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 § 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 4-5, 10, 17, 20-21, 23 and 26 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.
Claims 4-5, 10, 17, 20-21, 23, 26 recites the limitation " the main relay unit.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. Their respective dependent claims are also rejected for being dependent on a rejected base claim.
Claim 25 recites the limitation " the control unit.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. It is unclear which control unit applicant is referring to since there are multiple previously recited control unit (the brake control unit or emergency brake control unit). Their respective dependent claims are also rejected for being dependent on a rejected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-7, 10-23 and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Correndo et al. (US 2017/0096128 A1).
Regarding Claim 1 Correndo teaches a brake system for a rail vehicle, the brake system comprising having: at least two brake cylinders (BC1, BCN); at least one pneumatic brake control unit (WA) which can be assigned assignable to at least one rail vehicle unit of the rail vehicle (Fig 1); and at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN), which are each arranged between the at least one pneumatic brake control unit (WA) and at least one of the at least two brake cylinders (BC1, BCN) and to which a supply pressure is fed for conversion into a brake pressure (Fig 1); wherein the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) is connected to the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) via a respective control pressure line and is configured to supply the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) with an anti-skid-corrected control pressure via the respective control pressure line (Fig 1).
Regarding Claims 2 and 18 Correndo teaches wherein the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) is configured to provide the anti-skid-corrected control pressure for at least one of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) independently of the anti-skid corrected control pressure for the at least one other of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) (Fig 1).
Regarding Claims 3 and 19 Correndo teaches wherein the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) has a main relay valve unit (4) for providing a-primary control pressure for the anti-skid-corrected control pressure for one of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) (FIG 1).
Regarding Claims 4 and 20 Correndo teaches wherein the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) has at least one valve unit (10) in a control pressure line on the main relay unit (4) output side between the main relay valve (4) and at least one of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) which wherein the at least one valve unit (10) is configured to adapt the primary control pressure of the main relay valve unit (4) to a secondary control pressure for the anti-skid corrected control pressure for one of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) (Fig 1).
Regarding Claims 5 and 21 Correndo teaches wherein the pneumatic brake control unit has at least one control pressure line on the main relay unit (4) output side and/or at least one control pressure line portion on the main relay unit (4) output side for each of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN)), and wherein the at least one valve unit (10) is arranged at least in each of the control pressure lines on the main relay unit (4) output side and/or in each control pressure line portion on the main relay unit (4) output side (Fig 1).
Regarding Claims 6 and 22 Correndo teaches wherein the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) has a control unit (WCU) configured to control the main relay valve unit (4) and/or the at least one valve unit (10) via a control line (Fig 1).
Regarding Claims 7 and 23 Correndo teaches wherein a pressure sensor (9) is arranged in a control pressure line on the main relay unit (4) input side and is connected to the control unit (WCU) for signaling purposes (Fig 1).
Regarding Claims 10, 17 and 26 Correndo teaches wherein at least one pressure sensor (13) is provided in the control pressure line on the main relay unit (4) output side between the main relay valve unit (4) and at least one of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN), in particular and between at least one of the valve units (10) and the respective relay valve (BCA1, BCAN) (Fig 1)
Regarding Claims 11 and 27 Correndo teaches wherein the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) are arranged as local relay valves close to the brake cylinders (BC1, BCN) assigned to them in each case, in particular in the region of a bogie of the rail vehicle unit that can be assigned to the respective brake cylinder (BC1, BCN) (Fig 1).
Regarding Claim 12 Correndo teaches a method for controlling a brake system for a rail vehicle, wherein the brake system including at least two brake cylinders (BC1, BCN), at least one pneumatic brake control unit (WA) assignable to at least one rail vehicle unit of the rail vehicle (Fig 1), and at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) , which are each arranged between the at least one pneumatic brake control unit (WA) and at least one of the at least two brake cylinders (BC1, BCN) and to which a supply pressure is fed for conversion into a brake pressure (Fig 1), wherein the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) is connected to the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) via a respective control pressure line and is configured to supply the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) with an anti-skid-corrected control pressure via the respective control pressure line, the method comprising having the steps of: providing a supply pressure for each of the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN), controlling the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) via the pneumatic brake control unit (WA) with an anti-skid-corrected control pressure (Fig 1); and forwarding a respective brake pressure resulting from the supply pressure and the anti-skid-corrected control pressure to the at least one brake cylinder (BC1, BCN) assigned to the respective relay valve (BCA1, BCAN) (Fig 1).
Regarding Claim 13 Correndo teaches the anti-skid-corrected control pressure is adjusted via a main relay valve unit (4) and/or the at least one valve unit (10 (Fig 1).
Regarding Claim 14 Correndo teaches wherein the brake control unit (WA) is arranged in a rail vehicle unit of the rail vehicle and the at least two relay valves (BCA1, BCAN) are each assigned to at least one bogie and arranged on or in the assigned bogie (Fig 1).
Regarding Claim 15 Correndo teaches a non-transitory computer program product readable medium comprising software code means which, when executed on a data processing unit (BCU and WCU inherently have control programming), cause the data processing unit to perform the method recited in as claimed in claim 12 (Fig 1).
Allowable subject matter
Claims 8-9 and 24-25 are rejected but would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the above stated 112 rejection and including all the limitations of the base claims and all the intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIY TEKA whose telephone number is (571)272-9804. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 11-9 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABIY TEKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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