Ex Parte Digiuseppe

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Mar 28, 2012

11403636 (B.P.A.I. Mar. 28, 2012)

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.
11/403,636 04/13/2006 Gianfranco Digiuseppe 2005P22863US 9067
7590 03/29/2012
Siemens Corporation
Intellectual Property Department
170 Wood Avenue South
Iselin, NJ 08830
EXAMINER
LEE, CYNTHIA K
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
1726
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
03/29/2012 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 BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
____________

Ex parte GIANFRANCO DIGIUSEPPE
____________

Appeal 2011-002670
Application 11/403,636
Technology Center 1700
____________

Before BRADLEY R. GARRIS, LINDA M. GAUDETTE, and
MARK NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judges.

GARRIS, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

Appeal 2011-002670
Application 11/403,636

2
Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner's
decision rejecting claims 1-6, 13, and 14. We have jurisdiction under
35 U.S.C. § 6.
We AFFIRM.

Appellant claims a solid oxide fuel cell comprising a flat support tube
having ribs 6 adapted to conduct electricity and an interconnection 3
completely covering a side of the tube, wherein "the number of ribs is
adapted to equalize any current path length so that each rib would have
nearly equivalent resistances" (independent claim 1(see also independent
claim 13); Fig. 3).
Representative claim 1 reads as follows:
1. A solid oxide fuel cell comprising:
at least one flat support tube having a first side, a second
side, and an outer surface, the tube having closed end sides and
ribs adapted to conduct electricity; and
at least one interconnection contacting the full surface of
the outer surface of the first side of the tube, completely
covering that side near to the closed end sides;
wherein the at least one flat support tube comprises a
solid electrolyte layer that contacts the second side outer
surface of the support tube and the closed end sides contact and
overlap the interconnection on the first side;
wherein at least one anode is applied over the electrolyte,
and wherein the number of ribs is adapted to equalize any
current path length so that each rib would have nearly
equivalent resistances allowing current to flow through all the
surface area of the support tube.
Appeal 2011-002670
Application 11/403,636

3
The Examiner rejects claims 1, 4-6, and 13 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)
as anticipated by Reichner (US 4,874,678 issued Oct. 17, 1989) and rejects
claims 2, 3, and 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Reichner
alone or further in view of Ruhl (US 6,440,596 B1 issued Aug. 27, 2002).
Appellant presents argument directed to independent claims 1 and 13
only, of which claim 1 is representative (Br. 4-5). Accordingly, the appealed
claims including the separately rejected dependent claims will stand or fall
with independent claim 1.
We sustain the above rejections for the reasons expressed in the
Answer and below.
The Examiner finds that Reichner's fuel cell is structurally
indistinguishable from the fuel cell claimed by Appellant (Ans. 4-6).
Appellant's sole argument is that "the configuration of Reichner can
not provide equalized current length so that each rib would have nearly
equivalent resistances allowing current to flow through all of the surface
area of the support tube" (Br. 5).
Appellant provides no technical reasoning of meaningful specificity in
support of this argument. Moreover, the structural correspondence between
Appellant's and Reichner's fuel cells, particularly the interconnections and
ribs, reasonably supports a determination that the ribs of the Reichner fuel
cell inherently possess the independent claim characteristics of equalized
current path length and nearly equivalent resistances. See In re Schreiber,
128 F.3d 1473, 1478 (Fed. Cir. 1997). For the reasons given in the Answer
and above, Appellant's argument is not persuasive.

The decision of the Examiner is affirmed.
Appeal 2011-002670
Application 11/403,636

4
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136.

ORDER
AFFIRMED
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