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 .
Note that examination of this application has been transferred to examiner Frank Lawrence.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-15 are hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. The examiner has been persuaded by applicants’ arguments relating to how there is no additional serious burden for examining all of the claims together.
Because all claims previously withdrawn from consideration under 37 CFR 1.142 have been rejoined, the restriction requirement as set forth in the Office action mailed on September 23, 2025 is hereby withdrawn. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement as to the rejoined inventions, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Claim Objections
Claims 6, 13 and 14 are objected to because of the following informalities: In claims 6 and 13, it appears that the second “(ii)” should be changed to “(iv)”. Also in claim 14, “(iii)” should be changed to “(ii)”. Similar changes may be made to the specification if needed. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-11, 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wild et al. (US 2016/0252450 A1) in view of Donahue (US 2017/0232381 A1).
Wild et al. ‘450 disclose a fiber optic sensor for measurement of carbon dioxide in a volume of air or atmospheric environment such as in a natural landscape or wellbore, comprising a fiber optic coated in a CO2 sensitive amine that causes axial strain in the fiber when exposed to CO2. The fiber can be embedded within a membrane member of the sensor, and a computer is used to receive a measurement and communicate results via a wide area network (see paragraphs 2-5, 29, 30-33, 36, claims 10, 17-19). The instant claims differ from the disclosure of Wild et al. ‘450 in that a parameter such as temperature of pressure is adjusted based on presence of CO2 in the volume.
Donahue ‘381 discloses a carbon dioxide sensor for exhaust gas that provides feedback for fine tuning a combustion process by adjusting pressure or temperature (see abstract, paragraph 7). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the system of Wild et al. ’450 by providing temperature or pressure adjustment in the CO2 containing volume in order to achieve a desired concentration.
Claim(s) 6 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wild et al. ‘450 in view of Donahue ‘381 as applied to claims 1 and 8 above, and further in view of Yu et al. (US 2023/0213669 A1).
Wild et al. ‘450 in view of Donahue ‘381 disclose all of the imitations of the claims except that the volume is a boiler, turbine, carbon capture device, or compressor. Yu et al. ‘669 disclose an optic fiber sensing system that can be used in a downhole control pipeline (paragraph 3). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of the primary references by using the sensor in a pipeline in order to provide CO2 detection and control in an area where CO2 control is needed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 12 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The additional references listed on the attached PTO-892 form disclose optical fiber-based sensing arrangements.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANK LAWRENCE whose telephone number is (571)272-1161. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-7pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Dieterle can be reached at 571-270-7872. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/FRANK M LAWRENCE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
fl