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
Claim 1 contains subject matter allowable over the prior art. Claims 11-19, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, contain all the limitations of an allowable claim. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(a), the restriction requirement between inventions I-III, as set forth in the Office action mailed on 11/26/2025, is hereby withdrawn and claims 11-19 are hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Claim Objections
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 12 appears to contain a potential typographical error whereby the recitation of “20°Cto” should instead recite “20°C to”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-9 and 11-19 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, claim 1 is directed towards a ceramic substrate comprising silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide and glass powder, however, in order to be a ceramic substrate comprising these components, a sintering step is required as evidenced by instant claim 12. A sintering step would melt the glass powder, as evidenced by the instant specification at [0049] of the PGPub, which recites “the glass powder is melted into a liquid phase at a high temperature”. As such, it is unclear how claim 1 can be directed towards a ceramic substrate which comprises a glass powder.
Regarding claim 12, at line 6 the limitation “a grinding material to grinding media ratio in a range of 1:1 to 1:2.5”, which is unclear. A ratio in terms of mass/mass would have a different value than a ratio in terms of volume/volume. As such, some indication of units is required to fully appreciate the ratio limitation.
Regarding claim 16, at lines 4-5 the limitation “a grinding material to grinding media ratio in a range of 1:1 to 1:2.5”, which is unclear. A ratio in terms of mass/mass would have a different value than a ratio in terms of volume/volume. As such, some indication of units is required to fully appreciate the ratio limitation.
Additionally regarding claim 16, Claim 16 recites the limitation "the molding time" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
All claims not specifically addressed are rejected due to their dependence on a rejected claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is allowed.
Claim 10 is directed towards a ceramic substrate, comprising: 10 to 70 wt% of silicon carbide; 6 to 65 wt% of aluminum oxide; 15 to 50 wt% of silicon dioxide; 0.8 to 2.3 wt% of calcium oxide; 0.1 to 0.4 wt% of sodium oxide; 0.1 to 0.2 wt% of potassium oxide; 0.1 to 0.2 wt% of barium oxide; 0.1 to 0.4 wt% of boron oxide; and 0.2 to 0.5 wt% of zinc oxide, wherein a weight percentage of each component is based on a mass percentage of each component.
The closest prior art is Yu et al. (CN111205104A with reference to the machine translation, hereinafter referred to as Yu). Yu is directed towards a porous ceramic for electronic cigarettes (see Yu at the Abstract of the machine translation). Yu discloses comprises the following components in percentage by mass: 30-60% of ceramic powder, 1-30% of pore-forming agent, 5-40% of sintering aid, 10-40% of paraffin and 1-10% of modifier, wherein the ceramic powder comprises at least two of diatomite, cordierite, fly ash, alumina, zirconia, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, quartz sand, zircon sand, glass sand, kaolin and clay (see Yu at the Abstract of the machine translation).
Per instant claim 10, Yu fails to disclose or make obvious 10 to 70 wt% of silicon carbide; 0.8 to 2.3 wt% of calcium oxide; 0.1 to 0.4 wt% of sodium oxide; 0.1 to 0.2 wt% of potassium oxide; 0.1 to 0.2 wt% of barium oxide; 0.1 to 0.4 wt% of boron oxide; and 0.2 to 0.5 wt% of zinc oxide. As such, the ceramic substrate of claim 10 is allowed.
Examiner further notes that the subject matter of claim 1 would be allowed if the 112(b) rejection of claim 1 were overcome. Claim 1 is directed towards a ceramic substrate, comprising: (a) 10 to 70 wt% of silicon carbide; (b) 6 to 60 wt% of aluminum oxide; (c) 5 to 45 wt% of silicon dioxide; and (d) 0 to 15 wt%, excluding 0, of glass powder, wherein each component is provided as a raw material, and wherein a weight percentage of each component is based on a mass percentage of each component.
The closest prior art is Yu et al. (CN111205104A with reference to the machine translation, hereinafter referred to as Yu). Yu is directed towards a porous ceramic for electronic cigarettes (see Yu at the Abstract of the machine translation). Yu discloses comprises the following components in percentage by mass: 30-60% of ceramic powder, 1-30% of pore-forming agent, 5-40% of sintering aid, 10-40% of paraffin and 1-10% of modifier, wherein the ceramic powder comprises at least two of diatomite, cordierite, fly ash, alumina, zirconia, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, quartz sand, zircon sand, glass sand, kaolin and clay (see Yu at the Abstract of the machine translation).
Per instant claim 1, Yu fails to disclose or make obvious (a) 10 to 70 wt% of silicon carbide; (d) 0 to 15 wt%, excluding 0, of glass powder. As such, claim 1 would be allowable but for the 112(b) rejection of claim 1 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAMERON K MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-4616. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00am - 5:00pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber Orlando can be reached at (571) 270-3149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
CAMERON K MILLER
Examiner
Art Unit 1731
/CAMERON K MILLER/Examiner, Art Unit 1731