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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-7 are currently under examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Claim 1 recites “Alt: 0.020-0.040%”. However, there are no disclosure on what “Alt” is or mean. Therefore, the scope of the steel composition is not clearly defined. One of ordinary skill in the art would not have been able to produce the claimed steel composition without knowing what Alt is referring to. Therefore, the instant claim 1 is not enabling.
Claims 1-7 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 “Alt: 0.020-0.040%”. However, there are no disclosure on what “Alt” is or mean. Therefore, the scope of the steel composition is not clearly defined. The instant claim 1 is vague and indefinite.
Claim 3 recites the limitations "the rough rolling(RR)" in line 3, “the initial rolling temperature(IRT)” in line 4, “the finishing rolling temperature (FRT)” in line 5 and “the cooling rate” in line 6. There are insufficient antecedent bases for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 3 recites “the rolling process is a two-stage rolling; the rough rolling (RR) temperature is 950-1150°C, and the initial rolling temperature(IRT) and the finishing rolling temperature(FRT) of finish rolling(FR) are 850-900°C, respectively”. Since three different rolling temperatures are recited, it is unclear whether the claimed rolling process is a two-stage rolling process or three-stage rolling process. Therefore, claim 3 is vague and indefinite.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the heating temperature of a casting blank" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitations "the tempering temperature” and “the tempering time” in line 2. There are insufficient antecedent bases for these limitations in the claim.
Claims 2 and 4-5 are also rejected since they depend on vague and indefinite claim 1.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 101876032(CN032).
CN032 teaches steel plate having a composition that applies to the claimed steel plate composition as follows:
Micro-Mo-type Steel Plate
Instant Application (wt%)
CN032 (wt%)
C
0.05-0.08
≤ 0.11
Si
0.30-0.50
0.30-0.50
Mn
1.25-1.35
1.10-1.35
P
0.010-0.014
≤ 0.020
S
≤ 0.003
≤ 0.006
Nb
0.020-0.030
0.025-0.045
Ti
0.010-0.020
0.015-0.025
V
0.040-0.050
0.04-0.08
Cu
0.25-0.40
0.25-0.40
Ni
0.25-0.35
0.25-0.40
Cr
0.45-0.55
0.45-0.70
Mo
0.03-0.08
0.02-0.08
Alt
0.020-0.040
0.01-0.04
Balance Fe & Impurities
Balance Fe & Impurities
Balance Fe & Impurities
Regarding claim 1, the steel alloy composition as taught by CN032 significantly overlap the claim micro-molybdenum-type steel plate(i.e. a steel plate with reduced amount of Mo). Therefore, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP 2144.05. The term “weathering bridge” merely describes the intended use for the steel plate, and therefore, does not patentably distinguish the claimed steel plate from the steel plate of CN032. CN032 also teaches that its steel plate is for weather resisting bridge(abstract).
Claim(s) 2-3 and 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 101876032(CN032), and further in view of CN105506450(CN450).
The teachings of CN032 are discussed in section 8 above.
Regarding claims 2-3, CN032 further teaches a method for manufacturing the steel plate comprising smelting[0009], continuous casting[0010], heating[0011], two-stage hot rolling with an initial rolling at 1150°C and finish rolling at 800-900°C[0012] and cooling.
However, CN032 does not teach the claimed two-stage hot rolling temperatures and the claimed cooling rate.
CN450 teaches a method for manufacturing a weathering bridge steel plate comprising smelting, continuous casting, heating, two-stage hot rolling and cooling [0010]. CN450 further teaches that the two-stage hot rolling comprising rough rolling and fine rolling wherein the rolling temperature is 1060°C, and fine rolling starts at 880°C and finished at 856°C[0033]. CN450 further teaches cooling by laminar flow at a cooling rate of 20°C/s[0033].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the two-stage hot rolling step and the cooling steps of CN450 into the process of CN032 in order to obtain fine grains of bainite and ferrite as taught by CN450[0033].
Regarding claim 5, CN032 further teaches the smelting step comprises a LF(i.e. Ladle Furnace) refining and vacuum degassing (i.e. Ruhrstahl Heraeus vacuum treatment)[0009].
Regarding claim 6, CN032 further teaches that the heating step is taking place at highest temperature of 1240-1260°C for 100-400min[0011]. The highest heating temperature as taught by CN032 is very close to the upper limit of claimed heating temperature of 1200°C(i.e. with 3-5% of the claimed 1200°C). The heating time as taught by CN032 encompasses the claimed heating time. Therefore, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 7, CN032 further teaches that the tempering process is taking place at 610-690°C
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN032 in view of CN450, and further in view of CN111378896 A (CN896).
The teachings of CN032 in view of CN450 are discussed in sections 8-9 above. However, CN032 in view of CN450 do not explicitly teach the claimed continuous casting process is a dynamic soft reduction process.
CN896 teaches a method for manufacture a weathering bridge steel plate, wherein the casting step comprises dynamic soft reduction in order to ensure steel plate performance uniformity and comprehensive performance[0046].
Regarding claim 4, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the dynamic soft reduction as taught by CN896 into the casting step of CN032 in view of CN450 in order to ensure steel plate performance uniformity and comprehensive performance as taught by CN896.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOIS L ZHENG whose telephone number is (571)272-1248. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:15-4:45.
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LOIS ZHENG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1733
/LOIS L ZHENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733