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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 06/16/2025 is acknowledged by the Examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “rotary disc valve is disposed in the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber” in claim 4, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 6 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 6, the limitation “a first outlet”, in lines 1-2, is indefinite because it is unclear if it is intended to be included in the “at least one outlet” previously introduced in claim 1, line 9, or is different.
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 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.
(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.
Claims 1-3 and 5-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Carns et al. (US 20160003126).
Carns et al disclose:
1. A coolant control valve (embodiments of 100-700) comprising: an electric actuator (150, [0037]); a valve housing (102) comprising: a first housing (housing portion of 102 around chamber 104) having: at least one inlet (108) and at least one outlet (110)(alternatively, the inlet and/or outlet can be openings separated by 128, facing towards chamber 106); and a first fluid chamber (104); and a second housing (housing portion of 102 around 106) sealingly engaged with the first housing, the second housing having: at least one inlet (112) and at least one outlet (114)(alternatively, the inlet and/or outlet can be openings in the disc, facing towards chamber 104); and a second fluid chamber (106) axially adjacent to the first fluid chamber; a rotary ball valve (118) disposed within the first fluid chamber and actuated about a first axis (along shaft 120) by the electric actuator (as seen in fig. 2), the rotary ball valve having at least one fluid opening (140); and a rotary disc valve (disc shown in chamber 106 with three openings facing the first chamber 104) disposed within the second fluid chamber and non-rotatably coupled to the rotary ball valve (can be joined such as at 208 in fig. 4), the rotary disc valve having at least one fluid opening (three openings shown in figs. 2, 6, 11, 13, and 15).
2. The coolant control valve of claim 1, wherein the first housing (housing portion of 102 around chamber 104) is arranged between the electric actuator (150) and the second housing (housing portion of 102 around 106) in an axial direction (as seen in fig. 2).
3. The coolant control valve of claim 1, wherein a wall of one of the first housing or the second housing separates the first fluid chamber from the second fluid chamber (as seen in fig. 2, a partial wall separates the two chambers).
5. The coolant control valve of claim 1, wherein the at least one inlet of the first housing comprises a first inlet extending through the second housing (in the case where the inlet is interpreted as one of the openings separated by 128 and leading to chamber 106).
6. The coolant control valve of claim 5, wherein the first housing further comprises a first outlet (110), and the first inlet is disposed radially inwardly of the first outlet (the openings separated by 128 are radially inward of 110).
7. The coolant control valve of claim 1, wherein the at least one outlet of the first housing comprises a first outlet extending through the second housing (in the case where the outlet is interpreted as one of the openings separated by 128 and leading to chamber 106).
8. The coolant control valve of claim 7, wherein the first outlet is sealingly isolated from the second fluid chamber (with wall between chambers 104 and 106).
9. A coolant control valve comprising: an electric actuator (150); a rotary valve (100-700) configured to be actuated about a first axis by the electric actuator, the rotary valve having: a first rotary valve (116) having a hollow body (portion of 102 around chamber 104) defining an internal fluid chamber (104), the internal fluid chamber configured to receive fluid in a first axial direction (through openings separated by 128, facing towards chamber 106) and exit fluid in a radial direction (110); a second rotary valve (disc seen in chamber 106) non-rotatably coupled to the first rotary valve, the second rotary valve having a disc portion (disc portion having three openings) configured to receive fluid in the first axial direction (through openings leading from the three around 120) and exit fluid in a second axial direction opposite to the first axial direction (the three openings can also act as an outlet depending on the flow direction and which passage is open); and the electric actuator, the first rotary valve, and the second rotary valve stacked axially along the first axis (as seen in fig. 2).
10. The coolant control valve of claim 9, wherein the first rotary valve is disposed within a first fluid chamber (104), and the second rotary valve is disposed within a second fluid chamber (106) separate from the first fluid chamber (as seen in fig. 2).
11. The coolant control valve of claim 10, further comprising: a first housing (housing portion of 102 around chamber 104) defining the first fluid chamber; and a second housing (housing portion of 102 around 106) defining the second fluid chamber; and the disc portion includes at least one fluid opening (three openings) extending through the disc portion, the at least one fluid opening configured to be in selective fluid communication with at least one outlet of the second housing (fig. 2).
12. The coolant control valve of claim 11, wherein: the second housing further comprises a first inlet fluid opening (112) configured to receive fluid into the second fluid chamber; the disc portion further comprises: a first fluid opening configured to receive fluid from the first inlet fluid opening; and a second fluid opening configured to exit fluid from the second fluid chamber (the three openings can also act as an inlet or outlet depending on the flow direction and which passage 108, 112, 112, 114 is open).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 are allowed.
Claim 4, 13-14 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 20220307614, US 20180283579, EP 3006794, and AU 2014222344 each disclose related rotary valves.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARINA TIETJEN, whose telephone number is 571-270-5422. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (10:30AM-7:00PM CST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Tom Barrett can be reached at 571-272-4746, Ken Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881, and Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARINA A TIETJEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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