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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is responsive to the amendment dated 2/18/2026. Claims 1, 3-15, and 18-20 remain pending. The previous claim objections have been withdrawn due to applicant’s amendment. Applicant’s amendment has overcome some of the previous 112 rejections. Applicant’s arguments found on pages 13-14 have overcome the 112 rejections for claims 5 and 18. Any new ground(s) of rejection below have been made due to applicant’s amendment. This action is Final.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, following “and the two first partitions”, the limitation of “forms” should be singular (i.e. --form--).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code 102 not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (U.S. 4,904,245).
Chen discloses a control valve, wherein the control valve is provided with an accommodation chamber (the chamber within 30), and the control valve comprises a valve body (30) and a valve core (34), the valve body comprises a side wall portion (the walls at 32), the side wall portion forms at least a part of a peripheral wall of the accommodation chamber (figs. 5-10) and is provided with at least four communication ports (62, 64, 66, 68, 70), wherein at least a part of the valve core is located inside the accommodation chamber and is rotatable (figs. 5-10), and the valve core is provided with a first communication chamber (89), the valve core has at least a first position (fig. 7) and a second position (for instance, fig. 8 or fig. 10), wherein, when the valve core is at the first position, the first communication chamber is configured to communicate at least two of the communication ports (fig. 7, 68 and 72 are in communication), and when the valve core is at least one of the first position and the second position, at least a part of a wall portion that forms the first communication chamber closes at least another one of the communication ports (ports 66, 70, and 74 are closed), wherein the valve core comprises two first partitions (44, 46), and the two first partitions form two side walls of the first communication chamber (figs. 5-10); and the two first partitions form the at least the part of the wall portion (figs. 5-10), the first communication chamber is provided with two first openings (90, 92) at a peripheral side of the valve core, when the valve core is at the first position (fig. 7), one of the two first openings is in communication with at least one of the communication ports (fig. 7, with 68 or 72), and the other one of the two first openings is in communication with at least another one of the communication ports (fig. 7, the other of 68 or 72), and when the valve core is at the second position of the valve core (fig. 8 or fig. 10), one of the two first openings is in communication with one of the communication ports (90 in fluid communication with 68 and 70 in fig. 8 and in communication with 70 and 72 in fig. 10), and the other one of the two first openings is arranged staggeredly from any others of the communication ports (92 is not in communication with a port in fig. 8 and fig. 10).
Regarding claim 3, Chen further discloses wherein at least a part of the communication ports are arranged along a circumferential direction of the side wall portion, the valve core is provided with M communication chambers (88, 89), and each of the communication chambers is configured to communicate with at least two of the communication ports (at various degrees of rotation, see figs. 5-10), in at least some of the operation modes of the control valve, the control valve has N (see the different flow paths in figs. 5-10) flow paths, and each of the flow paths comprises one of the M communication chambers and at least two communication ports in communication with the one of the M communication chambers (as shown in the various positions in figs. 5-10), wherein M is great than equal to 2 (at least equal to 2 with chambers 88 and 89), and both M and N are positive integers, in at least one of the operation modes of the control valve, M>N (M is equal to 2, and fig. 7 shows one flow path so N is equal to 1), and a total number of the communication ports of the N flow paths is less than a total number of all of the communication ports on the side wall portion (two communication ports for the flow path which is less than the five total communication ports).
Regarding claim 4, Chen further discloses wherein in at least one of the operation modes of the control valve, N=1 (fig. 7, N = 1 flow path), and two or three of the communication ports form one flow path (ports 68 and 72), and in at least another one of the operation modes of the control valve, N=2 (fig. 10, showing two flow paths, 74 and 66 are in communication and 70 and 72 are in communication), and four of the communication ports are communicated in pairwise correspondence (66 and 74 are paired and 70 and 72 are paired).
Regarding claim 5, Chen further discloses wherein the valve core has one first position (fig. 7) and two second positions (fig. 8, fig. 10), wherein the two second positions comprises a second sub-position (fig. 8) and a third sub-position (fig. 10), the communication ports comprises a first port (70), a second port (68), a third port (66) and a fourth port (72) that are arranged along a circumferential direction of the side wall portion, at the first position (fig. 7), the control valve is in a first operation mode, the first partitions close the first port (70) and the third port (66), and the first communication chamber is configured to communicate the second port (68) and the fourth port (72), at the second sub-position (fig. 8), the control valve is in a second operation mode, the first partitions close the third port (66), and at the third sub-position (fig. 10), the control valve is in a third operation mode, and the first partitions close the second port (68).
Regarding claim 18, Chen further discloses wherein the valve core has one first position (fig. 7) and two second positions (fig. 8, fig. 10), wherein the two second positions comprises a second sub-position (fig. 8) and a third sub-position (fig. 10), the communication ports comprises a first port (70), a second port (68), a third port (66) and a fourth port (72) that are arranged along a circumferential direction of the side wall portion, at the first position (fig. 7), the control valve is in a first operation mode, the first partitions close the first port (70) and the third port (66), and the first communication chamber is configured to communicate the second port (68) and the fourth port (72), at the second sub-position (fig. 8), the control valve is in a second operation mode, the first partitions close the third port (66), and at the third sub-position (fig. 10), the control valve is in a third operation mode, and the first partitions close the second port (68).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code 103 not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 6 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen.
Regarding claims 6 and 19, Chen discloses the claimed invention and further discloses wherein the valve core further comprises a second communication chamber (88), one of the first partitions (46) is located between the first communication chamber and the second communication chamber, and a first opening of the first communication chamber at a peripheral side of the valve core is smaller than a second opening of the second communication chamber at the peripheral side of the valve core (the opening 92 is smaller than the opening of the second communication chamber 88, see fig. 5).
Chen does not appear to explicitly disclose an area of the second opening being greater than or equal to three times an area of each of the communication ports.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the size of the openings of the communication ports of Chen relative to the second opening such that an area of the second opening is greater than or equal to three times an area of each of the communication ports, since it has been held that a change of size/proportion is generally within the level of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP2144.04. The motivation for doing so would be to have the communication ports be of a size to handle a specific desired amount of fluid flow and pressure through the valve if so desired by a user.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen in view of Makihara et al. (U.S. 5,983,937).
Chen discloses the claimed invention and further discloses a main body of the valve core (34) is of a cylinder construction (figs. 5-10), the valve core is of a one-piece structure (figs. 5-10) made by injection molding (see col. 2, ll. 33-34 describing the core as being made by plastic that is molded, to the extent that the applicant recites “injection molding” this is a product-by-process limitation and Chen is interpreted to meet this limitation as the patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product in the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process (see MPEP 2113)).
Chen does not appear to disclose the valve core comprising a valve core shaft, or control valve comprising a component to be detected and a detector, the component to be detected is located at an end of the valve core shaft and is fixedly connected to the valve core shaft, and the detector is configured to cooperate with the element to be detected to detect a position of the valve core.
Makihara teaches it was known in the art to have a similar rotary valve (8) with a shaft (108) that is part of the rotary valve and a component to be detected (20) and a detector (ECU 21), the component to be detected is located at an end of the valve core shaft and is fixedly connected to the valve core shaft (fig. 3, connected at 8c, see also col. 7, ll. 6-9), and the detector is configured to cooperate with the element to be detected to detect a position of the valve core (col. 7, ll. 6-9, 17-25).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the rotary valve of Chen by having a shaft for the core and a position detector located at the end of the shaft and fixedly connected to the shaft as taught by Makihara in order to be able to detect the position of the valve so that the various flow paths can be determined and changed if so desired by a user to connect the various ports and allow fluid communication amongst the different downstream and/or upstream components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-14 and 20 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On pages 12-13, and in particular at the top of page 13, the applicant argues that Chen cannot achieve the operation mode of one of the passageways in communication with only one port while the other one is arranged staggeredly from any of the rest of the ports at the same time. However, it is noted that applicant’s claim 1 does not recite only one port. Figures 8 and 10 show one of the first two openings in communication with one of the communication ports while the other of the first two openings arranged staggeredly from any others of the communication ports.
Applicant’s arguments on page 13-14 with respect to the 112 rejections of claims 5 and 18 have been found persuasive. Those rejections have been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL R REID whose telephone number is (313)446-4859. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9am-5pm est.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607, or Ken Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/MICHAEL R REID/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753