DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/29/26 has been entered.
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 .
Examiner’s Comments
The examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers, paragraphs, or figures in the references as applied to the claims for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed 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.
Claims 1-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasaki (US 6,908,659) in view of Ishikawa et al. (US 5,815,343).
Regarding claims 1, 3, and 5, Sasaki discloses a magnetic recording medium comprising a nanogranular magnetic film (Abstract) comprising a structure including first phases comprises of nano-domains dispersed in a second phase, wherein the first phases consist of FeCo0-40 mol.% (col. 3, lines 41-47), which overlaps the claimed concentration, and the second phase includes ZnO and SnO2 (col. 3, lines 56-62), , wherein the first phase is 50-85 wt.% (col. 3, lines 54-56) which thereby overlaps the volume ratio as claimed.
Sasaki fails to explicitly disclose the content of the noble gas is 0.20-0.80 at.% as presently claimed.
Ishikawa discloses a magnetic recording medium, which is an analogous art to that of Sasaki, comprising a CoFe alloy magnetic film comprising of Ar in a concentration of 0.1-5% (col. 12, line 66 – col. 13, line 8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sasaki’s nanogranular magnetic film to incorporate Ar with the concentration as claimed, since Ishikawa discloses that this will enhance the anisotropic magnetic field and the coercivity of the magnetic film (col. 13, lines 5-8).
Regarding claim 2, Sasaki discloses average size is 0.03-0.08 µm (col. 2, lines 34-37). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have selected the overlapping portion of the ranges disclosed by the reference because overlapping ranges have been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness, In re Malagari, 182 USPQ 549.
Regarding claim 4, Sasaki discloses an electronic component (col. 1, lines 10-14).
Regarding claim 7, Sasaki discloses the additions of Si (col. 3, lines 20-22), however, fails to disclose the concentration as claimed. However, Sasaki discloses that the additional of Si is effective of improving the Hc of the magnetic powder (col. 3, lines 23-24), thereby is a result effective variable. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the concentration of Si to be within the claimed range and within the limits known in the art based on the desired coercivity since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA) 1980.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINDA N CHAU whose telephone number is (571)270-5835. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM EST M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Ruthkosky can be reached at (571)272-1291. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Linda Chau
/L.N.C/Examiner, Art Unit 1785
/Holly Rickman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
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