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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 4, it is unclear what values the variable P can take and what P refers to.
Regarding claim 5, “the two auxiliary probes” lacks proper antecedent basis.
Regarding claim 6, “the two auxiliary probes” lacks proper antecedent basis.
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, 2, 4, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Smith et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2007/0114370).
Regarding claims 1, 11, Smith et al. disclose (Figs. 1, 2, 12) a system and a method for measuring position of a translationally movable element (12), the method comprising: emitting one optical signal by one emitter optical fiber (22) included in one probe (18), receiving the one optical signal by one track (Fig. 2 or Fig. 12, e.g. track 1), the track receiving one optical signal, the one track consisting of reflecting (light) and diffusing (dark) surfaces; receiving by one receiver optical fiber (24) an optical signal reflected by the one track and converting the optical signal received by the receiver optical fiber into binary code; where k, N and m are equal to 1. The terms “of a nuclear reactor” is intended use and is not given patentable weight. Since the same method steps and structure is disclosed by the prior art, it is “resistant to a primary medium” as claimed.
Regarding claims 2, 4, an accuracy value inherently exists and depends on a length of the tracks divided by 2 or the total number of reflecting and diffusing surfaces 2P as claimed.
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) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al. in view of Chang et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2017/0004893).
Regarding claim 15, Smith et al. disclose the claimed invention as set forth above. Smith et al. do not disclose the movable element part of a nuclear reactor as claimed. Chang et al. teach (Figs.) providing a similar optical fiber measuring system in a nuclear reactor to measure the translation of a movable element. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to provide such method applied to a nuclear reactor in the method and apparatus of Smith et al. in view of Chang et al. to obtain more accurate position measurements in a nuclear environment as known and predictable.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-10, 12-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable once the 112 rejections are overcome and if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/THANH LUU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878