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 Objections
Claims 2, 10-11 objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 2, the phrase “the out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet is an out-of-plane deformation amount measured on the upstream side of the rolling mill” should be changed to “the out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet is measured on the upstream side of the rolling mill”.
Regarding claim 10, the phrase “cold rolling to a steel sheet” should be changed to “a cold rolling to a steel sheet”.
Regarding claim 11, the phrase “the out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet is an out-of-plane deformation amount measured on the upstream side of the rolling mill” should be changed to “the out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet is measured on the upstream side of the rolling mill”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 (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 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.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Akio (JPS6268620A attached NPL, English Machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Akio discloses a cold rolling method (pages 1-3) comprising:
a calculation step of calculating a leveling amount (fig.2: (36)) of a rolling mill using an out-of-plane deformation amount of a steel sheet (fig.1: (10)) measured (fig.2: (22)) on an upstream side of the rolling mill (fig.1);
a control step (fig.2: (40)) of controlling leveling of the rolling mill on a basis of the leveling amount calculated in the calculation step; and a cold rolling step of applying cold rolling to the steel sheet using the rolling mill controlled by the control step (claim 1).
Regarding claim 10, Akio discloses a cold rolling equipment (pages 1-3) comprising:
a rolling mill that applies cold rolling to a steel sheet (fig.1: (10) and claim 1);
a shape measurement device (fig.2: (22)) that is disposed on an upstream side of the rolling mill and measures an out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet (fig.1);
a calculation device (fig.2: (36)) that calculates a leveling amount of the rolling mill using the out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet measured by the shape measurement device; and
a control device (fig.2: (40)) that controls leveling of the rolling mill on a basis of the leveling amount calculated by the calculation device (claim 1).
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.
Claims 3-5 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akio (JPS6268620A attached NPL, English Machine translation)
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Akiodoes does not explicitly disclose the limitations of claims 3 and 12.
However, having the limitations of claims 3 and 12 would have resulted from routine engineering practices and it therefore not patentable would be obvious because there is no unexpected result;
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the limitations of claims 3 and 12 in order to reduce the occurrence of defective strips during the cold rolling.
Regarding claims 4-5 and 13-14, Akiodoes does not explicitly disclose the limitations of claims 4-5 and 13-14;
However, having the limitations of claims 3 and 12 would have resulted from routine engineering practices and it therefore not patentable would be obvious because there is no unexpected result;
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the limitations of claims 4-5 and 13-14 in order to have the advantages of using program and machine learning of improving accuracy and efficiency.
Claims 2, 6-9 and 11, 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akio (JPS6268620A attached NPL, English Machine translation) in vies of Shoichi (JPH07132310A attached NPL, English Machine translation).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Akio discloses the out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet is an out-of-plane deformation amount measured on the upstream side of the rolling mill (fig.1: (22));
Akio does not disclose a steering device that is disposed on the upstream side of the rolling mill and changes a conveying direction of the steel sheet, and immediately upstream or immediately downstream of the steering device; and immediately upstream or immediately downstream of a steering device that changes a conveying direction of the steel sheet.
Shoichi teaches a cold rolling equipment comprising a steering device (abstract, page 1 and fig.1: (50)) that is disposed on the upstream side of the rolling mill and changes a conveying direction of the steel sheet, wherein a out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet is an out-of-plane deformation amount measured on the upstream side (fig.1: (60)) of the rolling mill and immediately upstream or immediately downstream of the steering device
Both of the prior arts of Akio and Shoichi are related to a cold rolling equipment;
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Akio to have a steering device that is disposed on the upstream side of the rolling mill and changes a conveying direction of the steel sheet, and immediately upstream or immediately downstream of the steering device; and immediately upstream or immediately downstream of a steering device that changes a conveying direction of the steel sheet as taught by Shoichi, since it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. [KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)].
Regarding claims 6-9 and 15-18, Akio does not disclose in the calculation step, the leveling amount is calculated using an out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet on the upstream side of the rolling mill (fig.2: (22));
Akio does not disclose an out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet measured on a downstream side of the rolling mill; and
Shoichi teaches a cold rolling equipment comprising a shape measurement device that measures an out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet and an out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet measured on a downstream side of the rolling mill (page 2; fig.1: (41-44) and (60));
Both of the prior arts of Akio and Shoichi are related to a cold rolling equipment;
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Akio to have an out-of-plane deformation amount of the steel sheet measured on a downstream side of the rolling mill as taught by Shoichi, since it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. [KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED S ALAWADI whose telephone number is (571)272-2224. The examiner can normally be reached 08:00 am- 05:00 pm.
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/MOHAMMED S. ALAWADI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725
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