Detailed Action
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 3-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, Group II, a method for manufacturing a resistance spot welded joint, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/03/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “a major axis direction of the nugget” and “an angle between a major axis direction of the nugget and the surface of the steel sheet around the weld” in claim 2 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: recitation “an amount of an ŋ phase of the zinc-based plating is 20 area% or less” is believed to be in error for - - an amount of an ŋ phase of the zinc-based plating is 20% of an area - -
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
In the light of specification, term “an ŋ phase of the zinc-based plating” is interpreted as a region of the zinc-based plating having 95% or more of the Zn concentration and 5% or less of the Fe concentration”, see [0016 and 0059].
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 1-2 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.
Regarding claim 1 and its dependent,
I. recitations “a plurality of overlapping steel sheets”, “a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined”, “one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets” and “one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are plated steel sheets” render the claim indefinite because
i) it is unclear whether the steel sheets joined by the nugget refers to a) all of the previously claimed plurality of overlapping steel sheets or b) some steel sheets (at least two) of the previously claimed plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and
ii) it is unclear whether either one of the one or more of the plurality of steel sheets that are high strength steel sheets and/or the one or more of the plurality of steel sheets that are plated steel sheets refer to a) the previously claimed steel sheets joined by the nugget or b) a different one or more steel sheets.
II. recitations “one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets having a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more” and “the high strength steel sheet and the zinc-based plating are adjacent to each other” render the claim indefinite because
i) it is unclear how many steel sheet is required to be the high strength steel sheet, i.e., singular or plural;
ii) it is further unclear whether each of the high strength steel sheets has a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more, or one high strength steel sheet has a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more; and
iii) it is further unclear whether the high strength steel sheet adjacent to the zinc-based plating is the high strength steel sheet has the claimed tensile strength.
III. recitations “one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are plated steel sheets having a zinc-based plating” and “the high strength steel sheet and the zinc-based plating are adjacent to each other” render the claim indefinite because:
i) it is unclear how many steel sheet is required to be plated steel sheets, i.e., singular or plural; and
ii) it is further unclear whether each of the plated steel sheets having a zinc-based plating or one plated steel sheet having a zinc-based plating.
Regarding claim 2, it is unclear whether term “the steel sheet” refers to any of the previously claimed steel sheet in claim 1 or a different steel sheet.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
REASONS FOR THE INDICATION OF ALLOWABLE SUBJECT MATTER
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Examiner considered at least the references listed below:
Okada 20150217396 teaches A resistance spot welded joint comprising: a plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and a weld having a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets each having a tensile strength of 1500 MPa or more, a diameter of the nugget is defined as
4
t
mm (t represents a thickness of the steel sheets), and a distance between a melting boundary portion of the nugget to a softest zone of the heat-affected zone is defined as
D
≤
t
0.2
mm (t represents the thickness of the steel sheets).
Oikawa 20120141829 teaches A resistance spot welded joint comprising: a plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and a weld having a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets having a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more, and in a nugget outer layer zone, a microstructure consists of a dendrite structure in which an average value of arm intervals is equal to or less than 12 µm, an average grain diameter of carbides contained in the microstructure is 5 nm to 100 nm, and a number density of carbides is equal to or more than
2
×
10
6
/mm2.
MAEDA 20220016725 teaches A resistance spot welded joint comprising: a plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and a weld having a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined, and having a corona bond and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets having a carbon amount of 0.35 mass% or more, one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are plated steel sheets having a zinc-based plating, the high strength steel sheet and the zinc-based plating are adjacent to each other on a contact surface, a diameter of the heat-affected zone is lagered than a diameter of the nugget, and a sheet separation at the contact surface is 3 mm or less.
Kanai 20120129006 teaches A resistance spot welded joint comprising: a plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and a weld having a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined, and having a strong solid-phase bond and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein the strong solid-phase bond is different from the conventional corona bond, wherein one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets having a carbon amount of 0.15 mass% or more, wherein in the heat-affected zone, carbides having a circle equivalent diameter d and is 10 nm or more, a spacing of carbides is L, and a dispersion coefficient of carbides is defined as
d
÷
L
and is 0.02 or more.
ENDO 20220228233 teaches A resistance spot welded joint comprising: a plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and a weld having a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined, and having a corona bond and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets having a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more, one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are plated steel sheets having a zinc-based plating, the high strength steel sheet and the zinc-based plating are adjacent to each other on a contact surface, a diameter of the nugget defined as D, a diameter of the heat-affected zone is defined as
D
+
2
T
, and T is defined as
0
<
T
≤
D
/
10
, and in an edge region of the nugget, carbides has an average grain size of 300 nm or less and an area fraction of between 20% to 85%.
Tanaka 20220049330 teaches A resistance spot welded joint comprising: a plurality of overlapping steel sheets; and a weld having a nugget by which the steel sheets are joined, and having a corona bond and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are high strength steel sheets having a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more, one or more of the plurality of steel sheets are plated steel sheets having a zinc-based plating, the high strength steel sheet and the zinc-based plating are adjacent to each other on a contact surface, and the corona bond comprising a zinc-based coated layer having an average thickness of between 2 µm and 9.5 µm and a Zn-rich ŋ phase of 5% or less Fe by mass%.
Regarding claim 1, the prior arts themselves or in combination do not teach in combined with other limitations of claim 1, which requires a resistance spot welded joint comprising a high strength steel sheet having a tensile strength of 780 MPa or more, a plated steel sheet having a zinc-based plating and overlapping with the high strength steel sheet, a weld having a nugget, a corona bond, and a heat-affected zone formed around the nugget, wherein the plated steel sheet and the high strength steel sheet are joined by the nugget, a diameter of the heat-affected zone is 1.5 times or more a diameter of the nugget, the heat-affected zone comprising carbides having a circle equivalent diameter of 0.1 µm or more are distributed at a number density of 40 /100 μm2 or more, and in the corona bond, an amount of an ŋ phase of the zinc-based plating is 20% or less of an area.
Claim 2 is allowable because it depends on claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JINGCHEN LIU whose telephone number is (571)272-6639. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-4:30.
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/JINGCHEN LIU/Examiner, Art Unit 3741
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