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 .
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) 1, 4-7, 9, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walpurgis (2015/0353175) in view of Liu et al. (11,753,127).
With regard to claim 1, Walpurgis discloses an assembly method of an underwater exploration vehicle (abstract; paras 0010-0011), the assembly method comprising the following steps:
a step of fixing at least one hull element (20) forming an upper face of a hull of the underwater exploration vehicle (fig. 1) to an upper support (22) of said underwater exploration vehicle;and a step of attaching at least one hull element forming a lower face (30) of the hull of the underwater exploration vehicle (figs. 1-2).
Walpurgis discloses the invention substantially as claimed however fails to explicitly state a lower support and a step for connecting a lower support of the underwater exploration vehicle to the upper support and a step for assembling several components of the underwater exploration vehicle on the lower support.
Liu discloses an underwater exploration vehicle comprising an upper and lower support (fig. 3) and a step for connecting a lower support of the underwater exploration vehicle to the upper support (fig. 3) and a step for assembling several components of the underwater exploration vehicle on the lower support (figs. 1,3).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Walpurgis and utilize a lower support as taught in Liu, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to provide a structural skeleton for the system to which components may readily be connected and disconnected.
With regard to claim 4, Walpurgis further discloses a hull (10) delimiting an interior volume for the underwater exploration vehicle; a plurality of orifices arranged on the hull (33/35), each orifice being in fluid communication with the environment outside the underwater exploration vehicle and being fluidically coupled with an immersion chamber housed in the hull (para 0025); at least one propulsion assembly (fig. 2; para 0002) comprising an electric motor (50) configured to generate driving torque on a drive shaft and a propeller (52) rotatably coupled to the drive shaft, the at least one propulsion assembly being housed in the interior volume (fig. 2), part of the drive shaft and the propeller being housed in a casing forming a flow channel which extends into the immersion chamber (fig. 2), the flow channel of the at least one propulsion assembly being in fluid communication with the environment outside the underwater exploration vehicle via an inlet opening and an outlet opening provided on the hull (para 0025); an electric battery (70) electrically coupled to the electric motor of each at least one propulsion assembly, the electric battery being housed in the interior of the hull (fig. 3); a control unit (40) electrically connected to the electric battery and to each at least one propulsion assembly, so as to control said electric battery and said at least one propulsion assembly (para 0025); and a control screen (15) electrically connected to the control unit and configured to display functional parameters of the underwater exploration vehicle (fig. 1), said control screen being housed at a concavity of a upper face of the hull (fig. 1), the at least one propulsion assembly, the electric battery, the control unit and the control screen forming components of the underwater exploration vehicle (fig. 1).
With regard to claim 5, Walpurgis further discloses all the orifices are located outside a front part and a rear part of the underwater exploration vehicle (fig. 1).
With regard to claim 6, Walpurgis, as modified, discloses the invention substantially as claimed however is silent regarding none of the orifices has an opening surface perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the underwater exploration vehicle corresponding to a direction of travel in the water.
Liu further discloses an underwater exploration vehicle comprising orifices wherein none of the orifices has an opening surface perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the underwater exploration vehicle corresponding to a direction of travel in the water (fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Walpurgis and alter the orifice angle as taught in Liu, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to provide greater maneuverability of the device.
With regard to claim 7, Walpurgis the orifices comprise first orifices located on a lower face of the hull of the underwater exploration vehicle, an axis perpendicular to the opening surface of the first orifices being oriented or substantially oriented along the vertical axis of the underwater exploration vehicle (figs 1-2).
With regard to claim 9, Walpurgis further the orifices comprise second orifices (13/35) located on an upper face of the hull of the underwater exploration vehicle, an axis perpendicular to the opening surface of the second orifices being oriented or substantially oriented along the vertical axis of the underwater exploration vehicle (fig. 1).
With regard to claim 12, Walpurgis further disclose the orifices comprise third orifices (13/35) located on lateral faces of the hull of the underwater exploration vehicle, an axis perpendicular to the opening surface of the third orifices being oriented or substantially oriented along the transverse axis of the underwater exploration vehicle (figs. 1-2).
Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walpurgis (2015/0353175) in view of Liu et al. (11,753,127) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Walpurgis (2018/0134358).
With regard to claim 2, Walpurgis ‘175, as modified, discloses the invention substantially as claimed however is silent regarding the upper support comprising fixing lugs to which said hull elements are fixed integrally.
Walpurgis ‘358 discloses an underwater exploration vehicle comprising lugs to which said hull elements are fixed integrally (para 0069).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Walpurgis ‘175 and utilize lugs as taught in Walpurgis ’358, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to ensure the components of the assembly align as desired.
With regard to claim 3, Walpurgis ‘175, as modified, further discloses the hull elements comprise shoulder edges (eg. fig. 4 edge; Walpurgis ‘175) configured to allow adjustment of the hull elements between them and at least one fastening flange for connecting two adjacent hull elements along their respective shoulder edges (figs. 3-4), the fixing step comprising a step of fitting the hull elements together along their shoulder edges, and a step of anchoring the two adjacent hull elements by means of the at least one fixing flange (paras 0010-0011).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 10-11, and 13-14 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 cited prior art, either alone or in any reasonable combination, fails to teach or suggest all the limitations of the dependent claim(s). Underwater exploration vehicles are known such as those taught by Walpurgis (2015/0353175) and Montousse (2014/0193206). However, the cited prior art lacks specific details of the oblong slots as required by the independent claim(s) and it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the prior art to achieve applicant’s invention without the benefit of hindsight and applicant’s own disclosure.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN F FIORELLO whose telephone number is (571)270-7012. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:00AM-4:30PM EST.
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/BENJAMIN F FIORELLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
BF
06/11/2026
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