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 . Claims 1, 3-9, 20-29, and 31-34 of the amended claim set received 5/19/2026 are pending.
Examiner Note
This is a corrected non-final action that supersedes the previous non-final action and is written because the §103 rejection of claims 1 and 31 over French and Buehler was incomplete and is corrected herein.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1 and 3-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5/19/2026.
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.
Claims 20-29 and 32-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over STS (Applicant-supplied Space Transportation Systems 1980-2000, 1978, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) in view of Buehler (US 2007/0012820).
Regarding Claim 20, STS discloses in Fig. 38 (see annotation of the figure below), a heat shield for protecting a windward side of a vehicle (the vehicle of the figure) from a high enthalpy flow, the heat shield comprising:
a wall defining at least a first portion of an outer heat shield surface (lower surface of the wall; the wall/first portion corresponding to the radially-outermost portion of the heat shield defined within the hash lines, in the same manner as the wall/first portion 58 of the instant application shown in Fig. 11) on the windward side (lower side) of the vehicle during exposure to the high enthalpy flow;
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wherein the wall includes an opening that defines an exit of a nozzle (see annotation); and
wherein the wall further includes a bleed opening through which an exhaust fluid exits the heat shield (see annotation).
STS does not disclose the nozzle is a dual-expansion nozzle as claimed.
Buehler discloses in Fig. 3 a similar vehicle to that of STS. Buehler teaches a dual expansion nozzle for the vehicle in Fig. 4b.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified STS such that the nozzles are dual expansion nozzles as taught by Buehler in order to produce predictable thrust vectors, compensating for flow separation at low altitudes (Buehler paras. 0077 and 0080).
Regarding Claim 21, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the wall is a thruster mount wall (thruster nozzles are mounted to the wall as shown in Fig. 37); and wherein the heat shield further includes a centerbody wall defining a second portion of the outer heat shield surface (see annotation above).
Regarding Claim 22, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the thruster mount wall extends annularly about the centerbody wall (see annotation of Fig. 37 above).
Regarding Claim 23, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the thruster mount wall and centerbody wall are at least substantially flush relative to one another (see annotation of Fig. 37 above).
Regarding Claim 24, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the thruster mount wall and the centerbody wall form a blunt body (see annotation of Fig. 37 above).
Regarding Claim 25, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the opening is a first opening among a plurality of thruster openings in the wall (see Fig. 37); wherein the dual-expansion nozzle is a first nozzle among a plurality of nozzles (see Fig. 37); and
wherein each thruster opening in the wall defines an exit of one of the nozzles (Fig. 37). Within the combination as described in the rejection of claim 1 above, the nozzles are the dual-expansion nozzles taught by Buehler.
Regarding Claim 26, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the wall is a thruster mount wall (thruster nozzles are mounted to the wall as shown in Fig. 37); wherein the heat shield further includes a centerbody wall defining a second portion of the outer heat shield surface (see annotation of Fig. 37 above); wherein the thruster mount wall extends annularly about the centerbody wall; and wherein the thruster openings are circumferentially spaced around the thruster mount wall (as shown in Fig. 37).
Regarding Claims 27-29, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the bleed opening is one of a plurality of bleed openings in the thruster mount wall through which the exhaust fluid exits the heat shield (as shown in Fig. 37); and wherein the bleed openings are circumferentially spaced around the thruster mount wall; and wherein the bleed openings are positioned relative to the thruster openings such that the exhaust fluid exiting each bleed opening influences an exhaust plume exiting a nearby thruster opening, wherein each bleed opening is at a circumferential position between two circumferentially-adjacent thruster openings, and wherein the bleed openings are radially inward of the thruster openings (as shown in Fig. 37, positioning of the defined bleed openings is almost identical to that of the instant application as shown in instant application Figs. 15 and 16).
Regarding Claim 32, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the bleed opening is configured such that the exhaust fluid exiting therethrough influences an exhaust plume exiting the opening that defines the exit of the dual-expansion nozzle (the openings are positioned near each other as shown in Fig. 37 such that the exhaust streams will interact).
Regarding Claim 33, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the exit of the nozzle (i.e., the opening) is at least substantially flush with the outer heat shield surface (see Fig. 37). Within the combination as described in the rejection of claim 1 above, the nozzles are the dual-expansion nozzles taught by Buehler.
Regarding Claim 34, STS in view of Buehler teaches the claimed invention as discussed above. STS further discloses wherein the heat shield is actively-cooled during exposure to the high enthalpy flow (read p. 64, ll. 5-6).
Claims 1 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over French (US 2023/021190) in view of Buehler (US 2007/0012820).
Regarding Claim 1 and 31, French discloses a heat shield (Figs. 4A-4C) for protecting a windward side of a vehicle 100 from a high enthalpy flow, the heat shield comprising: a wall 140 defining at least a first portion of an outer heat shield surface on the windward side of the vehicle during exposure to the high enthalpy flow; wherein the wall includes an opening 146 that defines an exit of a nozzle (see figures); and wherein the wall further includes a bleed opening through which turbine exhaust fluid exits the heat shield (not shown in figures, there is a ‘bleed’ opening positioned on the wall 140 radially inside the array of openings 146 for providing turbine exhaust into the space within the array as described in para. 0052). French does not disclose the nozzle is a dual-expansion nozzle as claimed.
Buehler discloses in Fig. 3 a similar vehicle to that of French. Buehler teaches a dual expansion nozzle for the vehicle in Fig. 4b.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified French such that the nozzles are dual expansion nozzles as taught by Buehler in order to produce predictable thrust vectors, compensating for flow separation at low altitudes (Buehler paras. 0077 and 0080).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RENE D FORD whose telephone number is (571)272-8140. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Phutthiwat Wongwian can be reached on (571) 272-7118. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/R.D.F/Examiner, Art Unit 3741
/PHUTTHIWAT WONGWIAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3741
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