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 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 1-15 is 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. Claim 1 states, “an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger”. The “(AP)” language appears to indicate acetophenone but it is not clear how this exactly relates to the Si-H containing scavenger. Further clarifying amendment is 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) 1-4, 8, 11, 13 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (US PG. Pub. 2018/0142080) in view of Umpleby (US Patent 4803244).
Regarding claim 1 – Sun teaches a process comprising: providing an initial cable core comprising (i) a conductor, (ii) an initial insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition ([Abstract] Sun states, “an initial cable core having a conductor, a first semiconductive layer, an initial insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition”) comprising (a) an ethylene-based polymer comprising (1) ethylene monomer ([paragraph 0016] Sun states, “ethylene-based” polymers are polymers prepared from ethylene monomers”), (2) an optional a-olefin comonomer, (3) an optional organosiloxane comonomer, (b) dicumyl peroxide (DCP) ([paragraph 0028] Sun states, “Exemplary organic peroxides include dicumyl peroxide (“DCP”)”), (d) optional curing coagent, and (e) optional anti-oxidant; subjecting the initial cable core to a crosslinking procedure sufficient to crosslink the crosslinkable polymeric composition and form a cable core with a crosslinked insulation layer ([Abstract] Sun states, “subjecting the initial cable core to a crosslinking process”).
Sun fails to teach (c) an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger.
Umpleby teaches including (c) an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger ([column 2 lines 5-7] Umpleby states, “Hydrosilylation is a chemical reaction that occurs by addition of the Si--H moiety across a carbon-carbon double bond (or a carbon-oxygen double bond)”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the process comprising an initial cable core with a conductor and an insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition as taught by Sun with the inclusion of an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger as taught by Umpleby because Umpleby states, “The use of this particular reaction insures that substantially no by products are formed and that no low molecular weight species are generated. The absence of toxic, noxious, or explosive reagents is of major importance for both the manufacture and use of resulting products” [column 2 lines 7-12].
Regarding claim 2 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the process of claim 1 comprising cooling the cable core with crosslinked insulation layer to ambient temperature to form a cooled cable core with a crosslinked insulation layer (Sun [paragraph 0043] Sun states, “Following the crosslinking process, the cable core having a crosslinked insulation, inner, and outer semiconductive layers can be cooled (e.g., to room temperature)”).
Regarding claim 3 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the process of claim 2 wherein the crosslinking procedure forms dicumyl peroxide decomposition byproducts selected from the group consisting of cumyl alcohol (CA), acetophenone (AP), methane, alpha methyl styrene, and combinations thereof (Sun [paragraph 0002] Sun states, “In the case of dicumyl peroxide, these byproducts include methane, acetophenone, alpha methylstyrene, and cumyl alcohol”), the process comprising cooling the cable core with crosslinked insulation layer to ambient temperature to form a cooled cable core ([paragraph 0043] Sun states, “Following the crosslinking process, the cable core having a crosslinked insulation, inner, and outer semiconductive layers can be cooled (e.g., to room temperature)”).
Sun in view of Umpleby fail to explicitly teach a crosslinked insulation layer having an RAP/CA value less than 0.57.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a crosslinked insulation layer having an RAP/CA value less than 0.57, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Reduction of the byproducts will reduce the toxic, noxious, or explosive reagents of the resulting product as discussed by Umpleby in column 2 lines 7-12 as discussed above.
Regarding claim 4 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the process of claim 3 wherein the crosslinking procedure is cooled to ambient temperature (Sun [paragraph 0043] Sun states, “Following the crosslinking process, the cable core having a crosslinked insulation, inner, and outer semiconductive layers can be cooled (e.g., to room temperature).”).
Sun in view of Umpleby fail to explicitly teach wherein the crosslinked insulation layer of the cooled cable core has an RAP/CA value less than 0.57 at a time from 1 minute after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature to 60 minutes after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a crosslinked insulation layer having an RAP/CA value less than 0.57 at a time from 1 minute after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature to 60 minutes after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Reduction of the byproducts will reduce the toxic, noxious, or explosive reagents of the resulting product as discussed by Umpleby in column 2 lines 7-12 as discussed above.
Regarding claim 8 – Sun teaches a cable comprising: a cable core comprising (i) a conductor; (ii) a crosslinked insulation layer formed from a crosslinkable polymeric composition ([Abstract] Sun states, “an initial cable core having a conductor, a first semiconductive layer, an initial insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition”) comprising (a) an ethylene-based polymer comprising (1) ethylene monomer ([paragraph 0016] Sun states, “ethylene-based” polymers are polymers prepared from ethylene monomers”), (2) an optional a-olefin comonomer, (3) an optional organosiloxane comonomer, (b) dicumyl peroxide (DCP) ([paragraph 0028] Sun states, “Exemplary organic peroxides include dicumyl peroxide (“DCP”)”), (d) optional curing coagent, and (e) optional anti-oxidant.
Sun does not teach (c) an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger.
Umpleby teaches including (c) an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger ([column 2 lines 5-7] Umpleby states, “Hydrosilylation is a chemical reaction that occurs by addition of the Si--H moiety across a carbon-carbon double bond (or a carbon-oxygen double bond)”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the process comprising an initial cable core with a conductor and an insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition as taught by Sun with the inclusion of an Si-H containing (AP) scavenger as taught by Umpleby because Umpleby states, “The use of this particular reaction insures that substantially no by products are formed and that no low molecular weight species are generated. The absence of toxic, noxious, or explosive reagents is of major importance for both the manufacture and use of resulting products” [column 2 lines 7-12].
Regarding claim 11 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the cable of claim 10 comprising from 0.1 wt% to 1.0 wt% of a curing coagent (Sun [paragraph 0031] Sun states, “the polyallyl crosslinking coagent in an amount of at least 0.3 wt %”).
Regarding claim 13 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the cable of claim 8 wherein the cable core is a cooled ([paragraph 0043] Sun states, “Following the crosslinking process, the cable core having a crosslinked insulation, inner, and outer semiconductive layers can be cooled (e.g., to room temperature).”) cable core comprising a crosslinked insulation layer comprising decomposition byproducts selected from the group consisting of cumyl alcohol (CA), acetophenone (AP), methane, alpha methyl styrene, and combinations thereof ([paragraph 0002] Sun states, “In the case of dicumyl peroxide, these byproducts include methane, acetophenone, alpha methylstyrene, and cumyl alcohol”).
Sun in view of Umpleby do not explicitly teach the crosslinked insulation layer of the cooled cable core has an RAP/CA value less than 0.57 at a time from 1 minute after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature to 60 minutes after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature and prior to a degassing procedure.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the crosslinked insulation layer of the cooled cable core has an RAP/CA value less than 0.57 at a time from 1 minute after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature to 60 minutes after the crosslinking procedure and being cooled to ambient temperature and prior to a degassing procedure, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Reduction of the byproducts will reduce the toxic, noxious, or explosive reagents of the resulting product as discussed by Umpleby in column 2 lines 7-12 as discussed above.
Regarding claim 15 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the cable of claim 7 comprising a first crosslinked polymeric semiconductive layer (Sun [paragraph 0040] Sun states, “each polymeric semiconductive layer may be crosslinked”); and an optional second crosslinked polymeric semiconductive layer.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. in view of Umpleby as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Meng (US PG. Pub. 2015/0075839).
Regarding claim 6 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the process of claim 2 comprising degassing (Sun [paragraph 0003] Sun states, “wherein when said crosslinked insulation layer is subjected to a degassing process at 70° C. and standard pressure”), after the cooling ([paragraph 0043] Sun states, “the crosslinking process, the cable core having a crosslinked insulation, inner, and outer semiconductive layers can be cooled (e.g., to room temperature)”), the cooled cable core with a crosslinked insulation layer.
Sun in view of Umpleby fail to explicitly teach reducing the amount of acetophenone in the crosslinked insulation layer to less than 1000 ppm.
Meng teaches reducing the amount of acetophenone ([table 6] Meng states, “acetophenone content analyses”) in the crosslinked insulation layer to less than 1000 ppm ([table 6] Meng states, “Acetophenone, 300 min. (ppm) 664.5”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the process comprising an initial cable core with a conductor and an insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition with a Si-H containing (AP) scavenger as taught by Sun in view of Umpleby with the acetophenone being less than 1000 ppm as taught by Meng because Meng states, “Following cross-linking, the cross-linked polymeric coating composition can undergo degassing to remove at least a portion of the volatile decomposition byproducts” [paragraph 0032]. Removing the volatile byproducts reduces toxicity and improves durability of the crosslinkable polymeric composition.
Claim(s) 10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. in view of Umpleby as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Rueckert (DE3717971).
Regarding claim 10 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the cable of claim 8 wherein the crosslinked insulation layer comprises from 95 wt% to 99.9 wt% of an ethylene homopolymer (Sun [paragraph 0031 & 0017] Sun states, “the ethylene-based polymer in an amount ranging from 50 to 98.9 wt %, from 80 to 98.9 wt %, from 90 to 98.9 wt %, or from 95 to 98.9 wt %...the ethylene-based polymer can be an ethylene homopolymer”).
Sun in view of Umpleby fail to explicitly teach from 0.1 wt% to 1.0 wt% the Si-H containing (AP) scavenger.
Rueckert teaches from 0.1 wt% to 1.0 wt% the Si-H containing (AP) scavenger ([claim 2] Rueckert states, “silicon hydrogen compounds in the range between 0.2 and 5 percent”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the process comprising an initial cable core with a conductor and an insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition and a Si-H containing (AP) scavenger as taught by Sun in view of Umpleby with the Si-H containing (AP) scavenger being within the range of 0.1wt% to 1.0wt% as taught by Rueckert because Rueckert states regarding this material and quantity, “it has been shown that the electrical insulation even after a long period of use, for example is not noticeably impaired in the years…unwanted “water trees” can be prevented” [page 3].
Regarding claim 12 – Sun in view of Umpleby teach the cable of claim 8 wherein the crosslinked insulation layer comprises from 95 wt% to 99.9 wt% of an ethylene/organosiloxane copolymer (Sun [paragraph 0021] Sun states, “the (A) polyolefin polymer is an ethylene/alkenyl silane copolymer comprising from 50 to <100 wt % ethylene monomeric units and from 50 to >0 wt % alkenylsilane comonomeric units; (viii) the (A) polyolefin polymer is an alkenyl-terminated organosiloxane oligomer”).
Sun in view of Umpleby fail to explicitly teach from 0.1 wt% to 1.0 wt% the Si-H containing (AP) scavenger.
Rueckert teaches from 0.1 wt% to 1.0 wt% the Si-H containing (AP) scavenger ([claim 2] Rueckert states, “silicon hydrogen compounds in the range between 0.2 and 5 percent”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the process comprising an initial cable core with a conductor and an insulation layer comprising a crosslinkable polymeric composition and a Si-H containing (AP) scavenger as taught by Sun in view of Umpleby with the Si-H containing (AP) scavenger being within the range of 0.1wt% to 1.0wt% as taught by Rueckert because Rueckert states regarding this material and quantity, “it has been shown that the electrical insulation even after a long period of use, for example is not noticeably impaired in the years…unwanted “water trees” can be prevented” [page 3].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7, 9 and 14 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN T SAWYER whose telephone number is (571)270-5469. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 am - 5pm.
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/STEVEN T SAWYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847