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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. There are no drawings filed. The drawings may be a step by step of the claimed method, a graph of the pre-sintering, sintering temperature, particle size graphs
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida (JP 2016060687) as cited in the machine translation provided herein.
Regarding claim 1, Yoshida discloses a method for manufacturing an oxide ceramic molded body (Abstract- step II), comprising subjecting a powder containing oxide ceramic particles of zirconia.
Yoshida discloses the maximum particle size of zirconia powder being 10 microns or less and an average particle size 30 nm or less (page 3 step (I), last ¶-page 4 first ¶) to press molding under reduced pressure (page 3; step (II).
Thus overlapping the claimed ranges which is a prima facie case of obviousness.
Regarding claim 3, Yoshida discloses the press molding involves a loading pressure of 50-1000 MPa (Page 6 ¶1) which overlaps with the claimed range of 10 MPa or more and 200 MPa or less.
Regarding claim 4, Yoshida discloses the powder containing oxide ceramic particles is a powder containing zirconia particles, and/or a powder containing alumina particles.
Regarding claims 5-7, Yoshida discloses the powder containing oxide ceramic particles additionally contains a stabilizing agent of yittria of 2-4 mol % (page 3; step (I) yttria is capable of stabilizing zirconia thus preventing a phase transformation of zirconia.
Regarding claims 8-12, Yoshida manufacturing an oxide ceramic zirconia press-molded body and sintering at a temperature 900-12000C thus overlapping both pre-sintering and the sintering temperature (page 5 last ¶-page 6 first ¶) in order to sinter the ceramic molded body it must go through pre-sintering as well
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida (JP 2016060687) as cited in the machine translation provided herein as applied above as applied to Ito (WO 2018056331).
Regarding claim 2, Yoshida discloses press-molding the powder body to a desired density (page 6 ¶1) however Yoshida fails to state press molding is conducted under a reduced pressure between 0.1 kPa -100 kPa.
In an analogous art of forming a zirconia with yttria stabilizer by press molding (page 11, ¶1-5) Ito discloses reducing the pressure inside the mold during press molding produces a higher density. It would be obvious to modify the method of Yoshida with the reduction in pressure as motivated to achieve a lower density because Ito has established the pressure reduction during press molding yielding a higher density as a result-effective variable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JODI COHEN FRANKLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3966. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8 am-4 pm.
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JODI COHEN FRANKLIN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1741
/JODI C FRANKLIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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