DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species 1 (a fuel delivery system as shown in Fig. 1) in the reply filed on January 5, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-14 are drawn to non-elected Species, and have been withdrawn from examination.
Claims 1-6 and 15-20 remain pending in this application.
Claim Objections
Claims 4, 17 and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 4 and 18 recite “a secondary fuel pump”, which should recite --the secondary fuel pump--.
Claim 17 recites “a fuel cooler device”, which should recite --the fuel cooler device--.
Claim 18 recites “a fuel regulator device”, which should recite --the fuel regulator device--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the structure of the cooler device: “cooler tubes and a plurality of cooling fins” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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.
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.
Claims 3 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 3 and 17, applicant claims: “a fuel cooler device comprising cooler tubes and a plurality of cooling fins coupled with the cooler tubes”. Although the particular elements are known in the art, the applicant has not provided details for the cooler device, it is unclear how the cooler device is structured.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-6, 15, 16 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Channing (US 5,887,572).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Channing discloses a method of conditioning fuel stored in a fuel tank (12) of a work vehicle, the method comprising: receiving unregulated supply fuel by a fuel regulator device (70) via a primary fuel delivery line (32), the unregulated supply fuel being delivered to the fuel regulator device from a primary fuel pump (16) disposed in the fuel tank of the work vehicle and operatively coupled with the fuel regulator device via the primary fuel delivery line(shown in Fig. 1); controlling by the fuel regulator device a property of the unregulated supply fuel received from the primary fuel pump for output from the fuel regulator device as regulated fuel (column 4, line 45-53); delivering by the fuel regulator device the regulated fuel via a regulated fuel delivery line to a secondary fuel pump (22) of the work vehicle; receiving bypass fuel by a fuel cooler device (28) via a fuel bypass line (98), the bypass fuel being delivered to the fuel cooler device from the fuel regulator device via the fuel bypass line (shown in Fig. 2); cooling by the fuel cooler device the bypass fuel received by the fuel cooler device; and delivering the cooled bypass fuel to the fuel tank via a fuel return line (46) operatively coupling the fuel tank with the fuel cooler device (Fig. 1).
Regarding claims 2 and 16, Channing discloses the method wherein: the cooling by the fuel cooler device of the bypass fuel received by the fuel cooler device provides a sole source (line 46) of cooling to any fuel returned to the fuel tank from the fuel delivery system and the work vehicle.
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Channing discloses the method wherein: the delivering the regulated fuel comprises delivering the regulated fuel by the fuel regulator device operable to deliver the regulated fuel via the regulated fuel delivery line to the secondary fuel pump of the work vehicle adapted to pressurize the regulated fuel to a working pressure adapted for use by a spark ignited internal combustion engine of the work vehicle (Fig. 1; column 3, line 59-61).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Channing discloses the method further comprising: controlling a pressure of the unregulated supply fuel by the fuel regulator device to control a pressure of the unregulated supply fuel received from the primary fuel pump for output from the fuel regulator device to the secondary fuel pump of the work vehicle via the regulated fuel delivery line as the regulated fuel (column 1, line 5-8; Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).
Regarding claims 6 and 20, Channing discloses the method further comprising: controlling a flow rate of the unregulated supply fuel by the fuel regulator device to control a flow rate of the unregulated supply fuel received from the primary fuel pump for output from the fuel regulator device to the secondary fuel pump of the work vehicle via the regulated fuel delivery line as the regulated fuel (column 5, line 45-63).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 3 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Channing (US 5,887,572).
Regarding claims 3 and 17, Channing is silent to a method wherein: the cooling by the bypass fuel comprises cooling the bypass fuel using a fuel cooler device comprising cooler tubes and a plurality of cooling fins coupled with the cooler tubes. It would be an obvious matter of design choice to provide a cooling device comprising cooler tubes and a plurality of cooling fins coupled with the cooler tubes, since applicant has not disclosed that the particular structure solves any stated problem and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the cooling device of Channing.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Duerrwaechter et al. (US 2017/0218893 A1) disclose the claimed invention.
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/TEUTA HOLBROOK/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/GEORGE C JIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747