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.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4, line 2, “senor” should be --sensor--. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 2-10, 12, 14, 15, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 2, 14 and 17, those claims each recite: “generating the command signal in the form of a voltage waveform change.” However, as this “generating” step is part of a “processing step [that] includes analyzing, by the sensor, the command signal after the sensor receives the command signal,” it is unclear whether the generated command signal in the recited “generating” step is a new command signal or refers to the original command signal modulated by the calibration device. Accordingly, the claims raise an ambiguity that render the claims indefinite.
Claim 9 recites “the current change signal” in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. 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.
Claims 1, 11, 13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cleary U.S. Patent No. 6,678,185.
Regarding claims 1, 13 and 16, Cleary discloses a communication method for calibrating a sensor (i.e. temperature sensor circuit 2 in conjunction with interpreter 22 and pad cell 36) based on a power supply wire of the sensor, the method comprising: modulating, by a calibration device (i.e. external to shown calibration circuit 3 – see col. 2, ll. 31-34), a command signal to be issued to the sensor into a voltage change signal as power supply terminal 5 is modulated with a command signal supplied to the pad cell 36; coupling the voltage change signal onto the power supply wire of the sensor (i.e. voltage Vdd on the power supply terminal 5 is modulated with a command signal – see col. 9, ll. 26-27); receiving, by the sensor, the voltage change signal from the power supply wire (see Figs. 1, 2, 4); decoupling and demodulating the voltage change signal with the sensor to obtain the command signal (col. 2 ll. 55-62); processing, by the sensor, the command signal after the sensor receives the command signal as decoders decode the data signals from the interface circuit and a state machine controls performs subsequent processing (col. 8, ll. 10-18); and sending a corresponding command reply back to the calibration device as the state machine 33 of the interpreter circuit 22 controls operation of the calibration circuit 3 in response to the data input signal (col. 8, ll. 15-18).
Regarding claim 11, Cleary further discloses that the sensor is a voltage analog sensor or a digital sensor (col. 9, ll. 26-35).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Soenen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,183 disclose a method for programming calibration information at a final test without increasing pin count.
Hourne U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0355699 disclose a device for communication between an electronic module and a sensor using a power supply line.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David B. Lugo whose telephone number is (571)272-3043. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-6.
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/DAVID B LUGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 9/19/2026
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