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 .
Response to Arguments
The claim objection has been addressed and is therefore withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the 112 rejections have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that claims 9 and 10 depends from claim 1 and therefore have antecedent basis for the recited elements. The examiner respectfully disagrees. The order that elements are presented matters. A single claim can lack antecedent basis if an element is recited with a definite article (the, said) before being introduced with an indefinite article (a, an). The same fact pattern is present here. Claim 9 recites “the air intake of the aircraft turbojet nacelle” before this element is introduced. This is important because it creates a lack of clarity of what element is being referred to. Even through claim 1 is later referenced, it is still unclear which elements are being referred to in the claims.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 2-3 and 9-11 are 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.
Claim 2 states “a supply member”. This element has already been introduced in claim 1 and therefore it is unclear which element this is referring to. Is it the same or a different instance of this?
Claim 9 states “a de-icing device for the air intake of the aircraft turbojet nacelle”. There is a lack of antecedent basis for “the air intake” and “the aircraft turbojet nacelle”.
Claim 10 states “the aircraft turbojet nacelle extending along the turbojet axis”. There is a lack of antecedent basis for “the aircraft turbojet nacelle” and “the turbojet axis”.
Claim 11 states “the fresh air flow circulating inside the hot air flow of peripheral shape”. It is unclear what is meant by “the hot air flow of peripheral shape”. It may just be a typo but it seems grammatically incorrect and unclear.
All dependent claims not addressed above are rejected as being dependent upon a rejected base 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 (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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schnoebelen et al (US 20150086333 A1).
For claim 1, Schnoebelen discloses an injector for a de-icing device for an air intake of an aircraft turbojet nacelle, the injector Fig. 1 comprising;
a peripheral member internally defining a through passage duct orifice 122, the peripheral member comprising
a radially inner wall Fig. 2: 120 and a radially outer wall Fig. 2: 140 which surrounds cavity 143 that cooperate to define a heating cavity 143,
a supply member configured to supply the heating cavity with a hot air flow inlet 144 which receives the motive fluid and supplies it to 143; also shown as 540 in Fig. 5,
a peripheral mouth Fig. 2: 132 configured to inject the hot air flow from the heating cavity in an annular shape ring shaped outlet into the air intake so as to cause a fresh air flow which passes through the center orifice 122 to circulate in the passage duct from upstream to downstream Fig. 2: from right to left,
an inner guide wall Fig. 1C: inner wall of 120 extends further downstream located downstream of the peripheral mouth, and
a plurality of members for rotating the hot air flow during the injection thereof Para 0036: “The nozzle pairs 520 and 530 may be canted to create a swirl within the lipskin cavity 340.”; therefore, the “plurality of members” may be interpreted as any structure which sets the nozzles at a canted angle, or even could be considered as the elements of the second nozzle, which is used in coordination with the first nozzle “for rotating the hot air”.
For claim 2, Schnoebelen discloses the injector according to claim 1, wherein the injector comprises the supply member, connected to the peripheral member, comprising a mounting foot Fig. 4-5: flange 550 configured to be attached to the air intake in order to be supplied by the hot air flow Fig. 5.
For claim 3, Schnoebelen discloses the injector according to claim 2, wherein the supply member extends along a mounting axis, the mounting foot defining a passage cross-section, the peripheral member defines an overall cross-section, defined in projection in a plane orthogonal to the mounting axis, which is less than that of the passage cross-section of the mounting foot Fig. 4-5: flange 550 is wider than the peripheral member.
For claim 4, Schnoebelen discloses the injector according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral member further comprises an inner guide wall Fig. 1C: inner wall of 120 extends further downstream, and wherein the inner guide wall is located downstream of the peripheral mouth.
For claim 9, Schnoebelen discloses a de-icing device for the air intake of the aircraft turbojet nacelle extending along a turbojet axis, the air intake comprising an inner cavity Fig. 4: 340 extending in an annular manner around the turbojet axis and which comprises an inner wall bottom wall of 320 facing the turbojet axis and an outer wall outer wall of 320 which is opposite the inner wall, the inner wall and the outer wall being connected by a leading edge Fig. 4, the de-icing device comprising:
at least one of the injectors according to claim 1 see claim 1 of the hot air flow into the inner cavity along an injection axis oriented from upstream to downstream Fig. 4.
For claim 10, Schnoebelen discloses an air intake of the aircraft turbojet nacelle extending along the turbojet axis Fig. 4, the air intake comprising:
the de-icing device according to claim 9 see claim 9.
For claim 11, Schnoebelen discloses a method for using the de-icing device according to claim 9 for de-icing the air intake of the aircraft turbojet nacelle extending along the turbojet axis, the method comprising:
injecting the annular peripheral shaped hot air flow out of outlet 132 so as to cause the fresh air flow to circulate in the passage duct 122, the fresh air flow circulating from the upstream to the downstream with respect to the injection axis Fig. 2: from right to left, the fresh air flow circulating inside the hot air flow so as to allow mixing between the hot air flow and the fresh air flow mixing may occur.
For claim 12, Schnoebelen discloses the injector according to claim 1, wherein the passage duct extends inside the radially inner wall Fig. 2: 122 inside 120.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 COLIN N M ZOHOORI whose telephone number is (571)272-7996. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JOSHUA J MICHENER can be reached at (571)272-1467. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/COLIN ZOHOORI/Examiner, Art Unit 3642 /JOSHUA J MICHENER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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