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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/8/2025 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1, 5-8, 10, 11, 15-18, 20, 21, 25-28, 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Migueis et al (US 8,333,109 hereinafter “Migueis”).
In regards to claim 1:
Migueis teaches a method comprising: operating a fuel system including operating a pump (1) to pump fuel to a rail (4) and concurrently operating one or more injectors to inject fuel from the rail into one or more cylinders of an engine; predicting for a specific engine cycle a first pressure measurement zone and a second pressure measurement zone predicted to meet a pressure stability requirement, the first pressure measurement zone preceding a target fuel mass change event of the fuel system, and the second pressure measurement zone succeeding the target fuel mass change event (Paragraphs [0029] - [0036] recites a differential pressure value before a target mass fuel change event, with the first pressure measurement taken prior to the fuel change event (the injection of fuel) and a second pressure measurement taken succeeding the target fuel mass change event, and wherein the maximum deviation can be selected as a function of the requirements relating to the stability of the injection valves); filtering measurements of fuel pressure of the rail taken during the operating to determine filtered pressures for the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone; determining a pressure change in response to the filtered pressures of the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone if the filtered pressures of the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone satisfy a pressure change requirement; determining a fuel mass change corresponding to the target fuel mass change event in response to the pressure change; and at least one of controlling and diagnosing one of the one or more injectors and the pump in response to the fuel mass change (Col 9, Line 43 – Col 10, Line 46 and filtering is defined as gradually become known via www.google.com with the search term “filtering definition”).
In regards to claim 5:
Migueis teaches the determining the pressure change of the target fuel mass change event comprises determining a net pressure change between the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone (Col 5, Lines 40-41).
In regards to claim 6:
Migueis teaches the filtering is effective to mitigate ringing/oscillation in the measurements, wherein a plurality of measurements are taken to produce a filtered chart (Figures 2 and 3) (filtering is defined as gradually become known via www.google.com with the search term “filtering definition”).
In regards to claim 7:
Migueis teaches prior to the filtering, predicting the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone (Col 11, Lines 4-18).
In regards to claim 8:
Migueis teaches the pressure change requirement comprises a maximum pressure change limit and the predicting the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone is based at least in part upon the maximum pressure change limit (Col 10, Lines 33-46).
In regards to claim 10:
Migueis teaches the target fuel mass change event is settable as either an injection by a particular one of the one or more injectors or a pumping by the pump (Col 5, Lines 30-46 recites the fuel mass change event is set as an injection by a fuel injector).
In regards to claim 11:
Migueis teaches a system comprising: a fuel system including a pump configured to pump fuel to a rail and one or more injectors to inject fuel from the rail into one or more cylinders of an engine; and an electronic control system configured to perform the acts of: predicting for a specific engine cycle a first pressure measurement zone and a second pressure measurement zone predicted to meet a pressure stability requirement, the first pressure measurement zone preceding a target fuel mass change event of the fuel system, and the second pressure measurement zone succeeding the target fuel mass change event (Paragraphs [0029] - [0036] recites a differential pressure value before a target mass fuel change event, with the first pressure measurement taken prior to the fuel change event (the injection of fuel) and a second pressure measurement taken succeeding the target fuel mass change event, and wherein the maximum deviation can be selected as a function of the requirements relating to the stability of the injection valves), filtering measurements of fuel pressure of the rail taken during operation of the pump and the one or more injectors to determine filtered pressures for the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone, determining a pressure change in response to the filtered pressures of the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone if the filtered pressures of the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone satisfy a pressure change requirement, determining a fuel mass change corresponding to the target fuel mass change event in response to the pressure change, and at least one of controlling and diagnosing a selected one of the particular one of the one or more injectors and the pump in response to the fuel mass change (Col 9, Line 43 – Col 10, Line 46 and filtering is defined as gradually become known via www.google.com with the search term “filtering definition”).
In regards to claim 15:
Migueis teaches the determining the pressure change of the target fuel mass change event comprises determining a net pressure change between the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone (Col 5, Lines 40-41).
In regards to claim 16:
Migueis teaches the filtering is effective to mitigate ringing/oscillation in the measurements (filtering is defined as gradually become known via www.google.com with the search term “filtering definition”).
In regards to claim 17:
Migueis teaches the electronic control system is configured to perform the act of predicting the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone (Col 10, Lines 33-46).
In regards to claim 18:
Migueis teaches the pressure change requirement comprises a maximum pressure change limit and the predicting the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone is based at least in part upon the maximum pressure change limit (Col 10, Lines 33-46).
In regards to claim 20:
Migueis teaches the target fuel mass change event is settable as either an injection by a particular one of the one or more injectors or a pumping by the pump (Col 5, Lines 30-46 recites the fuel mass change event is set as an injection by a fuel injector).
In regards to claim 21:
Migueis teaches an apparatus for controlling operation of a fuel system including a pump configured to pump fuel to a rail and one or more injectors to inject fuel from the rail into one or more cylinders of an engine, the apparatus comprising: one or more non-transitory memory media configured with instructions executable by one or more processors of an electronic control system to perform acts of: predicting for a specific engine cycle a first pressure measurement zone and a second pressure measurement zone predicted to meet a pressure stability requirement, the first pressure measurement zone preceding a target fuel mass change event of the fuel system, and the second pressure measurement zone succeeding the target fuel mass change event (Paragraphs [0029] - [0036] recites a differential pressure value before a target mass fuel change event, with the first pressure measurement taken prior to the fuel change event (the injection of fuel) and a second pressure measurement taken succeeding the target fuel mass change event, and wherein the maximum deviation can be selected as a function of the requirements relating to the stability of the injection valves) filtering measurements of fuel pressure of the rail taken during operation of the pump and the one or more injectors to determine filtered pressures for the first pressure measurement zone preceding a target fuel mass change event of the fuel system and the second pressure measurement zone succeeding the target fuel mass change event, determining a pressure change in response to the filtered pressures of the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone if the filtered pressures of the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone satisfy a pressure change criterion, determining a fuel mass change corresponding to the target fuel mass change event in response to the pressure change, and at least one of controlling and diagnosing a selected one of the particular one of the one or more injectors and the pump in response to the fuel mass change (Col 9, Line 43 – Col 10, Line 46 and filtering is defined as gradually become known via www.google.com ).
In regards to claim 25:
Migueis teaches the determining the pressure change of the target fuel mass change event comprises determining a net pressure change between the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone (Col 10, Lines 33-46).
In regards to claim 26:
Migueis teaches the filtering is effective to mitigate ringing/oscillation in the measurements (filtering is defined as gradually become known via www.google.com ).
In regards to claim 27:
Migueis teaches the instructions are executable by the electronic control system configured to perform the act of predicting the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone (Col 10, Lines 33-46).
In regards to claim 28:
Migueis teaches the predicting the first pressure measurement zone and the second pressure measurement zone is based at least in part upon a maximum pressure change criterion (Col 10, Lines 33-46).
In regards to claim 30:
Migueis teaches the target fuel mass change event is settable as either an injection by a particular one of the one or more injectors or a pumping by the pump (Col 5, Lines 30-46 recites the fuel mass change event is set as an injection by a fuel injector).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 9, 12-14, 19, 22-24 and 29 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 prior art does not teach nor render obvious prior to the filtering, identifying a specific engine cycle as one of a plurality of processing engine cycles, each of the plurality of processing engine cycles having different phasing of the pump relative to the engine as recited in dependent claims 2, 12 and 22 and wherein claims 3-4, 13-14, and 23-24 depend on these claims respectively. The prior art does not teach nor render obvious the maximum pressure change limit is defined relative to a steady state pressure decay rate as recited in dependent claims 9, 19 and 29.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/8/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has amended the independent claims to recite “predicting for a specific engine cycle a first pressure measurement zone and a second pressure measurement zone to meet a pressure stability requirement, the first pressure measurement zone preceding a target fuel mass change event of the fuel system, and the second pressure measurement zone succeeding the target fuel mass change event”. Examiner does not agree that this puts the application in conditions for allowance. The Migueis reference teaches that measurements are taken prior to injection and post injection to determine a pressure differential (Paragraph [0036] recites “The various embodiments therefore provide for forming a difference between the fuel pressure before and after a test injection and using this differential pressure value as a basis for determining a deviation of an operating parameter of the internal combustion engine from a reference parameter.”). This pressure differential is used to meet a pressure stability requirement (Paragraph [0036] recites “The maximum deviation can be selected here as a function of the requirements relating to the stability of the injection valves”). The claim does not recite structural language in regards to a pressure stability requirement, wherein the fuel injector prior to a mass change event and post a mass change event can visually appear in one piece to meet a “pressure stability requirement” (ie. pressure is measured prior to injection and after injection, and after the pressures have been measured it can be determined if they meet a “pressure stability requirement” of the housing still remaining intact visually on an exterior after being subjected to pressurized fuel). Furthermore, the claim does not recite any structural language in regards to what the system is using with the “pressure stability requirement”, wherein this “pressure stability requirement” is not recited any further in the independent claims nor in any of the dependent claim giving reference to how this requirement is to be used or what the requirement is in regards to.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES JAY KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-7610. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 EST.
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/JAMES J KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/HUNG Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747