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 .
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.
Claims 1-3, 5 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Senriuchi (JP 2019-184533).
a) regarding claims 1, 11 and 12:
Senriuchi discloses a measurement system (1) comprising: multiple sensors including respective resonant circuits (21-23); and
a measurement result acquiring apparatus (10-12) and method configured to acquire measurement results of the multiple sensors (paragraph [0045]),
the resonant circuits (21-23) including a sensing element (R1, R2 and R3) a characteristic of which changes depending on a physical quantity of a measurement target (paragraph [0024]),
the measurement result acquiring apparatus (10-12) including:
a signal outputting circuit (10) configured to output a measurement signal having a component of a resonant frequency of the resonant circuits of the multiple sensors to a target line (L2) to which the multiple sensors are connected (paragraph [0019]);
a signal receiving circuit (11) configured to receive, from the target line, a response signal including a reflected signal of the measurement signal (paragraphs [0019] and [0027]); and
an acquisition circuit (12) configured to acquire the measurement result of at least one sensor among the multiple sensors, based on the response signal received by the signal receiving circuit (paragraphs [0019] and [0045]).
b) regarding claim 2:
Senriuchi discloses the measurement result acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein resonant frequencies of the resonant circuits (21-23) of the multiple sensors differ from each other (paragraph [0028]), and
wherein the acquisition circuit acquires the measurement results of the multiple sensors (paragraph [0045]).
c) regarding claim 3:
Senriuchi discloses the measurement result acquiring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a resistance value of the sensing element (R1, R2 and R3) changes depending on the physical quantity (paragraph [0024]), and
wherein the signal outputting circuit (10) sequentially outputs, to the target line, the measurement signal corresponding to every one of the multiple sensors (paragraph [0019]).
d) regarding claim 5:
Senriuchi discloses the measurement result acquiring apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:
a storage circuit configured to store first correspondence information representing a correspondence relationship between amplitude of the response signal and the physical quantity for every one of the multiple sensors (paragraphs [0036]-[0038]),
wherein the acquisition circuit (12) acquires, as the measurement results of the multiple sensors, the physical quantity corresponding to the amplitude of the response signal received by the signal receiving circuit, based on the first correspondence information corresponding to every one of the multiple sensors (paragraphs [0027]-[0033]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 6-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record fails to disclose or make obvious a measurement result acquiring apparatus, wherein the signal outputting circuit outputs, to the target line, the measurement signal into which multiple signals having different components of the resonant frequencies are synthesized, along with all the other limitations as required by claim 4.
The prior art of record fails to disclose or make obvious a measurement result acquiring apparatus, further comprising: a storage circuit configured to store second correspondence information representing a correspondence relationship between a phase of the response signal and the physical quantity for every one of the multiple sensors, wherein the acquisition circuit acquires, as the measurement results of the multiple sensors, the physical quantity corresponding to the phase of the response signal received by the signal receiving circuit, based on the second correspondence information corresponding to every one of the multiple sensors, along with all the other limitations as required by claim 6.
The prior art of record fails to disclose or make obvious a measurement result acquiring apparatus, wherein a capacity value of the sensing element changes depending on the physical quantity, along with all the other limitations as required by claims 7 and 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yamada et al. (US 2024/0169825) discloses a reception unit of a microcomputer includes a plurality of signal acquisition units connected to a respective sensor element of a sensor device corresponding thereto via a corresponding communication channel.
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/PATRICK O NEILL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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