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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/06/2025, 02/24/2025 and 03/31/2025 were filed after the filing date of the instant application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 44-46 and 50-51 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pocol (US 6,105,659) in view of Farrar (US 10,752,434).
Regarding claim 44, Pocol discloses a method of simultaneously charging a thermal battery (154a-154d) of each of a plurality of spaces (162a-162d), comprising:
charging a thermal storage reservoir (152a-152d); and thereafter
simultaneously charging the thermal battery (154a-154d) of each of the plurality of spaces (162a-162d) using the thermal storage reservoir (152a-152d).
While Pocol discloses simultaneously charging the thermal battery each of the plurality of spaces, Pocol fails to explicitly disclose wherein the plurality of spaces constitute a plurality of transportation vessels.
However, Farrar teaches that it is known in the art of refrigeration (refer to fig. 13), to provide charging a thermal battery (112A) of a transportation vessel (100A) using a thermal storage reservoir (802), in order to provide transportation of a product from a first location to a second location (refer to col. 2, lines 37-40).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Pocol such that the plurality of spaces constitutes a plurality of transportation vessels in view of the teachings by Farrar, in order to provide transportation of a product from a first location to a second location.
Regarding claim 45, Pocol as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 44. Further, Pocol as modified discloses wherein said step of charging the thermal storage reservoir is performed using a thermal storage reservoir that is not portable (refer to fig. 8).
Regarding claim 46, Pocol as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 44. Further, Pocol as modified discloses wherein said step of charging the thermal storage reservoir is performed using a conventional heat pump air conditioning system, but fails to explicitly disclose using an industrial chiller.
However, since Pocol discloses the step of charging the thermal storage reservoir using a conventional heat pump air conditioning system, it appears that Pocol’s charging step would operate equally well using an industrial chiller. Further, Applicant has not disclosed that using an industrial chiller solves any stated problem, indicating simply that “In some embodiments, the external charging source is portable; in some embodiments, the external charging source comprises a portable thermal battery system; in some embodiments, the external charging source is portable; in some embodiments, the external charging source is not portable; and in some embodiments, the external charging source comprises an industrial chiller” (see par. 30 of Applicant’s Specification as filed).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of Applicant’s claimed invention to cause the step of charging the thermal storage reservoir of Pocol to be performed using an industrial chiller because this feature appears to be an arbitrary design consideration which fails to patentably distinguish over Pocol.
Regarding claims 50-51, Pocol as modified meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 44. Further, Pocol as modified discloses wherein the simultaneous charging of the thermal battery (154a-154d) of each of the plurality of transportation vessels using the thermal storage reservoir (152a-152d) comprises flowing a heat exchange fluid (through conduit 160) between the thermal storage reservoir and each of the plurality of transportation vessels, but fails to explicitly disclose using a pump that is external to the plurality of transportation vessels.
However, Farrar teaches that it is known in the art of refrigeration (refer to fig. 13), to provide a single pump (804) that is external to a transportation vessel (100A) to flow a heat exchange fluid (802) between a thermal storage reservoir (814) and the transportation vessel, in order to propel the heat exchange fluid through the appropriate conduits (refer to col. 11, lines 56-57).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to further modify Pocol by providing a pump that is external to the plurality of transportation vessels in view of the teachings by Farrar, in order to propel the heat exchange fluid.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 47-49 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANA M VAZQUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-0611. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4.
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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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/ANA M VAZQUEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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