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
Claims 1-15 and 19-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/19/2025
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group III claim 18 in the reply filed on 12/19/2025 is acknowledged.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/3/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 18 objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 18 depends from withdrawn claim 1. Claim 18 should be amended to affirmatively recite the limitations of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)(2) as being anticipated by Torii et al (US 3,867,161)
Regarding Claim 18:
Torii et al (US 3,867,161) discloses a cement composition comprising calcium sulfoaluminate cement (Abstract) (meeting claim 18 for calcium sulfo aluminated based cement as defined in claim 1).
The composition comprises Portland cement (C1 L65-68) and calcium sulfo aluminate mineral (C2 L1-20) (meeting claim 18 for a binding blend calcium sulfo aluminated based cement and Portland cement as defined in claim 1).
The composition comprises powdery calcium sulfo aluminate cement (3CaO 3Al.sub.2O.sub.3 CaSO.sub.4) and Portland cement (C 3L40-50 – Example 1) forming a mortar (i.e. a binding agent) (P4 L10-12)(meeting the limitation of claim 18 for preparation of concrete of claim 1 of a binding blend of Portland cement and calcium sulfo aluminate cement)
15 pbw calcium sulfo aluminate and 85 pbw Portland cement (Example 1)
The composition is a grout for track for rails (C1 L1-3 and 25-33 – i.e. railway slabs) The track is a slab track See Fig 1 C1 L19-20) and may be used for directly joining type track (C3 L20-24)
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1 roadbed concrete
2 concrete slab
3 space between roadbed concrete1 and slab 2 enclosed with frame
Mortar is injected into space 3 through holes 5 and rails 4 are laid.
Meeting casting of concrete between intrados (i.e. 3) surface of slabs (i.e. 2) and platform plane (i.e. 1) of claim 18 (for casting concrete between the intrados surface of the slabs and platform plane)
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)(2) as being anticipated by Hwang et al KR 10185766B published 5/11/2018
Regarding Claim 18:
Hwang et al KR 10185766B discloses a filler concrete composition comprising Portland cement and calcium sulfo aluminate cement (P17 translation)
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(meeting the limitations of claim 18 for preparation of a concrete of claim 1 a binding blend of Portland cement and calcium sulphoaluminate based cement)
The composition is used as a filling layer 2 with the slab panel 1and connecting material may be embedded in the filler layer (P 6)
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P4 The filling layer is formed between the slab panel and the base layer (i.e. meeting the limitation of claim 18 for casting between surface of slab and platform plane where the surface is curved/intrados)
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Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by CN110423074B published 8/11/2020 with no common inventors and no common assignee (as cited and provided by IDS 10/03/2023 as such this is not listed on the PTO 892 accompanying this office action) (effective filing date of instant application 3/5/2021)
Regarding Claim 18:
CN110423074B discloses concrete used in construction of CRTS III slab track [0002] for railways [0004] which has a concave convex structure [0005] requiring replacement and may be filled with a layer of concrete between the slab and the base [0006] the concrete filling layer may be bonded to the track slab and fill the cavity [0006][0010-0011] (i.e. meeting the limitation of claim 18 for casting between surface of slab and platform plane where the surface is curved/intrados)
The composition comprises fast hardening sulfo aluminate cement [0012] and Porltand cement [013] The suflo aluminate cement and gypsum control the hydration rate of the Portland cement [0035] (meeting the limitations of claim 18 for preparation of a concrete of claim 1 a binding blend of Portland cement and calcium sulphoaluminate based cement)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO 892 accompanying this office action for prior art teaching the claimed composition used in railway foundations/tracks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAMELA HL WEISS whose telephone number is (571)270-7057. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 830 am-700 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Coris Fung can be reached at (571) 270-5713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAMELA H WEISS/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1732