DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/30/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-2 and 7 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1: “the filling pressure of the noxious gas” should read “a filling pressure of the noxious gas”.
Regarding claim 2, last line: “reference gas” should read “the reference gas”.
Regarding claim 7: “CO2-dequivalent” should read “CO2-equivalent”.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.
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 1-12 and 14-15 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1-12 and 14-15: It is unclear what qualifies and does not qualify as a “noxious” gas. It appears, based on the specification, that applicant may intend “noxious gas” to refer to a gas with a “high” global warming potential (GWP), wherein the GWP is the CO2-equivalent in relation to 100 years according to IPCC AR5; however, a value or threshold is not set for what constitutes “noxious” as it relates to GWP. The instant specification does provide support for a “noxious gas” being a gas comprising SF6, a gas comprising CF4 with N2, or mixtures thereof. Further, the instant specification states that a noxious gas might also be “an SF6 substitute gas as explained in more detail in references [7] to [9]”. However: 1) the examiner was only able to load link [9] on the web (which was in German); 2) copies of these documents were not provided; and 3) the instant specification admits that these links were “downloaded on Jan. 20, 2022” which is after the earliest claimed priority date of 01/18/2022. Still further, IPCC AR5 only lists the “CO2-equivalent in relation to 100 years” for a limited number of gasses. For the purposes of examination and in light of the specification, a “noxious gas” is interpreted as a gas comprising SF6, a gas comprising CF4 with N2, or mixtures thereof.
Regarding claims 10-12: The metes and bounds of these claims are unclear as they are merely “use” claims with no positively recited method steps. See MPEP 2173.05(q).
Examiner’s Comment
With the 112b rejections above in mind, the closest prior art found by the examiner is cited in the conclusion section below, some of which is discussed herein. As an initial note, the examiner did not indicate allowable subject matter as the metes and bounds of “noxious gas” are critical to the determination of potentially allowable subject matter. The bellows/spring structure for gas density monitoring is taught by the prior art. Some prior art teaches that the monitored gas is different from the reference gas, but the monitored gas (which, in the instant claims, is a “noxious gas”) would not be “noxious” as interpreted above or commensurate with the instant specification; however, under a very broad interpretation the prior art monitored gas could be “noxious” (e.g., “noxious” to some type of life under certain conditions). Such prior art is not used to reject the claims due to: 1) the aforementioned interpretation of “noxious”; and 2) the difference between the prior art’s monitored gas characteristics vs. the types of monitored gasses of the instant disclosure (e.g., much more dissimilar characteristics vs. the reference gas in the instant disclosure / claim interpretation).
The construction of a bellows filled with a reference gas, a plate, one or more springs, a monitored gas pressing on the plate, and density monitoring by monitoring plate deflection is known in the art. See, e.g.: Sennert et al. (US 20200191691 A1) - FIGS. 4A-4D; Halbheer et al. (WO 2019192857 A1) which appears to not have springs - FIGS. 1-2 and 5-6; and Ciboldi (EP 2796852 A1) - FIG. 1. However, each of these references use the same gas as both the reference gas and gas being monitored. This is discussed in the instant specification (e.g., page 2, paragraph 5 starting “The invention”; last paragraph of page 7; page 8, second paragraph; page 19, last paragraph). Kita (US 4317361 A) teaches (FIG. 1) a bellows-type gas density detecting device that uses a similar deflection monitoring principle that uses two different gasses. In Kita, the gas being monitored is the engine intake air and the reference gas is an inert gas such as “nitrogen gas, helium gas, or the like”. As mentioned above, the examiner avoids taking a very broad interpretation of “noxious”. As an example, “noxious” could be defined as broad as “highly unpleasant” (e.g., a terrible smell). Under such a very broad interpretation, engine intake air, depending on location and conditions, may have a highly unpleasant smell. Lastly, Reis (US 4267413 A) teaches that “[a]s contrasted to SF6 which was used in the device shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,699, nitrogen is utilized because it can be used at a lower temperature without liquifying. When filling, as long as it is pressurized to the corresponding ambient temperature on the SF6 gas curve (pressure versus temperature), it, that is, the nitrogen, will expand at the same rate as the SF6” (emphasis added). However, at present the examiner finds it unreasonable to modify, for example, Sennert to use nitrogen as the reference gas because: 1) Reis completely changes the structure of the device by “employing diaphragms in place of a bellows structure”; 2) Reis switches all SF6 out for nitrogen (Col. 2, Lines 1-2; Col. 2, Lines 18-38); and 3) Reis is directed to a pressure control device to maintain a pressure rather than gas density monitoring.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
JIN; Haiyong et al., (US 20230168145 A1), "SELF-DIAGNOSTIC GAS DENSITY RELAY AND USE METHOD THEREOF";
HUANG; Xiaobeng et al., (US 20230160800 A1), "GAS DENSITY RELAY WITH ONLINE SELF-CHECKING FUNCTION, AND CHECKING METHOD THEREFOR";
SENNERT; Philipp et al., (US 20200191691 A1), "GAS DENSIMETER";
HALBHEER REMO et al., (WO 2019192857 A1), "DENSITY MONITOR WITH INTEGRATED LOW PRESSURE INDICATOR";
CIBOLDI PIETRO, (EP 2796852 A1), "Temperature-compensated fluid density sensor";
HALBHEER; Remo, (US 20120318044 A1), "DENSITY MONITOR";
Steinert; Gunter et al., (US 5174326 A), "Temperature-compensated pressure regulator";
Kita; Toru, (US 4317361 A), "Gas density detecting device for use in internal combustion engine"; and
Reis; Robert D., (US 4267413 A), "Temperature compensated pressure control".
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Herbert Keith Roberts whose telephone number is (571)270-0428. The examiner can normally be reached 10a - 6p MT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Macchiarolo can be reached at (571) 272-2375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HERBERT K ROBERTS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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