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 .
Drawings
Figures 1-11 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. 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.
The drawings are objected to because in Figures 23 and 24 “Funktions” should be replaced with --Functions--. 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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, lines 1 and 2, should be amended as follows:
An inductive position system comprising:
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “separate transmitter coils for the at least two receiver coil sets” which refers to the fifth embodiment depicted in Figure 16; however, the claim further recites “wherein the separate transmitter coils are connected in series or parallel to the oscillator of the signal conditioning and processing unit” which does not correspond to this embodiment. In the fifth embodiment depicted in Figure 16 “separate transmitter coils” refers to independent coils independently connected to the oscillator.
Claims 2-6 are indefinite due to their dependencies upon claim 1.
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Qama (US 2020/0072643).
Regrading claim 1, Qama discloses an inductive position sensor system (element 200, Fig. 2A) comprising: at least two receiver coil sets (i.e., each of sensor boards 202 includes sensor coils, usually a sin coil and a cos coil) (see par. [0027]); at least one transmitter coil (i.e., each of sensor boards 202 may include a transmit coil) (see par. [0027]); and a signal conditioning processor (element 208, Fig. 2A); wherein in each receiver coil set comprises at least two separate receiver coils (i.e., each of sensor boards 202 includes sensor coils, usually a sin coil and a cos coil) (see par. [0027]), wherein the signal conditioning processor is included in a single integrated circuit (see par. [0042]) and has a common output for providing a combined output signal information for all receiver coil sets respectively all receiver channels of the signal conditioning processor (see Fig. 2B), and in that the at least two receiver coil sets, the at least one transmitter coil and the single integrated circuit including the signal conditioning processor are located on a single printed circuit board (see Fig. 4B), wherein the signal conditioning processor comprises a separate receiver channel for each receiver coil set (see Fig. 2B), and wherein each receiver channel comprises a radio-frequency signal receiver and processor (element 220, Fig. 2B), an analog-to-digital converter (element 232, Fig. 2B) and a digital signal processor (element 236, Fig. 2B), and wherein the signal conditioning processor comprises an oscillator for generating a radio-frequency signal for the at least one transmitter coil (see par. [0042]), and by comprising a shared transmitter coil for the at least two receiver coil sets (i.e., only one sensor board 202, sensor board 202-I, may have a transmit coil) (see par. [0027]), which is connected to the oscillator of the signal conditioning processor (see par. [0042]).
Regrading claim 2, Qama discloses an inductive position sensor system, wherein at least two separate receiver coils are a sine receiver coil and a cosine receiver coil (i.e., each of sensor boards 202 includes sensor coils, usually a sin coil and a cos coil) (see par. [0027]).
Regrading claim 3, Qama discloses an inductive position sensor system, further comprising at least one moving target (element 206, Fig. 2A) configured to modify an electromagnetic field of the at least one transmitter coil (see par. [0040]).
Regrading claim 4, Qama discloses an inductive position sensor system, wherein the position sensor system is a linear (see Fig. 3), arc (see Fig. 4B) or rotary (see Fig. 6A) motion sensor.
Regrading claim 5, Qama discloses an inductive position sensor system, wherein the at least one transmitter coil is arranged outside the at least two receiver coil sets to be at an outer circumference of the at least two receiver coil sets (see Fig. 6A).
Regrading claim 6, Qama discloses an inductive position sensor system, wherein the position sensor system is configured to generate a high-resolution position signal from the at least two receiver coil sets or a differential signal from the at least two receiver coil sets (i.e., each of sensor boards 202 includes sensor coils, usually a sin coil and a cos coil) (see par. [0027]).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tiemann (US 8,451,000) discloses an inductive position sensor.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MILTON GONZALEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7914. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, WALTER LINDSAY can be reached at (571) 272-1674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WALTER L LINDSAY JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2852
/M.G/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
6/9/2026
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