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 claims 1-16 in the reply filed on 01/13/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The recitation of “facility,” (claim 15, line 3) is believed to be --facility.--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 11 and 15 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.
The recitation of “…a second facility…” (claims 11 and 15) is unclear. The recitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear if the second facility from the recitation above, is the same as the second facility previously discloses in parent claim 1. For examination purposes, the recitation in each claim has been examined as --…the second facility…--.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10, 12-14 and 16 are allowed.
Claims 11 and 15 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include 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 prior art, when taken as a whole, neither anticipates nor renders prima facie obvious the claimed invention as currently recited in at least claim 1. The closest prior art reference of record is Dilk (US 7,032,398), which at best teaches some of the claimed features, as follows. Dilk discloses a system for operating a refrigeration system, comprising a processing unit (including controller 300); and a non-transitory computer-readable memory (320) communicatively coupled to the processing unit and comprising computer-readable program instructions executable by the processing unit for operating a main refrigeration circuit (42) as a function of a cooling load (134) of an evaporation stage of a first facility (refer to fig. 1b); and reclaiming heat from the main refrigeration circuit (through condenser 76) to provide heat to at least a second facility separate from the first facility in response to at least two concurrent heat demands (50, 58, 60, 66) for at least the second facility (refer to fig. 1b). Although Dilk discloses the storing of cold heat or hot heat in ice reservoir 46 and thermal equalizer 204, there is no teaching in the prior art of record that would, reasonably and absent impermissible hindsight, motivate one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of the prior art to incorporate storing cold heat or hot heat as a function of a difference between the heat reclaimed and the cooling load. Thus, for at least the foregoing reasons, the prior art of record neither anticipates nor rendered obvious the present invention as set forth in the independent claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANA M VAZQUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-0611. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4.
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/ANA M VAZQUEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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