Appeal No. 2004-1013
Application No. 09/985,553
disclosure to the effect that the amount of fuel and exhaust gases
provided to the plasma reactor may be determined in accordance with
certain undefined “other variables” (column 10, line 18) and
“engine conditions (mapped or sensed)” (column 13, lines 43-44) is
insufficient to establish that one skilled in the art would readily
understand that Balko envisions and provides for an embodiment
where an air/fuel ratio of the engine is used to control the plasma
reactor, as the examiner appears to urge.
As to the Oshima reference additionally relied upon by the
examiner in the rejection of claims 1, 12, and 13, the examiner
does not rely on this reference for a teaching of controlling a
reformer in accordance with an air/fuel ratio of an internal
combustion engine.1 Rather, the examiner relies on Oshima solely
for its teaching of a reformer that produces a reducing gas
containing at least hydrogen. Accordingly, even if we were to
agree with the examiner that it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art in view of the combined teachings of
Balko and Oshima to have utilized a reformer in Balko that produces
1Based on Oshima’s statement at column 1, lines 9-16, that
the invention thereof relates to an exhaust gas purification
system capable of reducing NOx included in exhaust gas from an
internal combustion engine independently of an operating air/fuel
ratio, it would appear doubtful that Oshima contains any such
teaching.
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007