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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of a certified copy of JP 2022-162439 filed October 7, 2022 as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Restriction Election
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group (Invention) I, claims 1-4, in the reply filed on January 19, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 5-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventive Group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Status
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s Restriction Election and Claims filed January 19, 2026.
Claims Filing Date
January 19, 2026
Pending
1-7
Withdrawn
5-7
Under Examination
1-4
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noguchi (US 2017/0178775) in view of Koshiba (JP 2004-156134 machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Noguchi discloses a soft magnetic powder ([0001], [0010]) comprising:
Fe as a main component ([0029]);
Si having a content of 2.5 mass % or more and 6.5 mass % or less (1.0 to 10.0%) ([0030]);
Cr having a content of 1.0 mass % or more and 10.0 mass % or less (1.0 to 9.0%) ([0029]);
S having a content of 0.0020 mass % or more and 0.0070 mass % or less (≤0.02%) ([0033]); and
Impurities ([0033]).
In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. MPEP 2144.05(I).
Noguchi discloses spherical powder ([0036]) with an O content of ≤ 0.3% (3,000 ppm) ([0033]) and d50 of 1 um or more and preferably 30 um or less ([0034]).
Noguchi is silent to the specific surface area of the powder.
Koshiba discloses soft magnetic powder (p. 1) with a specific surface area of 0.3 m2/g or less (p. 5 para. 2) and D50 of 45 um or less (p. 4 para. 1) (para. spanning pp. 8-9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art for the soft magnetic powder of Noguchi to have a specific surface area of 0.3 m2/g or less to obtain approximately spherical powder that is less likely to rust with improved magnetic permeability and DC bias characteristics (p. 5 para. 2).
Therefore, regarding a ratio A/B of 3000 or more and 8000 or less, where A [ppm] is an oxygen content in terms of mass ratio and B [m2/g] is a specific surface area, Noguchi in view of Koshiba discloses soft magnetic powder with an oxygen content of 3,000 ppm or less (A) (Noguchi [0033]) and a specific surface area of 0.3 m2/g or less (B) (Koshiba p. 5 para. 2), such that a ratio A/B is 10,000 or less (3,000/0.3). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. MPEP 2144.05(I).
Regarding claim 2, Noguchi discloses the oxygen content A in terms of mass ratio is 1500 ppm or more and 2400 ppm or less (≤ 0.3%, 3,000 ppm) ([0033]). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. MPEP 2144.05(I).
Regarding claim 3, Noguchi discloses an average particle diameter is 1.0 um or more and 20.0 um or less (d50 of 1 um or more and preferably 30 um or less) ([0034]). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. MPEP 2144.05(I).
Regarding claim 4, Noguchi discloses the content of Si is 3.0 mass % or more and 4.5 mass % or less (1.0 to 10.0%) ([0030]), and the content of Cr is 3.0 mass % or more and 6.0 mass % or less (1.0 to 9.0%) ([0029]). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. MPEP 2144.05(I).
Related Art
Watanabe (JP 2009-088502 machine translation)
Watanabe discloses oxide coated soft magnetic powder ([0001], [0007], [0014]) with 2 to 10 wt% Si ([0012], [0039]-[0040]), 1 to 13wt% Cr ([0013], [0042]-[0043]), and Fe as the main component ([0018]). In Watanabe the primary particles have an oxygen content of about 1000-8000 ppm ([0026]) and a particle size preferably of about 5 to 30 um ([0045]-[0046]).
Yamamoto (JP 2002-060914 machine translation)
Yamamoto discloses a soft magnetic alloy powder containing 0.001 to 0.05 wt% S with a remainder of Fe, Cr, Si, B, and C as defined by a formula with atomic ratios ([0006]-[0007], [0012]-[0013]), where the S reduces particle (powder) size making it possible to obtain spherical particles ([0010]-[0011]).
Matsuki (WO 2022/009502 with citations from US 2023/0191481)
Matsuki discloses a metal powder ([0001], [0019], [0021]) including 1.0 to 15.0% Si ([0031]-[0033]), 1.0 to 13.0% Cr ([0034]), 100 to 10000 ppm (0.01 to 1%) S ([0036]), and 0.2 to 7.0% O ([0040]) with a remainder of Fe ([0041]). The metal powder of Matsuki has an average particle diameter of 0.1 to 2.0 um ([0044]).
Zhao (CN 112885551 machine translation)
Zhao discloses FeSiCr soft magnetic powder ([n0001], [n0005]) with 89-92% Fe, 5.0-6.0% Si, 3.0-4.0% Cr, and up to 0.005% S ([n0006]-[n0014], [n0033]-[n0039]) with a D50 of 7.90-8.40 um ([n0015]-[n0016], [n0040]-[n0041]).
Tanada (US 2015/0083960)
Tanada discloses magnetic grains (powder) ([0026], Fig. 1) comprising Fe ([0027]), 1.5 to 7.5% Si ([0028]), 2.0 to 8.0% M as Cr ([0029]), 0.004 to 0.012% S to achieve high levels of insulation property and magnetic permeability simultaneously, and oxygen atoms present in an oxide film ([0030]). Tanada discloses a grain size of 4 to 30 um (Table 1).
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/STEPHANI HILL/Examiner, Art Unit 1735