Ex Parte Zahdeh et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Aug 22, 2016

13052178 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 22, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/052, 178 03/21/2011
74175 7590 08/24/2016
Harness Dickey & Pierce, P.L.C. (GM)
P.O. Box 828
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
AKRAM R. ZAHDEH
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
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
P013636-PTUS-RRM 6031
EXAMINER
MORALES, OMAR
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3747
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
08/24/2016 ELECTRONIC
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.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
gm-inbox@hdp.com
troymailroom@hdp.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte AKRAM R. ZAHDEH and NASER I. HINEITI
Appeal2014-005668
Application 13/052, 178
Technology Center 3700
Before JENNIFER D. BAHR, STEFAN STAICOVICI, and
ARTHUR M. PESLAK, Administrative Patent Judges.
BAHR, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Akram R. Zahdeh and Naser I. Hineiti (Appellants) appeal under
35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1--4 and
10-20. 1 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
1 Claims 5-9 have been canceled. Appeal Br. 12 (Claims App.).
Appeal2014-005668
Application 13/052, 178
THE CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER
Claims 1 and 14, reproduced below, with emphasis added, are
illustrative of the claimed subject matter.
1. An engine assembly comprising:
an engine block defining a first cylinder bore and a first
cylinder cooling jacket at an outer periphery of the first cylinder
bore;
a cylinder head coupled to the engine block and defining a
first set of four ports in communication with the first cylinder
bore and a first port cooling jacket including a first region
completely surrounding a first one of the first set of four ports, a
second region completely surrounding a second one of the first
set of four ports, a third region completely surrounding a third
one of the first set of four ports and a fourth region
completely surrounding a fourth one of the first set of four ports;
and a coolant supply passage extending through the engine block
and in communication with each of the first cylinder cooling
jacket and the first port cooling jacket, the first port cooling
jacket defining a first coolant feed passage directly connected to
the coolant supply passage and the first region of the first port
cooling jacket and a second coolant feed passage separate from
the first coolant feed passage and directly connected to the
coolant supply passage and the second region of the first port
cooling jacket, the first port cooling jacket defining a
first coolant outlet passage connected to a coolant return passage
extending through the engine block on an opposite side of the
first cylinder bore from the coolant supply passage and directly
connected to the third region of the first port cooling jacket and
a second coolant outlet passage separate from the first coolant
outlet passage and connected to the coolant return passage and
directly connected to the fourth region of the first port cooling
jacket.
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Application 13/052, 178
14. An engine assembly comprising:
an engine block defining a first cylinder bore and a first
cylinder cooling jacket at an outer periphery of the first cylinder
bore;
a cylinder head coupled to the engine block and defining a
first port cooling jacket for a first set of ports in communication
with the first cylinder bore, the first set of ports including first
and second ports and the first port coolingjacket including a first
region extending completely around the first port, a second
region extending completely around the second port, a first
coolant feed passage extending to the first region and a
second coolant feed passage extending to the second region; and
a coolant supply passage extending through the engine
block and in direct communication with the first cylinder cooling
jacket, the first coolant feed passage and the second coolant feed
passage, the first coolant feed passage, the second coolant
feed passage and the first cylinder cooling jacket each being
directly connected to a coolant return passage extending through
the engine block on an opposite side of the first cylinder bore
from the coolant supply passage.
REJECTIONS
I. Claims 1, 10-14, and 16-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as anticipated by Yamada (US 4,730,579, iss. Mar. 15,
1988).
II. Claims 2--4 and 15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Yamada and Sugano (US 6,997,144 B2, iss. Feb.
14, 2006).
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Application 13/052, 178
DISCUSSION
Rejection I
In contesting the rejection of claim 1 as anticipated by Yamada,
Appellants contend that Yamada does "not disclose a first port cooling
jacket including first, second, third, and fourth regions that each completely
surround one of the set of four ports, as claimed." Appeal Br. 7 (emphasis
added). Rather, Appellants contend that Yamada discloses three coolant
passages 13, 14, and 15, which are separated by gaps and which, thus, "do
not completely surround any of the ports, as claimed." Id.
The Examiner's rejection states:
Yamada discloses ... a first port cooling jacket (col. 6, lines 34-
43) (Fig. 2) including a first region completely surrounding a first
one (8a) of the first set of four ports, a second region completely
surrounding a second one ( 6) of the first set of four ports, a third
region completely surrounding a third one (8b) of the first set of
four ports and a fourth region completely surrounding a fourth
one (7) of the first set of four ports.
Final Act. 2. The Examiner explains that "the Examiner defines the region's
wall portions [as] part of the jackets and these regions completely surround
each one of the ports." Ans. 12.
As illustrated in Yamada' s Figure 2, intake port side lower coolant
passage 13, exhaust side lower coolant passage 14, and combustion chamber
side higher coolant passage 15 do not completely surround, either
individually, or together, any ofYamada's intake ports 6, 7 or Yamada's
exhaust ports 8a, 8b. In finding that Yamada discloses the "completely
surrounding" feature of claim 1, asserted by Appellants to be lacking, the
Examiner considers the material of cylinder head 2, in which the ports and
the coolant passages are formed, to be part of the first port cooling jacket.
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Application 13/052, 178
Thus, we understand the Examiner's position to be that, because the cylinder
head material completely surrounds each of the ports, and also forms the
walls defining the coolant passages, Yamada discloses a first port cooling
jacket having first through fourth regions, each completely surrounding one
of the ports.
The Examiner's position is premised on an unreasonable construction
of the term "cooling jacket." A person having ordinary skill in the art would
understand from the description and illustrations of first port cooling jacket
50 and first cylinder cooling jacket 42 in the present application that the term
"cooling jacket" refers to a conduit defined either in the cylinder head (in the
case of the first port cooling jacket) or in the engine block (in the case of the
first cylinder cooling jacket) through which coolant flows. See, e.g., Spec.,
para. 4 (stating, "[t]he engine block may define ... a first cylinder coolant
jacket"; "[t]he cylinder head may define a first port cooling jacket"; and
"[t]he first port cooling jacket may define a first head coolant flow path in a
parallel flow arrangement with a coolant flow path defined by the first
cylinder cooling jacket"); Fig. 2 (depicting first port cooling jacket 50, first
region 126 and third region 130 of first port cooling jacket 50, and first
cylinder cooling jacket 42 as conduits defined in the cylinder head and
engine block for coolant flow). Moreover, such a construction is clear from
the context of the language of claims 1 and 14 themselves, which recite "an
engine block defining ... a first cylinder cooling jacket" and "a cylinder
head ... defining ... a first port cooling jacket" (claim 1) or "a cylinder
head ... defining a first port cooling jacket" (claim 14). Appeal Br. 11, 14
(Claims App.). Reading the first port coo ling jacket as including all of the
structure of the cylinder head and the engine block, as the Examiner does, is
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Application 13/052, 178
unreasonable, as it is not consistent with the manner in which "cooling
jacket" is used in Appellants' Specification, and it does not distinguish
between the cylinder head or engine block itself and a cooling jacket, i.e., a
conduit through which coolant flows, defined therein.
For the above reasons, the Examiner fails to establish by a
preponderance of the evidence that Yamada discloses an engine assembly
comprising a cylinder head defining a first set of four ports and "a first port
cooling jacket including a first region completely surrounding a first one of
the first set of four ports, ... and a fourth region completely surrounding a
fourth one of the first set of four ports," as called for in claim 1.
Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection of claim 1 or its dependent
claims 10-13 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by Yamada.
In contesting the rejection of claim 14 as anticipated by Yamada,
Appellants submit that Yamada does "not disclose a cooling jacket with first
and second regions each extending completely around a port, as claimed."
Appeal Br. 9. The Examiner's findings with regard to these limitations of
claim 14 are essentially the same as those quoted above in addressing claim
1. In particular, the Examiner's rejection states, in pertinent part:
Yamada teaches that the first set of ports including first and
second ports (8a, 6) and the first port cooling jacket including
what is understood from the provided structure as a first region
extending completely around the first port (8a), a second region
extending completely around the second port (6) (Fig. 2).
Final Act. 5; see also Ans. 12 (explaining that "the Examiner defines the
region's wall portions [as] part of the jackets and these regions completely
surround each one of the ports").
For the reasons set forth above, the Examiner fails to establish by a
preponderance of the evidence that Yamada discloses an engine assembly
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comprising a cylinder head defining a "first port cooling jacket for a first set
of ports ... including first and second ports and the first port cooling jacket
including a first region extending completely around the first port, a second
region extending completely around the second port," as called for in claim
14. Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection of claim 14 or its
dependent claims 16-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by
Yamada.
Rejection II
The Examiner's application of the teachings of Sugano in rejecting
claims 2--4 and 15 does not remedy the aforementioned deficiency in the
Examiner's findings with regard to Yamada. Accordingly, we also do not
sustain the rejection of claims 2--4 and 15 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Yamada and Sugano.
DECISION
The Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1--4 and 10-20 is reversed.
REVERSED
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