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 .
Acknowledgement is made of amendments received 01-08-2026.
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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baba ‘477 (JP 2004-231477 A - English language translation provided previously and referenced herein) in view of Takagi ‘161 (US 5,817,161).
Regarding claim 1, Baba ‘477 teaches:
a press molding method of a glass optical element using a mold (¶ [0031], [0032], [0051]; Figs. 1, 8)
the method including plural steps with pressurizing, in each of which load is imposed on a piece of glass material at a temperature above the glass transition temperature, and a step without pressurizing between two steps with pressurizing (¶ [0031]-[0033], [0051]-[0056]; Figs. 5-6)
in the step without pressurizing between a first step with pressurizing and a second step with pressurizing, the second step with pressurizing being the next step with pressurizing after the first step with pressurizing, the temperature of the glass material is reduced by 50 degrees centigrade or greater with respect to the temperature of the glass material in the first step with pressurizing, and then the glass material is heated before the start of the second step with pressurizing (Figs. 5-6; ¶ [0031]-[0033], [0035], [0039], [0051]-[0056] - wherein the glass transition temperature is recited as 500°C in ¶ [0051]; in ¶ [0051]-[0053], the mold is at 580°C in a first step with pressurizing, and the mold temperature is then reduced to less than or equal to the glass transition point, which is a reduction of greater than 50 degrees centigrade; alternatively, in ¶ [0053]-[0054], the mold is at 550°C in a first step with pressurizing, and the mold temperature is then reduced to less than or equal to the glass transition point, which is a reduction of greater than or equal to 50 degrees centigrade).
Baba ‘477 is silent regarding no load being imposed on the piece of glass material in the step without pressurizing. In analogous art of press molding glass, Takagi ‘161 suggests press molding a glass material for optical element using a mold, including a step without pressurizing between steps with pressurizing, in which no load is imposed on the glass material for the benefit of discharging gas caught in the mold and preventing concave defects in the shape of the optical element (Abstract; column 3, lines 29-48; Fig. 2). Baba ‘477 also aims to avoid concave defects in the shape of the element (¶ [0032]; Fig. 7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Baba ‘477 by imposing no load on the piece of glass material in the step without pressurizing for the benefit of discharging gas caught in the mold and preventing concave defects in the shape of the optical element, as suggested by Takagi ‘161.
Regarding claim 2, Baba ‘477 further teaches the temperature of the mold is reduced to a temperature below the glass transition temperature in the step without pressurizing (¶ [0052]-[0055]).
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Baba ‘477 is silent regarding specific values of loads imposed in the first step with pressurizing and the second step with pressurizing. However, Fig. 5 illustrates three consecutive steps with pressurizing in which there appear to be some points of a second step load value (either the second or third pressing steps) which are equal to a first step load value (either the first or second pressing steps, respectively), and some points of a second step load value which are greater than a first step load value. Additionally, a value of a load imposed in the second step of pressurizing can only have three relationships with a value of load imposed in the first step of pressurizing - namely, the value of a load imposed in the second step of pressurizing is greater than a load value imposed in the first step of pressurizing, the value of a load imposed in the second step of pressurizing is equal to a load value imposed in the first step of pressurizing, or the value of a load imposed in the second step of pressurizing is less than a load value imposed in the first step of pressurizing. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have pursued any of the three finite options with a predictable result of pressing the glass optical element. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Baba ‘477 by trying making a value of a load imposed in the second step of pressurizing to be equal to or greater than o a load value imposed in the first step of pressurizing, as one of a finite number of options with a predictable result of pressing the glass optical element.
Regarding claim 5, Fig. 5 of Baba ’477 illustrates temperature variations in line with steps of pressurizing and steps without pressurizing (Fig. 5). A temperature change during a first step with pressurizing (either the first or second pressing step as shown) reduces some amount, such that an interval may be arbitrarily defined therein in which the temperature is reduced by an amount that is equal to or smaller than 15 degrees centigrade, and which occurs before transition from the first step with pressurizing to the step without pressurizing.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ERIN SNELTING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741