DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 19-29 of U.S. Application 18/729046 filed on July 16, 2024 are presented for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 15, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
5. The drawings are objected to because:
Reference numbers in figures 6, 7 and 8 are not legible.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
6. 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.
7. Claims 19-29 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.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the at least one microreactor" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 20-29 are also rejected due to dependence on claim 19.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
8. 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.
9. Claims 19, 23 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Filippone (US 20160049210).
Regarding claim 19, Filippone teaches (see figs. 2, 7, 18, 24 and 24A below) a modular Nuclear Battery System (100) (title, Abstract),
the at least one microreactor (901) being contained in at least one Nuclear Cell (221); the at least one Nuclear Cell (221) being structured such that it can be disposed in different arrangements so that the thermal or electrical powers generated are directly proportional to a number of microreactors (901) and the at least one Nuclear Cell (221) operates independently of others (¶ 77; ¶ 78; ¶ 90; ¶ 91);
the modular Nuclear Battery System (100) being subdivided into two blocks, Blocks A (200, 300) and Block B (400) (¶ 58; ¶ 60) in which:
- Block A (200, 300) houses the at least one Nuclear Cell (221), heat transfer modules (802, 803), a structural and sealed containment (see annotated fig. 2 below), Nuclear Cell fixing modules, and nuclear instrumentation and other required sensors for control and monitoring of the at least one Nuclear Cell (221) and the modular Nuclear Battery system (¶ 60 to ¶ 67; ¶ 84 to ¶ 86; ¶ 29);
- Block B (400) houses a power generation module, which comprises the conversion modules for thermal energy into useful work, electricity generation module (402), containment (see annotated fig. 2 below), and structures required to control and monitor the modular Nuclear Battery system (¶ 60).
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Regarding claim 23/19, Filippone teaches (see figs. 2, 7, 18, 24 and 24A above) the microreactor (901) comprises a cylindrical, substantially cylindrical or spherical geometry (figs. 7, 24 and 24A, ¶ 20; ¶ 77).
Regarding claim 28/19, Filippone teaches (see figs. 2, 7, 18, 24 and 24A above) wherein partial penetrations (905, 906) can be made on the upper or lower faces of the Nuclear Cell (221) or on both faces (¶ 91).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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, 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.
11. Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Filippone in view of Gramlich (US 20210304909).
Regarding claim 21/19, Filippone teaches the device of claim 19 but does not explicitly teach the structural and sealed containment is made of steel sized and configured to resist impacts and the containment is made of steel.
However, Gramlich teaches (see fig. 9 below) the structural and sealed containment (300) is made of steel sized and configured to resist impacts and the containment is made of steel (¶ 47) in order to provide improved reinforcement and structural support (Gramlich, ¶ 47).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Filippone and provide the structural and sealed containment is made of steel sized and configured to resist impacts and the containment is made of steel as taught by Gramlich in order to provide improved reinforcement and structural support (Gramlich, ¶ 47).
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Allowable Subject Matter
12. Claims 20, 22, 24-27 and 29 would be allowable if rewritten 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.
Conclusion
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER A SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-0243. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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, Seye Iwarere can be reached at 571-270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER A SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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