DETAILED ACTION
Application Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to Applicant’s submission dated 09/07/2026. Claim(s) 1–13 are pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I: claims 1–4 & 11–13 in the reply filed on 09/07/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that claims 11–13 (Group I) & 5 (Group II) contain a feature which is not disclosed by CN 108662588. This is not found persuasive because claim 1 is generic to both groups and is disclosed by the prior art. The special technical feature asserted by Applicant (flue gas conveying chamber) is not present in all the claims of Group I.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL. Applicant is reminded, however, that should claim 1 be determined to be allowable, the restriction requirement can be withdrawn and the non-elected claims rejoined since they depend from claim 1.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 3,807,322 to Liu et al.
With regard to claim 1, Liu discloses a biomass gasification and waste incineration integrated furnace (abstract), comprising a waste incineration furnace chamber (38) and a biomass gasification furnace chamber (12) (Fig. 1; Col. 2, lines 14–19; Col. 2, line 65– Col. 3, line 1; “biomass” is a subset of “waste materials”); wherein a mutual contact region (36) exists between the waste incineration furnace chamber (38) and the biomass gasification furnace chamber (12) (Fig. 1), and heat generated in the waste incineration furnace chamber (38) is transferred to the biomass gasification furnace chamber (12) for enabling reaction inside the biomass gasification furnace chamber (12) (Fig. 1; Col. 2, lines 50–55).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2–4 & 11–13 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: see attached PTO-892. Applicant is encouraged to review the cited references prior to submitting a response to this office action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID J LAUX whose telephone number is (571)270-7619. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:30 M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571) 272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DAVID J LAUX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
September 22, 2026
Prosecution Insights