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 .
This application has PRO 63/451,676 03/13/2023.
DETAILED ACTION
The Applicant has elected Group I, claims 1-20 without traverse as noted in the Applicant’s “Response to election/restriction” filed on 07/15/2026. It is noted that the Applicant did not elect Species as listed in the “Response to election/restriction” filed on 07/15/2026. For examination purpose, Species 1 (cl.2), Species 3 (cl.7), Species 6 (cl.11), Species 7 (cl.12), and Species 9 (cl.15) (Refer to the Office action dated 5/15/2015). Therefore, Claims 3, 8, 10, 13, 16-18, and 21-30 are withdrawn from consideration as non-elected claims. Claims 1-2, 4-7, 9, 11-12, 14-15, and 19-20 remain for examination, wherein claim 1 is an independent claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: in the instant case the “Ti90Al6V4” on line 1 of the instant claim should be amended as “Ti90Al6V4”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 1-2, 4-7, 9, 11-12, 14-15, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (CN 109759597 A, with on-line translation, thereafter CN’597) in view of Hofmann et al (US-PG-pub 2016/0258522 A1, listed in IDS filed on 12/30/2025, thereafter PG’522).
Regarding claim 1, CN’597 teaches a titanium base alloy waste material recycling method, comprising using Ti powder Ti-based alloy with waste material, atomizing powder, grinding to obtain Ti-based alloy powder, and then mixing the alloy powder with the waste materials, pressing, sintering, to obtain high Ti content of large size (including sheet-like) hard alloy product. (Abstract of CN’597) with material mixing, melting, sintering to form target product (claim of CN’597), which reads on all of the essential process steps of Ti based alloy recycling process including melting and solidifying the mixing of a waste Ti based alloy and a correction alloy to form a target alloy as claimed in the instant claim. CN’597 does not specify that the Ti based waste alloy is from a mongrel alloy. However, Ti based alloy including an alloy for mongrel application is well-known technique as demonstrated by PG’522. PG’522 teaches alloy for harmonic drives with unique gearing systems having rim-shaped circular spline (par.[0004] and Figs.1-2 of PG’522) and Ti based alloy including Ti-6Al-4V in listed of the manufacturing materials (Table 1 of PG’522). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to apply the well-known technique, applying Ti based alloy as mongrel alloy, as demonstrated by PG’522 in the process of CN’597 in order to implement tailored metallic glass-based strain wave gears and strain wave gear components (Abstract of PG’522).
Regarding claim 2, CN’597 indicates crystalline phase in the Ti based alloy and PG’522 also indicates Ti-6Al-4V not a BMG material (having crystal structure) (table 1-2 of PG’597).
Regarding claim 4, CN’597 teaches adding WC in the mixing material (par.[0012] of CN’597) and PG’522 teaches other elements in the Mg-based alloy implement process (par.[0081] of PG’522).
Regarding claims 5 and 19-20, PG’522 teaches that the materials properties of a MG-based material can be tailored by varying the composition and varying the ratio of crystalline structure to amorphous structure. (par.[0071] of PG’522), which read on the selected amorphous structure (cl.5) and optimizing by adding additions for correct alloy (cl.19) and target alloy (cl.20).
Regarding claims 6-7, CN’597 provides example having specific Ti based waste material and correct materials (working example on par.[0013]-[0021] of CN’597), which reads on the claimed materials as claimed in the instant claims..
Regarding alim 9, CN’597 indicates applying atomizing to make powder (claim and par.[0006] of CN’597).
Regarding claim 11, CN’597 teaches a titanium base alloy waste material recycling method and PG’522 teaches alloy for harmonic drives with unique gearing systems having rim-shaped circular spline (par.[0004] and Figs.1-2 of PG’522) and Ti based alloy including Ti-6Al-4V in listed of the manufacturing materials (Table 1 of PG’522).
Regarding claim 12, CN’597 teaches add Ti or Ti + Ni content in alloy (claim and example of CN’597).
Regarding claims 14-15, PG’522 teaches that the materials properties of a MG-based material can be tailored by varying the composition and varying the ratio of crystalline structure to amorphous structure. (par.[0071] of PG’522) and PG’522 provides BMG material example Ti67Zr11V10Cu5Al2Be5 and properties (table 2 of PG’522), which comprises Ti-Al-V as elements of mongrel alloy.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIE YANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-1884. The examiner can normally be reached on IFP.
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, Jonathan J Johnson can be reached on 571-272-1177. 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 Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JIE YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
Prosecution Insights