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 § 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US20130202979A1 (Katano).
Regarding claim 1, Katano teaches a piping unit includes a cathode gas supply passage arranged to supply a cathode gas, and a cathode gas discharge passage arranged to discharge a cathode off-gas for a fuel cell system [abs]. Katano teaches a fuel cell system comprising: a fuel cell stack configured to generate electric power [0125] using an oxygen-containing gas and a fuel gas [0125]; a supply passage through which the oxygen-containing gas flows to be supplied to the fuel cell stack [0131;; #41]; a discharge passage through which the oxygen-containing off-gas discharged from the fuel cell stack flows [#42]; an oxygen-containing gas supply unit provided in the supply passage and configured to supply the oxygen-containing gas to the fuel cell stack; a bypass flow path [0133; cathode bypass piping] connecting the supply passage and the discharge passage; a bypass valve [0056; 0131; i.e. 210] configured to adjust a communication state in the bypass flow path; a pressure adjustment unit [0131-0133; #310 i.e. cathode exhaust valve as the valve is used to adjust the pressure as needed to control the flow; which is similar to what a pressure adjustment unit does]; provided in the discharge passage at a position downstream of a connecting point connected to the bypass flow path, a drain channel [0135; #420 drain piping] connected to the fuel cell stack and configured to discharge water inside the fuel cell stack [0037; 0135-0138]]; a drain valve configured to adjust water drainage from the drain channel; and one or more processors that execute computer-executable [0140, i.e. controller] instructions stored in a memory, however does not explicitly teach: 1) the pressure adjustment unit being configured to make a pressure upstream of the connecting point higher than a pressure downstream of the connecting point; 2) wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the fuel cell system to: control an amount of the oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen-containing gas supply unit and control the drain valve and the bypass valve; and acquire a water accumulation state inside the fuel cell stack, and on a basis of the water accumulation state, control the water drainage from the drain channel by the drain valve and the amount of oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen- containing gas supply unit. However, it is the examiners position, since Katano teaches the claimed structure, supply passages, discharge passages, supply unit bypass flow path and valves as claimed and the controller and various sensors [0139-0140] , it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adjust the cathode exhaust valve to make a pressure upstream of the connecting point higher than a pressure downstream of the connecting point in order to adjust the flow which would make it possible to suppress drying of the electrolyte membrane. In addition, a skilled artisan would be able to program the controller to control an amount of the oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen-containing gas supply unit and control the drain valve and the bypass valve; and acquire a water accumulation state inside the fuel cell stack, and on a basis of the water accumulation state, control the water drainage from the drain channel by the drain valve and the amount of oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen- containing gas supply unit in order to control the amount of water in the fuel cell so it does not deteriorate due to excess water.
Please refer to fig. 1, fig. 30 and the whole document which teaches the claimed supply passages, discharge passages, supply unit bypass flow path and valves as claimed.
Regarding claim 2. Katano teaches the system further comprising: a power-generation-state acquisition unit [i.e. sensors- an ammeter provided to measure the amount of electricity generated by the fuel cell 10; 0139] configured to acquire a power generation state of the fuel cell stack; and a supplied amount acquisition unit configured to acquire the amount of the oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen- containing gas supply unit. Katano does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell system to: acquire an increased amount of water inside the fuel cell stack, from the power generation state acquired by the power- generation-state acquisition unit, acquire the water drainage from the drain channel, from the power generation state, the amount of the oxygen-containing gas acquired by the supplied amount acquisition unit, and an open or closed state of the drain valve, acquire the water accumulation state from the increased amount of water and the water drainage, and in a case where the water accumulation state satisfies a predetermined condition, control the drain valve to open and set a target supplied amount which is a target value of the amount of the oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen-containing gas supply unit. it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the controller to acquire an increased amount of water inside the fuel cell stack, from the power generation state acquired by the power- generation-state acquisition unit, acquire the water drainage from the drain channel, from the power generation state, the amount of the oxygen-containing gas acquired by the supplied amount acquisition unit, and an open or closed state of the drain valve, acquire the water accumulation state from the increased amount of water and the water drainage, and in a case where the water accumulation state satisfies a predetermined condition, control the drain valve to open and set a target supplied amount which is a target value of the amount of the oxygen-containing gas supplied by the oxygen-containing gas supply unit as Katano teaches various sensors which would enable the controller to control the water content as desired by the fuel cell stack and adjust the drain valve as required in order to control the amount of water in the fuel cell so it does not deteriorate due to excess water.
Regarding claim 3, Katano does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell system to: acquire a requisite supplied amount, which is an amount of the oxygen-containing gas required for power generation by the fuel cell stack, based on the power generation state, and set a target opening degree of the bypass valve based on a value obtained by subtracting the requisite supplied amount from the target supplied amount”. However, it is the examiners position, since Katano teaches the claimed structure, supply passages, discharge passages, supply unit bypass flow path and valves as claimed and the controller, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the programming as required above by having the controller adjust the bypass valve based on the sensors that would sense the amount of oxygen needed for power generation by the fuel cell stack and a skilled artisan would know how to manipulate the controller to set a target opening degree of the bypass valve based on a value obtained by subtracting the requisite supplied amount from the target supplied amount in order to provide the accurate amount of power needed for the fuel cell to function efficiently.
Regarding claim 4, Katano does not explicitly teach “wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell system to: acquire an amount of water accumulation as the water accumulation state, set the target supplied amount of the oxygen-containing gas by the oxygen-containing gas supply unit in a case where the amount of water accumulation is equal to or larger than a first threshold, and execute water drainage control for discharging water inside the fuel cell stack, and after execution of the water drainage control, end the water drainage control in a case where the amount of water accumulation is equal to or smaller than a second threshold, the second threshold being smaller than the first threshold”. However, it is the examiners position, since Katano teaches the claimed structure, supply passages, discharge passages, supply unit bypass flow path and valves as claimed and the controller, it is the examiners position, since Katano teaches the claimed structure, supply passages, discharge passages, supply unit bypass flow path and valves as claimed and the controller, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the programming of the controller to adjust the water content by discharging the excess water as required by the claim in order for the fuel cell to function efficiently and avoid having excess water inside the cell.
Conclusion
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/S.G./Examiner, Art Unit 1729
/ULA C RUDDOCK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1729
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