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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 02/25/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 2 and 3 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/25/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 04/21/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 1 is 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.
Claim 1 recites that “wherein, in an end surface of the wound core that is in a sheet thickness direction of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheets and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheets, in the sheet thickness direction, when a surface roughness…” It is unclear if there are limitations missing. The recitation of “in an edge surface…” suggests a feature of the end surface however no feature is recited. It is further unclear if the end surface is supposed to relate to the surface roughness through the thickness direction or if these are unrelated features.
For sake of further examination, any wound core having an end surface will be viewed as meeting the limitations of “in an end surface of the wound core that is in a sheet thickness direction of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheets and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheets” and the surface roughness will be viewed as not relating to the recited end surface.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shiota et al. (US 2016/0336100).
Regarding claim 1, Shiota discloses a wound core having a shape including a rectangular hollow portion in the center and a portion in which a stack of grain-oriented electrical steel sheets in which planar portions and bent portions are alternately continuous in a longitudinal direction are stacked in the sheet thickness direction the layers are connected to each other via at least one joining part (14) (Fig. 3 and 8). The joint portion (14) formed from two ends of the core material (0027), and are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheets (Fig. 3).
Shiota does not expressly teach when a surface roughness of a steel sheet portion in a direction connecting a center in the sheet thickness direction of the sheet positioned on the innermost periphery of the wound core and a center in the sheet thickness direction of the sheet positioned on the outermost periphery of the wound core is Ra1, and a surface roughness of the sheet in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction on an end surface of the planar portion of the sheet is Rac, a ratio Ra1/Rac between Ra1 and Rac satisfies 1.5≤Ra1/Rac≤12.0. However, as the specification teaches that these are arbitrary points on the sheet (see e.g., specification paragraph 0008) a person of ordinary skill may select points which will anticipate the relationship as claimed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Sturcken (US 2018/0295724) teaching lowering surface roughness at surface interfaces.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALICIA WEYDEMEYER whose telephone number is (571)270-1727. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-4.
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/ALICIA J WEYDEMEYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781
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