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 .
Preliminary Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of the preliminary amendment filed on 02/14/2024.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Fig. 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. 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.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the abstract contains at least one of the phrases that can be implied, such as the phrase “the invention relates to”. Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: the second “an aircraft tank” should be corrected to—the/said aircraft tank—for proper antecedent basis. 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.
Claims 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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.
Regarding claim 11, the claim recites “a closure device, mounted in a port of the tank allowing liquid to circulate” without explaining how the closure device or the port of the tank would allow the liquid to circulate and where the liquid would be allowed to circulate. The phrase appears incomplete for failing to describe whether, where, and how the closure device, the port, or something else allows circulation of the liquid.
The phrase “at least one pressure measuring member configured to measure a pressure difference between, on the one hand, a liquid pressure in the liquid line and, on the other hand, a reference pressure so as to deduce therefrom the liquid level in the tank” is confusing because the claim does not explain whether “the one hand” and “the other hand” are just figure of speech, which should be omitted, or actually structural limitations of the pressure measuring member.
The phrase “a member for automatically sealing the liquid line if the measuring device is not mounted on the closure device” appears to describe a contingent method step within an apparatus claim, which is indefinite as mixing statutory classes (see MPEP 2173.05(p)). In this case, the inclusion of a step in a structural claim is indefinite because it is unclear whether an infringement of the claimed language would occur upon the structural existence of the device or only during a use of the device (see MPEP 2173.05(p)). In addition, the conditional phrase “if” requires measuring device not being mounted on the closure device. The claim does not explain whether the member for automatically sealing the liquid line would be included in the apparatus when the measuring device is mounted on the closure device. The broadest reasonable interpretation of such a process or assembly step having contingent limitations requires only the steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the conditions precedent are not met (see MPEP 2111.04). For examination purposes, the limitation of “a member of automatically sealing the liquid line” would be considered as optional.
The phrase “the tank comprising a mouthpiece formed around the port, the mouthpiece comprising at least one opening, in fluidic communication with a gas phase of the tank via a first internal gas line portion” is ambiguous because it could be construed as either the mouthpiece of the tank in fluidic communication with the gas phase via the first internal gas line portion; or the port of the tank is in fluidic communication with the gas phase via the first internal gas line portion. For examination purposes, this limitation will be interpreted as the port of the tank is in fluidic communication with the gas phase via the first internal gas line portion. Furthermore, as the claim discloses “a mouthpiece formed around the port”, the port of the tank will be considered as “the mouthpiece comprising at least one opening”.
The phrase “a first internal gas line portion formed in a thickness of a wall of the tank” is ambiguous because it could be construed as either the first internal gas line portion being formed along the internal sidewall of the tank in the wall thickness direction; or the first internal gas line portion being formed through the wall of the tank in the wall thickness direction; or the first internal gas line portion being embedded or buried between the internal side wall and external side wall of the tank. For examination purposes, this phrase will be interpreted as the first internal gas line portion being formed through the wall of the tank in the wall thickness direction.
The phrase “the closure device comprising a second internal gas line portion configured to supply the measuring member with the gas pressure as reference pressure” is confusing and ambiguous. The phrase does not define whether “gas pressure” is related to “a gas phase of the tank” and whether “a first internal gas line portion in a thickness of a wall of the tank” and “a second internal gas line portion” are connected to one another. The claim does not clearly define whether “a reference pressure” (as measured by the measuring device) and “reference pressure” by “the gas pressure” are the same or different from one another.
Further clarification is respectfully requested.
Regarding claim 12, the phrase “the external pressure as reference pressure” is ambiguous because the claim does not define whether “the external pressure as reference pressure” refers to “a reference pressure” (as measured by the measuring device) or “the gas pressure as reference pressure”. Further clarification is respectfully requested.
Regarding claim 13, the claim recites “the measuring device comprises two pressure measuring members” without defining which one(s) of the pressure measuring members are configured to measure “a liquid pressure”, “a reference pressure”, both, or neither. Further clarification is respectfully requested.
Regarding claim 14, the phrase ““alert height”” being in quotation marks only once in the claim is confusing because the claim does not clearly define whether “alert height” is just a designation of a port position or “alert height” is configured as a height threshold.
Regarding claim 16, the claim recites “at least one auxiliary pressure sensor” without defining whether the “at least one auxiliary pressure sensor” is configured as the measuring device or in addition to the measuring device.
Claims 15, 17-19 are rejected as being dependent on the rejected base claim
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. In this case, the claim defines and further limits an aircraft, while the independent claim 1 already discloses the tank as being an aircraft tank or a tank for an aircraft. As such, claim 17 does not further define or limit the subject matter of the independent claim 1, which is the aircraft tank and sensor assembly. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Prior arts
The best prior arts of record:
Kulczyk (Pat. No. US 10,876,878) teaches a liquid level monitoring system for monitoring the level of liquid in a tiltable tank, which may tilt or rotate in a tilt or rotation plane about a tilt axis, comprising a pair of pressure sensors comprising a first pressure sensor for sensing the pressure of the liquid in the tank at a first position located towards the bottom of a tank and a second pressure sensor for sensing the pressure of the liquid in the tank at a second position located a known pre-defined distance above the first sensing wherein the two sensing positions are located on a sensing line substantially orthogonal to and passing through a liquid surface dividing line, said liquid surface dividing line being the line along and extending past the surface of liquid in the tank whose position relative to the tank walls remains the same as the tank tilts about the tilt axis.
Sofen et al. (Pat. No. US 9,121,743) teaches a process variable transmitter system for sensing a first pressure at a first location and second pressure at a second location, includes a first transmitter having a first pressure sensor configured to sense the first pressure and a second pressure transmitter includes a second pressure sensor configured to sense the second pressure and spaced apart from the first pressure sensor, in order to determine level of a liquid in a tank.
Baxter et al (Pat. No. US 10,724,891) teaches a vessel with a cavity for measuring level including a differential pressure sensor having a first port and a second port, a reference tube that connects the first port of the differential pressure sensor to a bottom portion of the cavity, and an impulse tube that connects the second port of the differential pressure sensor to an impulse tube ending, wherein the impulse tube extends through the cavity and into the interior of the vessel.
Cortez et al. (Pat. No. US 6,837,262) teaches a refueling system comprising a jet sensor for detecting when a desired fuel level has been reached, including a sensor hose disposed along an external side wall of the tank and connecting the jet sensor to a receiver, in fluid communication with the fuel tank, having a piston shuttle as the flow control mechanism
Grayson et al. (Pat. No. US 6,571,624) teaches a low gravity liquid level sensor rake measures the liquid surface height of propellant in a propellant tank used in launch and spacecraft vehicles, comprising a mast attached internal to a propellant tank with an end attached adjacent the tank outlet, multiple sensor elements that have an arm and a sensor attached at a free end thereof are attached to the mast at locations selected for sensing the presence or absence of the liquid.
Gaikwad et al. (Pub. No. US 2023/0294838) teaches an integrated optical pressure sensor including optical absolute sensor, optical gauge or differential sensor, optical prism sensor, and temperature sensor, being integrated as a single unit to form an integrated pressure sensor in the form of a plug through the tank wall.
Pilkington et al. (Pub. No. US 2025/0035499) teaches an aircraft fuel storage system comprising an optical differential pressure sensor including a gas feed pipe disposed along an internal side wall of the tank and a liquid feed pipe for determining the weight of the fuel in the chamber based on the differential pressure.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: see PTO-892.
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/Tran M. Tran/Examiner, Art Unit 2855