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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/22/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-9 are pending. Claims 1-8 are presented for this examination. Claim 9 is withdrawn. Claim 1 is amended.
Status of Previous Rejection
All 103 rejections are maintained from previous office action of 03/20/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 06/08/2026 and is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jhajj (NPL document “Accuracy of thermocouples in transient surface temperature measurements dominated by radiant heating” published in November 2014 cited from IDS 11/09/2023) in view of Weinmeister (US20200370139) and evidenced by Wikipedia_Tailor blank.
As for claims 1-8, it is noted instant claim 1 is amended to require “wherein the blank comprises a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other and wherein inserting the blank comprises simultaneously inserting the first blank and the second blank into the heating furnace.”. Hence, scope of claimed invention is changed.
Jhajj discloses hot forming die quenching ultra-high strength steel (Page 1 Col 1 introduction paragraph) which meets claimed method of manufacturing a hot stamping component.
Figure 1 illustrates a roller heath furnace used for the hot forming die quenching by inserting a blank comprising a plating layer of Al-Si formed on at least one surface of the ultr-high strength steel (i.e. claimed base material) to the heath furnace (i.e. claimed heating furnace)
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Figure 3 above has a solid curve represents a relationship of temperature increase rate (dT/dt (K/s) (Y coordinate on the right) vs. heating time (X coordinate in time s) in the furnace P1, P2, P3-1, P3-2 and P4 each represent a heating section. Each heating section has same heating time of 50 seconds.
P1 reads on instant claims required first heating section.
P2 reads on instant claims required second heating section.
Combined P3-1 and P3-2 reads on instant claims required third heating section. P3-1 reads on instant claims required third heating section, 3-1 heating section as required by instant claim 3. P3-2 reads on instant claims required third heating section, 3-2 heating section as required by instant claim 3.
P4 reads on instant claims required fourth heating section. Each first, second and third heating section have different average temperature increase rate change rate. In particular, P3-1 demonstrates that temperature first increases and then decrease throughout the entire heating time which suggests a positive value of average temperature increase rate change rate is changed to a negative value. P3-2 demonstrates that temperature decreases throughout the entire heating time which suggests a negative value of average temperature increase rate change rate. Hence, instant claim 1 required “wherein the third average temperature increase rate changes comprises a section in which a positive value is changed to a negative value” is met.
First and second heating sections temperature increase rate change rate is not liner according to Figure 3 above which meets instant claim 2 required “discontinuous”
Since combined P3-1 and P3-2 meets instant claimed third heating section, instant claim 3 required wherein the 3-1 has a positive value and 3-2 has a negative value is also met. Since difference between the initial temperature increase rate and final temperature increase rate is virtually zero for P3-1 according to Figure 3 above, P3-1 average temperature increase rate change rate is expected to be close to zero. Hence, instant claim 3 required “an absolute value of the 3-1 average temperature increase rate change rate is less than an absolute value of the 3-2 average temperature increase rate change rate” is met.
Figure 3 above further illustrates that both P1 and P2 zones have temperature decreases as heating time increases which suggests a negative value of average temperature increase rate change rate for both P1 and P2 as required by instant claim 4. Since P1 has more temperature decrease than P2 within the same heating time of 50 s which suggests P1 has a bigger absolute value of average temperature increase rate change rate than that of P2, instant claim 4 required “an absolute value of the first average temperature increase rate change rate is greater than an absolute value of the second average temperature increase rate change rate” is met.
Figure 3 above also illustrates that blank temperature heating rate drop to zero and temperature remains constant in the fourth heating section P4 which suggests a fourth average temperature increase rate change rate is zero. Hence, instant claim 5 limitation is met.
Figure 3 also illustrated P3-1 has Initial temperature increase rate is 2.5 K/s, finial temperature increase rate is 2.5 K/s in the corresponding heating time of P3-1 of 50 s. Hence, 3-1 average temperature increase rate change rate is calculated to be (2.5-2.5)/50=0 K/s2. Hence, instant claim 6 required 3-1 average temperature increase rate change rate of 0-0.25 is met.
Figure 3 also illustrated P3-2 has Initial temperature increase rate is 2.5 K/s, finial temperature increase rate is 0 K/s in the corresponding heating time of P3-2 of 50 s. Hence, 3-2 average temperature increase rate change rate is calculated to be (0-2.5)/50=-0.05 K/s2. Hence, instant claim 6 required 3-2 average temperature increase rate change rate of -0.3 to 0 is met.
Figure 3 illustrates P1 has initial temperature increase rate of 22.5 K/s and finale temperature increase rate of 5 K/s in the corresponding heating time of 50 second. Hence, P1 has average temperature increase rate change rate of (5-22.5)/50=-0.35 K/s2, which meets instant claim 7 required first average temperature increase rate change rate of -0.5 to 0 C/s2
Figure 3 illustrates P2 has initial temperature increase rate of 5 K/s and finale temperature increase rate of 2 K/s in the corresponding heating time of 50 second. Hence, P2 has average temperature increase rate change rate of (2-5)/50=-0.06 K/s2, which meets instant claim 7 required second average temperature increase rate change rate range of -0.25 to 0 C/s2
The fact Jhajj discloses heating rate drops due to the latent heat of transformation from ferrite into austenite (Page 3 Col 2 last paragraph) and Figure 3 above illustrates the third heating section P3 is between Ac1 to Ac3 meets instant claim 8 “the base material has a phase transformation in the third heating section”.
Jhaji does not disclose instant claim 1 amendment “wherein the blank comprises a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other and wherein inserting the blank comprises simultaneously inserting the first blank and the second blank into the heating furnace.”.
Weinmeister discloses a method for heating a steel blank which is then hot formed. Weinmesiter discloses the steel blank such as tailor welded blank has thicker side and thinner side. And both thicker and thinner side of the blanks are required to reach the austenitization Ac3 almost at the same time. [0065]
Tailor Welded Blanks (TWB) reads on instant claimed blank comprising a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other as evidenced by Wikipedia_Tailored blank. (Page 1 Under Types lines 1-2)
The fact Weinmeister discloses the steel blank such as tailor welded blank is heated suggests “inserting a blank comprises simultaneously inserting a first blank and a second blank into the heating furnace” as required by amendment.
Jhaji discloses of blanks of varying shapes and thicknesses are used to produce door beams, and depending on its geometry, each type of blank must be heat treated at a certain rate in order to obtain uniform austenitization. Control of the heating rate is realized by adjusting the furnace zone temperatures and roller speed for each type of blank. (Page 1 Col 2 paragraph 1 lines 5-12) That is, Jhajii explicitly discloses blanks being heated can be varying shapes and thicknesses and heating rate control for various structural characteristic of the blank is important to obtain uniform austenitization.
Tailored blanks are used to make e.g. door panels which are thick near the hinges and thin near the lock as evidence by Wikipedia_Tailored blank. (Page 1 paragraph 1 line 2)
Hence, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art, at the time the invention is made, to insert blank such as a tailor welded blank having a first and second blank with different thickness from each other as suggested by Weinmeister, in the process of Jhaji for the purpose of obtaining uniform austenitization when making door panels.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slezak(NPL document “Inferring the specific heat of an ultra high strength steel during the heating stage of hot forming die quenching, through inverse analysis” published in March 2015 cited from IDS 11/09/2023) in view of Weinmeister (US20200370139) and evidenced by Wikipedia_Tailor blank.
As for claims 1-3, 5 and 8, Slezak discloses hot forming die quenching an ultra-high strength steel blanks in a furnace with Al-Si coating layer.
Figure 17 below illustrates dT/dt vs. heating time (t) curve which has four heating sections.
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P1 reads on instant claims required first heating section.
P2 reads on instant claims required second heating section.
Combined P3-1 and P3-2 reads on instant claims required third heating section. P3-1 reads on instant claims required third heating section, 3-1 heating section as required by instant claim 3. P3-2 reads on instant claims required third heating section, 3-2 heating section as required by instant claim 3.
P4 reads on instant claims required fourth heating section. Each first, second and third heating section have different average temperature increase rate change rate. In particular, P3-1 demonstrates that temperature first increases and then decreases throughout the entire heating time which suggests a positive value of average temperature increase rate change rate is changed to a negative value. P3-2 demonstrates that temperature decreases throughout the entire heating time which suggests a negative value of average temperature increase rate change rate. Hence, instant claim 1 required “wherein the third average temperature increase rate changes comprises a section in which a positive value is changed to a negative value” is met.
First and second heating sections temperature increase rate change rate is not liner according to Figure 17 above which meets instant claim 2 required “discontinuous”.
Figure 17 above illustrates P3-1 has both a positive and negative value which P3-2 has a negative value all throughout the entire heating time. In view of initial heating rate of P3-1 and final heating rate of P3-1 are close to each other while P3-2 initial heating rate drops from 2 to 0.3 K/s, instant claim 3 limitations are met.
Figure 17 above also illustrates that blank temperature heating rate drop to 0.5 k/s and temperature remains constant in the fourth heating section P4 which suggests a fourth average temperature increase rate change rate is zero. Hence, instant claim 5 limitation is met.
The fact Slezak discloses in Figure 17 above the third heating section P3 is between Ac1 to Ac3 meets instant claim 8 “the base material has a phase transformation in the third heating section”.
Slezak does not disclose instant claim 1 amendment “wherein the blank comprises a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other and wherein inserting the blank comprises simultaneously inserting the first blank and the second blank into the heating furnace.”.
Weinmeister discloses a method for heating a steel blank which is then hot formed. Weinmesiter discloses the steel blank such as tailor welded blank has thicker side and thinner side. And both thicker and thinner side of the blanks are required to reach the austenitization Ac3 almost at the same time. [0065]
Tailor Welded Blanks (TWB) reads on instant claimed blank comprising a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other as evidenced by Wikipedia_Tailored blank. (Page 1 Under Types lines 1-2)
The fact Weinmeister discloses the steel blank such as tailor welded blank is heated suggests “inserting a blank comprises simultaneously inserting a first blank and a second blank into the heating furnace” as required by amendment.
Slezak discloses blanks of varying shapes and thicknesses are used to produce a wide range of automotive components, and depending on its mass, each blank type must be heat-treated at a specific rate to obtain adequate austenitization (Page 1 Col 2 paragraph 2)
That is, Slezak explicitly discloses blanks being heated can be varying shapes and thicknesses and heating rate control for various structural characteristic of the blank is important to obtain adequate austenitization.
Hence, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art, at the time the invention is made, to insert blank such as a tailor welded blank having a first and second blank with different thickness from each other as suggested by Weinmeister, in the process of Slezak for the purpose of obtaining uniform austenitization when making door panels.
Response to Argument
Applicant’s argument filed on 05/20/2026 is considered but is not persuasive for the following reasons:
Applicant argues neither Slezak nor Jhajj discloses instant claim 1 amendment. Such argument is not persuasive because applicant cannot argue references individually while rejection is based on Jhaij/Slezak in view of Weinmeister.
Weinmeister explicitly discloses heating of tailor welded blanks [0065]. Tailor welded blank reads on claimed a first blank and second blank having different thickness from each other.
Hence, Weinmeister suggests simultaneously inserting a first blank and second blank having different thickness from each other into a heating furnace as required by amendment.
Applicant then argues Tailor welded blanks disclosed by [0065] of Weinmeister is structurally a single blank and therefore is different from two physically independent and separate blanks having different thickness. Argument is incommensurate in scope of claim 1 which merely requires “a blank comprises a first and a second blank having different thickness from each other”, not (emphasis added) two physically independent and separate blanks having different thickness. Since tailor welded blank is known to be manufactured by welding a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other as evidenced by Wikipedia_Tailored blank (Page 1 Under Types lines 1-2), Weinmeister’s tailor welded blank reads on claimed “a blank comprises a first blank and a second blank having different thickness from each other”.
Conclusion
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/JENNY R WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733
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