Waist-Shaped Throttling Photon Quantum Miscible Phase Flowmeter
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 .
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 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.
Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (CN 210400476; “Chen”).
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses, in figures 1-4, a waist-shaped throttling photon quantum miscible phase flowmeter (ABSTRACT, “a light quantum detecting system and optical quantum multiphase bi-directional flow meter”), comprising: a photon quantum phase fraction device (2, 3), wherein the photon quantum phase fraction device (2, 3) is provided therein with a flow channel (11), the flow channel (1) comprises a first variable-diameter section (see Chen’s annotated fig. 4, see Chen’s translation, p. 3, ¶ 7, examiner notes Chen’s bidirectional circular tube has a hourglass, venturi shape with converging-diverging nozzle), a waist-shaped throat section (11) and a second variable-diameter section (see previous comment) that are connected in sequence (see fig. 1), an inner diameter of the first variable-diameter section gradually decreases from an end thereof away from the waist-shaped throat section to an end thereof close to the waist-shaped throat section (see previous comment), an inner diameter of the second variable-diameter section gradually decreases from an end thereof away from the waist-shaped throat section to an end thereof close to the waist-shaped throat section (see previous comment); and in a direction perpendicular (see Chen’s annotated fig. 4, see Chen’s translation, p. 3, ¶ 8, examiner notes light emitted from chem’s emitter passes through the throttling element and is received by the detection module, these elements are located on opposite sides of the flow channel forming a transverse axis to the flow direction) to an axial direction of the flow channel (1), a cross section of the waist-shaped throat section is in a shape of waist-shaped hole (see fig. 3, examiner notes Chen’ throat section forms a circular of diameter “d”); a photon quantum source (2), wherein the photon quantum source (2) is provided on the photon quantum phase fraction device 2, 3), and is located at the waist-shaped throat section (11); and a photon quantum detector (3), wherein the photon quantum detector (3) is provided on the photon quantum phase fraction device (2, 3), and is distributed opposite to and in parallel with (see Chen’s annotated fig. 4) the photon quantum source (2), and the photon quantum detector (3) is configured to detect energy information about a single photon quantum (see Chen’s translation, p. 4, ¶ 4, examiner notes Chen’s CZT semiconductor detector provides high energy resolution detection with precision reaching 1KeV) emitted by the photon quantum source (2).
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Regarding claim 8, Chen discloses, in figures 1-4, the waist-shaped throat section (11) is a constant-diameter section ((d) see Chen’s translation, p. 7, ¶ 11, Chen refers to the throat section having a diameter “D” therefore it is constant).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103, as applied to claim 1, as being unpatentable over Chen (CN 210400476; “Chen”).
Regarding claim 6, Chen fails to disclose details of mounting the quantum light source transmitter and detector module.
However, the examiner believes providing a mounting hole in which the photon quantum detector is inserted and mounting groove in which the photon quantum source is inserted is not critical and does not produce unexpected results. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary sill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to design the photon quantum phase fraction device with a mounting hole and a mounting groove, wherein the photon quantum detector is inserted into the mounting hole, and the photon quantum source is inserted into the mounting groove as a matter of design choice to provide a mount for the photon quantum phase fraction device. Doing so provides a reliable way to mount the device so that photons can be directed into the throat section toward the detector module.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 7 and 9-17 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.
Regarding claim 2, the examiner notes a search has not revealed prior art teaching or suggesting to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Chen to include the waist-shaped throat section comprises two planar walls, the two planar walls are distributed opposite to and spaced apart from each other, the photon quantum source is provided on one of the planar walls, and the photon quantum detector is provided on the other planar wall. Examiner concludes prior existence of the combination, or a suggestion to combine all cited references, is improbable.
Dependent claims 3-5 and 9-17 would be allowable for at least the same reasons as above.
Regarding claim 7, the examiner notes a search has not revealed prior art teaching or suggesting to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Chen to include the mounting hole is a through hole, and the photon quantum source is inserted into the mounting groove after passing through the mounting hole. Examiner concludes prior existence of the combination, or a suggestion to combine all cited references, is improbable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY P GRAVES whose telephone number is (469)295-9072. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 a.m. - 5 p.m..
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/TIMOTHY P GRAVES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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