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 04/08/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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 1-3 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 (b) as being anticipated by Van Ostrand et al. (US 5607014 A).
In regards to claim 1, Van Ostrand discloses a supplemental electric heater assembly (an electric heater module 17; Fig. 1-2) for a heat pump (heat pump system; col.4, lines 26-28), the supplemental electric heater assembly (17) comprising: a plurality of electric heaters (a plurality of electric resistance supplemental heater elements 29a, 29b), each having a different heating capacity value (increase in heating capacity by a factor of two; col.6, lines 1-6), wherein the heating capacity values of the plurality of electric heaters (29a, 29b…) are in a geometric progression (increase in heating capacity by a factor of two; col.6, lines 1-6).
In regards to claim 2, Van Ostrand meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Van Ostrand teaches wherein the heating capacity values of the plurality of electric heaters (29a, 29b…) are in the geometric progression by a multiple of two or having a common ratio of 2 (increase in heating capacity by a factor of two; col.6, lines 1-6).
In regards to claim 3, Van Ostrand meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Van Ostrand teaches wherein the assembly (17) is configured downstream or upstream of an indoor coil (indoor coil 16) associated with the heat pump (col.3, lines 28-35; Fig. 1).
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 4-5 and 9 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Ostrand et al. (US 5607014 A) in view of Albertson (US 2013/0239601).
In regards to claim 4, Van Ostrand meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Van Ostrand teaches wherein the heat pump (heat pump system; col.4, lines 26-28) is associated with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system (col.5, lines 28-32) that is configured to supply air to an area of interest (AOI) (a conditioned space when required; col.5, lines 28-32), wherein the supplemental electric heater assembly (17) comprises a controller (a control assembly 18) operatively connected to each of the plurality of electric heaters (29a, 29b…col.3, lines 36-39) and the heat pump, and wherein the controller (18) is configured to: receive data pertaining to a predefined temperature (via thermostat 35) for the air to be supplied to the AOI (via in response to signals received from thermostat 35); monitor real-time temperature (via response to signals received from thermostat 35) of the air downstream of an indoor coil (16) of the heat pump; but fails to explicitly teach operate, based on the real-time temperature and the predefined temperature, the heat pump and/or at least one of the plurality of electric heaters to adjust the temperature of the air being supplied to the AOI to the predefined temperature.
Albertson teaches heat pump heating systems wherein and operate, based on the real-time temperature and the predefined temperature (downstream air temperature and the preset temperature), the heat pump and/or at least one of the plurality of electric heaters (heating elements 35a and 35b-d) to adjust the temperature of the air being supplied to the AOI to the predefined temperature (supplemental heat output based on the air temperature downstream from a supplemental heating element; par. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the evaporator of Hopf such that operate, based on the real-time temperature and the predefined temperature, the heat pump and/or at least one of the plurality of electric heaters to adjust the temperature of the air being supplied to the AOI to the predefined temperature as taught by Albertson in order to provide multilevel control of the average power to the heating element (refer to par. 11 of Albertson).
In regards to claim 5, Van Ostrand meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 4, but fails to explicitly teach wherein the controller is a digital control circuitry that comprises one or more processors coupled to a memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, which causes the controller to operate the heat pump and/or individually control switching of each of the electric heaters. Albertson further teaches wherein the controller (system controller 36 and control unit 39) is a digital control circuitry (refer to par. 11) that comprises one or more processors coupled to a memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors (refer to par. 11), which causes the controller (39) to operate the heat pump and/or individually control switching of each of the electric heaters (refer to pars. 31 and 33).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the evaporator of Hopf such that the controller is a digital control circuitry that comprises one or more processors coupled to a memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, which causes the controller to operate the heat pump and/or individually control switching of each of the electric heaters as taught by Albertson in order to allow efficiently and rapidly connect and disconnect the variable output resistive heating element 35a to power as much as a 120 times per second while connecting and disconnecting the other heating elements to power using mechanical relays far less frequently (refer to par. 34 of Albertson).
In regards to claim 9, Van Ostrand meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 4. Further, Albertson teaches wherein the controller (system controller 36 and control unit 39) is configured to stop the operation of the plurality of electric heaters (heating elements 35a and 35b-d) when occupants are detected to be absent within the AOI and/or when temperature outside of the AOI is above the predefined temperature (refer to pars. 4-5, 12 and 36).
Allowable Subject MatterClaims 6-8 and 11-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 10 would be allowable, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARTHA TADESSE whose telephone number is (571) 272-0590. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:30am-5:00pm EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Frantz Jules can be reached on 571 -272-6681. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866- 217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571 -272-1000.
/M.T/
Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/FRANTZ F JULES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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