DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on May 13, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The reply filed on May 13, 2026 has been entered into the prosecution for the application. Currently, claims 11, 14, 17-18, 20-22, and 25 are pending, with claims 17-18 and 20-22 being withdrawn.
All prior art grounds of rejection are withdrawn.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 11, 14, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2013020728 A to Takahashi (with reference to the previously provided machine translation, hereinafter “Takahashi”) in view of U.S. Pat. No. 6,430,966 to Meinhardt et al. (hereinafter “Meinhardt”).
Regarding claim 11, Takahashi teaches a glass-ceramic/silver composite (bonded part formed from two components, Abstract) comprising a silver phase (¶ 0010) and a glass-ceramic phase comprising one or more crystalline ceramic phases (¶ 0010; Abstract). Takahashi teaches wherein the glass-ceramic/silver composite is electrically conductive (¶ 0011). Takahashi teaches wherein said composite comprises 50-80 wt% of said silver phase, based on the combined weight of said silver phase, said one or more crystalline ceramic phases and any residual glass (¶ 0014); this is a range which substantially overlaps the claimed range of 45-60 wt%. In a case where claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art,” a prima facie case of obviousness exists (see MPEP 2144.05).
Takahashi is silent as to chromium; chromium is not specified as a component material in any of the compositions detailed in Takahashi. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably conclude that the glass-ceramic/silver composite of Takahashi is chromium-free.
Takahashi teaches that the material forming the one or more crystalline ceramic phases of the glass-ceramic phase includes SiO2, Al2O3, and, preferably, MgO and/or CaO (both alkaline earth oxides). However, Takahashi does not explicitly teach that the one or more crystalline ceramic phases are formed from a material having the general formula xAO-yAl2O3-zSiO2 in which AO represents an alkaline earth oxide or mixture of alkaline earth oxides and x, y and z represent the mol% of AO, Al2O3 and SiO2, respectively, and in which x = 35-55 mol%, y = 0-15 mol%, and z = 40-60 mol%.
Meinhardt, in the same field of endeavor, teaches a glass-ceramic material (Abstract) comprising about 20 mol% to about 50 mol% MAOx (where MAOx is one or more of CaO, SrO, and BaO), about 2 mol% to about 15 mol% of MBOy (where MBOy is “includes but is not limited to Al2O3, B2O3, P2O5, Ga2O3, PbO and combinations thereof”), and about 45 mol% to about 70 mol% SiO2 (Col. 3, lines 53-58; see also Fig. 1). In particular, Meinhardt discloses multiple example embodiments that include molar proportions of BaO, Al2O3, and SiO2 that satisfy the general formula xAO-yAl2O3-zSiO2 in which x = 35-55 mol%, y = 0-15 mol%, and z = 40-60 mol% (see Glass ID# 9-13 in Table E1-1).
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Table E1-1 from Meinhardt
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Takahashi by substituting the one of the glass-ceramic compositions of Meinhardt as the glass-ceramic phase in the glass-ceramic/silver composite of Takahashi. Motivation to do so would come from a desire to maintain a substantially constant coefficient of thermal expansion from the glass to crystalline phase during production of the composite (see Meinhardt at Col. 3, lines 1-4).
Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt does not explicitly teach that the glass-ceramic phase has a dilatometric softening temperature above 1000°C. However, given that the glass frit composition taught by Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt is substantially similar to the precursor glasses of the claimed invention (see Applicant’s Specification, p. 23, Table 1), one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect that the glass-ceramic phase of Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt, like the glass-ceramic phase of the claimed invention, would also necessarily possess a dilatometric softening temperature above 1000°C and would contain less than 10 volume % of residual glass phase. Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established (see MPEP 2112.01(I), first paragraph).
Thus, in view of Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt, an electrically conductive, chromium-free glass-ceramic/silver composite according to claim 11 would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 14, Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt teaches the composite material as claimed in claim 11, as set forth above. Since Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt teaches a substantially similar in composition as the claimed invention, and since Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt in particular teaches that the glass-ceramic/silver composite comprises 50-80 wt% of silver phase (Takahashi at ¶ 0014), one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect that said silver phase is necessarily present in an amount of 20 mol% or more of said composite material.
Regarding claim 25, Takahashi as modified by Meinhardt teaches a material that is substantially free of both B2O3 and P2O5 (see Takahashi at ¶ 0029; see also Meinhardt, Table E1-1).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed May 13, 2026 with respect to claim(s) 11, 14, and 25 have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Specifically, Applicant’s arguments are directed generally towards showing that one of ordinary skill in the art would not be motivated to combine the teachings of Takahashi and U.S. Pat. Pub. 2018/0346370 to Kobayashi (hereinafter “Kobayashi”). Since the new ground of rejection set forth above does not rely upon Kobayashi in any way, Applicant’s arguments are moot.
Conclusion
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/P.A.F./Examiner, Art Unit 1731
/JENNIFER A SMITH/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1731
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