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
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.
Claims 1, 2, 10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0211733 to Shibuya et al. (hereinafter referred to as Shibuya).
In regard to claim 1, as shown in figure 1, Shibuya discloses an air supply to an internal combustion engine (11) which has at least one cylinder (11a) and a heater (40) of an exhaust system. A first air duct is formed by the intake pipe (13) downstream of the compressor (15). The first air duct is configured to supply air to the at least one cylinder (11a) of the internal combustion engine (11) for operating the internal combustion engine. A second air duct (25) is configured to supply air to a heater (40) configured to heat an exhaust gas system (20) of the internal combustion engine. The first and second air ducts are connected to an air filter (14) by a third duct, which is formed by the intake pipe (13) upstream of the compressor (15), for providing filtered ambient air to the internal combustion engine. Each air duct of the first and the second air ducts has at least one control element for controlling a quantity of air flowing through the respective air duct. The first duct inherently includes a throttle body of the diesel engine that forms the control element, and the second duct includes a valve (27) that forms the control element. The third and the second air ducts include sensors (36, 37) that can be considered mass flow sensors. Shibuya does not disclose a mass flow sensor in the first air duct portion of the intake pipe (13). An additional mass flow sensor can be considered a duplication of parts. An additional mass flow sensor located in the first duct closer to the internal combustion engine can be used to ensure the actual air flow to the engine is as desired.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Shibuya to include a further mass flow sensor in the first air duct in order to take a measure of the air flow closer to the engine and ensure the actual air flow to the engine is as desired.
In regard to claim 2, modified Shibuya also inherently discloses a method of providing an air supply to an internal combustion engine which has at least one cylinder and a heater of an exhaust system. As discussed above, the air supply in modified Shibuya includes all of the features required in claim 2 of the present application. Therefore, modified Shibuya performs all of the recited steps and is considered to disclose a method for diagnosing an air supply, as broadly recited in the preamble of the claim.
In regard to claim 10, modified Shibuya discloses all of the structural features of the device and can be considered to be configured to control and diagnose the air supply, as broadly recited in the claim.
In regard to claim 13, the device of modified Shibuya is capable of operating in a state where the throttle, or control element in the fist duct, is closed. The control element (27) in the second duct can be controlled such that air for operation of the heater (40) flows through the second air duct. The controller, as shown in figure 4, receives the data from the sensors and can be considered an arrangement that measures a mass flow on the first air duct and can detect a fault when a mass flow is measured in the first air duct despite the closed control element.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 9, 11, 12, and 14 – 17 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Other prior art and non-prior art references listed on the PTO-892 (Notice of References Cited) are considered to be of interest disclosing similar air supply systems.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert Clemente whose telephone number is (571)272-1476. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/ROBERT CLEMENTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773