Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 17, 2026
Application No. 18/638,506

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CENTRIPETAL ACCELERATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Apr 17, 2024
Examiner
DUKE, EMMANUEL E
Art Unit
3763
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
unknown
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allow Rate
776 granted / 1133 resolved
-1.5% vs TC avg
Strong +28% interview lift
Without
With
+27.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
1160
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.5%
-39.5% vs TC avg
§103
51.0%
+11.0% vs TC avg
§102
27.6%
-12.4% vs TC avg
§112
17.7%
-22.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1133 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 1. Claims 18-20, are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 01/06/2026. Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-17 in the reply filed on 01/06/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that “the search and examination of the entire application could be made without serious burden”. This is not found persuasive because applicant has not provided any reason why the search for two inventions would not create serious burden. However, the Examiner has provided evidence of two inventions that are divergent. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 2. 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 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 of this title, 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claims 1-2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Allan (U.S. Patent No.: 4,643,375), hereinafter referred to as Allen ‘375, in view of CLAUS et al (EP Publication No.: 1600377 A2), hereinafter referred to as CLAUS et al ‘377. Regarding claim 1, Allan ‘375 discloses a system for generating centripetal acceleration to perform water-related activities, comprising: a device (14), disposed in a craft (10), comprising an outer cylindrical wall (24) coupled to a side panel (25) and one or more walls (26, 27), wherein the one or more walls form one or more compartments (37, 38) {as shown in Figs. 1 and 2: Col 3, lines 26-29 and 61-65}; a balancing unit coupled to the device, the balancing unit configured to counteract an angular momentum imparted on the craft generated by the device {see Col 4, lines 9-12}. However, Allan ‘375 fails to disclose the limitations of a water condensation unit coupled to the one or more compartments, the water condensation unit configured to condense gaseous water; and a power unit coupled to the device. CLAUS et al ‘377 teach: the concept of a water condensation unit (15) coupled to the one or more compartments, the water condensation unit configured to condense gaseous water {see Fig. 1: ¶ [0015-0016] and [0053]}; and a power unit coupled to the device {see ¶ [0005]}. Since all claimed elements were known in the art at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Allan ‘375 in view of CLAUS et al ‘377 to include the use of water condensation unit coupled to the one or more compartments, and a power unit coupled to the device, in order to facilitate generation of portable water and electrical energy {CLAUS et al ‘377 – ¶¶ [0005] and [0053]}. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the Allan ‘375 in view of CLAUS et al ‘377 to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1. Regarding claim 2, the combination of Allan ‘375 and CLAUS et al ‘377 disclose and teach the system of claim 1, Allan ‘375 discloses comprising: a shower (43) disposed in the one or more compartments {as shown in Fig. 2: Col 4, lines 6-9}. Regarding claim 4, the combination of Allan ‘375 and CLAUS et al ‘377 disclose and teach the system of claim 1, Allan ‘375 discloses comprising: a toilet (39) disposed in the one or more compartments {as shown in Fig. 2: Col 4, lines 2-6}. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Allen ‘375 and CLAUS et al ‘377 as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of in view of CLAY (U.S. PG Pub No.: 2014124626 A1), hereinafter referred to as CLAY ‘626. Regarding claim 3, the combination of Allan ‘375 and CLAUS et al ‘377 disclose and teach the system of claim 1, EXCEPT for the limitation of comprising: at least one of a washer or dryer disposed in the one or more compartments. CLAY ‘626 teaches: the concept of at least one of a dryer disposed in the one compartment (202) {see Fig. 7: ¶ [0139]}. Since all claimed elements were known in the art at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Allan ‘375 in view of ‘CLAY ‘626 to the use at least one of a dryer disposed in the one compartment, in order to facilitate hair makeup with the cabin/or compartment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the Allan ‘375 in view of ‘CLAY ‘626 to obtain the invention as specified in claim 3. Allowable Subject Matter 3. Claims 5-17 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. Conclusion 4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US-20220313013-A1 to Sears; James T. US-20020074457-A1 to Barutt, John. US-7886557-B2 to Anderson; Rae. US-6325012-B1 to Aristizabal; Luis Alberto. US-6042382-A to Halfhill; Robert. US-5052932-A to Trani; James. US-3405409-A to BENNETT FLOYD M. US-3340544-A to CELLA RICHARD T. US-3329947-A to LARROWE BOYD T. JP-2013212463-A to KAIBUKI KAZUHIDE. ES-2339523-A1 to GONZALEZ VALIENTE CESAR. KR-200369168-Y1 to 장치국 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMMANUEL E DUKE whose telephone number is (571)270-5290. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday thru Friday; 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday thru Friday; 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FRANTZ JULES can be reached on (571)272-6681. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /EMMANUEL E DUKE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763 03/11/2026 /FRANTZ F JULES/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 17, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 11, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+27.7%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1133 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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