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/Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of the invention of Group I, readable on claims 1 through 14, in the reply filed on January 28, 2026 is acknowledged.
Applicant’s election without traverse of the second species or the embodiment of Figures 6 through 8 in the reply filed on January 28, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 9, 10, and 15 through 18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn the non-elected species and the non-elected invention of Group II. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on January 28, 2026).
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because of poor line quality and impermissible black shading. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). 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 content of an abstract of the disclosure.
A patent abstract is a concise statement of the technical disclosure of the patent and should include that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains. The abstract should not refer to purported merits or speculative applications of the invention and should not compare the invention with the prior art.
If the patent is of a basic nature, the entire technical disclosure may be new in the art, and the abstract should be directed to the entire disclosure. If the patent is in the nature of an improvement in an old apparatus, process, product, or composition, the abstract should include the technical disclosure of the improvement. The abstract should also mention by way of example any preferred modifications or alternatives.
Where applicable, the abstract should include the following: (1) if a machine or apparatus, its organization and operation; (2) if an article, its method of making; (3) if a chemical compound, its identity and use; (4) if a mixture, its ingredients; (5) if a process, the steps.
Extensive mechanical and design details of an apparatus should not be included in the abstract. The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph within the range of 50 to 150 words in length.
See MPEP § 608.01(b) for guidelines for the preparation of patent abstracts.
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 it does not avoid phrases which can be implied (i.e., “The present invention relates to”; “An object of the present invention is to provide”; “More specifically, another object of the present invention is to provide”), because it does not avoid referring to the purported merits and speculative uses of the invention (i.e., throughout the abstract), and because it fails to summarize the salient structural elements of the claimed inventive apparatus along with the corresponding functions thereof without referring to the purported merits thereof as compared to the prior art. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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 1 through 8 and 11 through 14 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.
With regard to base claim 1 as written, it is not entirely clear which structures are intended to be specifically encompassed and necessitated by the limitations “communicates with at least any one side of the pair of header tanks” in the last line of the claim, thus rendering indefinite the metes and bounds of protection sought by the claim and by all claims depending therefrom.
With regard to the limitation “in accordance with a temperature” [claim 6, lines 1-2], it is not clear which temperature is being used as the basis of the temperature-based control, thus rendering indefinite the metes and bounds of protection sought by the claim and by claim 7 depending therefrom.
Additionally with regard to claim 7, it is not clear which particular structures if any are necessary for the inventive heat exchanger to function as recited by the claim. In general, it is not entirely clear which particular structures are necessary for the inventive heat exchanger to function as recited by the conditional limitations recited as part of the “wherein” clauses in each of claim 7, claim 8, and claim 11.
The terms “leftward”, “rightward”, “horizontally”, “upward/downward”, “vertically” in claim 14 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. These terms are not defined by the claims, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Thus, as used to qualify the relative locations of the tanks and tubes, these terms render the same indeterminate and the claims indefinite.
Any claim not specifically mentioned is rejected at least as being dependent on a rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
As best can be understood in view of the indefiniteness of the claims, claims 1 and 5 through 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Karmazin Products Corporation (EP 0 945 696 A1; made of record via IDS).
With regard to claim 1 of the instant application, Karmazin Products Corporation discloses a heat exchanger 70 (i.e., as shown in Figures 10-12) comprising: a plurality of tubes disposed in parallel with one another (i.e., see Figure 10) and configured to define a core region 72 in which a refrigerant flows; a pair of header tanks 74 provided at two opposite ends of the tubes (i.e., see paragraph [0023]); and a plurality of baffles (i.e., the horizontal baffle and the two vertical baffles shown in Figure 11) provided within the header 74 (i.e., as shown in Figure 11) wherein a plurality of paths is formed in the core region 72 by the plurality of baffles, and a bypass valve 76, which selectively bypasses at least some of the plurality of paths, communicates with at least any one side of the pair of header tanks 74 (i.e., see paragraph [0023]).
With regard to claim 5 of the instant application, Karmazin Products Corporation discloses the heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the number of paths in the core region 72 can be any number (i.e., see paragraph [0028]).
With regard to claim 6 of the instant application, Karmazin Products Corporation discloses the heat exchanger 70 of claim 1, wherein the bypass valve 76 is opened or closed in accordance with a temperature (i.e., of the fluid flowing through heat exchanger 70; see paragraph [0025], especially the last sentence thereof in column 8).
With regard to claim 7 of the instant application, Karmazin Products Corporation discloses the heat exchanger 70 of claim 6, wherein the heat exchanger 70 closes the bypass valve 76 in a cooling mode (i.e., when the temperature needs to be cooled and not to be raised; see paragraph [0027], lines 46-49 of column 8) and opens the bypass valve 76 in a heating mode (i.e., when the temperature needs to be raised; see paragraph [0027], lines 52-56 of column 8)
With regard to claim 8 of the instant application, Karmazin Products Corporation discloses the heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the entire refrigerant/fluid introduced into the heat exchanger 70 passes through all the paths in the core region 72 and then is discharged to the outside of the heat exchanger 70 when the bypass valve 76 is closed (i.e., see paragraph [0027], lines 46-49 of column 8), and at least a part of the refrigerant introduced into the heat exchanger 70 is discharged to the outside of the heat exchanger 70 without passing through at least one path in the core region 72 when the bypass valve 76 is opened (i.e., see paragraph [0027], lines 49-56 of column 8).
The reference thus reads on the claims.
Alternately with regard to claims 1 and 5 and as best can be understood in view of the indefiniteness of the claims, claims 1 through 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Song et al. (U.S. Patent No.10,625,564 B2).
With regard to claim 1 of the instant application, Song et al. discloses a heat exchanger (i.e., Fig. 4) comprising: a plurality of tubes 300 disposed in parallel with one another and configured to define a core region in which a refrigerant flows; a pair of header tanks 100/200 provided at two opposite ends of the tubes 300; and a plurality of baffles 600 provided within the header 100 (i.e., as shown in Fig. 4) wherein a plurality of paths (i.e., four, see circled numbers in Figure 4) is formed in the core region by the plurality of baffles 600, and a bypass valve 36 (i.e., see Figure 1; note that the instant inventive heat exchanger of Song et al. corresponds to outdoor heat exchanger 48 in Figure 1), which selectively bypasses at least some of the plurality of paths, communicates with at least any one side of the pair of header tanks 100/200.
With regard to claim 2 of the instant application, Song et al. discloses the heat exchanger of claim 1, further comprising: a receiver dryer 500 configured to separate the refrigerant into a gaseous refrigerant and a liquid refrigerant.
With regard to claim 3 of the instant application, Song et al. discloses the heat exchanger of claim 2, wherein the bypass valve 36 is disposed at an upstream side of the inventive heat exchanger and of the receiver dryer 500 based on a flow of the refrigerant.
With regard to claim 5 of the instant application, Song et al. discloses the heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the number of paths in the core region is four as shown in Figure 4 (see circled numbers).
The reference thus reads on the claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
As best can be understood in view of the indefiniteness of the claims, claims 4 and 11 through 14 would be allowable if rewritten without patentably significant broadening 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 of record does not show nor reasonably suggest a heat exchanger which includes, in combination, all of the various elements which are functionally and structurally interrelated as recited by claims 4 and 11 through 14 of the instant application.
Conclusion
The related and/or prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LJILJANA V CIRIC whose telephone number is (571)272-4909. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Saturday, flexible.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Ljiljana V. Ciric/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
LJILJANA (Lil) V. CIRIC
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3763
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