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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Broach [5820362], further in view of Engelberg et al [5876197].
With respect to claim 1, Broach discloses: A zero-power-consumption self-adaptive distributed waste heat recovery and utilization system for an ethylene device, comprising: a waste heat collection pipeline system (28, 30), a heat recovery device (38) arranged in groups, and a waste heat return pipeline system (34), wherein the waste heat collection pipeline system is configured to lead out a working medium having waste heat from a waste heat source (32) of the ethylene device and distribute the working medium to the waste heat recovery device [col 5, line 5-14], the waste heat recovery device are configured to heat combustion-supporting air of a bottom burner of an ethylene cracking furnace through the waste heat [col 5, line 15-22], and the waste heat return pipeline system is configured to transport the working medium that has undergone waste heat recovery and utilization back to the waste heat source [col 5, line 26-39].
Broach however does not show a plurality of heat recovery devices or the flow control as further claimed.
Although Ethylene is not specifically disclosed, the limitation is not given patentable weight as it is not a positively recited element with regard to structure in an apparatus claim; the limitation refers to intended use in an apparatus claim (see MPEP 2111.02).
Engelberg makes up for these deficiencies by teaching:
{cl. 1, cont’d} A plurality of waste heat recovery devices arranged in groups [col 5, line 9-30, with reference to “The exhaust gas flows into common exhaust gas conduit 18. A ventilator 8 is provided for the combustion air 7 and a ventilator 8r is provided for the extraction of the exhaust gas.”], and the waste heat collection pipeline system (8) is provided with flow control elements (11) in stages, and flow rates in pipelines are distributed differentially through the flow control elements to allow flow rates in the groups of waste heat recovery devices to be distributed evenly [see FIG 1, col 5, line 31-67].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Broach with the teachings of Engelberg because Engelberg provides a plurality of heat recovery devices with flow control to efficiently and evenly heat the apparatus for optimal heat transfer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-12 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. Claim 2, narrowing the overall scope, requires a vast number of components not found in the prior art in an obvious combination. The remaining dependent claims contain allowable subject matter because of claim dependency.
Conclusion
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/AVINASH A SAVANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
1/15/2026