DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 18/332,510. Claims 1-19 are pending in the application.
Claims 1-10 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions.
The applicant’s amendment filed May 15, 2026 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
A restriction requirement was sent to the Applicant on March 17, 2026. The Applicant was required to elect among several groups of inventions. The Applicant responded to the restriction requirement on May 15, 2026 and elected Group III, claims 11-19, without traverse.
Accordingly, claims 1-10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to non-elected inventions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(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.
Claims 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the term “high infrared radiance” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “high infrared radiance” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. § MPEP 2173.05(b).
Claims 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the term “high temperature” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “high temperature” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. § MPEP 2173.05(b).
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 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.
Claims 11-14 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable Li et al (CN 113615891A, included in the IDS, with m.t.) in view of Kuch (US 805,303).
Li et al teaches a method of making an infrared heating element (p. 3). The method includes coating a glass tube with an infrared radiation paste or slurry (p. 2). The infrared radiation paste comprises an infrared radiation material, a resistance regulating material (conductive material), binder (substrate adhesive) and water (p. 2). The amount of infrared radiation material is 30-80 wt %, the amount of conductive material is 10-30 wt % and the amount of binder is 10-40 wt % (p. 2). The method includes adding water to the mixture of the infrared radiation material, resistance regulating material (conductive material), and high temperature binder (substrate adhesive) (p. 2). The high temperature adhesive includes waterglass (par. 18-19).
The glass tube coated with the slurry is then sintered in a furnace to form the infrared radiation coating (p. 3). Sintering is equivalent to carbonizing. The components are mixed by grinding (par. 39). A person of ordinary skill in the art would understand grinding to be performed with a ball mill. The amount of water in the slurry includes 50 % by weight (Table 1). 50 % corresponds to 1:1 ratio.
Li et al does not teach that the glass tube is quartz glass.
However, Kuch teaches a method of making a quartz glass tube (col. 1, lines 40-45). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the quartz glass of Kuch with the glass tube of Li et al in order to obtain a glass composition known to be suitable for forming a glass tube.
Examiner’s Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Young whose telephone number is (571) 270-5078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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