitter unit is designed to be arranged inside the housing structure (Column 4, lines 26-28).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Dam with Hess. Placing a known sensor at a different location would be obvious since the concept and motive behind the placement is the same regardless of location. The intention is to measure the liquid level within the container, and placing the sensor in a location to optimizer sensor performance would be obvious.
As to claim 12, Dam teaches “A housing structure for holding fluid or solid media (Figure 2, 12), having an outer casing (Figure 2 shows an outer casing), wherein the housing structure includes a sensor assembly according to the invention, wherein a central control unit is arranged on the outside of the housing structure (Figure 2),
Hess teaches “and wherein at least one transmitter unit is arranged inside the housing structure (Column 4, lines 26-28).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Dam with Hess. Placing a known sensor at a different location would be obvious since the concept and motive behind the placement is the same regardless of location. The intention is to measure the liquid level within the container, and placing the sensor in a location to optimizer sensor performance would be obvious.
Claim(s) 8, 9, 10, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dam US 6631639 in view of Han US 6701787
As to claim 8, Dam teaches “wherein the sensor assembly has at least one central control unit and at least one transmitter unit (Figure 2), wherein the central control unit and the at least one transmitter unit are designed to generate and to receive structure-borne sound signal patterns (Figure 2, 30 is connected to a pulse which is connected to a transducer 30, therefore the control unit can generate sound signal patterns via a transducer. The high speed A/D converter transmits received signals into 30 via transducer 22. Therefore control unit can receive sound signal patterns as well), wherein at least one structure-borne sound signal pattern is emitted by means of the transmitter unit (Figure 2 show transducer units which can generate signals that travel within the wall of the container), wherein the structure-borne sound signal pattern emitted by the transmitter unit is received and evaluated by means of the central control unit (Figure 2).” The prior art does not explicitly teach that the signals are used to determine the state of the structure.
Han teaches “A method for monitoring the structure of a housing structure intended to hold fluid or solid media, and wherein a conclusion is drawn regarding the state of the housing structure from the structure-borne sound signal patterns received (Abstract; Column 1, lines 38-60).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Han with Dam. It can be seen that waves passing within the wall of a structure can be used to determine the state of the structure. The deposits in Han represent concerns that can block flow, therefore the structure needs to be monitored. Using waves within structure walls allows for the user to determine thinning walls and/or blockages, which could result in damage.
As to claim 9, Dam teaches “wherein control commands in the form of structure-borne sound signal patterns are generated by the central control unit and sent to the transmitter units (Figure 2, 30 is connected to a pulse which is connected to a transducer 30, therefore the control unit can generate sound signal patterns via a transducer. The high speed A/D converter transmits received signals into 30 via transducer 22. Therefore control unit can receive sound signal patterns as well).”
As to claim 10, Dam teaches “wherein a conclusion is drawn regarding the state of the housing structure from a difference between a structure-borne sound signal pattern emitted by the transmitter unit and the structure-borne sound signal pattern received by the central control unit (Abstract).”
As to claim 11, Dam teaches “wherein the sensor assembly has multiple transmitter units, and that the housing structure is monitored on the basis of structure-borne sound signal patterns sent back and forth between the transmitter units and the central control unit (Figure 2).”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 5015995 teaches the use of external transducers to monitor liquid levels.
US 6227040 teaches transducers to monitor liquid levels.
US 20040173021 teaches using a single transducer to measure liquid height
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TARUN SINHA whose telephone number is (571)270-3993. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 10AM-6PM EST.
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/TARUN SINHA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
