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 .
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) 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Floch (EP0997622).
Regarding claim 6, Floch teaches
An in-cylinder injection type internal combustion engine comprising:
a cylinder (10 figure 1) formed by a cylinder block (12 figure 1);
a cylinder head covering one end of the cylinder; (18 figure 1)
a piston having a top surface facing the cylinder head and configured to reciprocate in the cylinder; (22 figure 1)
an ignition plug disposed in a central portion of the cylinder head in a combustion chamber formed between the cylinder, the cylinder head, and the piston; (38 figure 1)
a fuel injection nozzle disposed in the combustion chamber; and (42 figure 1)
an intake port (24) and an exhaust port (28) provided in the cylinder head with the ignition plug sandwiched therebetween, wherein
the fuel injection nozzle is disposed on one side in an intake and exhaust direction connecting the intake port to the exhaust port, and is configured to inject fuel toward the ignition plug, (24 figure 1)
an inclined surface (50 figure 3-5) extending along the intake and exhaust direction and inclined toward a cylinder head as going to the one side, and a pair of side guide portions (58 figure 4-5) disposed to sandwich the inclined surface in a crankshaft direction orthogonal to the intake and exhaust direction and a cylinder axial direction that is a reciprocating direction of the cylinder, are formed on the top surface of the piston, (figure 3-5)
a width of the inclined surface (50 figure 3-5) in the crankshaft direction is formed to be narrowed toward the one side by inner sides of the side guide portions being inclined in the crankshaft direction so as to approach each other toward the one side, and (figure 5 50 narrows across top of piston)
a top portion of an end portion of the inclined surface on the one side extends in the crankshaft direction. (see left of 50 figure 3 incline up)
Regarding claim 7, Floch teaches wherein the inclined surface (50 figure 3) is formed such that an inclination angle toward the cylinder head increases stepwise toward the one side.
Regarding claim 8, Floch teaches wherein
each of the side guide portions (58 figure 4-5) has a side guide surface inclined toward the cylinder head as going to the one side,
the top surface is formed with a descending surface inclined toward the cylinder head from a top portion of the inclined surface toward the one side (50 figure 3 see incline), and a side extension surface extending from a top portion of the side guide surface toward the one side, (dashed areas on top of 58 figure 5)
the inclined surface (50 figure 3) is formed such that an angle formed between an extension line of the inclined surface and the descending surface is larger than an angle formed between an extension line of the side guide surface and the side extension surface, and (figure 4 and 5)
a position where the extension line of the side guide surface intersects a wall surface of the cylinder is on a side of the piston with respect to a position where the extension line of the incline surface intersects the wall surface of the cylinder. (figure 5)
Regarding claim 9, Floch teaches wherein
a width (58 figure 4 and 5) of each of the side guide portions in the crankshaft direction is formed to be widest at a portion corresponding to a central portion of the piston in the intake and exhaust direction and to be substantially constant on the one side from the widest portion. (58 width is constant to right of dashed A1 axis in figure 4 and 5)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Floch (EP0997622) in view of Blankmeister et al (US PG Pub No. 2023/0235695).
Regarding claim 10, Floch does not explicitly teach however Blankmeister teaches wherein
a sub-chamber (2 figure 11 paragraph 19) accommodating the ignition plug is provided in the combustion chamber,
an injection port (8 figure 1) making the combustion chamber and the sub-chamber communicate with each other and configured to inject flame from the sub-chamber to the combustion chamber, is formed in the sub-chamber, (80 conical spray figure 1 paragraph 31)
a passage portion (30 figure 1 holes paragraph 25) extending in the crankshaft direction and making an inner surface (paragraph 25 inner and outer surface of holes) and an outer surface of each of the side guide portions communicate with each other, is formed in each of the side guide portions, and
the passage portion is formed on an extension line of the injection port. (paragraph 31 and 32 conical spray 80 and holes 30 common plane E)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEORGE C. JIN whose telephone number is (571)272-9898. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM.
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/GEORGE C JIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
