DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on July 24, 2026 has been entered.
Claims 1 and 4 have been amended; and claims 2, 3 and 6 have been canceled.
Claims 1, 4, 5 and 7-10 remain pending in this application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 4 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 4 recite “associated with at least one fuel heating device”, which should recite --associated with the at least one fuel heater device--.
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 and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (CN 208073659), hereafter He, in view of Boer et al. (US 2013/0081592 A1), hereafter Boer.
Regarding claims 1 and 4, He discloses a fuel injected temperature management system and a method, in an internal combustion engine based on a mixture of air and fuel flow applicable to a vehicle (Fig. 1), said engine being equipped with at least one line (3, 5) for transporting fuel which carries a quantity of at least one fuel to be injected; at least one fuel hating device (8, 17); at least one fuel heating control device (18) associated with the at least one fuel heater device; at least one high pressure pump (2) associated with the fuel transport line; at least one fuel distribution device (6) associated with the fuel transport line, provided with at least one main duct; so that said system performs the steps of:
performing a fuel heating action; wherein the fuel heating control device comprises an electronic control unit or a dedicated control unit for the fuel heating system, and wherein the fuel heating device is positioned downstream of the high pressure pump (Fig. 1), downstream of the fuel distribution device, and upstream of a fuel injector, at a location between the fuel distribution device and the fuel injector so that the pressurized fuel is heated directly to a target injection temperature to be injected into a combustion chamber thereby minimizing thermal losses associated with the thermal resistance of the pump (Fig. 1, [0033]), the fuel transportation line, and the fuel distribution device, and enabling atomization and emission reduction comparable to systems operating at pressures above 500 bar [0033].
He is silent to a system wherein the fuel heating action causes fuel to reach an injection target temperature determined by the fuel heating control device based on processing of vehicle parameters including at least fuel inlet temperature in the fuel distribution device, flow rate and fuel type, and applying an amount of pressure of 200 BAR to the fuel in an initial temperature which is carried by the fuel transport line.
Boer discloses a fuel injected temperature management system in an internal combustion engine (100, Fig. 1; [0033]) so that said system performs the steps of applying an amount of pressure of 200 BAR (abstract) to the fuel at an initial temperature which is carried by the fuel transport line, perform fuel heating action; wherein the fuel heating action causes fuel to reach an injection target temperature determined by the fuel heating control device [0029], based on processing of vehicle parameters including at least the fuel temperature [0039], flow rate and fuel type (paragraph [0023] recites: “fuel pressure”, which is related to flow rate, and “fuel properties”, which is equivalent to recited fuel type). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the heating control requirements of Boer in the engine of He in order to reach the “supercritical temperature” as required in the He invention.
Regarding claim 8, He as modified with Boer discloses the method of managing the temperature of fuel injected into internal combustion engines wherein the internal combustion engine comprises an engine with direct injection (Boer: Abstract).
Regarding claim 9, He modified with Boer discloses the method of managing the temperature of fuel injected into internal combustion engines wherein the amount of pressure comprises a predetermined value (He: [0033] and Boer:[0029]).
Regarding claim 10, He modified with Boer discloses the method of managing the temperature of fuel injected into internal combustion engines wherein the amount of pressure is associated with the fuel flow (Boer: [0023-0030]).
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) 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (CN 208073659), in view of Boer et al. (US 2013/0081592 A1), and in further view of Fukumoto et al. (JP 2010196576 A), hereafter Fukumoto.
Regarding claim 5, He modified with Boer is silent to the method wherein the step of performing a fuel heating action comprises the steps of determining an amount of energy required for the fuel to reach a target fuel injection temperature value according to a fuel flow value at a current instant; performing an action to provide the amount of energy necessary for the injected fuel to reach the injection target temperature; performing the actions of comparing the heated fuel temperature in relation to the current injection target temperature; either heat the fuel until the current temperature of the fuel being heated is greater than or equal to the current fuel injection target temperature, or stop heating the fuel.
Fukumoto teaches a fuel temperature control device and a fuel temperature control method for controlling the temperature of fuel injected into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine [0001], and determining an amount of energy required for the fuel to reach a target fuel injection temperature value according to a fuel flow value at a current instant; performing an action to provide the amount of energy necessary for the injected fuel to reach the injection target temperature ([0025], [0036]); performing the actions of comparing the heated fuel temperature in relation to the current injection target temperature [0045]; either heat the fuel until the current temperature of the fuel being heated is greater than or equal to the current fuel injection target temperature, or stop heating the fuel [0046]. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the heating control method of Fukumoto in the system of He as modified with Boer in order to control the energy consumption in the vehicle while providing the necessary heating to fuel to improve the combustion efficiency.
Regarding claim 7, He modified with Boer and Fukumoto discloses managing the temperature of fuel injected into an internal combustion engine, according to claim 5, wherein the step of determining an amount of energy required for the fuel to reach a target fuel injection temperature value is associated with an amount of pressure applied to the fuel at the current instant (Fig. 7 in Fukumoto).
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 4, 5 and 7-10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on grounds of rejection disclosed in the current rejection.
Conclusion
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/TEUTA HOLBROOK/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/GEORGE C JIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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