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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on March 19th, 2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwamura (WO 2018230447) in view of AOKI (JP 2012021742 A).
Regarding claim 1, Iwamura teaches a heat generating device comprising:
a hollow container (Figure 24, 102);
a heat generating element (81) disposed inside the container;
a heater (82) for heating the heat generating element;
a conductive wire part (85, Fig. 24) connecting a wall portion of the container and the heater;
a hydrogen supply unit (Fig 24, 104) for supplying a hydrogen-containing hydrogen-based gas to the heat generating element;
a vacuum evacuation unit (Fig. 24, Item 103) for evacuating the inside of the container; and
a reflection unit (87, refer to paragraph 123, 87 is formed in a rectangular shape with four reflecting plates) configured to reflect radiant heat of the heat generating element, the reflection unit including a plurality of reflection plates (87) spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to a surface of the heat generating element (83, See figure 22),
wherein
the heat generating element (81) has a back surface directed toward the heater (82) and a front surface opposite the back surface,
the heat generating element (81) includes a base (22) composed of a hydrogen storage metal, a hydrogen storage alloy, or a proton conductor, and a multilayer film disposed on a surface of the base ((13-4) the heat generating structure 83 was manufactured using the heat generating element 5e having the multilayer film 25e of Example 5, and fig. 13. The heat generating device 1 has a heating element including a base 22 made of a hydrogen storage metal, a hydrogen storage alloy, or a proton conductor, and a multilayer film 25 provided on the surface of the base 22 was provided inside the container.) the multilayer film has a stacking structure in which a first layer and a second layer are stacked (Further, the heating element 5 is made of a hydrogen storage metal or a hydrogen storage alloy and has a layered first layer 23 having a thickness of less than 1000 nm, and the first layer 23 is a different kind of hydrogen storage metal, hydrogen storage alloy, Alternatively, a multilayer film 25 is provided in which a layered second layer 24 made of ceramics and having a thickness of less than 1000 nm is laminated), the first layer being made of a hydrogen storage metal or a hydrogen storage alloy and having a thickness of less than 1000 nm, and the second layer being made of a hydrogen storage metal or a hydrogen storage alloy,
which is different from that of the first layer, or ceramics and having a thickness of less than 1000 nm,
when the heat generating element is heated by the heater, hydrogen permeates through or diffuses through a heterogeneous material interface which is an interface between the first layer and the second layer by quantum diffusion (In the heating element 5, when heating by the heater 6 is started, hydrogen stored in the multilayer film 25 and the pedestal 22 is released, and quantum diffusion is performed while hopping the multilayer film 25.),
and thus the heat generating element generates heat, and formula (1) is satisfied:
AHC[Symbol font/0x68]eq (TH - Tw) + As[Symbol font/0x65]eq(Ts4 - Tw4) + Pm < Hex (1),
where TH is heater temperature in [K],
Tw is external environmental temperature in [K],
AHC is equivalent heat conduction area in [m2],
keq is equivalent thermal conductivity in [W/mK],
Leq is equivalent thermal conduction length in [m],
As is sample radiation surface area in [m2],
Ts is sample surface temperature in [K],
[Symbol font/0x65]eq is equivalent emissivity,
[Symbol font/0x73] is Stefan-Boltzmann constant in [W/m2K4],
Pm is energy required for maintaining operation in [W],
Hex is thermal energy generated by the heat generating element in [W], and
[Symbol font/0x68]eq is a value (keq/Leq) obtained by dividing the equivalent thermal conductivity by the equivalent thermal conduction length.
(Note: since Iwamura discloses the claimed structure, the use of the device of Iwamura would result in the claimed formula being satisfied, as there is no claimed structural difference between the prior art and the current invention, and a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim.
Iwamura does not disclose the plurality of reflection plates are provided on the front surface side of the heat generating element, spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the front surface of the heat generating element.
AOKI teaches a heat generating device comprising: a plurality of reflection plates (6a) are provided on the front surface side of the heat generating element (4), spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the front surface of the heat generating element (see Fig. 7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Iwamura wherein the plurality of reflection plates are provided on the front surface side of the heat generating element, spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the front surface of the heat generating element as taught and/or suggested by AOKI, since such a modification would enhance the heat reflection effect of said plurality of reflection plates thereby furthering the goal of concentrating heat and minimizing heat loss.
Regarding claim 7, Iwamura teaches wherein the reflection unit (87) includes a plurality of other reflection plates (87 forms a box, See Fig. 25) spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to a side surface of the heat generating element (81), and wherein the heat generating element (81) has a first side surface, a second side surface, a third side surface, and a fourth side surface perpendicular to the front surface and the back surface.
Iwamura does not disclose the plurality of other reflection plates are provided on the first side surface side of the heat generating element, spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the first side surface of the heat generating element.
AOKI further teaches a plurality of other reflection plates (also labeled 6a) are provided on the first side surface side of the heat generating element (4), spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the first side surface of the heat generating element (see Fig. 7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Iwamura wherein the plurality of other reflection plates are provided on the first side surface side of the heat generating element, spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the first side surface of the heat generating element as taught and/or suggested by AOKI, since such a modification would enhance the heat reflection effect of said plurality of reflection plates thereby furthering the goal of concentrating heat and minimizing heat loss.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwamura in view of AOKI as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Brown (US Patent Publication 20160116186).
Regarding claim 4, Iwamura teaches further comprising a radiation temperature indicator (86, temperature measuring unit),
Iwamura fails to explicitly disclose the container has a window portion through which infrared rays are transmitted, and the temperature measuring unit is a radiation indicator.
Brown teaches of a heat generation device with a temperature sensor (Figure 3 – Item 380, paragraph 0042 “for example a temperature sensor, that provides data related to the production of energy within the replaceable cartridge. Suitable sensors include a thermocouple, an infrared sensor, and/or a radiation sensor”.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the top part of the container (Figure 24 – Item 109), as disclosed by Iwamura, to include a window on the edge of the container, also taught by Iwamura (previous embodiment), and to further include a radiation temperature indicator outside the container, as taught by Brown. Such a modification gives the user more insight into the effectiveness of the heat generated in the chamber and helps an end user decide whether to decrease or increase hydrogen gas into the chamber.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwamura in view of AOKI, and further in view of Iwamura 2 (World International Patent Organization 2018062115).
Regarding claim 5, Iwamura teaches wherein the container includes a first container (102) and a second container (87) disposed inside the first container,
the heat generating element (83) is disposed inside (See figure 25) the second container (87) to partition the inside of the second container into a first chamber (chamber within 91, receiving 81/82/90, Fig. 23) and a second chamber (space within 81 outside 91)
the vacuum evacuation unit (103) evacuates the inside of the first container (102, A vacuum evacuation unit 103, a gas supply unit 104 that supplies a hydrogen-based gas into the container 102, and a control unit 105 that controls output of excess heat are provided, refer to paragraph [0127]), the heater (84/82) is disposed inside the first container and heats the heat generating element (83) via the second container (87), the conductive wire part (85a) connects a wall portion of the first container and the heater, and the hydrogen supply unit (103) introduces the hydrogen-based gas into the inside of the first chamber (A vacuum evacuation unit 103, a gas supply unit 104 that supplies a hydrogen-based gas into the container 102, paragraph [0127]), resulting in a difference between pressures of the hydrogen in the first chamber and the second chamber.
In an alternate interpretation where Iwamura fails to explicitly disclose two separate, independent chambers that would result in the function of the hydrogen device to generate a difference between pressures of the hydrogen in the first chamber and the second chamber.
Iwamura 2 teaches of a heat generating device that has first and second chamber within the container (paragraph translation “a hydrogen permeable membrane, a first chamber, a second chamber, a supply path for supplying a hydrogen-based gas to the first chamber, a circulation path for circulating the hydrogen-based gas in the first chamber, and a second chamber and an evacuation unit for evacuating the inside. The experimental device is electrically connected to a computer (not shown) that is not shown, and inputs and outputs various data to and from the computer”), also has a conductive wire connecting from the wall to around the heater (See annotated Figure 12 below), and the hydrogen gas enters the first chamber and generates a pressure difference between the first chamber and second chamber (English translation “a first chamber and a second chamber are arranged with a hydrogen permeable membrane interposed therebetween, a hydrogen-based gas is supplied to the first chamber, and the inside of the second chamber is evacuated. As a result, in the experimental apparatus, the first chamber has a higher pressure than the second chamber, and a pressure difference is generated between the two chambers”).
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Figure 12
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the container, as disclosed by Iwamura, to include two separate chambers, at different pressures, when hydrogen is delivered to the first chamber, and not the second chamber (since they are separate), would result in a difference in pressure in the chambers, as taught by Iwamura 2. Such a modification creates a more efficient heat generation device.
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwamura in view of AOKI and Iwamura 2 as applied to claim 5 above and further in view of Scudder (US Patent Publication 20060162344).
Regarding claim 6, Iwamura fails to explicitly disclose further comprising an inert gas introduction portion configured to introduce an inert gas into the inside of the second chamber.
Scudder teaches of a container for mixing gases to be heated or cooled (claim 7 “The container of claim 1 wherein said material chamber is pressurized with an inert gas to a pressure above atmospheric pressure”). The material chamber consisted of a first and second chamber for reactants. With container body 12 being the second chamber and the container body 14 being the first chamber.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the heat generating device, as disclosed by the combined teachings of Iwamura, to include inert gas module, as taught by Scudder, to be applied to the inside the container for heat generation. Such a modification would increase the effectiveness of stopping the heat generation when needing to stop function.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure because the references are either in the same field of endeavor or are reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the applicant was concerned. Please see form PTO-892 (Notice of References Cited) attached to, or included with, this Office Action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE A PEREIRO whose telephone number is (571)270-3932 and whose fax number is (571) 270-4932. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 - 5:00 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571) 272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JORGE A PEREIRO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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