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 . Claims 1-6 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments regarding claims 1-3 filed 05/04/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has argued:
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Examiner respectfully disagrees. The present application was filed in 2024 while Sakaki’s disclosure was published in 2005. Sakaki does disclose that the sintered magnets can be used in devices such as motor, see para [0001]: “[0001] The present invention relates to rare-earth sintered magnets which can be used in devices such as motors exposed for a long period of time to a hydrogen atmosphere. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such magnets.” A voice coil is a motor.
Applicant has also argued:
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Examiner respectfully disagrees again. As mentioned above, Sakaki disclosed the coated sintered magnets can be used “in devices such as motors exposed for a long period of time to a hydrogen atmosphere.” Additionally, Sakaki does disclose the coating prevents magnetic degradation as well, see para [0008]: “[0008] The object of the invention is to provide rare-earth sintered magnets and methods of manufacture thereof which resolve the problem of hydrogen embrittlement that occurs in prior-art rare-earth sintered magnets within a hydrogen atmosphere, and the resulting breaking, cracking or degradation of the magnet material.”
Finally, Takahashi et al. (US 20200265868 A1) teaches using coated sintered magnets in a voice coil motor: “[0038] To help mitigate embrittlement in hydrogen-enriched environments, sintered magnets, such as those for the voice coil motor of a hard disk drive, can be coated with a metal-coating layer and a metal oxide/nitride layer after the magnetic powder is sintered.”
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 (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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamawaki, S. (JP 2004023969 A) in view of Sakaki, et al. (US 20050028890 A1).
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Regarding claim 1, Yamawaki discloses a magnetic circuit configuration component for a voice coil motor (see the title: “VOICE COIL MOTOR AND MAGNETIC DISK UNIT USING IT”), comprising:
a pair of yokes (yokes, annotated fig. 2a);
a pair of magnets (magnets, annotated fig. 2a) respectively provided in contact with inner surfaces of the pair of yokes; and
a support member (support, annotated fig. 2a) that maintains a gap (gap, annotated fig. 2a) between the pair of magnets and fixes the pair of yokes to each other, wherein
the magnet is a rare earth sintered magnet (para [0016]: “As the main magnets 22 to 28, for example, an R-Fe-B based sintered magnet such as NEOMAX-50 manufactured by Sumitomo Special Metals Co., Ltd. is used, and its thickness is about 1 mm to 3 mm.”), and the rare earth sintered magnet has a composition consisting of R, B, Fe (para [0016]: “As the main magnets 22 to 28, for example, an R-Fe-B based sintered magnet such as NEOMAX-50 manufactured by Sumitomo Special Metals Co., Ltd.”).
Yamawaki does not disclose: the sintered magnet having a surface on which coating is performed, the rare earth sintered magnet has a composition consisting of R of 28% to 34% by weight, Co of 2% or less by weight, B of 0.5% to 2% by weight, at least one type of element selected from Ni, Nb, Al, Ti, Zr, Cr, V, Mn, Mo, Si, Sn, Ga, Cu, and Zn as an additive of 2% or less by weight, and the balance of Fe with inevitable impurities, and
the coating has a multi-layer structure consisting of a metal plating layer and a metal oxide layer and/or a metal nitride layer in order from a rare earth sintered magnet side, the metal plating layer further has a multi-layer structure consisting of a copper plating layer and a nickel plating layer in order from the rare earth sintered magnet side, a total thickness of the metal plating layer and the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 3 μm to 80 μm, and a thickness of the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 0.01 μm to 2 μm.
Sakaki teaches a sintered magnet wherein the composition of R is 20-35 wt %, B is 0.2-8 wt %, at least one type of element selected from Ni, Nb, Al, Ti, Zr, Cr, V, Mn, Mo, Si, Sn, Ga, Cu, and Zn as an additive of up to 8% by weight, and the balance of Fe with inevitable impurities (“[0019] (4) A rare-earth sintered magnet composed of 20 to 35 wt % of a constituent R (R being one or more rare-earth element selected from among neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium and holmium), up to 15 wt % cobalt, 0.2 to 8 wt % boron, and up to 8 wt % of one or more element selected from among nickel, niobium, aluminum, titanium, zirconium, chromium, vanadium, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, tin, gallium, copper and zinc as an additive, with the balance being iron and inadvertent impurities, which rare-earth sintered magnet is characterized by having on a surface thereof, either directly or over n metal-plating layers (n being an integer such that n.gtoreq.1), a metal oxide layer and/or a metal nitride layer.”) and
the coating has a multi-layer structure consisting of a metal plating layer and a metal oxide layer and/or a metal nitride layer (para [0019]: “rare-earth sintered magnet is characterized by having on a surface thereof, either directly or over n metal-plating layers (n being an integer such that n.gtoreq.1), a metal oxide layer and/or a metal nitride layer.”) in order from a rare earth sintered magnet side,
the metal plating layer further has a multi-layer structure (n-layers) consisting of a copper plating layer and a nickel plating layer in order from the rare earth sintered magnet side, a total thickness of the metal plating layer and the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 3 μm to 80 μm ( para [0033]: “the number of such layers may be set at 1 to 5 layers and, in the case of R.sub.2Fe.sub.14B-based magnets in particular, 2 to 5 layers. The number of layers is preferably selected on the basis of such considerations as the corrosion resistance required of the intended application. The metal-plating metal is preferably one or more selected from among copper, nickel, cobalt, tin, and alloys thereof. The plating thickness is preferably 1 to 100 .mu.m, and most preferably 1 to 50 .mu.m. Preferred multilayer platings include those composed of a copper bottom layer followed by one or more nickel layer, such as Cu--Ni, Cu--Ni--Ni, and Ni--Cu--Ni..”), and a thickness of the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 0.01 μm to 2 μm (para [0036]: “The above-mentioned layer of excellent hydrogen resistance is an oxide layer of the plating metal which has a thickness of preferably 0.1 to 100 .mu.m, and most preferably 0.1 to 20 .mu.m.”).
Sakaki states that introduced sintered magnets can withstand exposure to hydrogen for a long time (abstract: “Hydrogen embrittlement is prevented in Sm.sub.2Co.sub.17-based magnets and R.sub.2Fe.sub.14B-based magnets by metal plating the magnet, then carrying out heat treatment, or by forming a metal oxide or metal nitride layer on the metal plating layer or directly on the magnet itself.”)
To prevent hydrogen embrittlement, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the sintered magnet should additionally have the following characteristics: the sintered magnet having a surface on which coating is performed, the rare earth sintered magnet has a composition consisting of R of 28% to 34% by weight, Co of 2% or less by weight, B of 0.5% to 2% by weight, at least one type of element selected from Ni, Nb, Al, Ti, Zr, Cr, V, Mn, Mo, Si, Sn, Ga, Cu, and Zn as an additive of 2% or less by weight, and the balance of Fe with inevitable impurities, and
the coating has a multi-layer structure consisting of a metal plating layer and a metal oxide layer and/or a metal nitride layer in order from a rare earth sintered magnet side, the metal plating layer further has a multi-layer structure consisting of a copper plating layer and a nickel plating layer in order from the rare earth sintered magnet side, a total thickness of the metal plating layer and the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 3 μm to 80 μm, and a thickness of the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 0.01 μm to 2 μm.
Regarding claim 2, Yamawaki as modified in claim 1 by Sakaki discloses a voice coil motor comprising:
the magnetic circuit configuration component for a voice coil motor according to claim 1 (see the title, Yamawaki); and
a coil (coil, annotated fig. 2a) that is located in the gap between the pair of magnets (see annotated fig. 2a).
Regarding claim 3, Yamawaki as modified by Sakaki and discussed regarding claim 1 discloses a method for manufacturing a magnetic circuit configuration component for a voice coil motor, the method comprising:
forming a pair of plates consisting of a rare earth sintered magnet (implied) having a composition consisting of R (R is one or two or more types of rare earth elements selected from Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb, Ce, La, and Gd) of 28% to 34% by weight, Co of 2% or less by weight, B of 0.5% to 2% by weight, at least one type of element selected from Ni, Nb, Al, Ti, Zr, Cr, V, Mn, Mo, Si, Sn, Ga, Cu, and Zn as an additive of 2% or less by weight, and the balance of Fe with inevitable impurities (discussed regarding claim 1);
applying copper plating to surfaces of the pair of plates and applying nickel plating to the copper-plated surfaces to form metal plating layers (para [0075]: “Copper electroplating was carried out using a plating bath adjusted to concentrations of 60 g/L copper pyrophosphate, 240 g/L potassium pyrophosphate and 30 g/L potassium oxalate, and at a bath temperature of 40.degree. C. and a current density of 1.5 A/dm.sup.2. Next, nickel electroplating was carried out using a plating bath adjusted to concentrations of 40 g/L nickel chloride, 270 g/L nickel sulfate and 30 g/L boric acid, and at a bath temperature of 50.degree. C. and a current density of 2.0 A/dm.sup.2.”);
performing a heat treatment (required for forming oxidation, see the abstract) on the pair of plates on which the metal plating layers are formed to oxidize and/or nitride a metal of the metal plating layer, to form a metal oxide layer and/or a metal nitride layer, wherein a total thickness of the metal plating layer and the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 3 μm to 80 μm, and a thickness of the metal oxide layer and/or the metal nitride layer is in a range of 0.01 μm to 2 μm (discussed regarding claim 1);
respectively adhering a pair of yokes to the pair of plates on which the metal oxide layers and/or the metal nitride layers are formed (required to attach the magnets to the yokes to build the circuit); and
fixing the pair of yokes to each other with a support member such that the pair of plates adhered to the pair of yokes face each other and a gap is maintained between the pair of plates (implied to build the circuit).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/MASOUD VAZIRI/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/OLUSEYE IWARERE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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