DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 18/483,862. Claims 1-58 are pending in the application.
Claims 29-57 have been withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions or species.
The applicant’s amendment filed August 4, 2026 has been entered.
The restriction requirement as to claims 2, 6, 9-15, 17-19, 24-26 is withdrawn and the claims are rejoined.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12, 14-27, 58 are allowable over the closest prior art of OREN et al (US 2019/0231267). Oren et al does not teach contacting a template stamp to an amount of dispersion disposed on a surface opposing the template stamp.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(b) CONCLUSION.-The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the terms “such as” and “for example” are indefinite. It is unclear if the terms “such as” and “for example” indicate required or optional elements.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the parenthetical terms are indefinite. It is unclear if the parenthetical terms indicate required or optional subject matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §§ 102 and 103
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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 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 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by OREN et al (US 2019/0231267).
OREN et al teaches a method of making a pattern on a substrate (p. 19, claim 1). The substrate has a pattern on the surface (p. 19, claim 1). The substrate pattern is a template stamp as that term is described in the specification. A dispersion of nanomaterials is drop-cast onto the substrate surface (par. 57; p. 19, claim 1). The dispersion is disposed on a surface (par. 57; p. 19, claim 1 (ii)). The solution includes water (aqueous solvent) (par. 86). The nanomaterial includes nanoparticles (par. 84). The dispersion solution fills the pattern (p. 19, claim 1). The solution is partially removed (p. 19, claim 1). The remaining nanomaterial forms a thin film structure which conforms to the pattern (p. 19, claim 1). The thin film structure is a metasurface as that term is described in the specification. The pattern on the substrate is a structure as that term is defined in the instant claims.
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Watkins et al (US 2020/0285145).
Watkins et al teaches a method of making a pattern on a substrate (abstract; par. 4). The substrate includes a template (par. 4). The substrate has a surface (par. 4-5). The pattern or texture on the substrate is a template stamp as that term is described in the specification. The substrate including the surface and the pattern is contacted with a nanoparticle ink (par. 4-5, 94). The method includes spin-coating the ink onto a surface (par. 94-95). The nanoparticle ink includes water (aqueous solvent) (par. 26). The substrate template has a pattern on the surface (par. 8). The ink dispersion fills the pattern (par. 36). The solvent is removed (par. 107). The remaining nanoparticles forms features (structures) conforming to the pattern (par. 6). The features have a characteristic dimension of 0.05 µm, which equates to 50 nm (par. 41). The structure is a metasurface as that term is described in the specification. The pattern on the substrate is a structure as that term is defined in the instant claims.
Response to Arguments
The previous grounds of rejection regarding the method claims have been withdrawn in light of the applicant’s amendment.
Examiner’s Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Young whose telephone number is (571) 270-5078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000./WILLIAM D YOUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761 August 7, 2026
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