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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on (7/28/25) are 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 § 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.
Claim 16 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. It recites the limitation "the second outlet" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
1. Claims 1-5, 7-8, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Srichai et al. (US PG PUB NO 2016/0334154).
[CLAIM 1] Regarding claim 1, Srichai discloses an air intake device for an engine of a vehicle equipped with a transport refrigeration unit (TRU), the device comprising: a housing (335) defining a shape of the device (Srichai, FIG 3A), the device adapted to be fixedly or removably configured at a predetermined position (Each of the air inlet and outlet cooperate to affix to the desired components of Srichai) in the vehicle (115) the TRU (125), a container (110) or chassis (Srichai, FIG 1, each of the tractor and trailer have body over chassis construction) associated with the vehicle, or a trailer (Wheeled container 110 is a trailer) associated with the vehicle such that the device facilitates inflow (325) of ambient air therewithin and directs the ambient air towards the engine (Srichai, Paragraph [0045] discloses “The TRU 325 can also include a power source (e.g., a TRU engine, one or more batteries, an alternator, etc.) (not shown) for providing power for the TRS 105 (including a compressor of the refrigeration circuit” The airflow of Srichai can be directed to any desired area or components).
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[CLAIM 2] Regarding claim 2, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises an inlet (Inlet 345) in communication with ambient, a first outlet (Outlet 315) and an internal cavity (Srichai, FIG 3A) enclosed by the housing such that the internal cavity fluidically connects the inlet to the first outlet of the housing (Srichai, FIG 3A).
[CLAIM 3] Regarding claim 3, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 2, wherein the device is configured with the TRU or the vehicle such that the first inlet remains exposed to or in fluidic communication with ambient, to allow the inflow of the ambient air from the atmosphere within the device and further direct the ambient air towards the engine via the first outlet (Srichai, Paragraph [0045] discloses “The TRU 325 can also include a power source (e.g., a TRU engine, one or more batteries, an alternator, etc.) (not shown) for providing power for the TRS 105 (including a compressor of the refrigeration circuit” The airflow of Srichai can be directed to any desired area or components).
[CLAIM 4] Regarding claim 4, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 2, wherein an interior of the device is configured to restrict flow of liquid (Srichai’s evaporator 310 at least partially restricts air flow due to the coolant tube structure), entered within the device by the inlet, towards the first inlet or the engine (The extracted moisture arrives in the liquid drip pan 320 and not passed on to the engine or selected components of the TRU).
[CLAIM 5] Regarding claim 5, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 2, wherein an interior of the device is configured to separate liquid, from the ambient air (Srichai, Paragraph [0074] discloses a liquid drip pan 320 for collecting moisture removed from the airflow), entered within the device along with the ambient air, and further restrict flow of the separated liquid towards the first inlet or the engine (The extracted moisture arrives in the liquid drip pan 320 and not passed on to the engine or components of the TRU).
[CLAIM 7] Regarding claim 7, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 1, wherein a bottom side of the housing has a downward slope of a predefined gradient that enables the device to collect the entered or separated liquid (Srichai, FIG 3A illustrates exemplary sloping to the liquid drip pam 320).
[CLAIM 8] Regarding claim 8, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 7, wherein the bottom side of the housing has any of a substantially V-shape profile (Srichai, annotated FIG 3A) or a curved profile.
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[CLAIM 14] Regarding claim 14, Srichai discloses the air intake device of claim 2, wherein an opening of the first outlet remains at least partially above a top-most point or the lower-most point of the bottom side of the housing to restrict flow of the collected liquid toward the first outlet (Moisture is collected in the liquid drain pan 320 and the outlet is oriented a top area of the housing 335 furthest away from the bottom).
[CLAIM 20] Regarding claim 20, Srichai discloses a transportation equipment equipped with a transport refrigeration unit (TRU), the transportation equipment comprising: an engine (Aux engine 108 and a prime mover not discussed in tractor 115); and an air intake device (Srichai, FIG 3A) according to any one of claims 1 to 19 (Each claim of Srichai depends ultimately from claim 1 which is rejected), the device configured at a predetermined position in the TRU or the transportation equipment, wherein the device is configured to: facilitate the inflow of ambient air therewithin and direct the ambient air towards the engine associated with the TRU (125); and separate liquid, from the ambient air being entered within the device along with the ambient air (Srichai, FIG 3A), and further collect and restrict flow of the separated liquid towards the first inlet or the engine (Srichai, FIG 3A, evaporator 310 at least partially restricts flow of incoming air (due to the cooling tubes) going to the TRU components and its power source which is explained as an engine in Paragraph [0045]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 9-13, 15 and 17-19 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.
Srichai et al. (US PG PUB NO 2016/0334154) discloses a similar air handling structure for a TRU vehicle but fails to disclose each additional limitation in dependent claims 5, 9-13, 15 and 17-19.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and can be found on the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to whose telephone number is (571)270-3411. The examiner can normally be reached on 9AM-6PM PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marc Jimenez can be reached on (571)272-.4530. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES J TRIGGS/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/MARC Q JIMENEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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