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
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim (s) 17 and 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (CN 107104293 B) hereinafter Huang.
Regarding claim 17, Huang discloses a superconducting insert for a superconducting cable joint (Fig.1) , the superconducting insert comprising:(a) a first superconducting layer (see layer of 12) having first and second opposing surfaces (top and bottom surfaces of 12); (b) at least one conductive layer (see 211) disposed over the second one of the first and second opposing surfaces of the first superconducting layer (see 211 disposed on bottom surface of 12); and (c) a second superconducting layer (12) disposed over the at least one conductive layer (see 12 disposed on bottom surface of 211).
Regarding claim 20, Huang discloses, in Fig.1, a method for providing a superconducting insert, the method comprising:(a) providing a first normal conductive layer (211;Fig.1) having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface (see top and bottom surface of 211); (b) disposing a first superconducting layer (bottom 12) below the first surface of the first normal conductive layer (211); and (c) disposing a second superconducting layer (top 12) over the second surface of the first normal conductive layer (top surface of 12).
Regarding claim 21, Huang discloses, in Fig.1, wherein the first normal conductive layer (see 211) is c-shaped (see C chape of 211).
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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim (s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang as applied to claim 17 above, and further in view of Baldwin et al. (US 2007/0075811 A1) hereinafter Baldwin.
Regarding claim 18, Huang is silent with respect to wherein the first and second superconducting layers comprise a high temperature superconducting (HTS) tape.
Baldwin discloses a superconducting layer comprise a high temperature superconducting (HTS) tape (14;Fig.1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Baldwin to modify the conductor layers of Huang in order to perform circuit operations.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-16 are allowed over prior art of record.
Claim 19 is 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.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 2-16, The prior art of record neither anticipates norrenders obvious the claimed subject matter of the instant application as a whole eithertaken alone or in combination, in particular, prior art of record does not teach" a first mounting surface configured to accept a first superconducting cable; a second mounting surface configured to accept a second superconducting cable; and a cavity between the first and second mounting surfaces; and (b) an insert disposed in the cavity, wherein the insert comprises a plurality of elements stacked together " in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim 2.
Regarding claim 19, The prior art of record neither anticipates norrenders obvious the claimed subject matter of the instant application as a whole eithertaken alone or in combination, in particular, prior art of record does not teacha plurality of conductive layers interleaved with a plurality of superconducting layers between the first and second superconducting layers" in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim 17.
Therefore, prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious the instantapplication claimed invention as a whole either taken alone or in combination.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no laterthan the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferablyaccompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled "Comments onStatement of Reasons for Allowance."
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETE LEE whose telephone number is (571) 270-5921. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (2nd & 4th Friday Off). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached at (571) 272-2229 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).
/PETE T LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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