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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 6-7 are deleted, Claims 1-5 and 8-9 remain for examination, wherein claims 1 and 2 are independent claims.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-2 are objected to because of the following informalities: the [C], [Si], [Mn], [Cr], [Mo], and [Nb] in claims 1-2 need proper deification. Appropriate correction is required.
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 2, 5, and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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. Evidence that claim 2 fail(s) to correspond in scope with that which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA applications the applicant regards as the invention can be found in the reply filed the US-PG-pub 2025/0019812 A1. In that paper, the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA applications the applicant has stated “a wave height of the steel sheet in an longitudinal direction is 10 mm or less” (Fig.1 and par.[0068] of US-PG-pub 2025/0019812 A1, corresponding to the Applicant’s specification of the instant application), and this statement indicates that the invention is different from what is defined in the claim(s) of “a wave height of the steel sheet in an longitudinal direction is 10 nm or less”. Actually, there is no disclosure to show the technique to obtain the claimed 10 nm or less wave height for the steel sheet. Since claim 5 and 8-9 depend on claim 2, they are also rejected. Since these claims need further clarification and amendment, these claims are not included in the following examination.
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 and 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KAMI TSUTOMU et al (JP 2011052320 A, listed in IDS filed on 8/25/2025, with on-line translation, thereafter JP’320) in view of Yabu et ai (US-PG-pub 2022/0389545 A1, thereafter PG’545)..
Regarding claims 1 and 3-4, JP’320 teaches a hot-rolled steel sheet having a high strength satisfying a yield strength YS: ≥960 MPa and high toughness (Abstract, examples, and claims of JP’320), which reads on the claimed hot-rolled steel sheet as claimed in the instant claims. The comparison between the claimed alloy composition ranges and the working example #D in table 1 of JP’320 is listed in following table. All of the essential alloy composition ranges and calculation value according [Relational Expression 1] disclosed by the example #D in table 1 of JP’320 are within the claimed alloy composition ranges. JP’320 teaches adjusting 0.05 wt% or less of S (par.[0019] of JP’320) and 0.05 wt% or less of S (par.[0029] of JP’320), which overlaps the claimed S and N ranges and creates a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144 05 I. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize S and N from the disclosing of JP’320 since JP’320 teaches the same hot rolled steel sheet as claimed throughout whole disclosing range. JP’320 indicates that a martensite phase or a tempered martensite phase as a main phase (par.[0032]-[0033] of JP’320). JP’320 does not specify the amount of austenite as claimed in the instant claim. PG’545 teaches a hot-rolled steel sheet. (abstract and claims of PG’545). All of alloy composition disclosed by PG’545 (claims and par.[0046]-[0084] of PG’545) overlap the claimed alloy composition ranges. MPEP 2144 05I. PG’545 specify including total 0-100area% of TM and bainite, and 25 aera% or less austenite, which overlap the claimed microstructure as claimed in the instant claim. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the amount of austenite from the disclosing of PG’545 since JP’320 and PG’545 teach the same hot-rolled steel sheet as claimed throughout whole disclosing range and PG’545 specify applying proper alloy elements with proper microstructure for a high strength hot-rolled steel sheet having excellent bending workability and small anisotropy in bending workability (par.[0001] of PG’545).
Element
From instant Claim 1 (mass%)
Example #D in table 1 of JP’320 (mass %)
within range
(mass %)
C
0.06-0.12
0.09
0.09
Si
0.004-0.4
0.01
0.01
Mn
0.8-2.0
1.00
1.00
Al
0.01-0.05
0.020
0.020
Cr
0.05-1.0
0.40
0.40
Mo
0.001-0.3
0.30
0.30
P
0.001-0.05
0.001
0.001
S
0.001-0.005
0.0008
0.005 or less (par.[0019])
0.0008 close to low limit 0.001
Overlapping range:
0.001-0.005
N
0.001-0.01
--
0.005 or less (par.[0029])
Overlapping range: 0.001-0.005
Nb
0.001-0.05
0.020
0.020
Ti
0.001-0.05
0.010
0.010
B
0.001-0.05
0.0010
0.0010
Fe
Balance + impurities
Balance + impurities
Balance + impurities
Relational Expression 1
20 or less
About 2.8
About 2.8
From instant Claim 3 (mass%)
Ni
0.01 or less
Not intended added
0-trace amount
From claim 4
Average grain size prior austenite
10-30 mm
20 mm or less (par.[0011] of PG’545)
Overlapping range:
10-20 mm
Regarding claim 3, the working example #D in table 1 of JP’320 does not intended adding Ni in the alloy, which reads on the limitations as claimed in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 4, PG’545 specify an average grain size of prior austenite grains is 20 μm or less in a cross section parallel to a rolling direction, and the average grain size of prior austenite grains is 15 μm or less in a cross section orthogonal to the rolling direction (par.[0011] of PG’545), which overlaps the claimed average grain size range of prior austenite as claimed in the instant claim. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the average grain size from the disclosing of PG’545 since JP’320 and PG’545 teach the same hot-rolled steel sheet as claimed throughout whole disclosing range and PG’545 specify applying proper alloy elements with proper microstructure for a high strength hot-rolled steel sheet having excellent bending workability and small anisotropy in bending workability (par.[0001] of PG’545).
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 IFP.
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/JIE YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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