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 § 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 1-5, 7-9, 12, 15-17, and 20 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.
In claim 1, the limitation “the exhaust air flow” in line 12 lacks antecedent basis and thus is indefinite because there is no previous recitation of an exhaust air flow and therefore it is unclear if the limitation is intended to refer to the “air flow detected by the air flow sensor” recited above or a different air flow.
In claim 1, the limitation “at an inlet of the fuel cell” is indefinite because it is unclear whether “the fuel cell” is intended to refer to the “fuel cell stack” recited in a preamble or a specific fuel cell of the fuel cell stack.
In claims 7, 9, 15, and 17, the limitation “a threshold” is indefinite because it is unclear whether this threshold is intended to be the same as or different from the threshold recited in claim 6 and claim 13.
In claims 12 and 20, the limitation “each value operating power or current of the characteristic curve” lacks antecedent basis and thus is indefinite because claims 6 and 13, which these claims depend on, do not recite a “characteristic curve” or values of operating power or current of a characteristic curve and therefore it is unclear what values and curve are being referred to. These rejections may be overcome by amending the claims to depend on claims 11 and 19, which recite a characteristic curve, or amending the claims to recite operating power or current values of “a” characteristic curve.
Claims 2-5, 8-9, and 16-17 are indefinite by virtue of depending on an indefinite claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5, 7-9, 12, 15-17, and 20 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.
Claims 6, 10-11, 13-14, and 18-19 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the closest prior art to the claimed invention is Ando (US 7892682 B2), LaVen (US 20080075991 A1), Lee (US 20190181473 A1), Tang (US 20060053881 A1), and Kono (JP 2014077737 A). Ando (US 7892682 B2) teaches an exhaust system for a fuel cell stack comprising a hydrogen purge valve 6 and a method of comparing a normal amount of air discharged from the fuel cell when an air amount is determined based on the load of the fuel cell (predetermined minimum air flow) and an air amount required for diluting hydrogen to an appropriate concentration (dilution comparator) as well as determining a discharged hydrogen amount when the purge valve is opened using a pressure sensor (air flow sensor) (col 4 line 52-67, col 6 line 1-36, col 8 line 1-24, col 9 line 1-32, col 11 line 30-43; Fig. 1). LaVen (US 20080075991 A1) teaches controlling the concentration of hydrogen in the exhaust within a desired range below a threshold using an air blower to control the flow of air to the fuel cell stack (dilute the air flow with an air blower at an inlet of the fuel cell so that the concentration in the exhaust air flow is less than the predefined threshold) (para 0024, 0040-0042, 0053). Lee (US 20190181473 A1) teaches estimating a hydrogen concentration by comparing a measured flow rate of air supplied to the fuel cell stack with a predetermined flow rate (para 0013-0014). Tang (US 20060053881 A1) teaches a fuel cell system in which a measurement apparatus includes a resistor configured to input a measuring analog voltage to a sensor and an A/D converter for digitizing a signal reflecting a voltage of a sensor(Abstract, para 0019-0022). Kono (JP 2014077737 A) teaches a flow rate measuring device may include a sensor unit for detecting air flow rate and a control circuit that digitizes and outputs an output voltage signal of the air flow sensor that corresponds to an air flow rate detected (para 0015, 0017, 0021). The aforementioned references fail to teach a dilution comparator circuit configured to determine a concentration of hydrogen in the exhaust air flow while the purge valve is open by comparing a flow rate of hydrogen flowing through the purge valve to a predetermined minimum air flow”. Additionally, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to modify the aforementioned references to meet the claimed limitation, especially in combination with the other claimed limitations. Therefore, claim 1 contains allowable subject matter.
Claims 6 and 13 contain similar limitations to those that would make claim 1 allowable and therefore claims 6 and 13 are allowed for similar reasons.
Claims 2-5, 7-12, and 14-20 depend on claims 1, 6, and 13 and thus would be allowable for the same reasons.
Conclusion
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/PATRICK S OTT/Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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