DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 12-14 in the reply filed on 04/07/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-11 and 15-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 04/07/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The limitations of claim 13 are already recited in claim 12, upon which claim 13 depends. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Snow USPN 8,801,831 B1 in view of Chen USPA 2005/0286054 A1.
Regarding claims 12 and 13, Snow discloses a flammability reduction system comprising: an air separation module (ASM) (figure 3: air separation module 306) configured to receive air at an inlet of the ASM and produce an inert gas (Abstract); a flow sensor configured to measure air flow passing to the inlet of the ASM (column 12, lines 42-46); and an electronic controller configured to compare (i) an actual flow rate of air passing to the inlet of the ASM compared against an expected flow rate of air passing to the inlet of the ASM (column 8, lines 24-42: “desired level” of flow rate implies that the measured flow rate is compared to some expected flow rate).
Snow does not disclose an oxygen sensor configured to measure oxygen content of the inert gas produced by the ASM and where the controller is configured to compare (ii) an actual oxygen content of the inert gas produced by the ASM compared against an expected oxygen content of inert gas produced by the ASM, to thereby verify health of the ASM and/or predict air separation mode life. Chen discloses the use of an oxygen sensor configured to measure oxygen content of the inert gas produced by the ASM (paragraph 28), where a controller is configured to compare (ii) an actual oxygen content of the inert gas produced by the ASM compared against an expected oxygen content of inert gas produced by the ASM, to thereby verify health of the ASM and/or predict air separation mode life (paragraph 28: comparing the sensed oxygen levels to the expected levels is implied). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Snow to include an oxygen sensor configured to measure oxygen content of the inert gas produced by the ASM and where the controller is configured to compare (ii) an actual oxygen content of the inert gas produced by the ASM compared against an expected oxygen content of inert gas produced by the ASM, as disclosed by Chen, to verify health of the ASM and/or predict air separation mode life.
Regarding claim 14, Snow discloses that a controller is affixed to the ASM (figure 3: controller 310), but does not explicitly disclose that the controller is a data storage upon which is stored service life history data of the ASM. Chen discloses that such data can be stored on the controller (see Chen paragraph 43). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Snow so that stored service life history data of the ASM is stored on the controller, for the purpose of providing a means to control, acquire and process collected data (see Chen paragraph 43). It is noted that “service life history data” includes any data about the ASM.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER P JONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7383. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM EST M-F.
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/CHRISTOPHER P JONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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