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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 5-12 and 14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected inventions II-IX, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 08/17/2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of invention I, claims 2-4 in the reply filed on 08/17/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that a serious burden doesn’t exist. The examiner would first like to note that claims 1, 13 and 15 were already identified as linking claims. As such the election of claims 2-4 includes the examination of claims 1, 13 and 15, as likewise noted/requested by applicant. Applicant’s first argument states that the inventions are not unrelated technologies. The test for the restriction was not “unrelated technologies” rather materially different designs or modes of operation. The examiner provided a statement and clear indication how each of the noted inventions are distinct in their mode of operation. Further the inventions require a series of distinct search strings as noted by applicant “may require refinement of a search”. In addition many of the inventions have different classifications. The overlap with an entire group G01N, containing currently 8 million patents does not provide a persuasive argument that there is no serious burden. The burden is already established via varying search strings, and merely further compounded by some inventions having various distinct classifications.
The requirement is therefore still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Page 10, l. 34, “display 24” should read –display 20-- to correctly correspond to the rest of the specification and the figures.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-4, 13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (CN 115343583 A, where the examiner has provided a machine translation hereinwith for citations).
As to claim 1, Yu discloses a method for controlling the quality of a transition surface of a high voltage electric component for a transition, the method comprising the steps of (page 4, ll. 226-234):
providing a high voltage electric component (i.e. high voltage cable) having a transition surface (cable joint having for example the layer of vulcanized rubber) (page 4, ll. 196-204 and ll. 226-234; page 5, ll. 250-255)
arranging a gloss measuring device (image sensor/image recognition sub module) on (the examiner is interpreting “located at” as equivalent to “on”) at least one section of the transition surface (page 4, ll. 196-204; page 5, ll. 250-255),
measuring a gloss level of the at least one section of the transition surface through operating the gloss measuring device (page 4, ll. 218-224),
comparing the measured gloss level with at least one predetermined reference gloss level (i.e. level when cable joint is put to use as disclosed) to determine a surface quality of the at least one section of the transition surface (page 4, ll. 218-224)., and
outputting a signal depending on the determined quality (i.e. whether the part is inconsistent/abnormal) (page 4, ll. 218-224).
As to claim 2, Yu discloses a method, comprising predetermining the at least one reference gloss level as a preparatory step (in order to have a image of the cable joint when it is put to use, the reference image has to be taken as a preparatory step, it cannot exist otherwise) (page 4, ll. 218-224).
As to claim 3, Yu discloses a method, wherein the step of predetermining comprises the steps of: measuring a gloss level of at least one testing surface having known high voltage electrical transition characteristics, and correlating the measured gloss level of the at least one testing surface with the associated high voltage electrical transition characteristics of the at least one testing surface to determine the reference gloss level (page 4, ll. 218-224; page 5, ll. 250-255; the joint is for a high voltage cable, which has an inherent electrical transition characteristic, since applicant has not defined in any manner how the “correlation” is performed the examiner is interpreting that the correlation is simply the gloss result as a function of the voltage electrical transition characteristic present in the cable present prior to use (i.e. reference/known high voltage electrical cable).
As to claim 4, Yu discloses a method, wherein the step of predetermining comprises the steps of: measuring a gloss level of at least one testing surface having a certain surface roughness, and correlating the measured gloss level of the at least one testing surface with the associated surface roughness of the at least one testing surface to determine the reference gloss level in the form of a gloss level that corresponds to a maximum tolerable surface roughness for a desired transition of the electric component to another element (page 4, ll. 206-210; page 4, l. 236 thru page 5 l. 244; page 5, ll. 279-290, where the examiner notes that one of ordinary skill in the art at would recognize that gloss is inherently a direct function of roughness, as such a measurement of gloss is implicitly a measurement of roughness, the prior art uses this gloss/roughness measurement to determine if the joint under test is within or out of spec (i.e. outside of an abnormal tolerance (maximum tolerable surface roughness))).
As to claim 13, Yu discloses a system for controlling the quality of a transition surface of a high voltage electric component for a transition, the system comprising:
a gloss measuring device (image sensor/image recognition sub module) configured to measure a gloss level of at least one section of the transition surface (page 3, ll. 156-161; page 4, ll. 218-224), and
an electronics device (main control module) couplable (i.e. the only requirement being that it can be coupled to, not that it actually is) with the gloss measuring device (as disclosed the main control module is electrically connected with the cable joint monitoring module which as explicitly disclosed includes the image sensor of the gloss measuring device) (page 4, ll. 186-189 and ll. 196-201; the examiner notes merely for compact prosecution that the analysis module could also be interpreted as “an electronics device),
wherein the system is configured to measure a gloss level of at least one section of the transition surface through operating the gloss measuring device when placed on the at least one section, comparing the measured gloss level with at least one predetermined reference gloss level to determine a surface quality of the at least one section of the transition surface, and outputting a signal depending on the determined quality (page 4, ll. 218-224; the examiner notes that the noted limitation is merely an intended use of the system and is not linked to any structure that actually performs the comparison as claimed, as such since the prior art has shown the same structure it is being interpreted as capable of the same intended use, please see MPEP 2114 (II).
As to claim 15, Yu discloses a method for controlling the quality of a transition surface of a high voltage electric component by employing a gloss measuring device, said method comprising the steps of (page 4, ll. 226-234):
arranging a gloss measuring device (image sensor/image recognition sub module) on (the examiner is interpreting “located at” as equivalent to “on”) at least one section of the transition surface (cable joint having for example the layer of vulcanized rubber) (page 4, ll. 196-204; page 5, ll. 250-255),
measuring a gloss level of the at least one section of the transition surface through operating the gloss measuring device (page 4, ll. 218-224; page 5, ll. 250-255), and
comparing the measured gloss level with at least one predetermined reference gloss level (i.e. level when cable joint is put to use as disclosed) to determine a surface quality of the at least one section of the transition surface (page 4, ll. 218-224).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL P LAPAGE whose telephone number is (571)270-3833. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8-5:30.
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, Tarifur Chowdhury can be reached at 571-272-2287. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Michael P LaPage/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
Prosecution Insights