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 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 2 it appears that “tempera-ture” should be changed to “temperature.” Appropriate correction is required.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Europe on December 22, 2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the European application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 22, 2026 was filed before the mailing date of the non-final office action on January 23, 2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5-8, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Thunstrom (5,571,491).
Thunstrom ‘491 teaches a gas purifier comprising two catalytic reactors (1,2), each including a heat storage material (6,7), a catalyst bed (4,5), and an electric heater (8,9). In use, the electric heaters heat gas after it flows through one reactor and upstream of the other reactor. Air also exchanges heat with the heat storage material, which it carries to the other heat storage material. Each reactor also includes plenums on the upstream and downstream sides of the catalyst and storage material. The reaction temperature is controlled by measuring the temperature in the upper parts of the reactors and removing gas from an intermediate location (see abstract, figure, col. 2, lines 18-39, col. 3, lines 5-40). Regarding claim 6, a person having ordinary skill in the art will understand that measuring the temperature will involve using control circuitry. Regarding claim 16, the catalytic combustion temperature of over 300°C is inherently above the dew point of the fluid components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 9-15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed April 20, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. First it is noted that the outstanding indefiniteness and double patenting rejections have been overcome by the amendment and are withdrawn. Also note that the Patent Office has still not received a certified copy of the foreign priority document.
Regarding the anticipation rejection over Thunstrom ‘491, applicant argues that the examiner has improperly mixed distinct components (electric heater and heat storage bed) to satisfy a single claimed element. The examiner disagrees because the instant claims and applicant allow for distinct components to satisfy the heater component. Claim 5 recites that the heater comprises an electric heater while claim 1 also allows the heater to be configured to heat fluid being supplied to the bed before the fluid reaches the bed and configured to heat using het from the bed or transfer material. Additionally, the specification states that the electrical heater may be used in combination with heat from the heat storage material for heating the fluid being supplied to the heat-transfer bed (see page 4, lines 16-21 of the substitute specification filed April 20, 2026).
Applicant also argues that the heat storage material does not heat the fluid before it reaches the heat storage material. The examiner maintains that Thunstrom discloses this because in the counter-clockwise flow shown in the figure, heat storage bed (6) is taken to be the heat-transfer bed while heat storage bed (7) is taken to be the heater. During the previous clockwise flow step, heat storage bed (6) functioned as a heater that supplied heat to the storage bed (7) via the flowing fluid. This would satisfy the claimed structure of a heater (storage bed 7) that heats fluid being supplied to the storage bed (6) using heat originating from the storage bed (6) in the previous step (col. 2, lines 18-39, col. 3, lines 6-26). The electric heaters (8,9) are cited in anticipation of instant claim 5.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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.
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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.
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/FRANK M LAWRENCE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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