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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/17/2026 has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed 08/12/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 8 under U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of new prior art. See below for updated rejections.
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.
Claim(s) 8, 9, 12-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wildenburg (US 6712062).
Wildenburg renders obvious:
8. (Currently Amended) A grinding method of a workpiece with a grinding wheel (Fig. 2) comprising: grinding a surface of the workpiece with a wear-accelerated portion (V0, Fig. 17) of the grinding wheel, the grinding wheel includes an annular wheel base ('W', Fig. 2) and a plurality of grinding stones (M) arrayed in an annular pattern on a side of one surface of the wheel base (edge of W is one side surface of the wheel base), the grinding stones each include a base portion having a mounting surface where the base portion is mounted on the wheel base (Fig. 17 embodiment, V1 portion of M closest to the base 'W') and the wear-accelerated portion that has a grinding surface to be brought into contact with the workpiece and is more prone to wearing than the base portion (Col. 6 lines 29-67, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the wear accelerated portion V0 has less hard materials and therefore wears faster than the portions V1 having relatively higher amounts of hard materials), and
wherein an interface between the wear-accelerated portion and the base portion is disposed in a plane parallel to the mounting surface (see interface between V1 and V0 lies on a plane parallel to the plane of the mounting surface), wherein the interface defines a boundary between the wear-accelerated portion and the base portion that extends continuously across the grinding stone in the plane parallel to the mounting surface, and wherein the interface extends across an entirety of the grinding stone in the plane parallel to the mounting surface (see Figures), and
after the wear-accelerated portion has been lost, grinding the workpiece by the base portion (Col. 6 lines 29-67, layers V0 and V1 are both grinded away which indicates continued grinding operation after wear-accelerated portion V0 has been lost;
alternatively, Col. 6 lines 14-19, Fig. 4g embodiment also discloses a wear-accelerated portion, base portion, and arcuate parallel plane limitations).
9. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the wear-accelerated portion has a thickness measured in a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface of 5 pm or greater and 15 pm or smaller (since applicant has not disclosed that having wear-accelerated portion has a thickness measured in a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface of 5 pm or greater and 15 pm or smaller solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose above the fact that this dimensions is preferable and would allow the wear-accelerated portion to be completely lost before grinding of a single workpiece is completed and it appears that the grinding device of Wildenburg would perform equally well with a wear-accelerated portion thickness of between 5-15 microns as claimed by applicant, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify the dimensions of the grinding stones of Wildenburg by utilizing the specific dimensions as claimed for the purpose of allowing wear-accelerated portion to be completely lost before grinding of a single workpiece is completed;
Alternatively, the dimensions of the wear-accelerated portion would be rendered obvious when altering the size/proportion of the grinding disk while maintaining everything else the same as it would not change its grinding function, MPEP 2144.04 (IV) (A) states where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device).
12. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein: the wear-accelerated portion has a higher porosity than the base portion, or, the wear-accelerated portion has a lower hardness than the base portion, or both (Col. 6 lines 29-67).
13. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein grinding with the base portion occurs after the wear-accelerated portion has been worn away to the interface (Col. 6 lines 29-67, grinding via base portion V1 that is closest to the mounting surface with respect to Fig. 17 only occurs after the wear-accelerated portion V0 has been worn away to the interface).
14. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface extends orthogonally to a direction of grinding (grinding direction is on the y axis in Fig. 17 and the interface extends orthogonally to the y axis).
15. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface defines a single continuous boundary separating the wear-accelerated portion from the base portion (see Fig. 17, or Fig. 4g).
16. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface is disposed between the grinding surface and the mounting surface along a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface (see Fig. 17, interface between V1 and V0 is between the mounting surface and the grinding surface along axis y which is a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface).
Claim(s) 8-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Preston (US 6196911).
Preston renders obvious:
8. (Currently Amended) A grinding method of a workpiece with a grinding wheel (212) comprising: grinding a surface of the workpiece with a wear-accelerated portion of the grinding wheel (54, 84, 64 of layer 44), the grinding wheel includes an annular wheel base (220) and a plurality of grinding stones (219, Fig. 17) arrayed in an annular pattern on a side (217) of one surface of the wheel base, the grinding stones each include a base portion having a mounting surface (217) where the base portion is mounted on the wheel base and the wear-accelerated portion that has a grinding surface to be brought into contact with the workpiece and is more prone to wearing than the base portion (portion 54, 84, 62 of layer 44 is mor prone to wearing than the base portion 72, 70 of layers 42, 40), and
wherein an interface between the wear-accelerated portion and the base portion is disposed in a plane parallel to the mounting surface, wherein the interface defines a boundary between the wear-accelerated portion and the base portion that extends continuously across the grinding stone in the plane parallel to the mounting surface, and wherein the interface extends across an entirety of the grinding stone in the plane parallel to the mounting surface (see Fig. 14, 17, 20, layers 44, 42, 40 have interfaces that are parallel to the mounting surface 217 wherein the interfaces extend across the entirety of the grinding stone 214), and after the wear-accelerated portion has been lost, grinding the workpiece by the base portion (after the wear-accelerated portion of layer 44 has been lost, the grinding continues with the base portion within layer 42, 40 comprising the hard layers 72, 70).
9. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the wear-accelerated portion has a thickness measured in a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface of 5 pm or greater and 15 pm or smaller (Since applicant has not disclosed that having wear-accelerated portion has a thickness measured in a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface of 5 pm or greater and 15 pm or smaller solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose above the fact that this dimensions is preferable and would allow the wear-accelerated portion to be completely lost before grinding of a single workpiece is completed and it appears that the grinding device of Preston would perform equally well with a wear-accelerated portion thickness of between 5-15 microns as claimed by applicant, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify the dimensions of the grinding stones of Preston by utilizing the specific dimensions as claimed for the purpose of allowing wear-accelerated portion to be completely lost before grinding of a single workpiece is completed;
Alternatively, the dimensions of the wear-accelerated portion would be rendered obvious when altering the size/proportion of the grinding disk while maintaining everything else the same as it would not change its grinding function, MPEP 2144.04 (IV) (A) states where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device).
10. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the wear-accelerated portion has a cross-sectional area, in a plane parallel to the mounting surface, that decreases toward the grinding surface (see Fig. 20, cross section area of layer 44 that includes a wear-accelerated portion decreases towards grinding surface 214c).
11. (New) The method of claim 10, wherein the interface is spaced from the grinding surface by the thickness of the wear-accelerated portion (interface between wear-accelerated portion 54 and base portion 72 is grinding surface 214c is spaced from the wear-accelerated portion thickness of layer 44).
12. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein: the wear-accelerated portion has a higher porosity than the base portion, or, the wear-accelerated portion has a lower hardness than the base portion, or both (wear-accelerated portion of layer 44 includes porous layers 64 and a lower hardness than the hard particle portion 72).
13. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein grinding with the base portion occurs after the wear-accelerated portion has been worn away to the interface (layer 44 that includes a wear-accelerated portion must be worn away to the interface between 44 and 42 before the base portion within 42 becomes a grinding surface).
14. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface extends orthogonally to a direction of grinding (see Fig. 17, 20, interface between 44, 42 extends orthogonally to a direction of grinding which is the upwards direction with respect to Fig. 20).
15. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface defines a single continuous boundary separating the wear-accelerated portion from the base portion (Fig. 14, interface between the wear-accelerated portion formed form 64, 84, 54 of layer 44 and the base portion 72 of layer 42 form a single continuous boundary across the entire grindstone 214 grindstone as seen in Fig. 20).
16. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface is disposed between the grinding surface and the mounting surface along a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface (see Fig. 20, interface is between grinding surface 214c and mounting surface 217).
17. (New) The method of claim 8, wherein the interface lies in a plane parallel to a face of the grinding wheel, the face being perpendicular to a rotational axis of the grinding wheel (see Fig. 20, interface is in a plane parallel to the grinding face 21c which is perpendicular to a rotational axis of the grinding wheel which is a line going into the page with respect to Fig. 17).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 September 18, 2026
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