DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Applicant’s amendment filed 8 April 2026 is acknowledged. Claim 1 has been amended, and claims 1-12 remain pending.
This action introduces new grounds of rejection which are NOT necessitated by amendment, and so this action is made NON-FINAL.
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 § 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-12 are 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.
In claim 1, line 10, it is unclear if “a crystallite long-axis degree DoA” is meant for the plurality of crystallites C (established in line 8) or the total number of crystallites (established in lines 8-9)? As claims 2-12 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1, they are rejected for the same reason.
In claim 1, line 12, it is unclear if “a crystallite c-axis orientation degree” is meant for the plurality of crystallites C (established in line 8) or the total number of crystallites (established in lines 8-9)?
Conclusion
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/S.S.H/Examiner, Art Unit 1735 11 July 2026
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735