DETAILED ACTION
This Final Office Action is in response to the amended claims filed on 5/21/2026.
Claims 16-35 are currently pending.
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 § 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 (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 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) 26-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by O'Neill et al. (US 5,904,131).
As to claim 26 O'Neill discloses a method comprising:
Receiving, by one or more controllers associated with an internal combustion engine that combusts a mixture of air and gaseous fuel, a first data signal relating to a mass flow of the gaseous fuel (column 2 lines 1-10);
receiving a second data signal relating to a mass flow of the air (column 5 lines 5-30);
receiving a third data signal relating to the oxygen content in the gaseous fuel (column 2 lines 45-50),
determining an actual air-fuel ratio based on the oxygen content in the gaseous fuel (column 12 line 25);
determining a target air-fuel ratio for the internal combustion engine (column 5 lines 1-5);
calculating an error measure based on a difference between the actual air-fuel ratio and the target air-fuel ratio (column 5 lines 30-45);
inferring one or more fuel properties based on the error measure and a fuel property database (the property is fuel mass flow, see column 5 lines 45-50) including fuel properties corresponding to respective measures of error (see it listed as an error term in column 5 lines 45-50); and
adjusting an operating condition of the internal combustion engine based on the one or more fuel properties. (Compensator 132 further refines and limits this error term as a function of Ma and the open loop fuel signal output by operator 120 to provide a closed loop fuel flow signal 136 column 5 lines 45-50).
As to claim 27 O'Neill discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the one or more controllers are configured to infer the one or more fuel properties based on the fuel property database interpolating known fuel properties (the fuel flow amount) associated with the error measure in the fuel property database. (Compensator 132 further refines and limits this error term as a function of Ma and the open loop fuel signal output by operator 120 to provide a closed loop fuel flow signal 136 column 5 lines 45-50).
As to claim 28 O'Neill discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the one or more controllers comprises an engine control module (ECM) (80) of the internal combustion engine (60).
As to claim 29 O'Neill discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the one or more controllers are configured to adjust the operating condition (fuel flow) of the internal combustion engine based on the one or more fuel properties by:
determining a target operating condition of the internal combustion engine corresponding to the one or more fuel properties based on the fuel property database; and controlling the operating condition of the internal combustion engine to achieve the target operating condition (target air-fuel ratio).
As to claim 30 O'Neill discloses the method of claim 29, wherein determining the target operating condition of the internal combustion engine corresponding to the one or more fuel properties comprises determining a target spark advance corresponding to the one or more fuel properties based on interpolating known fuel properties associated with the one or more fuel properties in the fuel property database (the engine is a spark ignited engine column 2 lines 55-60 it is a running engine therefore the spark advance or timing is already interpolated or else the engine would not run).
As to claim 31 O'Neill discloses the method 29, wherein determining the target
operating condition of the internal combustion engine corresponding to the one or more fuel properties comprises determining a load limit corresponding to the one or more fuel properties based on interpolating known fuel properties associated with the one or more fuel properties in the fuel property database. (Engines all operate according to the load limit of the fuel. When the engine is stalling because the fuel amount is not creating enough power the operator will give more throttle increasing the fuel amount and air amount to prevent the stall,) (column 4 lines 10-25 shown the throttles that operate to the load limit of maintaining an engine idle) (column 10 lines 55-60 discloses the throttle controlling the performance of the engine)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-25 allowed.
Claims 32-35 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, see the remarks, filed 5/21/2026, with respect to claims 13-25 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claims 1-25 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 5/21/2026 with regards to claims 26-31 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues that these claims are allowable for similar reasons as claims 1-25, but these claims do not have the same limitations.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 SHERMAN D MANLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-5539. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 7-5:30 est.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Logan Kraft can be reached at 571-270-5065. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHERMAN D MANLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LOGAN M KRAFT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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