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 Species II, (claim 9) in the reply filed on October 24, 2025 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)).
Claims 7 and 8 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 9-11 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1 and a2) as being anticipated by Da (US Pub 20200109079).
Regarding claims 1-3 and 15: Da teaches a chemically tempered glass having a plate shape (see abstract, Figures, Examples).
The tempered glass comprises a compressive stress layer on a surface (0012-0014, Examples, Table 3), a tensile stress layer on an inner side in a thickness direction with respect to the compressive stress layer (0026, 0104, 0109, Examples, Table 3).
The tempered glass is thin (title, abstract, Examples, Table 3) having a thickness t1 of 0.05mm (50micron) (0167, Example 1 in Table 3) and is flexible (bendable) (title). The depth of the compression stress layer (DOL in Da corresponds to the claimed DOC) is 4micron (Example 1, Table 3) and the maximum compression stress of the compression stress layer CS is 706MPa (Example 1, Table 3). This provides for a CS/DOC or 176.5.
Regarding claim 4: The maximum tensile stress CT of the tensile stress layer in the thin glass is 67MPa (see for instance, Example 1, Table 3).
Regarding claim 5: The above-mentioned depth of the compression stress layer (DOL in Da corresponds to the claimed DOC) is 4micron and thickness t1 being 0.05mm (50micron) provides for a DOC/t1 ratio of 0.08.
Regarding claim 6: Regarding the claimed features of the tensile stress layer having a first region extending from the DOC to a DCT region in which the tensile stress varies in the thickness direction and a second region extending from the DCT region in which the tensile stress is constant in the thickness, it is initially noted that in chemical tempering, as is done by Da, the claimed features would be implicit as it is well understood that compressive stress decreases until it reaches the DOL (i.e. CS=0MPa, CT=0MPa) at which point, the stress turns to tensile stress which becomes increasingly negative (first region) until a point in which it becomes constant (second region). For example, and provided solely as evidence, see the following Figure from USPUb20170305786 illustrating the general conceptual knowledge in the art for glass undergoing ion exchange.
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440
650
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Greyscale
As such, the first and second region features claimed would be expected in Da.
Regarding the depth of such a DCT as claimed, Applicants’ specification calculates DCT depth as DCT=(CS+CT)/(CS/DOC) (see specification par 0041). In the instant case, as discussed above, Da’s CS=706MPa, CT=67MPa, and DOC=4micron which provides for a DCT of 4.4microns and given that Da’s thickness t1 was 0.5mm (50micron), the relationship DCT/t1= 4.4/50=0.088.
Alternatively, in the instance Applicants argue against any of the above, Da’s tempered glass meets the CS layer, tensile stress layer, glass thickness, DOC and CS/DOC requirements of claim 1. Additionally, Da’s glass is made with a composition the same as Applicants’ (see Da’s Example 1 in Table 3 and Applicants’ claims 10-11) and even has the same CT, DOC/t1 and CS properties and relationships as Applicants’ (see Table 3 in Da and Applicants’ claim 2, 4 and 5). Further, Applicants’ tempered glasses are made by chemical tempering glass with a NaNO3, KNO3 or LiNO3, each used or a combination (see Applicants’ specification par 0076) at a temperature of 350-500oC for a duration of 3-300minutes (see Applicants’ specification par 0077). Da’s tempered glasses are similarly made by tempering glass with ions such as NaNO3 and/or KNO3 (0095, 0097, 0158-0159) at temperatures and durations meeting that of Applicants’ (0014, 0149, see Table 3). Given the similarities of Da with that of Applicants’, one skilled in the art would reasonably conclude the same tensile stress layer first and second region features, DCT and relationship claimed to result (MPEP 2112).
Regarding claim 9: Da’s entire tempered glass is thin with the above-mentioned thickness. Given that Da never discloses/mentions the thickness being varied, one skilled in the art would reasonably conclude the thickness to be substantially uniform.
Regarding claims 10-11: The tempered glass can have the following composition (see Example 1, Table 3 and note from par 0167 that the glass used is the Type 1 glass from Table 1 listed in wt%).
Wt%
Mol% (appx.) conversion
SiO2
61
66.2
Al2O3
17
10.9
B2O3
0
0
Li2O
0
0
Na2O
12
12.6
K2O
4
2.8
MgO
4
6.5
ZrO2
2
1.1
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed 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.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1 and a2) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Da (USPub20200109079) as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 14: While Da may not teach the above-mentioned Example used to reject claim 1 including an etched surface, given that Da explicitly teaches that glasses of their invention can have the edge surfaces etched for increased strength (see 0007, 0037) or alternatively, the thin glass can be produced by etching from a thicker glass (see 0093), one skilled in the art would conclude Da to be anticipated with sufficient specificity an entire surface of the glass being an etched surface, or at the very least, render it obvious.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Da (USPub20200109079) as applied to claim 10 above.
Regarding claims 12 and 13: While Da’s tempered glass composition, as shown below, for rejecting claim 10 fails to meet the limitation of including 1-5mol% B2O3 requirement of claim 12 or the 5-10mol% Al2O3 and 1-5mol% B2O3 requirements of claim 13,
Wt%
Mol% (appx.) conversion
SiO2
61
66.2
Al2O3
17
10.9
B2O3
0
0
Li2O
0
0
Na2O
12
12.6
K2O
4
2.8
MgO
4
6.5
ZrO2
2
1.1
Da does teach that their tempered glasses can have the following (see for instance, Da 0053-0063),
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180
436
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Greyscale
wherein the glass can be free of both Li2O (0wt%) (see 0056) and K2O (0wt%) (0058) with Na2O being 4-30wt% (0057).
The above allows for compositions, when converted to mol%, overlapping the compositional requirements claimed (MPEP 2144.05).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAUREN ROBINSON COLGAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3474. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 9AM to 5PM.
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LAUREN ROBINSON COLGAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1784
/LAUREN R COLGAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1784