Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/021,392

HAPTIC ARTICLES AND APPLICATIONS USING SINTERED ARTICLES PREPARED FROM MOLDED GEL COMPOSITIONS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 15, 2023
Examiner
SAN MARTIN, JAYDI A
Art Unit
2837
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
3M Company
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 8m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allow Rate
859 granted / 1015 resolved
+16.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+12.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
18 currently pending
Career history
1033
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
42.1%
+2.1% vs TC avg
§102
40.8%
+0.8% vs TC avg
§112
9.2%
-30.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1015 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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. Specification The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification. Drawings The drawings are objected to because in Fig. 1, element 116 is used to designate the rear surface and the working surface. In addition, Fig. 1 utilizes elements 116 and 114 to identify the same top/working surface 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 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. Claim s 1- 5 and 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akabane et al. (US20200081542, hereinafter Akabane ) in view of Takeuchi ( US5430344 , hereinafter Takeuchi ). Regarding claim 1, Akabane discloses a haptic device (Fig. 2) comprising: a vibration plate (10) including a plate body (20) and a working surface thereof, and a piezoelectric actuator (24) attached to the vibration plate, configured to generate a standing wave on the working surface of the vibration plate at an ultrasonic frequency greater than 20 kHz (paragraph s [0026 -27 ]) . Akabane discloses the vibration plate comprising a glass plate or a composite substrate, but fails to disclose the vibration plate comprising a shaped zirconia ceramic plate. Takeuchi discloses the use of a ceramic vibration membrane comprising zirconia in combination with a piezoelectric actuator. The zirconia substrate vibrates in response to the vibration of the piezoelectric actuator and provides a greater strength and larger displacement than the glass material used by Akabane . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to improve the haptic device disclosed by Akabane by providing a shaped zirconia composite substrate, which provides improved strength and displacement. Regarding claim s 2 and 3 , Akabane shows in Fig. 8 different features formed on the vibration plate. Regarding claims 4 and 5, the claimed limitations are directed to the method of making the zirconia plate. The method of forming the device is not germane to the issue of patentability of the device itself. Therefore, this limitation has been given little patentable weight . Regarding claim 8, the plate body includes at least one of a flat structure, a curved structure, or a contoured structure , as shown in Fig. 8 . Regarding claim 9, Akabane discloses the use of a display (paragraph [0031]). Regarding claim 10, Akabane discloses providing a display under the touch panel and the plate comprising mounting features. However, Akabane fails to disclose the display being received by a frame and the zirconia plate being mounted via one or more mounting features. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to mount the display on the frame as necessitated by the specific requirements of the particular application. Regarding claim 11, Akabane discloses a control circuit (52) and a drive circuit (54). Please refer to paragraph [0031]. Controlling the frequency and the amplitude of the standing wave generated by the piezoelectric actuator is well known in the art. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 12-20 are allowed. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The references of the Prior Art fail to teach or disclose, alone or in obvious combination, the claimed invention as described in independent claim 12 . Specifically, the references of the Prior Art fail to teach the method of making the haptic device comprising the steps of providing a reaction mixture within a mold cavity, the mixture comprising 20-60 weight percent zirconia based particles, polymerizing the reaction mixture, removing the shaped gel plate, forming a dried shaped gel plate, heating the dried shaped gel plate and providing a piezoelectric actuator attached to the shaped zirconia ceramic plate. Claim s 6-7 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. Regarding claim 6, the references of the Prior Art fail to teach or disclose, alone or in obvious combination, the claimed invention wherein the shaped zirconia ceramic plate comprises at least 70 mole percent zirconia-based material, and wherein at least 80 weight percent of the zirconia-based material have a cubic crystalline structure, a tetragonal crystalline structure, or a combination thereof. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shimoda discloses a touch panel comprising a zirconia panel (2), a piezoelectric vibration element (190) . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT Jaydi San Martin whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-2018 . The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 7:45-6:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration t ool. To schedule an interview, a pplicant 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Dedei Hammond can be reached on FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-270-7938 . 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). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /J. San Martin / Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 15, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 20, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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PACKAGED ACOUSTIC WAVE DEVICES WITH MULTI-LAYER PIEZOELECTRIC SUBSTRATE
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2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+12.1%)
2y 8m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1015 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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