DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to the amendment filed on 10/23/25. As directed by the amendment: claims 1 and 10 have been amended; and no claims claims have been cancelled nor added. Thus, claims 1-10 are presently pending in this application.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Claim 10 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected waveguide connection having a seam, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/06/24.
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 following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laser Beam Welding of Ku Band Waveguides for Communication Satellites (Sirko Pamin, 2017) (hereafter Sirko) in view of Kobe (JP6310266) and Kinsman et al. (US 5814784).
With regard to claim 1, Sirko teaches a method for producing a waveguide (“joining standard waveguide segments such as flanges, bends and straight segments. With the combination of using both a pulsed laser system and wire freed drive along with a special holding mechanism, a complex aluminum waveguide for Ku, band was welded….”, pg. 1, c. 1, ln. 4-8), wherein the waveguide has a first waveguide section and a connecting section (see annotated FIG. 5 of Sirko hereafter);
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wherein the method comprises the step of: connecting the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) to the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) by a laser welding method (FIG. 3 and section II.B: “Laser radiation from a pulsed Nd:YAG source was focused onto the segment pairs simultaneously while auxiliary wire, directed towards the finished part of the weld, was fed into the weld zone … “).
Sirko does not teach wherein the first waveguide section contains a non-weldable aluminum alloy in accordance with one of the specifications of the 2000, 6000, and 7000 series according to American Welding Society (“AWS”). Kobe teaches the aforementioned limitation: “The second member 12 is not particularly limited as long as it is made of a metal material, and may be the same as or different from the first member 11. The second member 12 can be, for example, a light alloy material or a steel material. Specific examples of the light alloy material include aluminum, aluminum alloys (JIS standards 2000 series, 3000 series, 4000 series, 5000 series, 6000 series or 7000 series such as A4043 and A4047), magnesium, magnesium alloys, and the like. It is done. Examples of the steel material include high-tensile steel materials, galvanized steel plates, and stainless steel. The combination of the constituent materials of the first member 11 and the second member 12 to be joined is not particularly limited. For example, the first member 11 can be an aluminum alloy, and the second member 12 can also be an aluminum alloy. Further, the first member 11 can be made of an aluminum alloy….”, pg. 3, ln. 3-10. Accordingly, Kobe teaches that it is known in the art to utilize differing materials (i.e., non-weldable and weldable aluminum alloys) for a welding operation.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device in the Sirko reference, such that the first waveguide section contains a non-weldable aluminum alloy, as suggested and taught by Kobe, for the purpose of providing a weldable surface for multiple metallic components. Furthermore, with regard to the newly presented limitation of “wherein, at a weld seam between the first waveguide section and the connecting section, the laser welding method produces a dynamic melt in which constituent parts of non-weldable aluminum alloy and of the weldable aluminum alloy are mixed during welding operation by the laser welding method” would be inherently present as the aforementioned claimed materials are taught by the prior art citations as described herein and would necessarily require each of the claimed materials to mix during the melting operation facilitated by the laser welding method.
With regard to the newly amended limitation of “without an additional welding filler material”, the written description of the instant patent application explicitly states: the written description of the instant patent application additionally explicitly states that it is known in the art: “In the context of this description, a weldable aluminum alloy is to be understood as an aluminum alloy which can be welded without a welding filler material” (para. [0010]); “For the method described here, laser welding can be carried out with or without welding filler materials. By virtue of the fact that one of the sections consists of or contains a weldable aluminum alloy, it is possible in principle to dispense with a welding filler material, further simplifying the method.” Accordingly, it is submitted that the aforementioned newly amended limitation is not critical to the instant invention as a welding filler material is not required to perform the welding operation. Furthermore, As the claim 1 of the instant patent application explicitly recites that a weldable aluminum alloy in accordance with one of the specifications of the 3000, 4000, and 5000 series according to AWS” and as the instant office action provides teachings which show the various welded materials being constituted of at least one of the aforementioned specifications, it is submitted that it would have been within the level of skill of one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention being made to adapt the cited art to not utilize a filler material in view of the above rationales to thereby reduce the complexity of the subject welding process by omitting a required step/material (i.e., welding filler material).
Notwithstanding the foregoing, assuming it was determined that the above comments presented over the limitations “a dynamic melt in which constituent parts of non-weldable aluminum alloy and of the weldable aluminum alloy are mixed during welding operation by the laser welding method” and “without an additional welding filler material”, Kinsman is cited herein which is analogous to the instant invention relating to laser-welding techniques using pre-heated tool and enlarged beam, and accordingly teaches the aforementioned limitations: “The new welding geometry and practice can also be applied to other difficult-to-weld Al alloys such as 5000 and 6000 series alloys as well as the highly reflective materials noted above.” Additionally, the citation does not utilize/teach a filler (e.g., the term “filler” is not present anywhere within the citation.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device in the Sirko reference, such that “a dynamic melt in which constituent parts of non-weldable aluminum alloy and of the weldable aluminum alloy are mixed during welding operation by the laser welding method” and “without an additional welding filler material”,, as suggested and taught by Kinsman, for the purpose of providing an enhanced weld between difficult to weld/disparate AL alloys.
With regard to claim 2, Sirko teaches the method further comprises: placing the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) with respect to the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5), such that the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) rests against the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) at least pointwise; and connecting the first waveguide section to the connecting section by the laser welding method where the connecting section rests against the first waveguide section (an outer surface at an end (“pointwise”) of the illustrated waveguide section of FIG. 5 is situated within an inner surface at an end (“pointwise”) of the illustrated connecting section of annotated FIG. 5).
With regard to claim 3, Sirko teaches the method further comprises: placing the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) with respect to the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5), such that the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) partially overlaps the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) in the longitudinal direction of the first waveguide section (an outer surface at an end (“overlap location”) of the illustrated waveguide section of FIG. 5 is situated within an inner surface at an end (“overlap location”) of the illustrated connecting section of annotated FIG. 5).
With regard to claim 4, Sirko teaches the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) completely surrounds the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) in the circumferential direction (an outer surface at an end (“circumferential direction”) of the illustrated waveguide section of FIG. 5 is situated within an inner surface at an end (“circumferential direction”) of the illustrated connecting section of annotated FIG. 5).
With regard to claim 5, Sirko teaches the waveguide comprises a second waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5); and wherein the second waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) adjoins the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5).
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With regard to claim 6, Sirko teaches the second waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) is of one-piece design with the connecting section (see annotated FIG. 5).
With regard to claim 7, Sirko teaches the connecting section (annotated FIG. 5) is configured as a sleeve which at least partially overlaps both the first waveguide section and the second waveguide section in the longitudinal direction and completely surrounds them in the circumferential direction on a respective outer surface (an outer surface at an end of the illustrated waveguide section of FIG. 5 is situated within an inner surface at an end of the illustrated connecting section of annotated FIG. 5), wherein the sleeve is connected to the first waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) and the second waveguide section (annotated FIG. 5) by laser welding (“joining standard waveguide segments such as flanges, bends and straight segments. With the combination of using both a pulsed laser system and wire freed drive along with a special holding mechanism, a complex aluminum waveguide for Ku, band was welded….”, pg. 1, c. 1, ln. 4-8).
With regard to claim 8, Sirko does not teach the second waveguide section contains a non-weldable aluminum alloy. The term “non-weldable aluminum alloy” is being interpreted as “For the section or sections made of non-weldable material, an alloy according to the specifications of the 2000, 6000 and 7000 series according to AWS or similar compositions is suitable” further to the written description of the instant patent application at para. [0035]. In view of the foregoing interpretation, Kobe teaches the aforementioned limitation: “The second member 12 is not particularly limited as long as it is made of a metal material, and may be the same as or different from the first member 11. The second member 12 can be, for example, a light alloy material or a steel material. Specific examples of the light alloy material include aluminum, aluminum alloys (JIS standards 2000 series, 3000 series, 4000 series, 5000 series, 6000 series or 7000 series such as A4043 and A4047), magnesium, magnesium alloys, and the like. It is done. Examples of the steel material include high-tensile steel materials, galvanized steel plates, and stainless steel. The combination of the constituent materials of the first member 11 and the second member 12 to be joined is not particularly limited. For example, the first member 11 can be an aluminum alloy, and the second member 12 can also be an aluminum alloy. Further, the first member 11 can be made of an aluminum alloy….”, pg. 3, ln. 3-10.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device in the Sirko reference, such that the second waveguide section contains a non-weldable aluminum alloy, as suggested and taught by Kobe, for the purpose of providing a weldable surface for multiple metallic components.
With regard to claim 9, with regard to the limitations related to the specific selection of aluminum alloys (i.e., “the weldable aluminum alloy has a silicon content of more than 3 percent by weight; wherein the non-weldable aluminum alloy has a silicon content of at most 3 percent by weight”) to be welded with is taught by Kobe as both first and second members 11/12 (which are respectively correlated with the weldable and non-weldable aluminum alloys) as the citation teaches that the first and second members 11/12 may be the same or different metal materials in which “the first member 11 is comprised from a metal material, For example, it can be set as a light alloy material, steel materials, etc. Specific examples of the light alloy material include aluminum, aluminum alloys (JIS standards 2000 series, 3000 series, 4000 series, 5000 series, 6000 series or 7000 series such as A4043 and A4047), magnesium, magnesium alloys, and the like. It is done. Examples of the steel material include high-tensile steel materials, galvanized steel plates, and stainless steel….”, pg. 2, ln. 49 to pg. 3, ln. 2) It should be noted that 4000 series aluminum alloys contain varying amounts of silicon as detailed herafter (e.g., alloy 4006 has 1.0% silicon whereas alloy 4043 has 5.2% silicon (see Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_alloy):
4000 series aluminium alloy nominal composition (% weight) and applications
Alloy Al contents Alloying elements Uses and refs
4006 98.3 Si 1.0; Fe 0.65 Work-hardened or aged
4007 96.3 Si 1.4; Mn 1.2; Fe 0.7; Ni 0.3; Cr 0.1 Work-hardened
4015 96.8 Si 2.0; Mn 1.0; Mg 0.2 Work-hardened
4032 85 Si 12.2; Cu 0.9; Mg 1; Ni 0.9; Forgings
4043 94.8 Si 5.2 Rod, Welding Filler, Brazing Filler
4047 85.5 Si 12.0; Fe 0.8; Cu 0.3; Zn 0.2; Mn 0.15; Mg 0.1 Sheet, cladding, fillers[26]
4543 93.7 Si 6.0; Mg 0.3 architectural extrusions
4643 93.7 Si 4.1; Fe 0.8; Mg 0.2; Zn 0.1 Welding filler for 6000 series
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device in the Sirko reference, such that the weldable aluminum alloy has a silicon content of more than 3 percent by weight; wherein the non-weldable aluminum alloy has a silicon content of at most 3 percent by weight, as suggested and taught by Kobe, for the purpose of providing a weldable surface for multiple metallic components.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/23/25 have been fully considered and are addressed hereafter. The prior art rejection(s) have been adapted as appropriate in view of the newly presented claim amendment(s).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH W ISKRA whose telephone number is (313) 446-4866. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon – Fri: 7:30-5:00.
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/JOSEPH W ISKRA/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761