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 .
Specification
The following guidelines illustrate the preferred layout for the specification of a utility application. These guidelines are suggested for the applicant’s use.
Arrangement of the Specification
As provided in 37 CFR 1.77(b), the specification of a utility application should include the following sections in order. Each of the lettered items should appear in upper case, without underlining or bold type, as a section heading. If no text follows the section heading, the phrase “Not Applicable” should follow the section heading:
(a) TITLE OF THE INVENTION.
(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS.
(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT.
(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT.
(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A READ-ONLY OPTICAL DISC, AS A TEXT FILE OR AN XML FILE VIA THE PATENT ELECTRONIC SYSTEM.
(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR.
(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.
(1) Field of the Invention.
(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION.
(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S).
(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.
(k) CLAIM OR CLAIMS (commencing on a separate sheet).
(l) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE (commencing on a separate sheet).
(m) SEQUENCE LISTING. (See MPEP § 2422.03 and 37 CFR 1.821 - 1.825). A “Sequence Listing” is required on paper if the application discloses a nucleotide or amino acid sequence as defined in 37 CFR 1.821(a) and if the required “Sequence Listing” is not submitted as an electronic document either on read-only optical disc or as a text file via the patent electronic system.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1, 2 and 7 – 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Neviere et al. (9,329,113, hereinafter Neviere – See IDS dated 7/26/24) in view of Deoclezian et al. (EP1936354, hereinafter Deoclezian).
Regarding claim 1, Neviere discloses an apparatus comprising a thruster 58, a casing 59 accommodating a solid-propellant charge 60, an axial channel 65 being formed in the solid-propellant charge and enabling combustion of the solid-propellant charge, the casing carrying a solid-propellant specimen 13 arranged in the channel and a transducer 25 arranged in the casing that emits a vibration signal to a measurement and calculation device 50 that responds to the received signal by deducing defined parameters (See Figs. 1 – 3, (See Col. 3, lines 47 – 67 and Col. 4, lines 43 – 67). Neviere fails to disclose a transducer that is arranged outside the casing and that enables transmittance of a response. However, Deoclezian discloses a method and apparatus comprising a casing 35 for a solid-propellant block 20 that includes a propellant ultrasonic charge (See Fig. 3A) and transducers 64 (See Fig. 7) located outside of the casing that function as an emitter and a receiver and that enables transmission of a response by a coupling material 10 (See Pg. 6, Paras. 4 – 5, Pg. 7, Para. 4 and Pg. 8, Para. 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Neviere according to the teachings of Deoclezian for the purpose of, advantageously providing an improved device since this type of device provides a reduced-scale test means which enables the characterization of the thermo-erosive behavior of a thermal protection material (See Deoclezian, Pg. 3, Para. 4).
Regarding claim 2, in Neviere, the channel 65 extends between two axial ends of the thruster, and the casing 59 comprises an orifice 20 for the passage of the specimen 13 communicating with the channel at one of its ends (See Figs. 2 and 3, See Col. 3, lines 46 – 67 and Col. 4, lines 48 – 64).
Regarding claim 7, in Neviere, the solid-propellant of the specimen is identical to that one of the charge (See Col. 4, lines 48 – 54). Regarding claim 8, in Neviere, the transducer 25 is connected to the measurement and calculation device 50 that responds to the signal emitted from the transducer by deducing defined parameters (See Figs. 1 – 3, (See Col. 3, lines 47 – 67 and Col. 4, lines 43 – 67). Neviere fails to disclose recovering a second signal representative of the response of the specimen to the vibratory impulse. However, Deoclezian discloses a method and apparatus comprising a casing 35 for a solid-propellant block 20 that includes a propellant ultrasonic charge (See Fig. 3A) and transducers 64 (See Fig. 7) located outside of the casing that function as an emitter and a receiver and that enables transmission of a response by a coupling material 10 (See Pg. 6, Paras. 4 – 5, Pg. 7, Para. 4 and Pg. 8, Para. 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Neviere according to the teachings of Deoclezian for the purpose of, advantageously providing an improved device since this type of device provides a reduced-scale test means which enables the characterization of the thermo-erosive behavior of a thermal protection material (See Deoclezian, Pg. 3, Para. 4).
Regarding claim 9, in Neviere, a module 48 (See Fig. 2) emits a first signal towards a vibration source 22 and the transducer 25 enabling the transducer to form the vibratory impulse and the measurement and calculation device 50 receives the signal from the transducer, wherein the measurement and calculation device stores output from the transducer that is indicative of an ageing condition of the charge of the thruster (See Col. 4, lines 23 – 34 and Col. 5, lines 1 – 5). Neviere fails to disclose receiving a second response signal from the transducer. However, Deoclezian discloses a method and apparatus comprising a casing 35 for a solid-propellant block 20 that includes a propellant ultrasonic charge (See Fig. 3A) and transducers 64 (See Fig. 7) located outside of the casing that function as an emitter and a receiver and that enables transmission of a response by a coupling material 10 (See Pg. 6, Paras. 4 – 5, Pg. 7, Para. 4 and Pg. 8, Para. 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Neviere according to the teachings of Deoclezian for the purpose of, advantageously providing an improved device since this type of device provides a reduced-scale test means which enables the characterization of the thermo-erosive behavior of a thermal protection material (See Deoclezian, Pg. 3, Para. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 6 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reasons for indicating allowable subject matter is that the prior art does not anticipate or make obvious the provisions of “a disk fastened to the casing at the orifice and having an inner face directed towards the channel and on which the specimen is fastened as well as an outer face directed opposite the channel and on which the transducer is fastened” (referring to claim 3), “the casing has a cylindrical recess in which the disk is accommodated, the orifice for the passage of the specimen being formed in the bottom of the cylindrical recess” (referring to claim 4), “the specimen is fastened on an inner face of the disk by means of a glue” (referring to claim 5), “the solid-propellant charge comprises a polymer binder and wherein the glue is based on the same polymer binder” (referring to claim 6) in combination with the other limitations presented in claim 1. Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.8. Lin et al. (CN122042117) disclose a micro thruster response time and thrust measuring device and method. Carter et al. (11,193,868) disclose in-situ solid rocket motor propellant grain aging using hydraulically actuated bladder. Koehler et al. (2017/0284339) disclose a thruster with segmented propellant. Wang et al. (CN202360313) disclose a propellant injection device for a liquid pulsed plasma thruster. Cann (4,825,647) discloses performance improvements in thruster assembly.9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OCTAVIA HOLLINGTON whose telephone number is (571)272-2176. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/OCTAVIA HOLLINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855 9/3/26
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