DETAILED ACTION
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.
(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, 3-5, 7-16, 18-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Hideo (JP H05 52146).
Regarding claim 1, Hideo discloses a device for detecting a leakage in a fuel path of a fuel delivery system of an engine, the device comprising:
a volume control valve (60-65) for controlling a flow of a fuel into the fuel path toward the engine (fig. 1 and 3), and an electronic control unit (6), the electronic control unit being configured to:
- determine a fuel quantity (“amount of fuel discharged”) of the fuel to be injected into a combustion chamber of the engine (¶5),
- control the volume control valve by providing a control variable for controlling the volume control valve in a feedback loop to maintain a desired pressure inside the fuel path (¶20), and
- compare the control variable (TF) with a reference value (TL, TB), which is determined based on the fuel quantity, in order to detect a leakage in the fuel path (¶46),
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine an actual operating point of the volume control valve for at least one fuel quantity and to adjust and/or determine at least one reference value used for leakage detection based on the actual operating point (¶6, ¶12, ¶18, ¶63, ¶69-77).
wherein the electronic control unit is adapted to store a data set comprising a plurality of data points each defining a reference value for a range of an engine speed and a range of a fuel quantity per stroke or engine cycle (fig. 13 and 14, ¶37 ¶72 target fuel injection amount is the same as the amount of fuel per stroke since it is the amount injected for the stroke).
Regarding claim 3 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein an operating point of the volume control valve is defined by the actual value of the control variable used by the electronic control unit for controlling the volume control valve for a specific fuel quantity to be injected into the engine (same rationale from claim 1).
Regarding claim 4 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electronic control unit is configured to: - calculate a pre-control variable to pre-control the volume control valve based on the fuel quantity, and - adapt the pre-control variable to provide the control variable used for controlling the volume control valve in the feedback loop to maintain the desired pressure inside the fuel path (¶20).
Regarding claim 5 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electronic control unit being is configured to detect a steady state operation of the fuel delivery system and to determine the actual operating point of the volume control valve during the steady state operation, wherein the steady state operation is defined by a constant control variable for controlling the volume control valve and a constant fuel quantity (claim 2 and ¶11).
Regarding claim 7 which depends from claim 6, Hideo discloses wherein the range of the engine speed and/or the range of the fuel quantity per stroke or engine cycle of the plurality of data points vary in size across the data set (the data sets can be delineated into whatever sizes).
Regarding claim 8 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electronic control unit is further designed, after detection of the actual operating point of the volume control valve, to adjust the reference values of data points adjacent thereto (¶73-74).
Regarding claim 9 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses. Wherein the data set defines an associated reference value for a cell, the associated reference value for the cell corresponding to a specific engine speed range and a specific fuel quantity range (the data is stored on the controller and fuel quantity is associated with engine speed ranges).
Regarding claim 10 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electronic control unit is provided with a non-volatile memory in which data points are stored (disclosed in the ECU).
Regarding claim 11 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electronic control unit is configured such that the leakage is detected if a difference between the actual control variable used for controlling the volume control valve and the reference value exceeds a threshold value (T1 and T2 in ¶57).
Regarding claim 12 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electronic control unit is configured to shut down operation of the fuel delivery system on detection of the leakage (¶57).
Regarding claim 13 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the fuel delivery system is a common rail fuel delivery system, and the fuel path is a high pressure fuel reservoir, wherein the volume control valve controls a fuel amount pumped by a high pressure pump into the high pressure fuel reservoir (4 in fig .1).
Regarding claim 14 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses a combustion engine comprising a device according to claim 1 (fig. 2).
Regarding claim 15 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses a working machine comprising a device according to claim 1 (fig. 2 can be construed as a working machine).
Regarding claim 16 which depends from claim 3, Hideo discloses wherein the operating point of the volume control valve is further defined by the control variable used for a specific fuel quantity to be injected per stroke or engine cycle at a specific engine speed (same rationale from claim 1).
Regarding claim 18 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the data set is a three-dimensional data set and/or each data point is a triple (the data is being stored in the controller shown in the figures and does not change due to how it is stored).
Regarding claim 19 which depends from claim 7, Hideo discloses wherein the ranges are smaller in typical operating regions of the engine than outside these regions, wherein the ranges are adapted during operation of the engine (the data set can be delineated in whatever form is desired).
Regarding claim 20 which depends from claim 9, Hideo discloses wherein the reference value in a respective cell is given as a plane equation (requiring the same data point to be represented in other forms doesn’t change the value that is used at any particular point).
Regarding claim 20 which depends from claim 1, Hideo discloses wherein the electric control unit is configured to link the control variable with an associated engine speed and the fuel quantity delivered in the combustion chamber of the engine per engine stroke, in response to the fuel delivery system reaching a stationary state (¶37 uses the speed in order to calculate fuel delivery which controls the control variable, TF. They are already linked within their calculations.).
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) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hideo (JP H02 52146) as applied to claims 1 and 5 above.
Regarding claim 17 which depends from claim 5, Hideo does disclose wherein the steady state operation is also defined by a constant engine speed, a constant pressure inside the fuel path and/or a pressure control valve being closed.
However the idea of steady state is to maintain operation in this case the engine speed is the common operating point of the engine to maintain. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified Hideo with a steady operating speed as this is known “steady state” operation of an engine.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/16/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on page 7 for parameter mismatch because engine speed is not considered and fuel per stroke/engine cycle is different than fuel injection amount. ¶37 of the citation states “the target fuel injection amount QS is calculated using the target fuel injection amount calculation map as shown in FIG. 8 based on the calculated engine speed NE” which correlates the fuel injection amount to the engine speed. Fuel injection amount is the same as the amount of fuel per stroke/cycle since it is the amount injected for the stroke/cycle of the engine.
Applicant argues on page 8 that the Hideo reference is only designed around fuel pressure and not engine speed. ¶37 states that “In the following step 140, based on the calculated target fuel injection amount QS and the engine speed NE, the target fuel pressure in the common rail 4, that is, the target common rail pressure is calculated using a target common rail pressure calculation map as shown in FIG.” showing that the engine speed and fueling amounts and rail pressures are all intrinsically linked.
Conclusion
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.
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GONZALO LAGUARDA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3747 email: gonzalo.laguarda@uspto.gov
/GONZALO LAGUARDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
