Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/386,278

STRENGTHENED GLASSES WITH SODA LIME SILICATE GLASS CULLET ACCEPTABILITY

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 02, 2023
Examiner
PATEL, RONAK C
Art Unit
1788
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Corning Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
50%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 8m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 50% of resolved cases
50%
Career Allow Rate
326 granted / 645 resolved
-14.5% vs TC avg
Strong +57% interview lift
Without
With
+56.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 8m
Avg Prosecution
56 currently pending
Career history
701
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.2%
-39.8% vs TC avg
§103
70.1%
+30.1% vs TC avg
§102
6.9%
-33.1% vs TC avg
§112
18.0%
-22.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 645 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. 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) 1- 1 6, 18 -20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barefoot et al. (US 2015/0183680). Regarding claims 1- 2 , 4-9 , 12-13 Barefoot discloses s trengthened glasses having a central tension below a threshold value, above which the glass exhibits frangible behavior, are provided and described herein. The threshold central tension for frangible behavior varies nonlinearly with the thickness of the glass. The glasses may be used as cover plates or windows for portable or mobile electronic communication and entertainment devices, such as cellular phones, music players; and information terminal (IT) devices, such as laptop computers and the like (para 003). Barefoot discloses i n another embodiment, the alkali aluminosilicate glass comprises: from about 60 mol % to about 70 mol % SiO.sub.2; from about 6 mol % to about 14 mol % Al.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % B.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % Li.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 20 mol % Na.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % K.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 8 mol % MgO; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % CaO ; from 0 mol % to about 5 mol % ZrO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % SnO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % CeO.sub.2; less than about 50 ppm As.sub.2O.sub.3; and less than about 50 ppm Sb.sub.2O.sub.3 (para 0048). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (MPEP 2144.05). Regarding claim 3 , Barefoot discloses s trengthened glasses having a central tension below a threshold value, above which the glass exhibits frangible behavior, are provided and described herein. The threshold central tension for frangible behavior varies nonlinearly with the thickness of the glass. The glasses may be used as cover plates or windows for portable or mobile electronic communication and entertainment devices, such as cellular phones, music players; and information terminal (IT) devices, such as laptop computers and the like (para 003). Barefoot discloses i n another embodiment, the alkali aluminosilicate glass comprises: from about 60 mol % to about 70 mol % SiO.sub.2; from about 6 mol % to about 14 mol % Al.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % B.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % Li.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 20 mol % Na.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % K.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 8 mol % MgO; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % CaO ; from 0 mol % to about 5 mol % ZrO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % SnO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % CeO.sub.2; less than about 50 ppm As.sub.2O.sub.3; and less than about 50 ppm Sb.sub.2O.sub.3 (para 0048). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (MPEP 2144.05). The only deficiency of Barefoot is that Barefoot disclose the use of SiO2 in an amount of 70 mol % , while the present claims require SiO2 in an amount of 69.2 mol%. It is apparent, however, that the instantly claimed amount of SiO2 and that taught by Barefoot are so close to each other that the fact pattern is similar to the one in In re Woodruff , 919 F.2d 1575, USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990) or Titanium Metals Corp. of America v. Banner , 778 F.2d 775, 227 USPQ 773 (Fed.Cir. 1985) where despite a “slight” difference in the ranges the court held that such a difference did not “render the claims patentable” or, alternatively, that “a prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges and prior art ranges do not overlap but are close enough so that one skilled in the art would have expected them to have the same properties”. In light of the case law cited above and given that there is only a “slight” difference between the amount of SiO2 disclosed by Barefoot and the amount disclosed in the present claims and further given the fact that no criticality is disclosed in the present invention with respect to the amount of SiO2 , it therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the amount of SiO2 disclosed in the present claims is but an obvious variant of the amounts disclosed in Barefoot , and thereby one of ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed invention. Regarding claim 10, Barefoot discloses the alkali aluminosilicate glasses described hereinabove are down-drawable by processes known in the art, such as slot- drawing, fusion drawing, re-drawing, and the like, and has a liquidus viscosity of at least 130 kilopoise (para 0058). Regarding claim 11, As Barefoot discloses glass article comprising components in mol% as presently claimed, therefore, the glass article would intrinsically have the claimed Young’s modulus in a range of 72-75 MPa. Regarding claims 14-15, 20 Barefoot discloses s trengthened glasses having a central tension below a threshold value, above which the glass exhibits frangible behavior, are provided and described herein. The threshold central tension for frangible behavior varies nonlinearly with the thickness of the glass. The glasses may be used as cover plates or windows for portable or mobile electronic communication and entertainment devices, such as cellular phones, music players; and information terminal (IT) devices, such as laptop computers and the like (para 003). Barefoot discloses i n another embodiment, the alkali aluminosilicate glass comprises: from about 60 mol % to about 70 mol % SiO.sub.2; from about 6 mol % to about 14 mol % Al.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % B.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % Li.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 20 mol % Na.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % K.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 8 mol % MgO; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % CaO ; from 0 mol % to about 5 mol % ZrO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % SnO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % CeO.sub.2; less than about 50 ppm As.sub.2O.sub.3; and less than about 50 ppm Sb.sub.2O.sub.3 (para 0048). In one embodiment, the glass articles described herein, such as glass article 300, are chemically strengthened by ion exchange (para 0059). Barefoot discloses strengthened glass article, the strengthened glass article having a thickness t<0.5 mm and comprising: an outer region, the outer region extending from a surface of the article to a depth of layer DOL within the article, wherein the outer region is under a compressive stress CS; and an inner regio n (claim 1). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (MPEP 2144.05). Regarding claim 16 , Barefoot discloses s trengthened glasses having a central tension below a threshold value, above which the glass exhibits frangible behavior, are provided and described herein. The threshold central tension for frangible behavior varies nonlinearly with the thickness of the glass. The glasses may be used as cover plates or windows for portable or mobile electronic communication and entertainment devices, such as cellular phones, music players; and information terminal (IT) devices, such as laptop computers and the like (para 003). Barefoot discloses i n another embodiment, the alkali aluminosilicate glass comprises: from about 60 mol % to about 70 mol % SiO.sub.2; from about 6 mol % to about 14 mol % Al.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % B.sub.2O.sub.3; from 0 mol % to about 15 mol % Li.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 20 mol % Na.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % K.sub.2O; from 0 mol % to about 8 mol % MgO; from 0 mol % to about 10 mol % CaO ; from 0 mol % to about 5 mol % ZrO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % SnO.sub.2; from 0 mol % to about 1 mol % CeO.sub.2; less than about 50 ppm As.sub.2O.sub.3; and less than about 50 ppm Sb.sub.2O.sub.3 (para 0048). In one embodiment, the glass articles described herein, such as glass article 300, are chemically strengthened by ion exchange (para 0059). Barefoot discloses strengthened glass article, the strengthened glass article having a thickness t<0.5 mm and comprising: an outer region, the outer region extending from a surface of the article to a depth of layer DOL within the article, wherein the outer region is under a compressive stress CS; and an inner regio n (claim 1). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (MPEP 2144.05). The only deficiency of Barefoot is that Barefoot disclose the use of SiO2 in an amount of 70 mol % , while the present claims require SiO2 in an amount of 69.2 mol%. It is apparent, however, that the instantly claimed amount of SiO2 and that taught by Barefoot are so close to each other that the fact pattern is similar to the one in In re Woodruff , 919 F.2d 1575, USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990) or Titanium Metals Corp. of America v. Banner , 778 F.2d 775, 227 USPQ 773 (Fed.Cir. 1985) where despite a “slight” difference in the ranges the court held that such a difference did not “render the claims patentable” or, alternatively, that “a prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges and prior art ranges do not overlap but are close enough so that one skilled in the art would have expected them to have the same properties”. In light of the case law cited above and given that there is only a “slight” difference between the amount of SiO2 disclosed by Barefoot and the amount disclosed in the present claims and further given the fact that no criticality is disclosed in the present invention with respect to the amount of SiO2 , it therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the amount of SiO2 disclosed in the present claims is but an obvious variant of the amounts disclosed in Barefoot , and thereby one of ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed invention. Regarding claim s 18 -19 , Barefoot discloses ion exchange treatments typically result in strengthened alkali aluminosilicate glasses having depths of layer ranging from about 10 .mu.m up to at least 50 .mu.m with a compressive stress ranging from about 200 MPa up to about 800 MPa (para 0060). Claim (s) 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barefoot et al. (US 2015/0183680) as applied to claim 14, further in view of Klisch et al. (EP 3095765). Regarding claim 17, Barefoot fails to disclose that the glass article is made from raw materials comprising at least one soda-lime glass cullet. Whereas, Klisch discloses glass batch pelletizing method using activated cullet (abstract). The method of preparing binding agent based on fast geopolymerization of sols of hydrated aluminosilicates obtained by alkali activation of soda -lime glass cullet solves the problem of application of this approach to flint glass, among them, extra white flint, where use of slag is substantially restricte d (para 0029). Klisch discloses cullet of soda-lime container glass composition (para 0048). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include soda-lime glass cullet as taught by Klisch in the glass composition of Barefoot motivated by the desire to have improved processability. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT RONAK C PATEL whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-1142 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT M-F 8:30AM-6:30PM (FLEX) . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant 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 ALICIA CHEVALIER can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 5712721490 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /RONAK C PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 02, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 16, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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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
50%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+56.7%)
3y 8m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 645 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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