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 .
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 inflatable balloon 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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 11 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bland et al. (U.S. Patent Number 4,549,432; hereinafter referred to as Bland).
With respect to claim 1, Bland discloses and illustrates a device for measuring a flow rate of a liquid, comprising: a flow channel (11), a valve for selectively opening and closing the flow channel (22), and a measuring unit (19) configured to determine, after the valve has closed the flow channel, a time Dt which it takes a liquid fed to the flow channel above the valve to rise to an upper predetermined liquid level in the flow channel (see at least column 5, lines 14 through 27).
With respect to claim 3, the device of claim 1, wherein the measuring unit comprises an upper liquid level detection device (25) configured to determine if a liquid level in the flow channel has reached the upper predetermined liquid level.
With respect to claim 4, the device of claim 3, wherein the measuring unit is configured to determine Dt based on a point in time tu at which the liquid level reaches the upper predetermined liquid level (see at least column 5, lines 14 through 27).
With respect to claim 5, the device of claim 3, wherein the measuring unit comprises a lower liquid level detection device (26) configured to determine if a liquid level in the flow channel has reached a lower predetermined liquid level disposed in between the valve and the upper predetermined liquid level (see at least column 5, lines 14 through 27).
With respect to claim 8, the device of claim 5, wherein the upper liquid level detection device and/or the lower liquid level detection device comprises at least one of a liquid sensor, a contact sensor, an optical sensor and an electrical sensor, in particular an electrical resistance sensor (see at least column 4, lines 50 through 67)
With respect to claim 9, the device of claim 5, wherein the measuring unit is configured to determine Dt further based on a point in time tL at which the liquid level reaches the lower predetermined liquid level (see at least column 5, lines 14 through 27).
With respect to claim 11, the device of claim 1, wherein the flow channel has a first end (14) and a second end below the first end (15), an inlet port (12) at the first end, and an outlet port (21) at the second end.
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.
Claim(s) 10, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bland.
With respect to claim 10, while Bland does not explicitly disclose the device of claim 4, wherein the measuring unit is configured to determine Dt according to Dt = tu-tL, Bland does specifically disclose that the time to accumulate the batch is taken (see at least column 3, lines 27 through 29), and Bland discloses that the time for the batch to accumulate is obtained by looking at a differential pressure measurement between a low value and a predetermined high value ( see column 5, lines 12 through 17). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to recognize that the differential pressure measurement is an equivalent to the differential time measurement of the claim as the change in pressure is similar to and representative of the time taken to go from a low value to a high value.
With respect to claim 12, the device of claim 11, wherein the valve is configured to close the flow channel at or above the outlet port is not explicitly disclosed by Bland. The valve in Bland is illustrated to be located along the line 21. However, the physical location of the valve would still accomplish the claimed limitation though not physically located at or above the outlet port. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to configure the valve to stop the flow at the outlet in order for the device to be able to accumulate fluid as intended. The Examiner notes that configured to leaves a lot of room for broadest interpretation and configured to close at a location is not the same as physical location of the valve and doesn’t require the valve to be at a specific location.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 7, 13, and 14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The assembly that changes the volume of the flow channel in claim 6 and the specific dimensions of the flow channel from claim 13 are not disclosed, taught, suggested, nor deemed as obvious in view of the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RODNEY T FRANK whose telephone number is (571)272-2193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Macchiarolo can be reached at (571) 272-2375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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RODNEY T. FRANK
Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/PETER J MACCHIAROLO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
February 6, 2026