DETAILED ACTION
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Any rejections made in a previous Office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on July 6, 2026 has been entered.
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 6-9, 24 and 27-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaguchi et al. (US 2014/0106174) in view of Kikkawa et al. (US 2017/0129802).
Regarding claim 6, Yamaguchi discloses an optical glass, which comprises, denoted as weight percent, 2 to 37% of SiO2, 0 to 30% CaO, 0 to 15% La2O3, 2 to 47% BaO, 0 to 25 percent of B2O3, 9 to 35% TiO2, 2 to 36% Nb2O5, 0 to 5% WO3, see abstract and [0068, 0073, 0074, 0075, 0077]. Additionally, the reference discloses the amount of ZrO2 from 0 to 12% and of SrO from 0% or greater than 0% [0068, 0079]. The reference further discloses that the composition does include MgO, ZnO, Y2O3, Gd2O3, Ta2O5 and Bi2O3, see entire document.
Note that based on the value disclosed for La2O3 and the absence of Y2O3 and Gd2O3, the reference is considered to render obvious a total content of the three components as 2.96% or more; see above discussion and MPEP 2144.05 I: in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. Similarly, based on the values disclose for BaO and La2O3 and the absence of Y2O3 and Gd2O3, the reference is considered to render obvious a total content of the four components as 30% or less; see above discussion and MPEP 2144.05 I. While the reference does not specifically disclose the claimed mass ratios, the composition disclosed by the reference renders obvious the claimed values, see above discussion.
The reference further discloses the refractive index as 1.860 to 1.990 and the Abbe number as 21 to 29, both of which overlap the claimed range, see abstract and MPEP 2144.05 I.
While the reference discloses the composition as containing BaO, the reference fails to disclose the claimed amount [0068].
Kikkawa discloses an optical glass comprising BaO as an optional component, see abstract and [0112]. When having a content exceeding 0%, BaO can reduce devitrification, and further, increase the refactive index, enhances melting properties and reduces material costs [0112]. When BaO is no greater than 20%, increase in the Abbe number are suppressed while degradations of the chemical resistance and devitrification are restrained [0113]. Accordingly, the content of BaO is preferably less than 5% [0113].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for the glass of Yamaguchi to have a value of less than 5% in order to reduce devitrification, increase refractive index, enhance melting properties, suppress increase in the Abbe number and restrain degradations of the chemical resistance and devitrification.
Regarding claims 7 and 8, Yamaguchi discloses 0 to 15% La2O3 and 0 to 25 percent of B2O3, which renders obvious the claimed ratio, see above discussion. For example, the reference renders obvious the values for La2O3 and of B2O3 for Applicant’s example 1, which satisfies the claimed ratios; see above discussion and Applicant’s Specification Table 1 Ex. 1 and Table 2.
Regarding claim 9, while the reference does not specifically disclose the claimed mass ratio, the composition disclosed by the reference renders obvious the claimed value, see above discussion. For example, the reference renders obvious the values for La2O3, B2O3, Y2O3 and Gd2O3 for Applicant’s example 1, which satisfies the claimed ratio; see above discussion and Applicant’s Specification Table 1 Ex. 1.
Regarding claim 24, the reference discloses the optical glass has a refractive index of 1.86 to 1.99 and an Abbe number of 21 to 29, which overlaps the claimed ranges; see abstract and MPEP 2144.05 I. Additionally, the reference discloses the optical glass has a specific gravity of 4.1 or less [0114]. Note that based on the values disclosed for specific gravity and refractive index, the reference is considered to render obvious the claimed ratio; see MPEP 2144.05 I.
Regarding claim 27, the reference discloses the ZrO content as 0 to 12%, which overlaps the claimed range [0079].
Regarding claim 28, the reference discloses the TiO2 content as 9 to 35%, which overlaps the claimed range [0075].
Regarding claims 29-31, while the reference does not specifically disclose the claimed mass ratios, the composition disclosed by the reference renders obvious the claimed values, see above discussion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 6-9, 24 and 27-31 have been considered but are moot in view of new combination of prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA A AUER whose telephone number is (571)270-5669. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 am - 4 pm EST.
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/LAURA A AUER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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