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 .
Claim Status
The claims filed on 07/20/2023 is entered and acknowledged by the Examiner. Claims 1-10 are currently pending in the instant application.
Priority
This application is a 371 of PCT/CN2022/071186 (filed on 01/11/2022). Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 01/20/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) filed on 07/20/2023 and 07/31/2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and have been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy accompanies this Office Action.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 07/20/2023 have been considered.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 106830060 A (hereinafter Liu) in view of CN 108192593 A (hereinafter Wang).
Initially, it should be noted that the Liu and Wang references are cited in the IDS filed on 07/20/2023.
With respect to claim 10, Liu discloses a CsPbX3/SiO2 composite quantum dot prepared into a quantum dot film by UV curing and useful in optical film (See Abstract; [0001], [0005] and [0107]). In one embodiment, Liu discloses that the composite quantum dot comprises a core-shell quantum dot of CsPbBr3 core and a SiO2 (silicon oxide, silica) shell to provide stability of the CsPbBr3 core. Applicant described the inorganic nanocrystal is CsPbBr3 and a shell such as (SiO2, silica) silicon oxide (See [0054] and [0083]; Examples 1-4). The core-shell quantum dot of Liu comprises the claimed modified inorganic nanocrystal, which has a shell structure, as claimed.
Liu discloses the core-shell quantum dot is cover with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilozane (3-APTES) agent to improve quantum efficiency (See Abstract), but does not disclose an organic small molecule, which has a conjugated molecular structure, wherein the organic small molecule and the modified inorganic nanocrystal satisfy a fractional matching relationship of lattice parameters.
Wang discloses an optical thin film based on an inorganic perovskite quantum dot and a conjugated organic small molecule eutectic structure in order to improve quantum efficiency and chemical stability of the quantum dot material (See Abstract). Wang discloses that the conjugated organic small molecule eutectic structure is 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothiophene[3,2-b]benzothiophene (C8-BTBT) to form low-resistance ohmic contacts with surface modified metals, reducing injection barrier for charge carriers in electroluminescent devices (See [0006] and [0011]). It should be noted that Applicant described the claimed organic small molecule as C8-BTBT (See [0055] of the present specification).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate the organic small molecule (such as C8-BTBT) of Wang with the quantum dot material of Liu to form a film material having improve quantum efficiency and chemical stability of the quantum dot material as suggested by Wang. The burden is upon the applicant to prove otherwise. In re Fitzgerald, 205 USPQ 594.
With regards to the limitation of “the modified inorganic nanocrystal satisfy a fractional matching relationship of lattice parameters”, Liu discloses a core-shell quantum dot (CsPbBr3/SiO2) having the same structure as the claimed modified inorganic nanocrystal and Wang discloses a organic small molecule (C8-BTBT) having the same structure as the claimed organic small molecule as described by the Applicant. Therefore, the fractional relationship of lattice parameters of the organic small molecule and modified inorganic nanocrystal should be matching as claimed.
In view of the foregoing, the above claims have failed to patentably distinguish over the applied art.
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 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: currently, there is no prior art alone or in combination that teaches or fairly suggests a method for preparing an organic semiconductor film comprising a step of performing synchronous ion exchange on the metal ion and the anion in the inorganic nanocrystal with the shell structure by using an another nanocrystal different from the inorganic nanocrystal with the shell structure to obtain a modified inorganic nanocrystal with a shell structure, wherein the another nanocrystal contains elements that are different from the anion and the metal ion in the inorganic nanocrystal with the shell structure as recited in claim 1. Therefore, claim 1 is allowable over the prior art of record. Claims 2-9 directly or indirectly depend from claim 1 and are allowable based on their dependencies.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHANH TUAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8082. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST.
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/KHANH T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
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