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 .
Introduction
The following is a non-final Office Action in response to Applicant’s submission filed on 11/27/2024. Currently claims 1-5 are pending and claim 1 is independent.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP2023-203696 filed on 12/1/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/27/2024appears to be in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS is being considered by the Examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Blair de Verteuil (US 20240161128 A1) in view of KANKAANPAEAE (WO 03080923 A1) further in view of Nakajima et al. (JP 2018168492 A)
Regarding claim 1, Blair de Verteuil discloses a method of managing a carbon dioxide emission amount in a management system (Blair de Verteuil ABS - A method, system, and computer program product for determining carbon footprint for one or more products assembled by an assembly unit by receiving measurement data generated by at least one product counter sensor configured to detect a number of products assembled by the assembly unit over time), calculating an apparatus power amount, which is a power consumption amount of an entirety of the sheet manufacturing apparatus, based on the production count and the defibrating power amount; calculating a carbon dioxide emission amount of the sheet manufacturing apparatus, based on the apparatus power amount; and notifying a user of the sheet manufacturing apparatus of the calculated carbon dioxide emission amount via the network (Blair de Verteuil Fig. 3, 4 - ¶92 - The display 540 may be configured to display monitoring results according to some aspects of the disclosure. For example, the display 540 may be configured to display a GUI 300 in accordance with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 – Blair de Verteuil ¶76 - Field 326 shows analogously carbon footprint information associated with the components being assembled for the selected time duration for the assembly unit being monitored).
Blair de Verteuil lacks sheet manufacturing apparatus including a defibrating portion that defibrates a raw material by being driven by a motor, a current measurement portion that measures a current consumption of the motor, calculating a defibrating power amount, which is a power consumption amount of the defibrating portion, based on the current consumption of the motor measured by the current measurement portion; and transmitting the defibrating power amount.
KANKAANPAEAE, from the same field of endeavor, teaches sheet manufacturing apparatus including a defibrating portion that defibrates a raw material by being driven by a motor, a current measurement portion that measures a current consumption of the motor (Kankaanpaeae ¶7 - The drum pulper of the invention is characterized in that at least one measuring means is arranged to measure the power taken by the motor of the drum pulper), calculating a defibrating power amount, which is a power consumption amount of the defibrating portion, based on the current consumption of the motor measured by the current measurement portion (Kankaanpaeae ¶7 - The drum pulper of the invention is characterized in that at least one measuring means is arranged to measure the power taken by the motor of the drum pulper); and transmitting the defibrating power amount (Kankaanpaeae ¶12 - The control unit 10 is further connected to measure electric power, i.e. used energy, fed to the motor 3).
It would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant’s claimed invention to modify the carbon measuring methodology/system of Blair de Verteuil by including the defibring techniques of Kankaanpaeae because Kankaanpaeae discloses “The method of the invention is characterized by measuring at least the power taken by a motor of the drum pulper (Kankaanpaeae ¶6)”. Additionally, Blair de Verteuil further details “A method, system, and computer program product for determining carbon footprint for one or more products assembled by an assembly unit by receiving measurement data generated by at least one product counter sensor configured to detect a number of products assembled by the assembly unit over time (Blair de Verteuil ABS)” so it would be obvious to consider including the additional defibring techniques that Kankaanpaeae discloses because measuring power usage in an assembly (defibring) would help better measure the carbon footprint of that assembly.
Blair de Verteuil further lacks the management system including a sheet manufacturing apparatus that manufactures sheets and a server that is connected to the sheet manufacturing apparatus via a network, the sheet manufacturing apparatus including a counting portion that counts a number of the sheets manufactured, the number being hereinafter referred to as production count, the method comprising: by the sheet manufacturing apparatus, at each time of running transmitting the production count to the server via the network, by the server, the each time the sheet manufacturing apparatus runs once.
Nakajima, from the same field of endeavor, teaches the management system including a sheet manufacturing apparatus that manufactures sheets and a server that is connected to the sheet manufacturing apparatus via a network (Nakajima - A sheet manufacturing system 1 includes a communication unit 105A(a first communication unit) for transmitting information indicating at least an operation state and an operational history of a first apparatus 100A which has a fibrillation unit 20. And the sheet manufacturing system 1 further includes a communication unit 105B(a second communication unit) for transmitting information indicating at least an operation state and an operational history of a second apparatus 100B which is a sheet manufacturing apparatus(sheet manufacturing unit) , the sheet manufacturing apparatus including a counting portion that counts a number of the sheets manufactured, the number being hereinafter referred to as production count (Nakajima - the control device 101B counts the production amount (manufactured number) of the sheet S based on the operation history, and records this count value as a sheet production amount in a memory) , the method comprising: by the sheet manufacturing apparatus ( Nakajima - A sheet manufacturing system), at each time of running transmitting the production count to the server via the network, by the server, the each time the sheet manufacturing apparatus runs once (Nakajima - the control device 101B counts the production amount (manufactured number) of the sheet S based on the operation history, and records this count value as a sheet production amount in a memory - The communication unit 105B communicates with an external device such as the analysis server 300 via the communication network NW. The communication unit 105B transmits information related to the second device 100B to the analysis server 300).
It would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant’s claimed invention to modify the carbon measuring methodology/system of Blair de Verteuil by including the sheet manufacturing techniques of Nakajima because Nakajima discloses “In this configuration, the control device 101B counts the production amount (manufactured number) of the sheet S based on the operation history, and records this count value as a sheet production amount in a memory (Nakajima)”. Additionally, Blair de Verteuil further details “A method, system, and computer program product for determining carbon footprint for one or more products assembled by an assembly unit by receiving measurement data generated by at least one product counter sensor configured to detect a number of products assembled by the assembly unit over time (Blair de Verteuil ABS)” so it would be obvious to consider including the additional sheet manufacturing techniques that Nakajima discloses because counting the number of sheets produced in an assembly would help better measure and understand the carbon footprint of that assembly.
Regarding claim 2, Blair de Verteuil in view of KANKAANPAEAE further in view of Nakajima discloses the server is configured to: calculate a cumulative value of the carbon dioxide emission amount for each running, and notify the user of the calculated cumulative value of the carbon dioxide emission amount via the network (Blair de Verteuil Fig. 3, 4 - ¶92 - The display 540 may be configured to display monitoring results according to some aspects of the disclosure. For example, the display 540 may be configured to display a GUI 300 in accordance with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 – Blair de Verteuil ¶76 - Field 326 shows analogously carbon footprint information associated with the components being assembled for the selected time duration for the assembly unit being monitored).
Regarding claim 3, Blair de Verteuil in view of KANKAANPAEAE further in view of Nakajima discloses pre-store a first unit power amount, which is a power consumption amount per sheet at portions excluding the defibrating portion of the sheet manufacturing apparatus, the sheet being one of the sheets; calculate a second unit power amount, which is a defibrating power amount per the sheet, based on the production count and the defibrating power amount, calculate a power consumption amount per the sheet of the entirety of the sheet manufacturing apparatus by adding the first unit power amount to the second unit power amount, and calculate the apparatus power amount by multiplying the power consumption amount per the sheet of the entirety of the sheet manufacturing apparatus by the production count (Blair de Verteuil Fig. 4 - ¶80 - FIG. 4 illustrates an example using the GUI 300 to display real-time energy monitoring results according to some aspects of the disclosure).
Regarding claim 4, Blair de Verteuil in view of KANKAANPAEAE further in view of Nakajima discloses the sheet manufacturing apparatus further includes a display portion, the server transmits the calculated carbon dioxide emission amount to the sheet manufacturing apparatus via the network, and the sheet manufacturing apparatus causes the display portion to display the received carbon dioxide emission amount (Blair de Verteuil Fig. 3, 4 - ¶92 - The display 540 may be configured to display monitoring results according to some aspects of the disclosure. For example, the display 540 may be configured to display a GUI 300 in accordance with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4).
Regarding claim 5, Blair de Verteuil in view of KANKAANPAEAE further in view of Nakajima discloses a terminal device possessed by the user is connected to the network, and the server transmits the calculated carbon dioxide emission amount to the terminal device via the network (Blair de Verteuil Fig. 3, 4 - ¶92 - The display 540 may be configured to display monitoring results according to some aspects of the disclosure. For example, the display 540 may be configured to display a GUI 300 in accordance with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Tsuge et al. (JP 2025088079 A)
Stark et al. (US 20250243626 A1)
and
Modak, Nabanita et al. “Building a comprehensive mill-level database for the Industrial Sectors Integrated Solutions (ISIS) model of the U.S. pulp and paper sector.” PloS one vol. 10,3 e0120954. 25 Mar. 2015 [online], [retrieved on 2026-01-10]. Retrieved from the Internet < https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4373909/ >
These pieces of prior art are cited because they disclose variations om paper making and measuring carbon dioxide emissions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael R Koester whose telephone number is (313)446-4837. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8:00AM-5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jerry O'Connor can be reached at (571) 272-6787. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL R KOESTER/Examiner, Art Unit 3624
/Jerry O'Connor/Supervisory Patent Examiner,Group Art Unit 3624