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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 17 March and 9 June 2025 being considered by the examiner.
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 1-7 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 defines “an electric motor” and “a motor”. It then references “the motor”. It cannot be determined with certainty which “motor” “the motor” is referring to.
Additionally, the claim defines two “a plurality of data sensor points”. It cannot be determined with certainty if applicant is intending to define two different sets of data or referring to the same set. Clarification is required.
Claims 2-7 are rejected based on their dependency to claim 1.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tiwari, et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0161684) in view of Ward, et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0057667).
For claim 1, Tiwari teaches a motor control system, comprising: an electric motor (see para. 0015); at least one sensor associated with the motor (see para. 0018), the at least one sensor providing a plurality of sensor data points (see para. 0020) associated with a timestamp (see para. 0030, time window); and a controller (see Fig. 3, #108) configured to: receive a plurality of sensor data points from at least one sensor (see para. 0020), the at least one sensor associated with a motor (see para. 0018), each of the plurality of sensor data points being associated with a time (see para. 0030, time window); for each of the sensor data points: determine at least (i) a phase negative sequence (see para. 0024), and (ii) a phase zero sequence of the sensor data (see para. 0024); and based at least on the phase negative sequence and the phase zero sequence, generate a motor health indicator associated with the time of the sensor data point (see paras. 0025-0028); receive each of the generated health indicators, wherein the generated health indicators form a trend (see para. 0028-0030); apply a moving average to the health indicators of the trend (see para. 0030, continuously updating 15 minute-window-mean equivalent to moving average). Tiwari does not explicitly disclose the remaining limitations.
A teaching from Ward discloses a pump coupled to the motor (see paras. 0023, 0057), apply a filter to the averaged health indicators (see paras. 0057-0065); and forecast a remaining useful life of the motor, based on the filtered averaged health indicators (see paras. 0057-0065). It would have been obvious at the effective date of filing to modify Tiwari to include teachings of Ward based on a reasonable expectation of success and a motivation to improve the data set used for the sample pump health indicator is captured only when all the received environmental parameter values and the reference environmental parameter values match within a predefined range (see para. 0022).
Referring to claim 2, Ward further discloses wherein the controller is further configured to: determine that the forecasted remaining useful life is below a threshold period of time (see para. 0069) and automatically send a notification to a user interface (see para. 0069).
With regards to claim 3, Ward further teaches wherein the controller is further configured to: determine that the forecasted remaining useful life is below a threshold period of time (see para. 0069); and automatically send an alarm to a cockpit (see para. 0069, pilot), wherein the alarm causes a warning light to illuminate in the cockpit (see para. 0069, light equivalent to “indicated via interface”).
Pertaining to claim 4, Ward further teaches wherein the sensor data points comprise motor current data (see paras. 0023-0024).
With reference to claim 5, Tiwari further discloses wherein the controller is further configured to: determine that the phase negative sequence does not fall within a predetermined phase negative sequence band (see paras. 0025-0030); and determine that there is at least one of a phase-to-phase fault or an interturn fault in the motor (see paras. 0025-0030).
Regarding claim 6, Tiwari further discloses wherein the controller is further configured to: determine that the phase zero sequence does not fall within a predetermined phase zero sequence band; and determine that there is a phase-to-ground fault in the motor (see para. 0027, I0, claims 3, 11).
For claim 7, Tiwari further teaches wherein the controller is further configured to: determine that the phase zero sequence falls within a predetermined phase zero sequence band (see paras. 0035-0037, healthy state, claim 11); determine that the phase negative sequence falls within a predetermined phase negative sequence band (see paras. 0035-0037, healthy state, claim 11); and determine that there is no fault in the motor (see paras. 0035-0037, healthy state, claim 11).
Claim 8 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 1. Therefore, claim 8 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 1.
Claim 9 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 2. Therefore, claim 9 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 2.
With reference to claim 10, Ward further discloses scheduling the motor for maintenance, based on receiving the notification at the user interface (see para. 0069).
Claim 11 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 3. Therefore, claim 11 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 3.
For claim 12, Tiwari further discloses receiving a set of training data, the training data comprising motor current data; determining at least (i) a phase negative sequence and (ii) a phase zero sequence of the set of training data (see paras. 0023-0024); and defining at least (i) a phase negative sequence band and (ii) a phase zero sequence band (see paras. 0034, 0038).
With regards to claim 13, Tiwari does not explicitly disclose the detail of the training data. However, Tiwari teaches that healthy states may be obtained by simulations on a model (see para. 0028). Performing multiple simulations for validating and combining data sets is well within the ordinary skill in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to perform more than one motor model simulation based on the motivation to improve diagnostics of synchronous machines and more specifically to health monitoring of synchronous machines (see para. 0001).
Claim 14 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 5. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 5.
Claim 15 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 6. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 6.
Claim 16 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 7. Therefore, claim 16 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 7.
Pertaining to claim 17, Ward further teaches altering the operation of the motor based at least on the forecasted remaining useful life (see para. 0070).
Claim 18 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 1. Therefore, claim 18 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 1.
Claim 19 defines elements and subject matter that are substantially similar to elements and subject matter of claim 1. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected based on the citations and reasoning provided above for claim 1.
With reference to claim 20, Tiwari does not explicitly disclose multiple motors and pumps. However, incorporating more than one motor and more than one pump and combinations thereof would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the element duplication principle. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Tiwari to include multiple motors and pumps based on a motivation to improve diagnostics of synchronous machines and more specifically to health monitoring of synchronous machines (see para. 0001).
Conclusion
Examiner would like to point out that any reference/citation to specific figures, columns and lines should not be considered limiting in any way. The entire cited reference, as well as any secondary teaching reference(s), are to be included in considerations of relevant disclosure relating to the claimed invention. Applicant is herein considered to have implicit knowledge of all cited teachings of the prior art of record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM D TISSOT whose telephone number is (571)270-3439. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Ortiz can be reached at (571) 272-1206. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ADAM D TISSOT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663