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 .
Response to Amendments
The amendment filed 28th August 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome each and every objection and 112(b) rejections previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 30th July 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leigh, Jr. (GB 801746) in view of Whitmore (US 2014/0083518) and Rice et al. (US 2016/0348531).
Regarding claim 1, Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) a jet aircraft (A) comprising an engine duct/air intake duct (15) having an inlet/inlet end (15a) for receiving an incident airflow /airstream and an outlet for directing airflow to an engine face/conical fairing (20), the engine duct/air intake duct (15) comprising an airflow modifying device/header (D) located preceding the engine face (Pg. 1 Lines 10-16, Pg. 2 Lines 52-63, 100-105), wherein the airflow modifying device comprises:
a flow inlet (clearly shown in the figure below);
a flow outlet (clearly shown in the figure below); and
a flow passage extending from the flow inlet to the flow outlet (space between flow inlet and flow outlet is a flow passage),
wherein the device is arranged to receive an incident air flow/airstream (clearly seen in figure 1) (Pg. 3 Lines 10-11), and
wherein the device is configured to at least partially modulate the air flow in the flow passage to improve flow ordering of the incident airflow/airstream at the engine face (tubes (32s) of the device streamlines the airflow), and
at least one pitot sensors/airflow sensing means (clearly shown in the figure below) (Pg. 2 Line 130),
a pressure line/line formed by horizontal portion (37), vertical portion (36) and conduit (49) comprising a first end and a second end, the first end connected to the at least one pitot sensor and the second end configured to be connected to a transducer (clearly shown in the figure below) (Pg. 2 Lines 120-130, Pg. 3 Lines 1-130),
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but it is silent about the jet aircraft wherein the airflow modifying device is located immediately preceding the engine face.
Whitmore ‘518 teaches (figures 1-2) an aircraft comprising engine (18) and a flow modulator/airflow modifying device (22) located immediately preceding the engine face (16) (clearly seen in figure 2) (Para 0020, 0025).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Whitmore ‘518 to configure the jet aircraft wherein the airflow modifying device is located immediately preceding the engine face.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would ensure improved flow ordering to the air passing from an inlet duct to the engine (Para 0025).
Modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 is silent about the jet aircraft comprising:
the airflow modifying device further comprising:
at least one pitot sensor integral with the device located at the flow inlet; and
wherein the pressure line is completely enclosed within the device.
Rice et al. ‘531 teaches (figures 1-5B) a pressure probe/airflow modifying device (10) deployed into airstream (A) comprising the engine’s core airflow and includes a base (12), airfoil (14) and kiels/sensors (16s) wherein the kiels/sensors (16s) collect samples from airstream (A) and transmit those samples via internal tubing/pressure lines (24s) to hypo tubing (22s) and wherein the pressure probe/airflow modifying device (10) is additively manufactured (Para 0011, 0013, 0019).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Rice et al. ‘531 to configure the jet aircraft comprising:
the airflow modifying device further comprising:
at least one pitot sensor integral with the device located at the flow inlet; and
wherein the pressure line is completely enclosed within the device.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would integrate the pitot sensor within the airflow modifying device and enhances improve airflow by reducing additional external components on the duct.
Regarding claims 2-3, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the device is a spoke design comprising:
a core hub (clearly shown in the figure below);
at least one blade/ tube (32) extending radially therefrom,
wherein each blade comprises a blade root proximal to the core hub and a blade tip at a distil end (clearly seen in the figure below), the pressure line arranged to connect the at least one pitot sensor to the blade root or tip (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531; sensors/kiels are connected to both blade root and tip (clearly seen in figure 1)).
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Regarding claim 4, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft of claim 3 but it is silent about the jet aircraft wherein the blade comprises a cross-sectional thickness in a range of 3 mm to 10 mm.
However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to configure the jet aircraft wherein the blade comprises a cross-sectional thickness in a range of 3 mm to 10 mm, since applicant has not disclosed that the cross-sectional thickness solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally as well with different cross-sectional thickness.
Regarding claim 5, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the at least one pitot sensor is one of a plurality of pitot sensors (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531).
Regarding claim 7, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft of claim 1 but it is silent about the jet aircraft comprising the transducer located in the device.
However, the Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the art to locate sensor and transducer close to each other. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to configure the jet aircraft comprising the transducer located in the device.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would enhance data accuracy.
Regarding claim 8, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the device comprises a de-icing mechanism (Pg. 2 Lines 64-65)
Regarding claim 9, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the device comprising a second sensor comprising static pressure sensor (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531; there are multiple sensors/kiels).
Regarding claim 10, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the engine duct is a convoluted engine duct (duct changes directions thus is convoluted; clearly seen in figure 1).
Regarding claim 11, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) a method of using the airflow modifying device of the jet aircraft according to claim 1, the method comprising:
providing an incident airflow/airstream (Pg. 3 lines 10-11); and
measuring, using the at least one pitot sensor, air pressure at the airflow modifying device (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531).
Regarding claim 12, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) a method of manufacturing the airflow modifying device of the jet aircraft according to claim 1, the method comprising:
providing a blade/tube (32) (Pg. 2 Line 103-105); and
forming a channel/ horizontal portion (37), vertical portion (36) and conduit (49) in the blade to form the pressure line (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531).
Regarding claim 13, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the method further comprising forming the channel/ horizontal portion (37), vertical portion (36) and conduit (49) by additive manufacturing technique (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leigh, Jr. (GB 801746), Whitmore (US 2014/0083518) and Rice et al. (US 2016/0348531) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Takami et al. (US 2023/0314195).
Regarding claim 6, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft of claim 1 but it is silent about the jet aircraft wherein the at least one pitot sensor comprises a bell mouth orifice.
Takami et al. ‘195 teaches (figure 7) a second flow velocity and flow rate sensor attached to the bell mouth (40) provided at a blow-in port (27b) of the second fan (27) (Para 0095; bell mouth (40) is a part of a sensor)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Takami et al. ‘195 to configure the jet aircraft wherein the at least one pitot sensor comprises a bell mouth orifice.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would guide the fluid smoothly and get accurate reading.
Claim(s) 14-17 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leigh, Jr. (GB 801746) in view of Whitmore (US 2014/0083518), Rice et al. (US 2016/0348531) and Carreiro Spencer et al. (US 2023/0228638).
Regarding claim 14, Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) a jet aircraft (A) comprising an engine duct/air intake duct (15) having an inlet/inlet end (15a) for receiving an incident airflow /airstream and an outlet for directing airflow to an engine face/conical fairing (20), the engine duct/air intake duct (15) comprising an airflow modifying device/header (D) located preceding the engine face (Pg. 1 Lines 10-16, Pg. 2 Lines 52-63, 100-105), wherein the airflow modifying device comprises:
a flow inlet (clearly shown in the figure below);
a flow outlet (clearly shown in the figure below); and
a flow passage extending from the flow inlet to the flow outlet (space between flow inlet and flow outlet is a flow passage),
wherein the device is arranged to receive an incident air flow/airstream (clearly seen in figure 1) (Pg. 3 Lines 10-11), and
wherein the device is configured to at least partially modulate the air flow in the flow passage to improve flow ordering of the incident airflow/airstream at the engine face (tubes (32s) of the device streamlines the airflow), and
at least one pitot sensors/airflow sensing means (clearly shown in the figure below) (Pg. 2 Line 130),
wherein the at least one pitot sensors/airflow sensing means (clearly shown in the figure below) is arranged to sample the incident airflow (Pg. 2 Line 130),
a pressure line/line formed by horizontal portion (37), vertical portion (36) and conduit (49) comprising a first end and a second end, the first end connected to the at least one pitot sensor and the second end configured to be connected to a transducer (clearly shown in the figure below) (Pg. 2 Lines 120-130, Pg. 3 Lines 1-130),
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but it is silent about the jet aircraft wherein the airflow modifying device is located immediately preceding the engine face.
Whitmore ‘518 teaches (figures 1-2) an aircraft comprising engine (18) and a flow modulator/airflow modifying device (22) located immediately preceding the engine face (16) (clearly seen in figure 2) (Para 0020, 0025).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Whitmore ‘518 to configure the jet aircraft wherein the airflow modifying device is located immediately preceding the engine face.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would ensure improved flow ordering to the air passing from an inlet duct to the engine (Para 0025).
Modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 is silent about the jet aircraft comprising:
the airflow modifying device further comprising:
at least one pitot sensor integral with the device located at the flow inlet; and
wherein the pressure line is completely enclosed within the device.
Rice et al. ‘531 teaches (figures 1-5B) a pressure probe/airflow modifying device (10) deployed into airstream (A) comprising the engine’s core airflow and includes a base (12), airfoil (14) and kiels/sensors (16s) wherein the kiels/sensors (16s) collect samples from airstream (A) and transmit those samples via internal tubing/pressure lines (24s) to hypo tubing (22s) and wherein the pressure probe/airflow modifying device (10) is additively manufactured (Para 0011, 0013, 0019).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Rice et al. ‘531 to configure the jet aircraft comprising:
the airflow modifying device further comprising:
at least one pitot sensor integral with the device located at the flow inlet; and
wherein the pressure line is completely enclosed within the device.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would integrate the pitot sensor within the airflow modifying device and enhances improve airflow by reducing additional external components on the duct.
Modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 is silent about the jet aircraft comprising:
the airflow modifying device wherein the at least one pitot sensor does not protrude from an outer surface of the device and is arranged to sample the incident airflow at the flow inlet before the device modulates the incident airflow in the flow passage.
Carreiro Spencer et al. ‘638 teaches air pressure sensors embedded along a blade profile (Para 0007).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Carreiro Spencer et al. ‘6381 to configure the jet aircraft comprising:
the airflow modifying device wherein the at least one pitot sensor does not protrude from an outer surface of the device and is arranged to sample the incident airflow at the flow inlet before the device modulates the incident airflow in the flow passage.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would enhance aerodynamic by streamlining the airflow as protrusion creates airflow disturbances.
Regarding claims 15-16, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the device is a spoke design comprising:
a core hub (clearly shown in the figure below);
at least one blade/ tube (32) extending radially therefrom,
wherein each blade comprises a blade root proximal to the core hub and a blade tip at a distil end (clearly seen in the figure below), the pressure line arranged to connect the at least one pitot sensor to the blade root or tip (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531; sensors/kiels are connected to both blade root and tip (clearly seen in figure 1)).
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Regarding claim 17, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the device comprises a plurality of pitot sensors, each of the plurality of pitot sensor being integral with the device and located at flow inlet (as modified by Rice et al. ‘531).
Regarding claim 19, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft of claim 17 but it is silent about the jet aircraft comprising the transducer located in the device.
However, the Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the art to locate sensor and transducer close to each other. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to configure the jet aircraft comprising the transducer located in the device.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would enhance data accuracy.
Regarding claim 20, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft wherein the engine duct is a convoluted engine duct (duct changes directions thus is convoluted; clearly seen in figure 1).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leigh, Jr. (GB 801746), Whitmore (US 2014/0083518), Rice et al. (US 2016/0348531) and Carreiro Spencer et al. (US 2023/0228638) as applied to claim 14 above, and further in view of Takami et al. (US 2023/0314195).
Regarding claim 18, modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 teaches (figures 1-8) the jet aircraft of claim 14 but it is silent about the jet aircraft wherein the at least one pitot sensor comprises a bell mouth orifice.
Takami et al. ‘195 teaches (figure 7) a second flow velocity and flow rate sensor attached to the bell mouth (40) provided at a blow-in port (27b) of the second fan (27) (Para 0095; bell mouth (40) is a part of a sensor)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Leigh, Jr. ‘746 to incorporate the teachings of Takami et al. ‘195 to configure the jet aircraft wherein the at least one pitot sensor comprises a bell mouth orifice.
One of ordinary skill in art would recognize that doing so would guide the fluid smoothly and get accurate reading.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 28th August 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Leigh , Jr ‘746 does not disclose the arrangement, however as explained in the rejection above, air flows to the engine via. a header (D) thus, the header (D) has an inlet and an outlet and the radial tubes (32s) of the header comes in contact with the airflow which streamlines/modulates the airflow entering the engine.
In response to applicant's argument with respect to Rice et al. ‘531, the test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ASHESH DANGOL whose telephone number is (303)297-4455. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 0730-0530 MT.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua J Michener can be reached at (571) 272-1467. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ASHESH DANGOL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3642
