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 § 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.
Claim 12 is 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 12 discloses a medium, a first medium storage device, a plurality of supply paths, a second medium storage device, first heat exchangers, a conveying unit, and a first coolant storage device. All of these limitations are already present in claim 10, from which claim 12 depends. Claim 12 should be modified to make clear whether the limitations therein refer to the corresponding structures which are recited in claim 10 or whether the applicant intends to claim and addition, e.g. “first medium storage device”.
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, 8-10, and 12-14 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US PGPub 20210198095 (Fairy).
In Re claim 1 Fairy discloses a method for providing a medium wherein the medium is supplied from a first medium storage device (1) via a plurality of supply paths (4’ and 4”) to a second medium storage device (Paragraph 86 described element 35 as a common medium storage device), wherein the medium is supplied from the second medium storage device to one or more dispensers (Paragraph 91) for providing the medium, wherein in each of the plurality of supply paths, medium is supplied from the first medium storage device via a corresponding first heat exchanger (3) to the second medium storage device by means of a conveying unit (31), and wherein each of the first heat exchangers is supplied with a first coolant via a common first coolant storage device (coolant tank 23).
In Re claim 2 Fairy discloses a medium which is supplied from the second medium storage device via a dispenser heat exchanger to the dispenser for provision (Chiller 7).
In Re claim 4 Fairy discloses a cooling device (15) which cools the first coolant in the first coolant storage device.
In Re claim 8 Fairy discloses the medium stored in the first storage device in liquified form (abstract).
In Re claim 9 Fairy discloses hydrogen (abstract).
In Re claim 10 Fairy discloses a system for providing a medium (Paragraph 71), wherein the system has a first medium storage device (1), a second medium storage device (35), and one or more dispensers (Paragraph 91), wherein the system comprises a plurality of supply paths (4’ and 4”) and for each of the plurality of supply paths has a corresponding conveying unit (31) and a first heat exchanger (3); wherein the system is configured to supply the medium from the first medium storage device via each of the plurality of supply paths, by means of the conveying units in each case, via the first heat exchanger to the second medium storage device, wherein the system is configured to supply the medium from the second medium storage device to one or each of the plurality of dispensers for provision, wherein the system has a common first coolant storage device (23) with a first coolant for the plurality of supply paths, and wherein the system is configured to supply each of the first heat exchangers with the first coolant via the first coolant storage device (Paragraphs 71 and 81).
In Re claim 12 Fairy discloses a system configured to carry out a method for providing a medium, wherein the medium is supplied from a first medium storage device (1) via a plurality of supply paths (4’ and 4”) to a second medium storage device (35), wherein the medium is supplied from the second medium storage device to one or more dispensers (Paragraph 91)for providing the medium, wherein in each of the plurality of supply paths, medium is supplied from the first medium storage device via a corresponding first heat exchanger (3) to the second medium storage device by means of a conveying unit (31), and wherein each of the first heat exchangers is supplied with a first coolant via a common first coolant storage device (23).
In Re claim 13 Fairy discloses a hydrogen filling station (abstract).
In Re claim 14 Fairy discloses filling a vehicle with hydrogen (abstract).
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fairy in view of US PGPub 2018/0306381 (Fujisawa).
In Re claim 3 Fairy discloses many limitations but fails to disclose the dispenser heat exchanger supplied with the same coolant as the first heat exchanger.
Fujisawa discloses a gas supply device in which multiple heat exchangers along a dispensing pathway are provided with a common heat transfer fluid (heat exchangers 12b and 22b are provided with heat transfer fluid from common line 28).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to modify the Fairy apparatus by providing the first coolant to the fluid chiller, in order to eliminate the need for as second coolant system to supply the coolant to the chiller.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 and 11 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US PGPub 2012/0159970 discloses a fluid filling apparatus having multiple fill lines and multiple heat exchangers.
US Patent 10,145,509 discloses a hydrogen dispensing station having multiple heat exchangers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON KAROL NIESZ whose telephone number is (571)270-3920. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 EST.
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/JASON K NIESZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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