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 Objections
Claims 1-16 are objected to because of the following informalities: The claims are generally narrative and lacking proper grammar, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and contain grammatical and idiomatic errors, such as capitalization of each step within the claim(s). Corrections are requested.
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 1-16 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.
With respect to claims 1-16, features “high-toughness high-strength low-alloy steel" (preamble) are ambiguous because it is unclear what is meant by “high” or “low”. These relative terms are not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the limitations. Therefore, the recited vague language fails to clearly set forth the scope of the claims, rendering them indefinite. For purpose of examination and in accordance with broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification, the claims are taken to mean: A rolling method for a steel, the rolling method sequentially comprises the following steps.
Appropriate corrections are required.
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) 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (CN 106086353 A, hereafter “Li”, see attached document) in view of Ueda et al. (US 2013/0216422, “Ueda”) & Uonami et al. (JP 11158543-A, “Uonami”, see attached document).
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses a rolling method for a steel, the rolling method sequentially comprises the following steps:
heating, descaling, rough rolling, continuous rolling, first water cooling, finish rolling, second water cooling, and cold bed/hearth cooling [0014];
using a continuous casting billet as a raw material, the continuous casting billet comprises the following chemical components by mass%: 0.98% C, Si<0.60%, 0.34% Mn, P<0.020%, S<0.020%, and Al<0.03% with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities [0058];
the step of the heating is performed in a four-section stepwise heating furnace [0015];
descaling is performed using high-pressure water [0016];
rough rolling in temperature range of 1050-1100 C [0017];
after the first water cooling, the temperature is 765-800°C [0018];
in the step of the finish rolling, entry temperature of initial rolling during the finish rolling is 832~850°C [0019];
during the second water cooling, the temperature under which the steel performs the second water cooling after the step of the finish rolling is 600°C~700°C, wherein water cooling rate is 25~100°C/s, hydraulic pressure is 0.2~0.6MPa [0020];
after the second water cooling, the steel is cooled on the cold bed/hearth [0022] (also see examples 1-4).
Li discloses the billet raw material comprising most of the recited chemical components but differs in the amount of some components and lacks vanadium and nitrogen. However, rolling such steel composition is known in the art. Ueda (also drawn to hot rolled steel plate for excellent toughness and fracture resistance- abstract, [0065]) discloses raw steel material comprising the following component by mass%: 0.20% C [0036], Si in a range from 0.07 to 0.5% [0038], 1.2% Mn for increasing hardenability of steel [0039], V of 0.1% or less [0054], which overlaps with recited amount of 0.07~0.10%, and N of 0.01% or less [0046], which overlaps with recited amount of 0.008~0.025%. Similarly, Uonami (also drawn to production of rolled steel- see title) teaches improving toughness in the steel (abstract) and discloses the composition comprises following chemical components by mass%: C<0.20%, Si<0.60%, 1.35-1.70% Mn, 0% Cr, P<0.020%, S<0.020, and Al<0.03, with the balance being Fe (see Table 1 examples 1-5). The respective amounts of elements overlap with claimed amounts. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990), MPEP 2144.05. Ueda teaches that nitrogen has an effect of improving toughness [0046] and vanadium is effective for increasing hardenability [0054]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adjust the raw material composition in Li to include recited components with a motivation to achieve desired properties such as improving toughness and increasing hardenability, as suggested by Ueda & Uonami. Thus, Li as modified by teachings of Ueda and Uonami renders the recited raw steel composition obvious.
As to claims 2-4, Li discloses that step of the heating is divided into four zones in a four-section heating furnace, which zones are sequentially as follows: pre-heating zone, heating first zone, heating second zone, and soaking zone, wherein the temperature of the pre-heating zone is less than or equal to 750°C; the temperature of the heating first zone is 900~1050°C; the temperature of the heating second zone is 1050~1150°C; the temperature of the soaking zone is 1150~1210°C [0015]; wherein the total heating time of the step of the heating, including the soaking time, is in a range of several hours to provide high temperature diffusion [0015]. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to select recited heating zones time(s) in the method of Li order to ensure sufficient diffusion.
As to claims 5-6, Li discloses that entry temperature of the rough rolling is 950~1050°C, wherein the number of rough-rolling mills is 6; the pass of the rough rolling is 6 [0017].
As to claims 7-9, Li discloses that the step of the continuous rolling includes intermediate rolling and pre-finish rolling, the entry temperature of the intermediate rolling is 900~1000°C, the pass of the intermediate rolling is 5~7; outlet temperature of the pre-finish rolling is 850~950°C, the pass of the pre-finish rolling is 3-5, wherein the number of intermediate-rolling mills & the pass of the intermediate rolling is 6; and the number of pre-finish-rolling mills & the pass of the pre-finish rolling is 4 [0019, 0021].
As to claim 10, Li discloses that the first water cooling is performed with incoming materials after the step of the continuous rolling, wherein, the water cooling rate is 25~50°C/s, the hydraulic pressure is 0.2~0.6MPa [0020].
As to claims 11-12, Li discloses that a reducing and sizing mill set is used for the finish rolling, wherein the reducing and sizing mill is a three-roller reducing and sizing mill set [0019].
As to claims 13-14, Li discloses that, in the step of the descaling, high-pressure water descaling is used with the aim to descale an iron sheet, the hydraulic pressure of the high- pressure water is ~28 MPa [0016]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select a suitable range including 17~20MPa so as to ensure descaling while not damaging the iron sheet.
As to claims 15-16, Li discloses that rolling method obtains the finished steel bar with a diameter specification of 50-90 mm [0040], which overlaps with recited range of 60~120mm. Specifically, examples 2-3 produce finished round steel bar with specification of 70 mm and 90 mm, respectively [0067, 0076].
Information Disclosure Statement
No information disclosure statement (IDS) has been submitted. Applicant is reminded of candor duty to disclose all information material to patentability. See MPEP 2001 and CFR 1.56.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEVANG R PATEL whose telephone number is (571) 270-3636. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am-5pm, EST.
To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/interview-practice. Communications via Internet email are at the discretion of Applicant. If Applicant wishes to communicate via email, a written authorization form must be filed by Applicant: Form PTO/SB/439, available at www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The form may be filed via the Patent Center and can be found using the document description Internet Communications, see https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/forms. In limited circumstances, the Applicant may make an oral authorization for Internet communication. See MPEP § 502.03.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Walker can be reached on 571-272-3458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Center. For more information, see https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. For questions, technical issues or troubleshooting, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center at ebc@uspto.gov or 1-866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/DEVANG R PATEL/
Primary Examiner, AU 1735