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 Invention I in the reply filed on 31 December 2025 is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the
Sections of the flow meter run
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1 – 19 and 21 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, “a … isolation valve … operable to establish a double block and bleed isolation”. A block and bleed isolation inherently requires at least two isolation/block valves and a bleed valve. As such, it is unclear as to how the claimed valve can accomplish a double block and bleed isolation, thus rendering the claim indefinite.
Regarding Claims 10 and 11, the claims recite the limitation "the second disc". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims dependent upon a rejected claim are therefore rejected as well.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 – 19 and 21 would 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:
Regarding Claim 1, as best understood, the closest piece of prior art, Nelson (US 6053055) discloses a rotary chamber isolation valve, in at least Figures 1 and 2, said rotary chamber isolation valve comprising a housing (24) having an internal chamber (in 24) containing a rotatable disc (29) (Figure 1), having different spots thereon that, via rotation of said rotatable disc, are selectively movable into and out of a working position residing inline to change a flow status of said rotary chamber isolation valve between a closed state (between holes 32), and at least one flow state that allows flow (when 32 is aligned with the inlet and outlet) (Figure 1).
Nelson fails to disclose the valve selectively operable to establish double block and bleed (DBB) isolation between two sections of a flow meter run, the plurality of rotatable discs in the internal chamber, and the limitations of the additional discs. These features are critical to the applicant’s invention as they allow for reducing the physical area of venting, thus improving the environmental aspects of flaring the product to atmosphere and "pigging" the meter run without the need for breaking pipeline integrity, thus allowing for the live pipeline cleaning and inspection previously undertaken in a depressurized and dis-assembled state to vastly reduce cost and increase safety for this operation, as discussed on Pages 4 and 5 of the filed specification.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER MERCADO whose telephone number is (571)270-7094. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm EST.
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ALEXANDER A. MERCADO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/ALEXANDER A MERCADO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855