OFFICE ACTION
This application has been assigned or remains assigned to Technology Center 1700, Art Unit 1774 and the following will apply for this application:
Please direct all written correspondence with the correct application serial number for this application to Art Unit 1774.
Telephone inquiries regarding this application should be directed to the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/index.html or 1-866-217-9197 or to the Examiner at (571) 272-1139. All official facsimiles should be transmitted to the centralized fax receiving number (571)-273-8300.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Note the attached PTO-1449 forms submitted with the Information Disclosure Statements.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
The substitute Abstract of the Disclosure is objected to because:
a. The abstract of the disclosure does not commence on a separate sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.52(b)(4) and 1.72(b). A new abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. The revised abstract is approved for content, however.
Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
The title is acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
The terms used in this respect are given their broadest reasonable interpretation in their ordinary usage in context as they would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, in light of the written description in the specification, including the drawings, without reading into the claim any disclosed limitation or particular embodiment. See, e.g., In re Am. Acad. of Sci. Tech. Ctr., 367 F.3d 1359, 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2004); In re Hyatt, 211 F.3d 1367, 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2000); In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321-22 (Fed. Cir. 1989).
The Examiner interprets claims as broadly as reasonable in view of the specification, but does not read limitations from the specification into a claim. Elekta Instr. S.A.v.O.U.R. Sci. Int'l, Inc., 214 F.3d 1302, 1307 (Fed. Cir. 2000). "A claim is anticipated only if each and every element as set forth in the claim is found, either expressly or inherently described, in a single prior art reference." Verdegaal Bros. Inc. v. Union Oil Co. of California, 814 F.2d 628, 631 (Fed. Cir. 1987).
The express, implicit, and inherent disclosures of a prior art reference may be relied upon in the rejection of claims under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103. "The inherent teaching of a prior art reference, a question of fact, arises both in the context of anticipation and obviousness." In re Napier, 55 F.3d 610, 613, 34 USPQ2d 1782, 1784 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (affirmed a 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection based in part on inherent disclosure in one of the references). See also In re Grasselli, 713 F.2d 731, 739, 218 USPQ 769, 775 (Fed. Cir. 1983). See MPEP 2112.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by BORGSTRÖM et al. (US 2018/0117601 A1) that discloses in at least Figures 1 and 3 a system and method suitable for purifying oil since ¶ [0042] discloses the separation of water and heavier solids matter from oil; the system for employing the method comprising a disc stack centrifugal separator 2 including discs 8; wherein said disc stack centrifugal separator comprises a light phase outlet chamber (paring disc 17) and/or a heavy phase outlet chamber (paring disc 19) in which a fluid level can be controlled; at least one pressure control device (valve 28, see Fig. 3a and valve 30, see Fig. 3b) provided to at least one of a light phase outlet (12) of the disc stack centrifugal separator and a heavy phase outlet (14) of the disc stack centrifugal separator, whereby a level of back-pressure provided to the light phase outlet and/or the heavy phase outlet can be controlled by controlling the at least one pressure control device; at least one light phase sensor (flowmeter 31' and/or density, see fig.3a and ¶ [0053]) positioned in the oil purification system for measuring one or more properties in the light phase retrieved from the light phase outlet of the disc stack centrifugal separator, wherein said one or more properties comprises one or more of a density, a viscosity, an amount of heavy phase content and a flow rate of the light phase; the inlet flow which may be measured by flow meter (31) is regulated by a microprocessor (26), see [0053]:
[0053] The control system 25 may comprise a microprocessor 26 configured to execute computer readable code of a computer program. The computer program may be configured to perform a method of supervising and/or controlling the E-line position in a centrifugal separator. Thus, the microprocessor 26 also may control the pressure at the outlet side of the first and/or second outlet passage 12, 14 by controlling the controllable first and/or second valves 28, 30. Optionally, the control system 25 may control the adding of water into the rotor, see below. The control system 25 may further for example comprise one or more of Coriolis type mass flow meters 31, 31′, 31″, pressure sensors 33, 33′, 33″, and temperature sensors 35, 35′, 35″, which communicate with the microprocessor 26 for monitoring/measuring/sensing one or more of density, mass flow, volume flow, fluid pressure, and temperature of the liquid feed mixture, and/or the light liquid phase, and/or the heavy liquid phase.
wherein the parameters are continuously measured; the flow by flowmeter 31" and/or density, see fig.3b and [0053] are measured for the heavy phase and submitted to microprocessor 26 that control the output of both the light and heavy phase (see fig.3); the flow by flowmeter 31" and/or density, see fig.3b and [0053] are measured for the heavy phase; and both the light and heavy phase outlets can be controlled - Figures 3a-3b.
Claims 8, 10, 11, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 3666387 A1 that discloses a system suitable for purifying oil and other substances comprising a disc stack centrifugal separator 1 with discs 7; wherein said disc stack centrifugal separator comprises a light phase outlet chamber (outlet 9) and/or a heavy phase outlet chamber (outlet 10) in which a fluid level can be controlled; pressure control devices (one or more of devices 50, 58, 14, 56 that includes valves 14 and 56) provided to a light phase outlet (9) of the disc stack centrifugal separator and a heavy phase outlet (10) of the disc stack centrifugal separator, whereby a level of back-pressure provided to the light phase outlet and/or the heavy phase outlet can be controlled by controlling these pressure control devices; at least one light phase sensor (pressure sensor 58 for providing measurement data to control unit 12, [0082]) positioned in the system for measuring one or more properties in the light phase retrieved from the light phase outlet of the disc stack centrifugal separator, wherein said one or more properties comprises one or more of a density, a viscosity, an amount of heavy phase content and a flow rate of the light phase (the flow of the light phase is then controlled via controller 12 and valve 56, see [0079] -[0080]; a pump (not shown) for pumping the fluid to be separated from a supply to the inlet 8 of the separator 1; and the last section of claim 8 related to the control system and pump met by at least ¶ [0024]-[0025], [0038], [0062], [0072], [0096]; the parameters specified for claim 8 are continuously measured; valve 14 is controlled by controller 12 which receives a signal from pressure sensor 50; determining 116 that a threshold pressure level has been reached at the first outlet 10 may be performed by the control unit 12 monitoring the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor 50 arranged to sense the pressure in the first outlet 10; determining that a threshold differential pressure level has been reached between a pressure at the first outlet 10 and the pressure at the second outlet 9 may be performed by the control unit 12 monitoring the pressures via the pressure sensors 50, 58 at the first and second outlets 10, 9; determining that a threshold differential pressure level has been reached between the pressure at the first outlet 10 and the pressure at the inlet 8 may be performed by the control unit 12 monitoring the pressures via the pressure sensors 50, 54 at the first outlet 10 and the inlet 8 [0103]-[0105].
Allowable Subject Matter
No claims stand allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art discloses centrifuge control protocols.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES COOLEY whose telephone number is (571) 272-1139. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/CHARLES COOLEY/
Examiner, Art Unit 1774
DATED: 17 JUNE 2026
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