DETAILED ACTION
This communication responds to the application filed August 30, 2023, and the Response to Restriction and amended claim set filed October 28, 2025. Claims 1-10 are currently pending.
Non-elected claims 1-3 are WITHDRAWN.
Elected claims 4-9 are ALLOWED.
Elected claim 10 is REJECTED under 35 USC 112 for the reasons set forth below, but otherwise contains allowable subject matter.
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 .
Priority
This application claims priority to CN 2023109378151, filed July 26, 2023. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 4-10, in the reply filed on October 28, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 10, it is not clear how the C-S-H gel material is “used” for preparing cement-base materials.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-9 are allowed. Claim 10 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The present claims contain allowable subject matter in view of the closest prior art reference, Xia et al. (CN 115725030). Xia teaches a process for making a core-shell C-S-H-based material in which hydrated calcium silicate nanocrystals are mixed with monomers, including an unsaturated amide, such as acrylamide, and an unsaturated carboxylic acid, such as acrylic acid, which are then polymerized in the presence of a thermal initiator to form a C-S-H gel slurry. (paras. [0010]-[0015], [0017], [0019], [0027].)
However, Xia does not teach or fairly suggest the claimed process. There are two differences between Xia and the present claims. First, Xia provides no teaching or suggestion that its process may include a crosslinker. Second, the polymerization process of Xia is fundamentally different, in that the process of Xia requires a thermal initiator and increased polymerization temperatures. Xia provides no teaching or suggestion that a different polymerization process (i.e., a photoinitiation process, as in the present claims) may be used in place of its thermal process. For these reasons, claims 4-10 contain allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
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CATHERINE S. BRANCH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1763
/CATHERINE S BRANCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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