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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 10, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al (KR20070038513) in view of JP5467180.
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a fuel cell system including a fuel cell stack; a fuel supply circulation means that supplies a fuel to the fuel electrode of the fuel cell stack and circulates the fuel; and an air supply unit that is connected to an air electrode of the fuel cell stack through an air supply line and supplies oxygen to the fuel electrode, the air supply unit comprises an air filter for purifying air that is supplied to the fuel cell stack (see claims 1 and 3; figure 2).
Park does not explicitly teach the gas-liquid separator that removes foreign substances from the air, as claimed.
JP5467180 teaches a gas-liquid separation device removes impurities, defined as substances having a higher specific weight than air, from a fluid or gas and sends air to the blowing means (0001, 00012-0014).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to utilize the gas-liquid separation device of JP5467180 with the fuel cell stack of Park in order to remove impurities from the air to be supplied to the stack, as taught in JP5467180.
Regarding claim 10, Park teaches an air compressor that supplies air in the atmosphere to the air electrode of the fuel cell stack, and a humidifier that adds moisture to properly humidify the air supplied to the fuel cell stack (see claims 3-4).
Regarding claim 11, JP5467180 teaches the gas-liquid separation device X to be connected to the air supply means A through a supply pipe L1 (0017-0018 and figure 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 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.
The closest prior art is considered to be Park et al (KR20070038513) in view of JP5467180, as discussed above.
Neither explicitly teach nor render obvious the air rotating part disposed as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH A SLIFKA whose telephone number is (571)270-5838. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm EST.
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, Curtis Mayes can be reached at 571-272-1234. 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.
/SARAH A. SLIFKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759 February 12, 2026