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 .
Responsive to correspondence
This office action is in response to correspondence filed on 07/24/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 07/24/2024 was filed before the first action on the merits. This submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Accordingly, the IDS has been fully considered by the Office.
Abstract
The abstract filed 07/24/2024 appears to be acceptable.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to as specification fails to explain the detailed structure of Stirling engine and its functional features with claimed internally heated engine.
Appropriate correction is required, no new matter should be added.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show Stirling engine as described in the specification with its integral parts like hot cylinder, cold cylinder, and a regenerator. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). 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.
In addition to Replacement Sheets containing the corrected drawing figure(s), applicant is required to submit a marked-up copy of each Replacement Sheet including annotations indicating the changes made to the previous version. The marked-up copy must be clearly labeled as “Annotated Sheets” and must be presented in the amendment or remarks section that explains the change(s) to the drawings. See 37 CFR 1.121(d)(1). Failure to timely submit the proposed drawing and marked-up copy will result in the abandonment of the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In claim 1 , the limitations “An internally heated engine comprising a Stirling engine” , the specification however falls short of describing structural details of a Stirling engine including hot cylinder, cold cylinder and a regenerator, and its cyclical expansion and contraction of air or gas including the functional characteristics of the claimed Stirling engine in conjunction with the claimed internally heated engine.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 (b)
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.
Claim 1 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.
In claim 1:
The limitation describes heating devices are of two types, however the claim recites three types of heat sources “a first type of the heating device, a second type of the heating device and a fixed heating device”. For the reasons stated above, the metes and bounds of claim 1 cannot be ascertained and the claim appears to be indefinite.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 106837595 A to JIE et al. (JIE) in view of CN 105065114 A to CHEN et al. (CHEN) as best understood.
Re: Claim 1:
JIE discloses:
An internally heated engine (See Figs 1-3: ¶0021-¶0023: high temperature exhaust gas via a precipitator into a Stirling engine thermal cavity 10, heating the walls of the thermal cavity, thermal expansion of the working medium gas inside the thermal cavity, knowing that the heat source is inside the engine thermal cavity, the engine being an internal heating engine) , comprising:
a Stirling engine (See Figs 1-3: Stirling engine 4) and heating devices, wherein
the Stirling engine is an engine in which the heating devices (See Figs 1-3: ¶0020-¶0023: are arranged in a hot cylinder (See Figs 1-3: ¶0020-¶0024, see the presence of heating means within the thermal cavity, causing the exhaust gas to heat the working medium within the thermal cavity) ;
the heating devices are of two types,
wherein a first type of the heating devices is a movable heating device arranged in the hot cylinder; and
a second type of the heating devices is a movable heating device and a fixed heating device arranged in the hot cylinder (See Figs 1-3: ¶0021-¶0024: said engine being an engine driven by the high temperature exhaust gas releasing heat in the thermal cavity pushing a piston; the heating device, which is a heating device disposed within the thermal cavity, is the power to drive the internal heating engine).
JIE is silent regarding:
wherein a first type of the heating devices is a movable heating device arranged in the hot cylinder.
However, CHEN teaches:
wherein a first type of the heating device is a movable heating device arranged in the hot cylinder (See Fig.1: ¶0017: heating device disposed within a piston movable within the cylinder, wherein during the exhaust process, the phase change mass material within the cylinder block and the piston again undergoes a solidification, condensation, solidification, etc. phase change to release heat effective to raise the temperature of the catalyst and the mixed gas within the combustion chamber it follows that the second cavity 4 and its phase-change heat storage material correspond to heating means arranged inside the movable piston)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to arrange a combustion heating device as a heat source within the movable piston, using the heat released by the combustion heating device to drive the engine; selecting a single or multiple engine power sources depending on the driving requirements of the engine which is conventional in the art. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have considered that the heating device is a combustion heating device, and said engine being an engine driven by heating the piston by combustion heating means provided in the piston after releasing heat in the hot cylinder to push the piston.
Note
As a result of above objections and rejections , the claims were rejected as best understood.
Conclusion
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/SHAFIQ MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
December 16, 2025