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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: The claim sets forth that ‘A is -3.5 or more and 1.0 or less, provided that A=((α-18)/β is defined, […]’. The use of the phrase is defined is redundant and causes the claim to be unclear, as it is provided that A is already equal to the inequality and defined as such. Appropriate correction or explanation is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kakuda in US20180057408 in view of Wada in US20070138431.
Regarding Claim 1: Kakuda teaches an Ni-Cu-Zn based ferrite composition comprising a main component, which includes 43-51 mol% iron oxide in terms of Fe2O3 (See Paragraph 49), 5-15 mol% of copper oxide in terms of CuO (See Paragraph 50), 1-24.9 mol% of zinc oxide in terms of ZnO (See Paragraph 51), and a balance of NiO (See Paragraph 52). The ferrite composition further includes an accessory sub-component including 0.2-3 parts by weight of a silicon compound in terms of SiO2 (See Paragraph 54), 3-8 parts by weight of a cobalt compound in terms of Co3O4 (See Paragraph 55), and 0.2-8 parts by weight of a bismuth compound in terms of Bi2O3 (See Paragraph 56), wherein all accessory components are in respect to 100 parts by weight of the main component. Kakuda thus teaches an overlapping range of iron oxide, copper oxide, zinc oxide, and nickel oxide in the main component and an overlapping range of cobalt oxide and bismuth oxide in the accessory sub-component. Overlapping ranges have been held to present a prima facie case of obviousness over the prior art. Those of ordinary skill would only need to select from the overlapping portion of the range to arrive at the invention as claimed.
Kakuda is silent in terms of the claimed variable A being between -3.5 and 1, wherein A is ((ZnO mol%)-18)/(Co3O4 wt%); however, Kakuda teaches a variety of examples that meet the relationship as claimed. The examples meeting the claimed inequality are set forth below:
Example
Zn (mol)
Co (wt)
A
3
12.3
3.2
-1.78125
7
16.2
8
-0.225
8
8.2
4.8
-2.04167
12
16.1
3.2
-0.59375
15
15.6
3.8
-0.63158
18
9
5
-1.8
19
11.9
3.2
-1.90625
20
12.4
3.2
-1.75
24
12.3
3.1
-1.83871
25
16.4
8
-0.2
28
15.9
5
-0.42
29
8.5
4.8
-1.97917
30
8.5
4.8
-1.97917
32
22.2
5
0.84
In total, 14 of the 21 inventive examples of Kakuda meet the claimed limitations in terms of (a) ZnO content, (b) Co3O4 content, and (c) the claimed value of variable A. Those of ordinary skill in the art would have considered that the creation of materials according to the composition of Kakuda would necessarily provide a range of ZnO content and Co3O4 content that would naturally provide an overlapping value of variable A in the compositions of Kakuda. Those of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to provide an overlapping range of the components Zn and Co, particularly in the ranges shown in the examples, arriving at an overlapping range of A values as claimed. Overlapping ranges have been held to present a prima facie case of obviousness over the prior art. Those of ordinary skill would only need to select from the overlapping portion of the range to arrive at the invention as claimed.
Kakuda is silent in terms of the addition of SnO2 as an auxiliary component.
However, the addition of SnO2 to Ni-Cu-Zn ferrites as an auxiliary component is known in the art and taught by Wada. Wada teaches similar Ni-Cu-Zn-based ferrites (See Paragraph 11) and teaches that auxiliary components such as Bi2O3 may be combined with SnO2 to provide improved properties in Ni-Cu-Zn-based ferrites (See Paragraph 14 and Table 1). Wada teaches that improvement of the initial permeability fluctuation with temperature and the improvement of DC bias characteristics by reducing the rate of inductance changes in the material may be achieved by providing Bi2O3 in an amount from 0.25-0.40 wt% and SnO2 in an amount from 1-2.5 wt% relative to the Ni-Cu-Zn-based ferrite (See Paragraph 12). Those of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to provide 1-2.5 wt% of SnO2 in conjunction with 0.25 to 0.4 wt% of Bi2O3 as an auxiliary component in the composition of Kakuda as it is also a Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite. Those of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the auxiliary components of Wada in the composition of Kakuda in order to improve the properties of the ferrite of Kakuda by reducing the rate of inductance changes (improving DC bias) and reducing the fluctuation of initial permeability with temperature. Kakuda specifically notes a desire for the ferrite to have improved temperature characteristics (See Paragraph 18), which is a property that the modification of Wada provides.
Regarding Claim 2: Kakuda in view of Wada teach a Ni-Cu-Zn based ferrite containing 3-8 mol% of Co3O4 and 1-2.5 wt% of SnO2. The range of the claimed variable (wt% Co3O4)/(wt% SnO2) in Kakuda in view of Wada ranges from 1.2 (3/2.5) to 8 (8/1). Kakuda thus teaches an overlapping range of these components and an overlapping range of the ratio of these components, β/γ, as claimed. Overlapping ranges have been held to present a prima facie case of obviousness over the prior art. Those of ordinary skill would only need to select from the overlapping portion of the range to arrive at the invention as claimed.
Regarding Claim 3: Kakuda teaches that the ferrite is provided as a ferrite sintered body (See Paragraph 29).
Regarding Claim 4: Kakuda teaches that the ferrite sintered body comprising the ferrite composition discussed above may be used in an electronic device (See Paragraph 30).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW E HOBAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3585. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30am-6:00pm.
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/Matthew E. Hoban/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734