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 .
Claim Interpretation
The claims of the present invention use “~” to denote range, for the purpose of examination, this is considered to limit ranges to substantially cover the recited range, for example 50~100 C is interpreted to cover a range substantially identical to 50-100 such as 49.5-100.4.
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 1-13 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "making the high-carbon high-alloy melt deposited in a preset water-cooled copper mold" in Lines 6-7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. There is no mention of the melt being deposited in a copper mold, suggestive correction would be –depositing the high-carbon high-alloy melt in a preset water-cooled copper mold--. Claims 2-13 are rejected for their dependency on claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhou (CN1940112A) is considered the closest prior art of record, teaching steel that may be formed by smelting and solidification molding with inert gas (abstract) and superheating (overheating) at 100-250 C over the melt temperature of the steel (Page 8); but does not teach the mold and inert gas limitations or the final heat treatment step as claimed.
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/RICARDO D MORALES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1738