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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10/03/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-6 and 21-30 are currently under examination on the merits.
Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
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 1-6 and 21-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guo et al (Advanced Materials, Vol 32, 2020, of record, see IDS 08/24/23)
Regarding claims 1-5 and 21-30, Guo discloses a product comprising a three-dimensional structure having a plurality of portions in discrete layers comprised of liquid crystal network reading upon elastomers, each portion is part of layer structure naturally having volume element defined by z-dimension (thickness direction of the layer structure) which perpendicular to x-y dimension (plane direction of the layer structure) (pages 1-2, Fig. 1, 2 and 4); wherein the liquid crystal network in the portions of the first layer are substantially aligned in a predefined first orientation (Fig. 1f and 1g, top layer), the liquid crystal network in the portions of a second layer are substantially aligned in a predefined second orientation that is different than the first orientation (Fig. 1f and 1 g, bottom layer, LC has orientation different from top layer). Guo also discloses that the liquid crystal network may have contiguous regions having a dimension less than 60 microns, and orientation of liquid crystal in each region is different from other regions (see Fig, 1, Ciii, SEM image corresponding to bottom layer of g(i), LC monomer having a+2 defect pattern), satisfying the contiguous region of aligned liquid crystal elastomers in one of the portions has a maximum dimension of less than 60 microns. Guo also discloses that the predefined orientation of alignment can be different than the orientation of the as-deposited alignment of the liquid crystal elastomers (Fig. 1, a (ii)), and the product may have more than three layers stacked together in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the layers, and LC in each layer may have different orientation, satisfying present claims 3-5 and 22-30 (Fig. 3, ai).
It is noted that product as recited in the claim 6 is in product by process format and that the process limitation does not further limit the product structurally unless it imparts structure by the recited process steps. The product being formed as claimed would not differentiate over a product formed in another conventional way structurally. Therefore, if the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior art product was made by a different process (see MPEP 2113 for PBP).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 10/03/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Gou does not disclose at least one of the elements as arranged in claim 1 and claim 21. The examiner’s position is that either the top layer, the bottom layer, or even any one of an intermediate layers of Guo may satisfy the limitations of the portions of the first layer and portions of the second layer as recited in the present claims 1 and 21 (3D structure of Guo having multiple layers formed by crosslinking LC molecules, each layer or portions of the layer has a thickness of at least one LC molecule size, which reads upon a volume element having three dimensions as claimed).
For the reasons set forth above and of record, the claims stand properly rejected.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUIYUN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7934. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00-5:00 PM.
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/RUIYUN ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782