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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/8/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the application on 1/16/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 14-16, 18-21, 23-28, 30-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al (EP 2532992) in view of Kim (CN 1782581).
Regarding claim 14, Sato teaches a method for controlling a multi-split air conditioning system (1) comprising: in response to a preset condition (outside air temperature and capacity, paragraph 0013) being met: determining a first degree of superheat (superheat, paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033) of a target indoor unit (3a-f) in an air blowing mode (fans, paragraph 0022, 0026) of the multi-split air conditioning system according to a temperature characteristic value (detected values of 30a-f, paragraph 0037) of an evaporator coil (19a-f) of the target indoor unit, an evaporation outlet temperature value (29) of the target indoor unit, and adjusting an opening degree (opening, paragraph 0038) of a throttling element (8) of the target indoor unit according to the first degree of superheat (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033); and in response to the preset condition being not met: determining a second degree of superheat (repeated, paragraph 0038) of the target indoor unit according to the temperature characteristic value of the evaporator coil of the target indoor unit and the evaporation outlet temperature value of the target indoor unit (paragraph 0037-0041); and adjusting the opening degree of the throttling element of the target indoor unit according to the second degree of superheat (opening, paragraph 0030-0031 0033, 0038, 0041-0042, 0044-0045); the evaporation outlet temperature value is measured at a point on an outdoor unit side (fig. 1); and the preset condition includes that a compressor (4) of the multi-split air conditioning system has continuously operated for longer than a first preset time (period of time, paragraph 0025), the compressor has continuously been in a stable state for longer than a second preset time (0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044) and the temperature characteristic value of the target indoor unit is less than a target evaporation temperature (different, paragraph 0037) of the target indoor unit but fails to explicitly teach an air blowing correction coefficient; the air blowing correction coefficient is related to the air blowing mode of the target indoor unit.
However, Kim teaches an air blowing correction coefficient (baseline superheat, paragraph 0018); the air blowing correction coefficient is related to the air blowing mode of the target indoor unit (1-3, paragraph 0018, 0073, 0084) to operate the indoor unit efficiently.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date to modify the multi-split air conditioning system of Sato to include an air blowing correction coefficient; the air blowing correction coefficient is related to the air blowing mode of the target indoor unit in view of the teachings of Kim to operate the indoor unit efficiently.
Regarding claims 15 and 27, the combined teachings teach the evaporation outlet temperature value is measured by a temperature sensor (29 of Sato) arranged at a refrigerant pipeline (fig. 1 of Sato) between an evaporator (19a-f) of the target indoor unit and an air inlet of the compressor (fig. 1 of Sato), and located on the outdoor unit side (fig. 1 of Sato).
Regarding claims 16 and 28, the combined teachings teach the compressor being in the stable state includes at least one of: an average value of temperature characteristic values of all indoor units of the multi-split air conditioning system having a capacity requirement (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato) being greater than the target evaporation temperature of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato).
Regarding claims 18 and 30, the combined teachings teach determining the second degree of superheat includes: obtaining the evaporation outlet temperature value of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), and the temperature characteristic value of the evaporator coil of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato); and determining the second degree of superheat according to the evaporation outlet temperature value (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), the temperature characteristic value (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), a valve diameter of the throttling element of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), and a pipe length between the target indoor unit and an outdoor unit of the multi-split air conditioning system (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato).
Regarding claims 19 and 31, the combined teachings teach adjusting the opening degree of the throttling element includes: determining an opening degree correction coefficient according to a current opening degree of the throttling element (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato); updating the current opening degree of the throttling element according to the first degree of superheat (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato) and the opening degree correction coefficient (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato); and maintaining the current opening degree of the throttling element for a preset duration (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato).
Regarding claims 20 and 32, the combined teachings teach adjusting the opening degree of the throttling element includes: determining an opening degree correction coefficient according to a current opening degree (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato) of the throttling element of the target indoor unit; updating the current opening degree of the throttling element according to the second degree of superheat (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato) and the opening degree correction coefficient (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato); and maintaining the current opening degree of the throttling element for a preset duration (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato).
Regarding claims 21 and 33, the combined teachings teach the evaporation outlet temperature value is measured by a temperature sensor (fig. 1 sensor arrangement of Sato) arranged in a middle portion of an evaporator (19a-f of Sato) of the target indoor unit.
Regarding claim 23, the combined teachings teach re-detecting (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), based on a preset time interval (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), whether the indoor unit satisfies the preset condition (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato).
Regarding claim 24, the combined teachings teach a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing one or more computer-executable instructions (paragraph 0026 of Kim) that, when executed by a processor (124-136 of Kim), cause the processor to perform the method of claim 14.
Regarding claim 25, the combined teachings teach all the limitations of claim 25. See rejections of claims 14 and 24.
Regarding claim 26, the combined teachings teach all the limitations of claim 25. See rejections of claims 14 and 24.
Claim(s) 17 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al (EP 2532992) in view of Kim (CN 1782581) as applied to claim 14 in further view of Huerta-Ochoa (US 20120260679).
Regarding claims 17 and 29, the combined teachings teach determining the first degree of superheat includes: obtaining the evaporation outlet temperature value of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), the temperature characteristic value of the evaporator coil of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), and determining the air blowing correction coefficient the air blowing mode of the target indoor unit (paragraph 0018, 0073, 0084 of Kim); and determining the first degree of superheat according to the air blowing correction coefficient (paragraph 0018, 0073, 0084 of Kim), the evaporation outlet temperature value, the temperature characteristic value (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), a valve diameter of the throttling element of the target indoor unit (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato), and a pipe length between the target indoor unit and an outdoor unit (7) of the multi-split air conditioning system (paragraphs 0013-0018, 0026-0033, 0037-0044 of Sato) but fails to explicitly teach an indoor humidity detected by the target indoor unit.
However, Huerto-Ochoa teaches the air blowing coefficient (496) according to an indoor humidity (494) detected by the target indoor unit to efficiently control the system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date to modify the multi-split air conditioning system of the combined teachings to include the air blowing coefficient according to an indoor humidity detected by the target indoor unit in view of the teachings of Huerto-Ochoa to efficiently control the system.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al (EP 2532992) in view of Kim (CN 1782581) as applied to claim 14 in further view of Kim et al (US 20230250976).
Regarding claim 22, the combined teachings teach the air blowing mode of the target indoor unit (paragraph 0018, 0073, 0084 of Kim) and an indoor temperature (indoor temperature, paragraph 0052 of Kim); but fails to explicitly teach the target evaporation temperature is determined according to a dew point temperature corresponding to the target indoor unit, the dew point temperature is related to an indoor humidity detected by the target indoor unit.
However, Kim teaches the target evaporation temperature is determined according to a dew point temperature (dew point temperature, paragraph 0089) corresponding to the target indoor unit, an evaporation temperature correction coefficient (evaporation temperature, paragraph 0089), and the dew point temperature is related to an indoor humidity (humidity, paragraph 0089) detected by the target indoor unit to prevent user discomfort.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art before the effective filing date to modify the multi-split air conditioning system of the combined teachings to include the target evaporation temperature is determined according to a dew point temperature corresponding to the target indoor unit, the dew point temperature is related to an indoor humidity detected by the target indoor unit in view of the teachings of Kim to prevent user discomfort.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH J MARTIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3840. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-3:00 CT pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jerry-Daryl Fletcher can be reached at (571) 270-5054. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELIZABETH J MARTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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