DETAILED ACTION
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 Objections
Claim 22 is objected to because of the following informalities: The recitation “a gearbox group,” ( line 3) should recite -- a gearbox group.—to end a claim with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-9, 11 -12, 14-17, 20-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dods WO 2019/084379 in view of Kim et al. US 9,239,195 B2 and Saupe US 20190284975 A1.
Re claim 1, Dods teach an oil temperature regulator assembly (fig 4) fluidly connectable to an oil circulation system of an operating vehicle group (para 1-3), and to a cooling system of said operating group or of said vehicle, wherein the oil temperature regulator assembly defines a vertical axis and two longitudinal axes lying mutually orthogonal to each other, wherein said assembly comprises: i) a heat exchanger (figs) comprising, along said vertical axis , an upper exchanger plate , a plurality of intermediate exchanger plates , and a lower exchanger plate (para 38),
wherein stacking of said plates defines an oil flow zone and a cooling fluid flow zone comprising a plurality of planar oil flowing regions and a plurality of planar fluid flowing regions , respectively, alternating with one another along the vertical axis and comprising inlet and outlet vertical oil ducts and inlet and outlet vertical fluid ducts fluidly connected to the respective planar flowing regions (paras 39-42);
iii) a filtering unit (130) extending along a filter axis insertable as a cartridge (para 26, 36), through the operating opening (103) , in the vertical oil duct , wherein said filtering unit comprises a filtering element (para 35) adapted to filter solid particles from the oil (para 53, para 3) and wherein the filtering unit comprises a connecting portion (102 adjacent to 130) adapted to be housed in the oil circulation duct comprising a connecting opening through which the vertical oil duct, and the oil circulation duct are in fluid communication (para 39 , 40).
Dods fail to explicitly teach base details.
Kim et al. teach
ii) a base device (annotated fig) engaged with the lower exchanger plate (fig 7);
wherein the upper exchanger plate (120) or the base device comprises an operating opening (opening where 130 is on lower, or 122 of upper fig 10) vertically aligned with a vertical oil duct (137 equivalent to 103 of primary reference) and an oil circulation duct (duct in 120 or 116, or duct in any stacked heat exchanger circulation portion), wherein the operating opening is connected to the oil circulation duct (col 6) ; :
wherein the base device comprises inlet and outlet oil connection mouths fluidly connected to the inlet and outlet vertical oil ducts, respectively, adapted to fluidly connect the heat exchanger to the vehicle operating group (fig 14, fig 1, noting the mouths on top the top plate, fig 9, 10, are supported by the base plate) to provide a bypass from the vertical portion with an insertable member (also noting a motivation to change pressure drop with oil flow by an oil bypass taught by Saupe, para 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include base details as taught by Kim et al. in the Dods invention in order to advantageously allow for a bypass line to be installed for temperature controls (col 9).
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Re claim 2, Dods teach wherein the filtering element extends in a tubular manner with respect to the filter axis, being adapted to carry out filtration in a radial direction, thus defining a dirty side and a clean side (fig 1).
Re claim 3, Dods, as modified, fail to teach base details.
Kim et al. teach wherein the filtering unit comprises a filter end which is distal from the operating opening , transverse to the filter axis , wherein said filtering end is closed (134 end) or said filtering unit comprises a filtering end adapted to carry out filtration in an axial direction to provide a bypass from the vertical portion with an insertable member.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include base details as taught by Kim et al. in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for a bypass line to be installed for temperature controls (col 9).
Re claim 6, Dods teach wherein the filtering unit crosses the oil circulation duct comprising a main sealing portion which sealingly engages an inner portion of the vertical oil duct in which is housed, the upper exchanger plate or the lower exchanger plate (para 41, figs).
Re claim 7, Dods teach wherein the connecting opening is positioned radially to the filter axis (fig 4).
Re claim 8, Kim teach wherein the filtering unit comprises an operating sealing portion (146) which sealingly engages the operating opening (in the instant combination) so that a mounting portion may be provided to provide a bypass from the vertical portion with an insertable member.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include base details as taught by Kim et al. in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for a bypass line to be installed for temperature controls (col 9).
Re claim 9, Dods, as modified, fail to teach base details.
Kim et al. teach wherein the upper plate or the base device comprises a collar (134) which vertically extends at the operating opening ,wherein the filtering unit comprises a fastening portion (136) adapted to engage and lock said collar to provide a bypass from the vertical portion with an insertable member.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include base details as taught by Kim et al. in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for a bypass line to be installed for temperature controls (col 9).
Re claim 11, Dods teach wherein the oil circulation duct comprises a main oil circulation duct (figs) where the oil connection mouths are obtained in said main oil circulation duct , wherein the base device comprises an auxiliary oil circulation duct , at least partially surrounded by the main oil circulation duct , wherein the auxiliary oil circulation duct connects one vertical oil duct to one connection mouth , and the main oil circulation duct connects the other vertical oil duct to the other connection mouth to define a fluid inlet portion and a distinct fluid outlet portion inside the main circulation duct (figs, noting several different ducts which meet the broad limitations of different ducts which have different name yet have not denoted specific structure, also noting “obtained in” is interpreted broadly and all ducts and inlets and outlets are connected fiducially and thermally ) .
Re claim 12, Dods teach wherein the base device comprises a lower plate-shaped base element and an upper plate-shaped base element , vertically coupled, defining the main oil circulation duct and the auxiliary oil circulation duct (noting all the plate stack as a whole defines all the duct boundaries, etc, and a plate shapes heat exchanger has plate shaped elements (figs).
Re claim 14,
Kim et al. teach wherein the oil circulation duct comprises a bypass duct (col 6 lines 35-45) obtained in the heat exchanger , fluidly connected to the vertical oil ducts, where the oil flows bypassing the planar flowing regions (col 6) and through the filtering unit
to provide a bypass from the vertical portion with an insertable member (also noting a motivation to change pressure drop with oil flow by an oil bypass taught by Saupe, para 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include base details as taught by Kim et al. in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for a bypass line to be installed for temperature controls (col 9).
Re claim 15,
Kim et al. teach wherein the bypass duct is at least partially defined in the upper exchanger plate which comprises a bypass protrusion (figs, see the rejection of claim 14) .
Re claim 16,
Kim et al. teach wherein the base device comprises fluid connection mouths adapted to connect the vertical fluid ducts (noting the mouths on top the top plate, fig 9, 10, are supported by the base plate, see the rejections of claims 1, 14).
Re claim 17, Dods, as modified, teach wherein a clean side of the vertical oil duct, and the oil circulation duct are in fluid communication through the connecting opening of the connecting portion (noting multiple side of the ducts, and in the instant combination the oil ducts are eventually fiducially connected through a fluid loop).
Re claim 20, Dods teach wherein the filtering element extends in a tubular manner with respect to the filter axis, being adapted to carry out filtration in a radial direction, from outside to inside, thus defining a dirty side and a clean side (figs).
Re claim 21, Kim teach wherein the lower plate-shaped base element comprises a main protrusion (side wall protrusions aiding to contain entire heat exchanger) in which the main oil circulation duct is obtained, and wherein the upper plate-shaped base element comprises an auxiliary protrusion (protrusion creating 120) vertically adapted to house in the main oil circulation duct and inside the main protrusion, defining the auxiliary oil circulation duct to provide a bypass from the vertical portion with an insertable member (also noting a motivation to change pressure drop with oil flow by an oil bypass taught by Saupe, para 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include base details as taught by Kim et al. in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for a bypass line to be installed for temperature controls (col 9).
Re claim 22, Dods teach wherein the oil temperature regulator assembly is fluidly connectable to an oil circulation system of an operating vehicle power group, or a drive group or a gearbox group (para 1-3),
Claim(s) 4, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dods WO 2019/084379 in view of Kim et al. US 9,239,195 B2 and Saupe US 20190284975 A1 and Viola US 20190024543 A1.
Re claim 4, Dods, as modified, fail to explicitly teach a mesh.
Viola teach wherein the filtering element (para 14), comprises a mesh to filter out particulates in oil.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a mesh as taught by Viola in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for prevention of engine damage (para 14).
Re claim 18, Dods, as modified, fail to explicitly teach a mesh.
Viola teach wherein the filtering element, and the filtering end comprise a mesh (para 14) to filter out particulates in oil.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a mesh as taught by Viola in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for prevention of engine damage (para 14).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dods WO 2019/084379 in view of Kim et al. US 9,239,195 B2 and Saupe US 20190284975 A1 and Pflueger US 20160325212 A1.
Re claim 10, Dods, as modified, fail to explicitly teach pin details.
Pflueger teach wherein the oil temperature regulator assembly further comprises a pin element (34) which is insertable in a radial direction through the collar and the fastening portion (figs) to provide a drain.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include pin details as taught by Pflueger in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for the drain provides a boundary of a sealing chamber.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dods WO 2019/084379 in view of Kim et al. US 9,239,195 B2 and Saupe US 20190284975 A1 and Selsdon US 20060196818 A1.
Re claim 19, Dods, as modified, fail to explicitly teach filter details.
Selsdon teach wherein the filtering element and the filtering end comprise a mesh, made of a synthetic material or a metal material, having flow pores either equal to or smaller than 600 microns (claim 6) to provide specific filtration for oil
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include filter details as taught by Selsdon in the Dods, as modified, invention in order to advantageously allow for enhanced oil and engine life.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 13 is 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. US 20100206516 A1 teach top and bottom aux ducts but fail to teach oil filter device details.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2012/0273179 Al , US 11187464 B2, US 10989481 B2, US 20200408135 A1, US 20170175599 A1, US 5950715 A, US 5797450 A, US 5014775 A.
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/GORDON A JONES/Examiner, Art Unit 3763