Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/357,157

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING LAMINATED CORE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jul 24, 2023
Examiner
KIM, PAUL D
Art Unit
3729
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
1346 granted / 1537 resolved
+17.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+6.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
52 currently pending
Career history
1589
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
35.2%
-4.8% vs TC avg
§102
29.4%
-10.6% vs TC avg
§112
30.9%
-9.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1537 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 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. Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takizawa et al. (PGPub 2013/0234555 A1) in view of Miyazaki et al. (PGPub 2019/0245416 A1) . Takizawa et al. teach a process of making a laminated core comprising: forming an electromagnetic steel plate (20, Fig. 2b) laminate by laminating a plurality of electromagnetic steel plates (10, Figs. 2(a) and (2b)) in a lamination direction; and exciting the electromagnetic steel plate laminate in a direction intersecting the lamination direction as shown in Fig. 1 (see also paragraph [0034]). However, Takizawa et al. silent an adhesive applied to gaps between the plurality of electromagnetic steel plates in the electromagnetic steel plate laminate. Miyazaki et al. teach a process of laminated core comprising processes of laminating a plurality of electromagnetic steel plates (100, Fig. 3) and applying an adhesive ( 20) to gaps between the plurality of electromagnetic steel plates in the electromagnetic steel plate laminate to form the adhesion layer (201 and 202) as shown in Fig. 3 and 4 (see also paragraphs [0028] and [0030]-[0034]) . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a process of fabricating a laminated core of Takizawa et al. by applying an adhesive to gaps between the plurality of electromagnetic steel plates as taught by Miyazaki et al. in order to join the plurality of electromagnetic steel plates one another . Re. claim 3: Takizawa et al. also teach that the electromagnetic steel plate laminate is formed by laminating the plurality of electromagnetic steel plates and then caulking the plurality of laminated electromagnetic steel plates (see paragraph [0004]). Allowable Subject Matter Claim 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The Prior Art The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. OHIRA et al. (PGPub 2017/0005549 A1), Kano et al. (US PAT. 5,767,598 ), and Ohi (US PAT. 5,220,227 ) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a process of fabricating a laminated core . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-4565 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Thomas Hong can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-0993 . 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. /PAUL D KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 24, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 18, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+6.6%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1537 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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