Ex Parte Wiedenmann et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardMay 28, 2013

10510397 (P.T.A.B. May. 28, 2013)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARKOFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 10/510,397 07/14/2005 Hans-Martin Wiedenmann 10191/3600 3134 26646 7590 05/28/2013 KENYON & KENYON LLP ONE BROADWAY NEW YORK, NY 10004 EXAMINER CARLSON, KOURTNEY SALZMAN ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1756 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/28/2013 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte HANS-MARTIN WIEDENMANN, LOTHAR DIEHL, and THOMAS MOSER ____________ Appeal 2012-001363 Application 10/510,397 Technology Center 1700 ____________ Before RICHARD E. SCHAFER, ROMULO H. DELMENDO, and KAREN M. HASTINGS, Administrative Patent Judges. DELMENDO, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL The Appellants1 seek our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of a final rejection of claims 8-21. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm. 1 The Appellants identify the real party in interest as “ROBERT BOSCH GMBH.” Appeal Brief filed May 23, 2011 (“App. Br.”) at 2. Appeal 2012-001363 Application 10/510,397 2 BACKGROUND The invention relates to a method for operating a broadband lambda sensor, which is used to determine oxygen concentration in an exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine. Specification (“Spec.”) 1, ll. 4-6. Representative claim 8 is reproduced below: 8. A method for operating a broadband lambda sensor for determining an oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine operated with a fuel-air mixture, the lambda sensor having a Nernst cell that has a measurement electrode and a reference electrode, the reference electrode being exposed to a reference gas in a reference canal, the lambda sensor also having a pump cell that has an outer electrode exposed to the exhaust gas and an inner electrode situated with the measurement electrode in a measurement chamber, the measurement chamber being separated from the exhaust gas by a diffusion barrier, the method comprising: applying a pump voltage to the pump cell, the pump voltage being set dependent on a Nernst voltage that is present at the Nernst cell and that corresponds to the oxygen concentration in the measurement chamber; driving, dependent on the oxygen content of the exhaust gas, one of a cathodic and anodic pump current via the pump cell, wherein the pump current is cathodic during a lean operation, the lean operation being defined as a stable operation of the internal combustion engine with a fuel-air mixture in a lean range, and wherein the pump current is anodic during a rich operation, the rich operation being defined as a stable operation of the internal combustion engine with a fuel-air mixture in a rich range; and repeatedly reversing the polarity of the pump voltage during at least the lean operation to create a temporary Appeal 2012-001363 Application 10/510,397 3 reversal of direction of the pump current, wherein the repeated reversal of polarity of the pump voltage is carried out during the duration of a post fuel injection in the lean operation of the internal combustion engine. App. Br. (Claims App’x). The Examiner rejected claims 8-21 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Lenfers2 in view of Carnahan.3 Examiner’s Answer entered August 16, 2011 (“Ans.”) 5-10. DISCUSSION The Appellants argue claims 8-21 together, focusing on claim 8. App. Br. 4-6. Therefore, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(vii), we confine our discussion to claim 8, which we select as representative. Claims 9-21 stand or fall with claim 8. The Examiner found that Lenfers describes every limitation of claim 8 including the step of repeatedly reversing the polarity of the pump voltage during long term lean operation. Ans. 5. The Examiner acknowledged, however, that Lenfers does not “teach the engine to be in lean operation during [a] time following a fuel injection . . . or during secondary fuel injection.” Id. at 6. To account for this difference, the Examiner relied on 2 German Patent Publication DE 198 38 466 A1 published March 2, 2000. Our citations are to U.S. Patent 6,301,951 B1 issued to Lenfers on October 16, 2001, which is undisputedly an English language equivalent of the German document. 3 U.S. Patent 3,768,259 issued October 30, 1973. Appeal 2012-001363 Application 10/510,397 4 Carnahan, which was found to teach a “method for controlling engine exhaust comprising the known use of initial and secondary fuel injection during lean operation to maintain a lean range of air-fuel ratio.” Id. The Examiner concluded from these findings that “since [Lenfers] teaches the use of the method of repeated polarity reversal during periods of lean operation and [Carnahan] teaches the time both following and during secondary fuel injections to be lean operation, it would have been obvious to utilize the polarity reversal [technique] during or following secondary fuel injection.” Id. at 9. Relying on the written description found in their Specification, the Appellants contend that the term “post fuel injection” recited in claim 8 refers to an injection of fuel that occurs later in time relative to a previous injection, not a time period after which a single injection occurred. App. Br. 5-6. Based on this construction, the Appellants argue that “Carnahan . . . does not disclose repeated reversal of polarity during this latter (e.g. second) injection.” Id. at 5. We agree with the Appellants that the claim term “post fuel injection” refers to an injection of fuel that occurs later in time relative to a previous injection. Nevertheless, we do not find the Appellants’ arguments persuasive to show reversible error in the Examiner’s rejection. The Examiner found that Carnahan teaches lean operation during secondary fuel injection. Ans. 6, 10. Specifically, Carnahan teaches that “it is sometimes desirous to regulate the air to fuel ratio of the engine to Appeal 2012-001363 Application 10/510,397 5 regulate the character of exhaust gases which are to be introduced to [a] reactor” that is placed in the exhaust line. Col. 3, ll. 23-29. Carnahan states that this may be accomplished, for example, by injection of additional fuel. Col. 3, ll. 29-50. Lenfers teaches the technique of pulse-like reversal of pump current during long term lean operation to obtain certain advantages, including eliminating undesirable polarization on the electrodes of the Nernst measurement cell. Col. 3, l. 20 to col. 4, l. 56. Given the collective teachings of Lenfers and Carnahan, we discern no error in the Examiner’s conclusion that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been prompted to implement Lenfers’s technique of pulse- like polarity reversal during a secondary fuel injection as suggested by Carnahan in order to eliminate undesirable polarization on the electrodes of the Nernst measurement cell. KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc, 550 U.S. 398, 416 (2007) (“The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results.”). For these reasons, we uphold the Examiner’s rejection.4 4 We have considered the Appellants’ arguments in the Reply Brief filed October 17, 2011 but find them to be unpersuasive for the reasons stated above, untimely, or more appropriate for a petition rather than an appeal. Ex parte Borden, 93 USPQ2d 1473 (BPAI 2010) (informative opinion). Appeal 2012-001363 Application 10/510,397 6 SUMMARY The Examiner’s rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) of claims 8-21 as unpatentable over Lenfers in view of Carnahan is affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). AFFIRMED bar