DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Australia on 10/22/2019. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the AU2018903996 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 05/26/2025 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required:
Claim 1 states a computer server, however, the specification states a separate computer 32 and server 34, and not a computer server.
Claim 14 states “control, based on the received spectrum and intensity settings, (i) one or more pumps, one or more valves, one or more solenoids, and/or one or more heaters,” however, this limitation is not disclosed in the specification.
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 2-5 and 12-13 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.
For claim 2, the limitation “and combinations thereof” in line 3 is unclear if each of the previously stated limitations must be combined or if at least one limitation is required. For examination purposes, the Examiner will interpret the claim as at least one limitation is required.
Also, claim 2 recites the limitation "the group" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
For claim 3, the limitation “LED light spectrum and intensity settings” in lines 1-2 is unclear because is it referring to a different LED light spectrum and intensity settings than what was stated in claim 1, line 11? For examination purposes, the limitation will be treated as the same LED light spectrum and intensity settings and it is recommended that “the” be inserted before “LED light spectrum and intensity settings” in claim 3.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the group" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Also, for claim 4, the limitation “and combinations thereof” in line 7 is unclear if each of the previously stated limitations must be combined or if at least one limitation is required. For examination purposes, the Examiner will interpret the claim as at least one limitation is required.
For claim 12, the limitation “and combinations thereof” in line 6 is unclear if each of the previously stated limitations must be combined or if at least one limitation is required. For examination purposes, the Examiner will interpret the claim as at least one limitation is required.
For claim 14, it is unclear as to how the received spectrum and intensity settings can control the received spectrum and intensity settings, one or more pumps, one or more valves, one or more solenoids, and/or one or more heaters. The Examiner recommends deleting “based on the received spectrum and intensity settings”.
Also, claim 14 recites the limitation " the one or more features" in lines 5-6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 and 13 are rejected as being dependent upon a rejected base claim.
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.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahni (US 20170142813 A1 as cited in IDS) in view of Friesth (US 20150196002 A1 as cited in IDS) and Li (CN 105954289 A).
Regarding claim 1, Sahni teaches a method of controlling the growing of plant ([0020] and [0023]-[0025]) in a liquid growing medium (fig. 7, [0020] and [0073] as the plant must be in water to grow), the method comprising:
controlling, by a first control system ([0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072] as the app in a remote device is capable of controlling more than one system as there are multiple controllers and groups that are capable of communicating with each other), a spectrum and an intensity of a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) lights for growing plant ([0055], [0057] and [0059]-[0060]);
monitoring, by one or more sensors (50 and 55), traits of the plant (50 and 55 and [0060]);
changing the spectrum and the intensity of the plurality of LED lights ([0055]-[0057] and [0059]-[0060]) while performing the monitoring ([0060]);
correlating, on a remote device (25 and 61; [0034] and [0061]), the traits of the plant with the spectrum and the intensity of the plurality of LED lights ([0025], [0028]-[0034], [0055]-[0057] and [0059]-[0062]); and
transmitting, by the remote device, spectrum and intensity settings of the plurality of LED lights ([0025], [0028]-[0034], [0055]-[0062]) for a pre-determined trait in the traits of the plant ([0020], [0025] and [0070] as the user can prescribe a preset light formula) to a second control system ([0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072] as the app in the remote device is capable of controlling more than one system as there are multiple controllers and groups that are capable of communicating with each other), to grow the plant with the pre-determined trait using the second control system ([0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072] as the app in the remote device is capable of controlling more than one system as there are multiple controllers and groups that are capable of communicating with each other), wherein:
the first control system comprises a pilot control system ([0025], [0055] and [0060] as the first control system can automatically adjust the preset levels of the spectrum and intensity settings on the traits of the plant) for adjusting of different settings in the spectrum and intensity settings on the traits of the plant ([0023]-[0033], [0055]-[0057], and [0059]-[0061] as the pilot control system can adjust different settings in the spectrum and intensity settings on the traits of the plant);
the one or more sensors comprises: a spectrophotometer ([0074] as it is known that a spectrometer or photo sensor functions as a spectrophotometer) to determine growth or cell density of the plant in the liquid growing medium ([0060]), and/or a cell count sensor configured to measure a quantity of cells of the plant in a pre-determined volume of the liquid growing medium;
the remote device comprises a computer server (30 of fig. 1, [0026], [0061] and [0082] as it is known that a smartphone, tablet and cloud act as a computer server), the computer server comprising an optimizer for optimizing ([0060-0061] and [0082] as the computer server will allow for the adjustment of the spectrum and intensity, and so teaches an optimizer for optimizing), the spectrum and intensity settings based on data produced by the one or more sensors, to achieve the pre-determined trait ([0020], [0025], [0028]-[0034], [0055]-[0057] and [0059]-[0062]); and
the second control system comprises a user control system ([0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072] as the user can select the second control system from the remote device, and so the second control system comprise will comprise of a user control system) for growing the plant with the pre-determined trait based on the optimized spectrum and intensity settings for achieving the pre-determined trait ([0025],[0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072]).
However, Sahni is silent about growing algae; for testing effects and artificial intelligence.
Friesth teaches growing algae (abstract) and artificial intelligence ([0354] and [0356]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include growing algae and artificial intelligence as taught by Friesth into the method of Sahni in order to allow the user to grow their desired plant (abstract of Friesth) and provide adaptive biometrics, control plant growth cycles, help maximize metabolism efficiency and reduce product loss ([0356] of Friesth).
Li teaches testing effects (see machine translation “different test units can be provided with different intensity by setting”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the pilot control system of Sahni to include testing effects as taught by Li in order to determine the ideal settings for the plant and help the growth of the plant and provide good growth condition from the spectrum and light intensity (see machine translation “good growth condition of spectrum and light intensity for later plant batch culture conditions.” of Li).
Regarding claim 2, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and Sahni further teaches wherein the pre-determined trait is selected from the group consisting of: increased cell count, increased growth rate ([0025] and [0055]), increased cell health, increased algae cell density, and combinations thereof.
Regarding claim 3, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and the combination of Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li further teaches wherein the artificial intelligence ([0354] and [0356] of Friesth) further optimizes LED light spectrum and intensity settings in the second control system, to achieve the pre-determined trait (title, [0025]-[0033], [0055]-[0057], and [0059]-[0061] as the second control system is able to adjust the spectrum and the other features with the use of feedback from the sensors of Sahni).
Regarding claim 4, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 3, and the combination of Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li further teaches wherein the first control system (([0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072] of Sahni) is further configured to test one or more effects (see machine translation “different test units can be provided with different intensity by setting” of Li) of one or more parameters on the traits ([0055]-[0056], and [0060] of Sahni) of the algae (abstract of Friesth), wherein the one or more parameters is selected from the group consisting of: different flickering rate settings of the plurality of LED lights ([0055]-[0056], and [0060] of Sahni), a flow rate of the liquid growing medium, a temperature of the liquid growing medium, an amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) added to the liquid growing medium, an amount of (O2) added to the liquid growing medium, a type of nutrients added in the liquid growing medium, an amount of nutrients added to the liquid growing medium, and combinations thereof.
Regarding claim 5, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 4, and Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li further teaches wherein the optimizer is further configured to process data corresponding to the one or more parameters ([0055]-[0056], and [0060]-[0061] of Sahni), and wherein the artificial intelligence ([0354] and [0356] of Friesth) optimizes the spectrum and intensity settings based on the data corresponding to the one or more parameters to achieve the pre-determined trait ([0025], [0028]-[0034], [0055]-[0062] of Sahni).
Regarding claim 6, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li further teaches wherein the computer server maintains a database of different optimized spectrum and intensity settings for different strains ([0032] and [0082] of Sahni) of the algae (abstract of Friesth) and different traits in the traits ([0031]-[0032], [0082] of Sahni) of the algae.
Regarding claim 7, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and Sahni further teaches wherein the computer server comprises a notifier configured to notify users of either the first control system or the second control system of any new settings in the optimized spectrum and intensity settings ([0025]).
Regarding claim 8, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and Sahni further teaches wherein the computer server comprises a notifier configured to alert users of either the first control system or the second control system when any of the spectrum and intensity settings or any of the data produced by the one or more sensors are outside of a pre-determined range ([0025] and [0071]).
Regarding claim 9, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and Sahni further teaches further comprising: downloading, by a user console ([0032] and [0083] as it is known that a user console is an application of Sahni), the optimized spectrum and intensity settings from the computer server ([0020], [0025], [0026], [0028]-[0034], [0055]-[0057] and [0059]-[0062] as the use of the cloud will allow for downloading the optimized spectrum and intensity settings from the computer server of Sahni) to the second control system, to control the growing of the algae (abstract of Friesth) with the pre- determined trait ([0034]-[0036], [0060]-[0062], and [0071]-[0072] as the app in the remote device is capable of controlling more than one system as there are multiple controllers and groups that are capable of communicating with each other of Sahni).
Regarding claim 10, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and Sahni further teaches wherein the one or more sensors further comprises: a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the liquid growing medium; a gas sensor for sensing dissolved gas in the liquid growing medium; a sensor for determining growth of the algae; a pH sensor for measuring pH of the liquid growing medium; a salinity sensor for measuring salinity of the liquid growing medium; a nitrate sensor for measuring a concentration of nitrates in the liquid growing medium; and/or a cell health sensor for measuring health of one or more cells of the algae ([0025], [0071] and [0082]).
Regarding claim 11, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 1, and Sahni further teaches wherein each of the first and the second control systems comprises a controller (5 and [0061] as there are more than one controller, and so each of the first control system and second control system will have a controller), wherein the controller of the first control system is configured to control the spectrum and intensity settings of the plurality of LED lights ([0055], [0057] and [0059]-[0060]), and wherein the controller of the second control system is configured to control spectrum and intensity settings of a second set of LED lights ([0055], [0057] and [0059]-[0062]).
Regarding claim 12, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 11, and Sahni further teaches wherein each of the controllers ([0061]) is configured to control one or more features selected from the group consisting of: a flow rate of the liquid growing medium, a temperature of the liquid growing medium ([0071], [0073] and fig. 7), an amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) added to the liquid growing medium, an amount of oxygen (O2) added to the liquid growing medium, a type of nutrients added in the liquid growing medium, an amount of nutrients added to the liquid growing medium, and combinations thereof.
Regarding claim 13, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 12, and Sahni further teaches wherein each of the controllers is configured to monitor the data produced by the one or more sensors ([0071] and [0073]).
Regarding claim 14, Sahni as modified by Friesth and Li teaches the method of claim 13, and Sahni further teaches wherein each of the controllers is configured to: receive the spectrum and intensity settings of the plurality of LED lights transmitted from the remote device ([0059-0060], [0071-0074]), and control, based on the received spectrum and intensity settings (see 112b above), one or more pumps ([0025], [0059]-[0060], [0071] and [0082]), one or more valves, one or more solenoids, and/or one or more heaters, and the one or more features ([0025], [0059]-[0060], [0071] and [0082] as the controller can control the one or more pumps).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wagner (US 20180035616 A1) is a LED growing system with a controller.
Wells (US 20190178451 A1) is a lighting system for growing plants and comprises of LED lights and a controller.
Martin (US 20180007845 A1) is a device for growing plants comprising led lights and a controller.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAHAR ALMATRAHI whose telephone number is (571)272-2470. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Poon can be reached at 571-272-6891. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAHAR ALMATRAHI/Examiner, Art Unit 3643
/DAVID J PARSLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3643