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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 19-31 are examined in the office action of which claims 19-30 were amended and claim 31 was newly added in Applicant’s reply.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 19 line 3 repeats the verb at the end. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 19-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 19-31, claim 19 was amended from “melting of solid, ferrous starting material in a smelting unit” to “melting of a starting material in a smelting unit” as well as from “b) continuously feeding solid starting materials containing iron and carbon as well as air, oxygen and/or natural gas into the smelting unit” to “b) continuously feeding the solid starting material into the smelting unit”. Claims 20-21 also removed the term “solid starting materials”. However, instant specification only teaches the making of steel strip with the step of melting and the starting material to be that of a “solid, ferrous starting material” and indicates that the solid starting materials that is fed into the smelting unit contains iron and carbon as well as air, oxygen and/or natural gas.
In addition, claim 19 was amended from “A method for producing steel strip” to “A method comprising:” whereas instant disclosure teaches of producing a steel strip “in particular hot strip, in the form of wound coils or in the form of folded individual sheets, in which a steel melt is first produced, then this steel melt is formed into a strand in a continuous casting system, then the strand is fed into a heating unit either undivided or subdivided into individual slabs, and then the heated strand or the heated slabs are rolled into a strip in a downstream rolling mill.”
In addition, instant claim 19 was amended from “f) feeding the strand or the slabs produced therefrom into the heating unit and setting the required rolling temperature, wherein the strand or the slab enters the heating unit directly at a temperature greater than A3-20 K, such that the volume fraction of ferrite in the near-surface regions of the strand or the slab is less than 5 vol % down to a depth of at least 5 mm, preferably down to a depth of 10 mm” to “f) feeding the slabs into the heating unit, wherein the slab enters the heating unit directly at a temperature greater than A3-20 K”. However, instant specification that it enters at a specific temperature ensuring that “the volume fraction of ferrite in the near-surface regions of the strand or the slab is less than 5 vol % down to a depth of at least 5 mm” whereas instant amendment remove any such microstructural limitation for the steel. Moreover, the specification teaches that the slab is fed and required rolling temperature is set and the slab enters. However, instant amendment remove the setting of the required rolling temperature.
Therefore, the claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 19-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 19-30, The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors.
Regarding claims 19-31, claim 19 is indefinite as it recites unclear steps and limitations. Specifically, lines 3-8 recite producing a steel melt, forming it into a strand, feeding to a heating unit to make heated slabs that is then rolled into strip. This is followed by lines 9-22 reciting the compositional requirements of the steel melt. However, line 23 onwards recite “wherein the method further comprises” and steps a to g which recites making a melt and ending with a strip. Therefore, it is unclear if the method is directed to making one strip, multiple strips as they contain two disjointed groups of process steps.
It is unclear whether the steel melt, “the steel melt” melt, “the melt” in claim 19 are the same or different. Claim 22 recites “the melt results” – it is unclear if this refers to any or all of the melt as amended in claim 19. Please also note that the dependent claims also have recitations of “the melt” that require resolution upon resolution of the issues identified in claim 19.
The claim also recites “slab”, “slabs”, “heated slabs” and “the slabs” in claim 19 thereby making it unclear if there is one slab or multiple slabs.
There is “strip” and “the strip” in claim 19 where the first occurs in line 7 and latter is recited in the last line. However, as noted above, the process steps are disjointed therefore making it unclear whether they all refer to the same steel strip.
Claim 27 recites “the strand downstream of the last segment of the continuous casting system”. However, claim 19 recites multiple instances of “continuous casting system”. Therefore, there is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 28 recites “the production line”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 30 recites “the steps”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Regarding claims 19-31, the term “a continuously strong boiling reaction” in claim 19 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. As neither the claim nor the instant specification defines what is “a continuously strong boiling reaction”, it is unclear what is meant by the term and what would or would not satisfy the “continuously strong boiling reaction”. Claims 20-31 are dependents of claim 19, do not resolve the aforementioned issues and thereby also indefinite.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JOPHY S. KOSHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733
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