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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities which are identified by suggested amendments:
1. An exhaust unit for road vehicles, the exhaust unit comprising:
a first exhaust duct and a second exhaust duct provided with a first exhaust mouth and a second exhaust mouth, respectively, the first exhaust mouth and the second exhaust mouth are side by side, and have respective outlet cross sections identical to one another;
a supply manifold to supply an exhaust gas flow to said first exhaust duct and said second exhaust duct;
a first separating partition, which is configured and arranged [[,]];
a second separating partition configured and arranged
said first outlet channel of the first exhaust mouth and said first blind outlet channel of the second exhaust mouth being side by side and having respective first exhaust cross sections identical to one another; and
said second outlet channel of the second exhaust mouth and said second blind outlet channel of the first exhaust mouth being side by side and having respective second exhaust cross sections identical to one another.
Claim 2 is objected to because “of each first outlet channel” in lines 1-2 should be --of each of the first outlet channels--.
Claim 3 is objected to because “the outlet channels of each exhaust mouth” in line 1 should be --the outlet channels of each of the exhaust mouths--.
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“to claim 1 and further comprising” in line 1 should be --to claim 1,
“said first and second exhaust ducts” in lines 2-3 should be --said first exhaust duct and said second exhaust duct--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ballatore et al. (U.S. 2022/0205377).
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Re claim 1:
Ballatore discloses an exhaust unit (6, exhaust system - Para 74) for road vehicles (1, car - Para 69)(see Figs. 1-9) comprising a first exhaust duct (Modified Fig. 1 above - A (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element A as a type of first exhaust duct; element A corresponds to an element 7 which is an “exhaust duct” per Para 75)) and a second exhaust duct (Modified Fig. 1 above - B (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element B as a type of second exhaust duct; element B corresponds to an element 7 which is an “exhaust duct” per Para 75))) provided with a first exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - C (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element C as a type of first exhaust mouth; element C corresponds to an element 9 which is an end chamber per Para 77 which includes an element 10 as shown in Figs. 1, and 3-9 and which is an outlet opening per Para 78)) and a second exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - D (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element D as a type of second exhaust mouth; element D corresponds to an element 9 which is an end chamber per Para 77 which includes an element 10 as shown in Figs. 1, and 3-9 and which is an outlet opening per Para 78)), respectively, which are side by side (see Modified Fig. 1 above), and have respective outlet cross sections identical to one another (see Figs. 1, 3-5, and Para 26 - “Each exhaust duct 7…has an…outlet opening 10…”); and a supply manifold (see Fig. 1 and Para 24 - “…In each bank, the four cylinders are connected to…an exhaust manifold…”) to supply an exhaust gas flow (Para 25 - “…gases produced by the combustion from the exhaust manifold…”) to said first (Modified Fig. 1 above - A) and second (Modified Fig. 1 above - B) exhaust ducts (see Modified Fig. 1 above and Paras 24-25); and characterized in that it further comprises a first separating partition (Modified Fig. 5 above - A (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element A as a type of first separating partition; element A corresponds to a lower element 23 which is a movable partition per Para 91 and which is within element C of Modified Fig. 1 above)), which is configured and arranged so as to divide the first exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - C) into a first outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - B (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element B as a type of first outlet channel)) connected with the first exhaust duct (Modified Fig. 1 above - A)(see Modified Figs. 1 and 5 above and Paras 28 and 31) and a second blind outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - C (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element C as a type of second blind outlet channel)) separated from the first exhaust duct (Modified Fig. 1 above - A)(see Modified Figs. 1 and 5 above and Figs. 3-4), and a second separating partition (Modified Fig. 5 above - D (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element D as a type of second separating partition; element D corresponds to an upper element 23 which is a movable partition per Para 91 and which is within element D of Modified Fig. 1 above)) configured and arranged so as to divide the second exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - D) into a first blind outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - E (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element E as a type of first blind outlet channel)) separated from the second exhaust duct (Modified Fig. 1 above - B)(see Modified Figs. 1 and 5 above and Figs. 3-4) and a second outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - F (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element F as a type of second outlet channel)) connected with the second exhaust duct (Modified Fig. 1 above - B)(see Modified Figs. 1 and 5 above and Paras 28 and 31); said first outlet channels (Modified Fig. 5 above - B, E) being side by side (see Figs. 1, 3-4, and Modified Fig. 5 above) and having respective first exhaust cross sections identical to one another (see Figs. 3-4 and Modified Fig. 5 above (elements B and E of Modified Fig. 5 above are shown sharing elements 20-23 such that there must be locations along the longitudinal direction of element 9 depicted in Fig. 5 where elements B and E of Modified Fig. 5 above share an identical cross section)) and said second outlet channels (Modified Fig. 5 above - C, F) being side by side (see Figs. 1, 3-4, and Modified Fig. 5 above) and having respective second exhaust cross sections identical to one another (see Figs. 3-4 and Modified Fig. 5 above (elements C and F of Modified Fig. 5 above are shown sharing elements 20-23 such that there must be locations along the longitudinal direction of element 9 depicted in Fig. 5 where elements C and F of Modified Fig. 5 above share an identical cross section)).
Re claim 2:
Ballatore discloses the exhaust unit (6) according to claim 1 (as described above), wherein the first exhaust cross section of each first outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - B, E) is smaller than the second exhaust cross section of the corresponding second outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - C, F)(see Figs. 3-4 and Modified Fig. 5 above (elements B, C, E, and F of Modified Fig. 5 above are shown sharing elements 20-23 such that there must be locations along the longitudinal direction of element 9 depicted in Fig. 5 where elements C and F of Modified Fig. 5 above share an identical cross section which is larger than a cross section of elements B and E of Modified Fig. 5 above where element B and E share an identical cross section (in other words the structure of elements 9 is depicted/described such that cross sections of elements B, D, E, and F of Modified Fig. 5 meet the claimed limitations))).
Re claim 3:
Ballatore discloses the exhaust unit (6) according to claim 1 (as described above), wherein the outlet channels (Modified Fig. 5 above - B, C; E, F) of each exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - C, D) overlap one another (see Modified Fig. 5 above (elements B, C of Modified Fig. 5 above are shown overlapping one another and elements E, F of Modified Fig. 5 above are shown overlapping one another)).
Re claim 4:
Ballatore discloses the exhaust unit (6) according to claim 1 (as described above), wherein the first outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - B) of the first exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - C) is arranged above the second outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - C) of the first exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - C)(see Modified Fig. 5 above) and the first outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - E) of the second exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - D) is arranged above the second outlet channel (Modified Fig. 5 above - F) of the second exhaust mouth (Modified Fig. 1 above - D)(see Modified Fig. 5 above).
Re claim 5:
Ballatore discloses the exhaust unit (6) according to claim 1 (as described above) and further comprising a valve device (14, adjustment valve - Para 29) to selectively control the supply of the exhaust gas flow from the supply manifold (see Fig. 1 and Para 24 - “…In each bank, the four cylinders are connected to…an exhaust manifold…”) to said first (Modified Fig. 1 above - A) and second (Modified Fig. 1 above - B) exhaust ducts (see Modified Fig. 1 above, Figs. 3-4, and Paras 29 and 31).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Akrapovic et al. (U.S. 2018/0252131); Herwat et al. (U.S. 2019/0337377).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Loren C Edwards whose telephone number is (571)272-7133. The examiner can normally be reached M-R 6AM-430PM.
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/LOREN C EDWARDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746 3/27/26
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