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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Claims 1-11 and 13-18 in the reply filed on 06/05/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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. Therefore, the features of “the bedding layer of the first cable section and the second cable section includes swelling tape” as claimed in claim 6; “a water swellable material arranged between the intermediate cable section insulation system and the intermediate cable section bedding layer” as claimed in claims 7 and 16; “the intermediate cable section bedding layer includes two layers” as claimed in claim 8 and 17 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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.
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.
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.
Claims 1-5, 9, 11, 13-15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kimura et al. (5231249) in view of Ito et al. (2018/0326697).
Kimura et al. discloses a power cable comprising: a first cable section (20), a second cable section (20), each of the first cable section and the second cable section comprising: a conductor section (11 or 21), and an insulation system arranged around the conductor section, the insulation system including an inner semiconducting layer (12 or 22), an insulation layer (13 or 23) arranged around the inner semiconducting layer, and an outer semiconducting layer (14 or 24) arranged around the insulation layer, and a metallic radial water barrier (16) arranged around the outer semiconducting layer; and an intermediate cable section (30) located between the first cable section and the second cable section, the intermediate cable section including: an intermediate conductor section (21/31), an intermediate cable section insulation system arranged around the intermediate conductor section, the intermediate cable section insulation system extending between and joining the insulation systems of the first cable section and the second cable section, the intermediate cable section insulation system including an inner semiconducting layer (32) arranged around the intermediate conductor section, an insulation layer (33) arranged around the inner semiconducting layer, and an outer semiconducting layer (34) arranged around the insulation layer, an intermediate cable section bedding layer (conductive adhesive tape 35) arranged around the intermediate cable section insulation system, and a radial intermediate cable section water barrier (shield layer 36), arranged around the intermediate cable section bedding layer, the radial intermediate cable section water barrier (36) being joined with the metallic radial water barrier of the first cable section and of the second cable section, wherein the metallic radial water barrier of the first and/or the second cable section is leadfree (i.e., copper) (re-claim 1).
Kimura et al. does not disclose the intermediate water barrier (shield layer 36) being a metallic layer and thermally joined, welding or soldering, with the metallic water barrier of the first cable section and of the second cable section; and the intermediate section bedding layer (conductive adhesive tape 35) having an anisotropic thermal conductivity, with a higher thermal conductivity in the longitudinal axial direction of the cable than in a radial direction of the cable (re-claims 1, 9, and 18).
Although not disclosed in Kimura et al., it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the shield layer (36) of Kimura et al. to be a metallic layer to meet the specific use of the resulting cable since metals are known in the art for being used as shielding materials. It would also have been obvious to one skilled in the art to join the modified metallic intermediate water barrier (36) with the metallic water barrier (16) of the first cable section and of the second cable section respectively by welding or soldering to meet the specific use of the resulting cable since connecting two metals by welding or soldering is known in the art.
Ito et al. discloses a thermal conductive adhesive layer (Fig. 1 or 5) which has an anisotropic thermal conductivity, with a higher thermal conductivity in the longitudinal axial direction than in a radial direction and which can be used as a protective layer ([0004]). Specifically, the layer (10) of Ito et al. includes carbon nanotubes (22) arranged parallel to each other and aligned in the longitudinal direction of the layer. Carbon nanotubes are known to have a much higher thermal conductivity in the longitudinal direction than in the radial direction.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to use the thermal conductive adhesive layer (10 or 13) of Ito et al. for the bedding layer (conductive adhesive tape 35) of Kimura et al. to improve the thermal conductivity (via carbon nanotubes) of the bedding layer.
Re-claim 2, Kimura et al. discloses the metallic water barrier of the first cable section and /or the second cable section including copper (col. 11 line 38).
Re-claims 3 and 13, Kimura et al. does not disclose the metallic intermediate section water barrier (shield layer 36) including copper. However, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to use copper for the shield layer (36) of Kimura et al. to meet the specific use of the resulting cable since copper is known in the art for being used as shielding and protective material as disclosed in Kimura et al. for protective tube 38.
Re-claims 4 and 14, Kimura et al. discloses an intermediate cable section polymer layer (37 or 39, having cross-section hatching of resin or plastic according to MPEP 608.02 (IX)) arranged around the metallic intermediate water barrier.
Re-claims 5 and 15, Kimura et al. discloses a bedding layer (15) arranged around the insulation system of the first cable section and the second cable section, underneath the metallic radial water barrier, wherein the intermediate cable section bedding layer (35) is arranged axially between and in direct contact with the bedding layer of the first cable section and of the second cable section.
Re-claim 11, the modified cable of Kimura et al. is a submarine power cable since it comprises structure and material as claimed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8, 10, 16, and 17 are 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAU N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1980. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th, 7am to 5:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Imani N Hayman can be reached at 571-270-5528. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CHAU N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
Prosecution Insights