DETAILED ACTION
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Common Rail Return Line Routed to High Pressure Pump.
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 multiple return lines on one end side of the common rail from 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 the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 2-3: The specification does not support fuel distribution pipes on an opposite side of the common rail from the return line or distribution pipes that are between the common rail and the high pressure pump.
Claim 4: The specification does not support multiple return pipes from the same end of the fuel rail all returning fuel to the pressure pump.
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 5 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 4 requires multiple fuel return lines that return fuel from the common rail to the pressure pump. Claim 5 then states that one of these lines does not do that but instead is returning fuel from an injector to the common rail. The dependent claims must further limit the claims from which they depend not change the limitations entirely.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Rembold (U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,807).
Regarding claim 1, Rembold discloses a system comprising:
a common rail (13 and 17) configured to store fuel supplied from a fuel supply pump (11 which includes the piping up to the junction of line 5 and 19) at high pressure; and
a fuel return pipe (19) connected to the common rail and configured to return fuel inside the common rail to the fuel supply pump, wherein the fuel return pipe is connected to one end side of the common rail (shown in fig. 2).
Regarding claim 2 which depends from claim 1, Rembold discloses wherein fuel distribution pipes are connected to a side of the common rail opposite to the one end side where the fuel return pipe is connected (shown in fig. 2 that the distribution and return line are not on the same side of the common rail. Similar to applicants depiction in fig. 6.).
Regarding claim 3 which depends from claim 2, Rembold discloses wherein the fuel distribution pipes are connected between the common rail and the fuel supply pump (As per 112 rejection this will be understood as the fuel distribution pipes being to the fuel injectors and that they are located on the common rail between the flow from the pump to the return line. Which is shown in fig. 2).
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rembold (U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,807) as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 4 which depends from claim 1, Rembold does not disclose further comprising multiple return pipes including a fuel return pipe configured to return fuel inside the common rail to the fuel supply pump, wherein the multiple return pipes are connected to one end side of the common rail.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have multiple return lines connected to the common rail, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05. The system in fig. 1 shows multiple branching paths from the one return line having them be multiple lines originating at the rail is obvious.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rembold (U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,807) as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Kapp (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0128219).
Regarding claim 5 which depends from claim 4, Rembold does not discloses wherein one of the multiple return pipes is a fuel return pipe configured to return fuel inside an injector to the common rail at one end side of the common rail.
Kapp, which deals in fuel lines, teaches wherein one of the multiple return pipes is a fuel return pipe configured to return fuel inside an injector to the common rail at one end side of the common rail (a return line for the fuel rail at 10 and a return line for the fuel injectors at 12 which joins the rail return line at the common rail).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified Rembold with the fuel injector return lines of Kapp because this fuel is easily guided to this portion of the return (¶37).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GONZALO LAGUARDA whose telephone number is (571)272-5920. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 M-Th Alt. F.
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GONZALO LAGUARDA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3747 email: gonzalo.laguarda@uspto.gov
/GONZALO LAGUARDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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