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 without traverse of Claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 06/29/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2020/0328237 A1).
Regarding Claim 1 LEE teaches a laser beam annealing apparatus comprising: a laser generator (100) (Fig 2) which generates a first incident laser (La) beam and a second incident laser beam (Lb) ; a beam mixer (Fig 2) arranged on optical paths of the first incident laser (La) beam and the second incident laser beam (Lb) and comprising an inversion module (200) (Fig 1-2) which vertically and horizontally inverts an image of a laser beam (par.0075); a homogenizer (par.0057) arranged on an optical path of a laser beam having passed through the beam mixer (Fig 2); and a condenser lens (Par.0057) arranged on an optical path of a laser beam having passed through the homogenizer (par.0057), wherein the laser beam having passed through the beam mixer (Fig 2) comprises a first mixed beam in which an image is not inverted and a second mixed beam in which an image is vertically and horizontally inverted (par.0076).
Regarding Claim 2 LEE teaches wherein the beam mixer (Fig 2) further comprises a splitter (210) arranged at a front end of the inversion module (see Fig 3).
Regarding Claim 3 LEE teaches wherein the inversion module (200) (Fig 1-2) comprises a plurality of mirrors220,230, 240), at least one of the plurality of mirrors vertically inverts an image of a laser beam, and at least one of the plurality of mirrors horizontally inverts an image of a laser beam (see Fig 3, par.0071).
Regarding Claim 10 LEE teaches wherein the inversion module (200) (Fig 1-2) comprises a circulation module (230), an optical member (220), and a moving mirror (240), and the circulation module increases the optical path (Fig 3).
Allowable subject matter
Claims 4-9 are objected to but would be allowable if rewritten including all the limitations of the base claims and all the intervening claims.
Conclusion
Prior art made of record not relied up on is pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Windpassinger (US 2006/0182155 A1); Muraki (US 5,153,773); Cho et al. (US 2021/0138581 A1) and Lee et al. (KR 2017/0085184 A) all teach laser beam apparatus that are pertinent to applicant’s claimed invention.
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/ABIY TEKA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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