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) 1-6, 8-11, 13-15, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Beall et al (20160102010).
Regarding claims 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 13-15, 17-20 Beall et al teach a glass ceramic including petalite, lithium disilicate and quartz (examples 19, 22, 24) that fall within the ranges of claim 1. Example 19 includes in mass% 78.3 SiO2, 2 P2O5, 9.3 Al2O3, 10.7 Li2O, 1.7 Na2O, .8 MgO, 6 ZrO2. Beall et al show strength values higher than 600 MPa (Figure 8). Beall discloses a glass-ceramic article having a petalite crystalline phase and a lithium silicate crystalline phase, wherein the petalite crystalline phase and the lithium silicate crystalline phase have higher weight percentages than other crystalline phases present in the glass-ceramic article. In some embodiments, the petalite crystalline phase comprises 20 to 70 wt % of the glass-ceramic article and the lithium silicate crystalline phase comprises 20 to 60 wt % of the glass ceramic article. In some embodiments, the petalite crystalline phase comprises 45 to 70 wt % of the glass-ceramic article and the lithium silicate crystalline phase comprises 20 to 50 wt % of the glass ceramic article. The grains of transparent glass-ceramics may have a longest dimension of less than about 100 nm (para 0170). Beall disvlosers glass ceramics useful for a broad number of applications, such as countertops and other surfaces, hand-held, desk-top, and wall-mounted consumer electronic device coverings, appliance doors and exteriors, floor tiles, wall panels, ceiling tiles, white boards, materials storage containers (holloware) such as beverage bottles, food sales and storage vessels, machine parts requiring light weight, good wear resistance and precise dimensions (para 0149).
Regarding claim 4, which depends on claim 3 recites, “quartz” as an optional component, the claim limitation is met when the quartz crystal phase is absent from the main crystal phase.
Regarding claim 11, which depends on claim 10 recites, “quartz” as an optional component, the claim limitation is met when the quartz crystal phase is absent from the main crystal phase.
Claim(s) 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Beall et al (20160102010) as applied to claim 1 and 13, further in view of Kim et al. (US 2017/0290641).
Regarding claims 7, 16 Beall fails to disclose that the glass ceramic further comprises colorant in an amount of 0-4 wt% and where the colorant comprises Pr2O5.
Whereas, Kim discloses nano lithium disilicate glass-ceramics containing a SiO.sub.2 crystalline phase includes: a glass composition including 70 to 85 wt % SiO.sub.2, 10 to 13 wt % Li.sub.2O, 3 to 7 wt % P.sub.2O.sub.5 working as a nuclei formation agent, 0 to 5 wt % Al.sub.2O.sub.3 for increasing a glass transition temperature and a softening point and enhancing chemical durability of glass, 1-2 wt% of colorants (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include colorant as taught by Kim in the glass ceramic of Beall motivated by the desire to have desired color and appearance.
Claim(s) 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Beall et al (20160102010) as applied to claim 8, further in view of Beall et al. (US 2009/0318277).
Regarding claim 12, Beall’010 fails to disclose that the colorant comprises NiO and the colorant accounts for 0-4 wt%.
Whereas, Beall’277 discloses machinable glass-ceramic having a high degree of crystallinity (greater than 50 Vol. %), high mechanical strength (MOR>150 MPa) In accordance with the invention, the machinable glass-ceramics described herein consists essentially of, in weight percent, 35-55% SiO.sub.2, 6-18% Al.sub.2O.sub.3, 12-27% MgO, 3-12% F, 5-25% SrO, 0-20% BaO and 1-7% K.sub.2O (abstract). Beall’277 discloses machinable glass-ceramics of the invention may also be colored to an appropriate colored using colorants known in the art, Examples, without limitation, of such colorants include Co.sub.3O.sub.4, CoO (blue-violet); NiO (grey-brown). The colorants are added in an amount of 1-3 wt%.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include colorant such as NiO in an amount of 1-3 wt% as taught by Beall’277 in the glass ceramic of Beall motivated by the desire to have desired color and appearance.
Conclusion
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/RONAK C PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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