DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character not mentioned in the description: “200-2” shown in figure 1. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) 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. 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.
The drawings are objected to because “TEMPERATUR ECHANGE” should be changed to --TEMPERATURE CHANGE-- in figure 2. 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.
Specification
The specification is objected to because of the following informalities:
The specification does not include reference character “200-2” shown in figure 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 3-5, and 7-9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, “provided at a bottom” should be deleted from lines 2-3 (it is not clear what member’s bottom is being referred to); “a molten” should be changed to --the molten-- in line 4; “a” should be changed to --the-- in line 9; “estimate a” should be changed to --estimate the-- in line 11; and “a” should be changed to --the-- in the last line.
In claim 3, “a” should be changed to --the-- in line 2.
In claim 4, --the-- should be added before “molten” in line 8.
In claim 5, “:” should be deleted from line 2.
In claim 7, “provided at a bottom” should be deleted from lines 2-3 (it is not clear what member’s bottom is being referred to); “S100” through “S700” should be deleted throughout the claim; “a nuclear” should be changed to --the nuclear-- in line 5; “a” should be changed to --the-- in lines 11 and 16; and “a sampled” should be changed to --the sampled-- in line 12.
In claim 8, “S500” should be deleted from line 2.
In claim 9, “S600” and “S700” should be deleted from respective lines 2 and 4.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication 2017/0294242 to Simpson et al [hereinafter Simpson].
Referring to claim 1, Simpson discloses a nuclear material concentration estimation system for non-destructively estimating the concentration of a nuclear material present in a molten salt provided at a bottom (figures 3A-3E; paragraphs 5, 11-13, 31, 37, 46, 50, 51, 53-55, 59, 63) the system comprising:
a sampling cup (306) for collecting a sample (400) of a molten salt (302);
a driving part for driving such that the sampling cup (306) is moved in a vertical direction (paragraphs 47, 50, 51, 59);
a control part (319) that controls the driving of the driving part (paragraphs 47, 50, 51);
a temperature measuring apparatus (310) that continuously measures a temperature of the sampled molten salt (400) and outputs temperature data (paragraphs 53-55); and
a processing part (319) that receives the temperature data showing a gradual cooling change for a predetermined time from the temperature measuring apparatus (310) (paragraphs 53-55) to estimate a concentration (composition) of a nuclear material present in the sampled molten salt (paragraphs 5, 37, 43, and 63 [which states that “measurements may allow the monitoring of the liquidus temperature of the molten salt pool 302 in real-time, and preferably, to further determine the affect of the changes of the molten salt composition to its liquidus temperature”, which necessarily includes estimating the concentration of the nuclear material comprised therein]).
Referring to claim 2, Simpson discloses the temperature measuring apparatus (310) being at least partially disposed inside the sampling cup (306) and being moved in the vertical direction simultaneously with the sampling cup (306) by the driving of the driving part (figures 3A, 3B; paragraphs 50, 51, 53).
Referring to claim 3, Simpson discloses the control part (319) controlling the processing part to estimate the concentration of the nuclear material present in the sampled molten salt (400) after the sampling cup (306) collects the sample (400) of the molten salt (302) (paragraphs 53-55).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Simpson in view of CN117007636A to Wu et al [hereinafter Wu] (see the attached translation).
Referring to claim 4, Simpson discloses a system having all of the limitations of claim 4, as stated above with respect to claim 3, and further discloses that the processing part (319) comprises a temperature change data generating part (in 319) that receives temperature data showing a gradual cooling change for a predetermined time from the temperature measuring apparatus (310) to record the temperature change of the sampled molten salt (400) and generate temperature change data (figure 4A; paragraphs 54-56), but does not explicitly disclose a storage part in which a temperature profile corresponding to a change in concentration of a nuclear material present in molten salt is stored in advance; a matching part that matches the temperature change data to the temperature profile; and a concentration information extracting part that extracts nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the temperature change data from the temperature profile.
However, Wu discloses a material concentration estimation system (figures 2, 3; paragraphs 1, 20-25, 37-43) comprising a temperature change data generating part (7) that receives temperature data showing a gradual cooling change for a predetermined time from a temperature measuring apparatus (2) to record a temperature change of a sampled molten salt and generate temperature change data (paragraphs 25, 37); a storage part (in 7) in which a temperature profile (temperature drop curve) corresponding to a change in concentration (component ratio) of a material present in the molten salt is stored in advance (database) (paragraphs 20-25, 37); a matching part (in 7) that matches the temperature change data to the temperature profile (paragraphs 25, 37); and a concentration information extracting part (in 7) that extracts material concentration information corresponding to the temperature change data from the temperature profile (paragraphs 25, 37) in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the material in the molten salt.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the processing part of Simpson with a storage part in which a temperature profile corresponding to a change in concentration of the nuclear material present in the molten salt is stored in advance; a matching part that matches the temperature change data to the temperature profile; and a concentration information extracting part that extracts nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the temperature change data from the temperature profile, as suggested by Wu, in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the nuclear material in the molten salt.
Referring to claim 5, Simpson in view of Wu disclose a system having all of the limitations of claim 5, as stated above with respect to claim 4, wherein Simpson further discloses that the temperature change data generating part (319) determines a phase transition temperature (liquidus temperature) from the temperature change data (paragraph 56).
Referring to claim 6, Simpson in view of Wu disclose a system having all of the limitations of claim 6, as stated above with respect to claim 5, except for Simpson disclosing matching the phase transition temperature to the temperature profile, and extracting the nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the phase transition temperature from the temperature profile.
However, Wu further discloses that the matching part (in 7) matches a phase transition stage (temperatures) to the temperature profile (temperature drop curve), and that the concentration information extracting part (in 7) extracts the material concentration (component ratio) information corresponding to the phase transition stage (temperatures) from the temperature profile (paragraphs 25, 26, 37) in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the material in the molten salt.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the processing part of Simpson in view of Wu such that the matching part matches the phase transition temperature to the temperature profile, and such that the concentration information extracting part extracts the nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the phase transition temperature from the temperature profile, as suggested by Wu, in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the nuclear material in the molten salt.
Referring to claim 7, Simpson discloses (figures 3A-3E; paragraphs 5, 11-13, 31, 37, 46, 50, 51, 53-55, 59, 63) a nuclear material concentration estimation method for non-destructively estimating the concentration of a nuclear material present in a molten salt (302), the method comprising:
a temperature measuring apparatus (310) and sampling cup (306) preparation step of preparing a temperature measuring apparatus (310) for measuring a temperature of the molten salt and outputting temperature data, and a sampling cup (306) for collecting a sample (400) of the molten salt (302) (figures 3A-3E; paragraphs 53-55);
a molten salt collection step of moving the sampling cup (306) in a vertical direction to collect the sample (400) of the molten salt (302) (figures 3A-3E; paragraphs 47, 50, 51, 59);
a cooling step of gradually cooling the sampled molten salt (400) for a predetermined time while being placed over the molten salt (302) (figures 3A-3E; paragraphs 53-55); and
a temperature change data generation step of continuously measuring the temperature of the sampled molten salt (400) which is gradually cooled and changed for a predetermined time by a temperature measuring apparatus (310) and generating temperature change data (paragraphs 53-55).
Simpson does not disclose a temperature profile storage step of storing a temperature profile according to a change in concentration of a nuclear material present in the molten salt; a matching step of matching the temperature change data to the temperature profile; and a concentration information extraction step of extracting nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the temperature change data from the temperature profile.
However, Wu discloses a material concentration estimation method (figures 2, 3; paragraphs 1, 20-25, 37-43) comprising a temperature profile storage step of using a temperature storage part (in 7) to store a temperature profile (temperature drop curve) according to a change in concentration (component ratio) of a material present in the molten salt (database) (paragraphs 20-25, 37); a matching step of using a matching part (in 7) to match the temperature change data to the temperature profile (paragraphs 25, 37); and a concentration information extracting step of using a concentration information extracting part (in 7) to extract material concentration information corresponding to the temperature change data from the temperature profile (paragraphs 25, 37) in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the material in the molten salt.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method of Simpson with a temperature profile storage step of storing a temperature profile according to a change in concentration of a nuclear material present in the molten salt; a matching step of matching the temperature change data to the temperature profile; and a concentration information extraction step of extracting nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the temperature change data from the temperature profile, as suggested by Wu, in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the nuclear material in the molten salt.
Referring to claim 8, Simpson in view of Wu disclose a method having all of the limitations of claim 8, as stated above with respect to claim 7, wherein Simpson further discloses that a temperature change data generating part (319) used in the temperature change data generation step determines a phase transition temperature (liquidus temperature) from the temperature change data (paragraph 56).
Referring to claim 9, Simpson in view of Wu disclose a method having all of the limitations of claim 9, as stated above with respect to claim 8, except for Simpson disclosing that the matching step comprises matching the phase transition temperature to the temperature profile, and that the concentration information extraction step comprises extracting the nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the phase transition temperature from the temperature profile.
However, Wu further discloses that the matching part (in 7) matches a phase transition stage (temperatures) to the temperature profile (temperature drop curve), and that the concentration information extracting part (in 7) extracts the material concentration (component ratio) information corresponding to the phase transition stage (temperatures) from the temperature profile (paragraphs 25, 26, 37) in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the material in the molten salt.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the method of Simpson in view of Wu such that the matching step comprises matching the phase transition temperature to the temperature profile, and that the concentration information extraction step comprises extracting the nuclear material concentration information corresponding to the phase transition temperature from the temperature profile, as suggested by Wu, in order to rapidly determine the concentration of the nuclear material in the molten salt.
Conclusion
The references made of record and not relied upon by the examiner (U.S. Patent 9,121,807 to Li et al [the closest art] disclosing determining the concentration of a nuclear material in a molten salt; U.S. Parent Application Publication 2026/0210888 to Yoo et al disclosing determining a composition of a nuclear material, CN112946046A to Song et al disclosing determining a concentration of a nuclear material in a molten salt, and CN116735695A to Zhang et al disclosing determining a concentration of a nuclear material in a molten salt) are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/MIRELLYS JAGAN/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
8/22/26
