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 § 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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Ikemoto reference (US Patent Publication No. 2003/0159434) in view of the Osaki reference (US Patent No. 9,297,288).
4. Regarding claim 1, the Ikemoto reference discloses:
a control device (21) for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine (1) including an upstream catalytic device (16) installed in an exhaust passage (14) and a downstream catalytic device (18) installed in the exhaust passage (14) at a position downstream (FIG. 1), the control device (21) comprising a processing circuit [Paragraph 0056], wherein the processing circuit [Paragraph 0056] is configured to perform a process of changing content of control on the vehicle so as to promote execution of a fuel cut of the internal combustion engine [Paragraph 0061—fuel injection stop means] when a condition for desorbing a gas accumulated on the upstream catalytic device (16) is satisfied [Paragraph 0076] and the downstream catalytic device is inactive [Paragraph 0082].
The Ikemoto reference discloses the invention as essentially claimed. However, the Ikemoto reference discloses burning off occluded oxygen and not sulfur.
The Osaki reference teaches it is conventional in the art of catalytic converters in (Column 1, lines 45-55) that the metal material in a catalytic material can include oxygen and sulfur and therefore burning off the occluded oxygen would burn off sulfur (Column 1, lines 45-55). Such configurations/structures would allow regeneration of the catalyst.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art by the effective filing date of claimed invention to modify the device of the Ikemoto reference, such that the device further includes sulfur, as clearly suggested and taught by the Osaki reference, in order to allow regeneration of the catalyst.
5. Regarding claim 2, the Ikemoto reference further discloses:
wherein the process is a process of easing an execution condition for the fuel cut of the internal combustion engine [Paragraph 0061].
6. Regarding claim 3, the Ikemoto reference further discloses:
the internal combustion engine (1) is configured to execute the fuel cut on a condition that a coolant temperature of the internal combustion engine is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature [Paragraph 0059]; and the processing circuit (21) is configured to change the predetermined temperature to a low temperature in the process of easing the execution condition (implicitly disclosed by explicit disclosure of fuel cut—this would stop the engine which would lower temperatures).
7. Regarding claim 4, the Ikemoto reference further discloses:
the internal combustion engine is configured to execute the fuel cut on a condition that an accelerator operation amount is equal to or less than a predetermined operation amount; and the processing circuit is configured to change the predetermined operation amount to a large value in the process of easing the execution condition [Paragraph 0093].
8. Regarding claim 5, the Ikemoto reference further discloses:
wherein the vehicle is configured such that the internal combustion engine (1) and an electric motor together generate a driving force for the vehicle, and the process is a process of changing an output distribution between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor such that the electric motor generates the driving force. The examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the art of vehicles to use a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine for propulsion and to sometimes have the hybrid vehicle run completely on electric while the internal combustion engine is disengaged for the purpose of at least fuel savings.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES J BRAUCH whose telephone number is (313)446-6511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM to 6 PM.
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/CHARLES JOSEPH BRAUCH/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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