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 .
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(s) 1, 4, 7, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1/a2 as being anticipated by JP 2000-348548.
548 teaches a NbTi superconducting multicore wire (strands of NbTi; para. 0050) comprising a core portion (fig. 7, #5; para. 0050), a first barrier layer arranged around the circumference of the core composed of a first copper alloy including at least one element selected from Ni or Mn(fig. 7, #6; para. 0050), a filament assembly arranged around the circumference of the first barrier layer and including a plurality of NbTi filament assemblies (10) each including a plurality of NbTi filaments, the plurality of NbTi filaments being at least seven NbTi filaments, embedded in a matrix composed of a second copper alloy including at least one element selected from Ni or Mn (fig. 7, (7) filaments in the assembly; para. 0050), a second barrier layer arranged around the circumference of the filament assembly and composed of the first copper alloy (implicit second barrier that fills gaps between the NbTi filament assemblies and between the assemblies and the surrounding pipe (para. 0050, 0054), stabilizing layer arranged around the circumference of the second barrier layer and composed of metal (fig. 7, #2; para. 0050), in a transverse cross section the plurality of NbTi filaments in ach of the assemblies being arranged in one or more circular shapes each having a different diameter, centering on one NbTi filament and a plurality of NbTi filaments arranged in a circular shape in an outermost circle being arranged at approximately equal intervals along a circumferential direction (primary stack hexagonal core segment comprising plurality of hexagonal single core segments implicitly disclose a centered filament with 6 filaments surrounding the center of a first diameter with equal intervals along the circumferential direction; para. 0051-0055).
Regarding claim 4, 548 teaches a core portion comprising a matrix composed of the first copper alloy (matrix 6 of CuMn alloy; para. 0050).
Regarding claim 7, 19; 548 teaches a ratio of stabilizing Cu to NbTi alloy of 1.5 and the ratio of strand to NbTi alloy of 5.4 (example 2, 0061-0067).
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) 3, 13, 16 and 1, 4, 7, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2000-348548 in view of JP H06309964.
548 teaches a product as described above in claim 1, but fails to teach two or more circular shapes.
964, however, teaches a NbTi assembly (para. 0007, 0009) wherein the filaments are arranged in concentric circles around a singular NbTi filament (figs. 2, 3, 9) for the purpose of providing filaments in the assembly at a high density (para. 0003).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide filaments are arranged in concentric circles around a singular NbTi filament in 548 in order to provide filaments in the assembly at a high density as taught by 964.
If 548 fails to teach limitations regarding the transverse cross section, 964 will be applied herein.
Regarding claim 13, 548 teaches a core portion comprising a matrix composed of the first copper alloy (matrix 6 of CuMn alloy; para. 0050).
Regarding claim 16, 19; 548 teaches a ratio of stabilizing Cu to NbTi alloy of 1.5 and the ratio of strand to NbTi alloy of 5.4 (example 2, 0061-0067).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5, 6, 8-12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including 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 prior art of record fails to teach or suggest a total ratio of Ni and Mn in the second copper alloy is smaller than the total ratio of Ni and Mn in the first copper alloy in combination with the limitations of claims 1 and 2.
The prior art of record fails to teach the Ni content in the first copper alloy is 5-30 % mass and the Ni content in the second copper alloy is 0.1-0.9 times the Ni content in the first copper alloy in combination with the limitations of claims 1 and 5.
The prior art of record fails to teach the Mn content in the first copper alloy is 0.1-2.0 % mass and the Mn content in the second copper alloy is 0.1-0.9 times the Mn content in the first copper alloy in combination with the limitations of claims 1 and 6.
Conclusion
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/PAUL A WARTALOWICZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735
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