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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-11, in the reply filed on 8 June 2026 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 3, 9 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: the word “further” should be inserted before “comprising” in each of the claims to better indicate that an additional feature is being added. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-11 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 1, the claim is directed towards a method for detecting a performance degradation of a pneumatic bleed-off valve, however the steps of the claim do not include any steps which include the bleed-off valve or how it would be affected by the method in a manner which would allow for the performance degradation to be related to the steps recited. In other words, it is not clear as to how the valve itself is incorporated into the method to where it would be monitored.
The claim refers to “an intersection of the first relationship and the second relationship,” however it is not clear as to what this intersection would be as only the values have been measured and no comparison between them or other data processing has taken place.
Regarding claim 2, the claim recites the limitation that the performance degradation is an increased response time of the valve, however it is not clear what the increase would be in relation to.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11 may be allowable if rewritten or amended 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not explicitly disclose the features as found in the method of independent claim 1, either alone or in their entirety, comprising the steps of detecting performance degradation of a pneumatic bleed-off valve including the steps of operating a turbine engine to accelerate and decelerate from a first rotational speed to a second rotational speed and vice versa, and acquiring a first relationship and second relationship between a pressure ratio across the compressor and rotational speed of the spool respectively to determine a cross-over rotational speed and detecting the performance degradation of the pneumatic bleed-off valve when the cross-over rotational speed is lower than a rotational speed threshold. US 2021/0270190 issued to the same applicant teaches a similar method of monitoring a bleed valve of a turbine engine, but does not use the acceleration and deceleration of the engine to determine a relationship between the pressure ratio across the compressor and the rotational speed of the spool. Rather, the performance of the valve is based on a modulation delay, while the remaining references are directed towards operation of a bleed-off valve but do not teach the specifics claimed. As all remaining claims ultimately depend from claim 1, they may be allowable for the same reasons due to their dependency thereon.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mark A. Shabman whose telephone number is (571)272-8589. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30 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, Laura Martin can be reached at 571-272-2160. 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.
/MARK A SHABMAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
Prosecution Insights