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 .
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the present application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 8-13, 15-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yabuta (US 20210255364).
Re: claim 1, Yabuta discloses a substrate 10 (Fig. 1B); and a plurality of scattering portions 20, 21, 22 (Figs. 1A, 1B) dispersed on a surface of the substrate (dispersion disclosed in figs. 1A, 1B), wherein a gap 12 is provided between adjacent scattering portions (provision disclosed in Figs. 1A, 1B), and each of the plurality of scattering portions comprises an adhesive 22 (para. 48) and a plurality of scattering particles 21 dispersed in the adhesive (dispersion disclosed in Figs. 1A, 1B).
Re: claim, 15, Yabuta discloses a display panel (para. 57) comprising a light-emitting substrate (screen disclosed in para. 57); and an anti-reflective film 1a disposed on the light-emitting substrate in a light output direction of the light-emitting substrate (para. 57 discloses light output direction), wherein the anti-reflective film comprises: a substrate 10; and a plurality of scattering portions 21, 22 dispersed on a surface of the substrate (Figs. 1A, 1B), wherein a gap 12 is provided between adjacent scattering portions (Figs. 1A, 1B), and each of the plurality of scattering portions comprises an adhesive 22 and a plurality of scattering particles 21 dispersed in the adhesive (Figs. 1A, 1B).
Re: claims 2 and 16, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claims 1 and 15 respectively, and Yabuta further discloses that the scattering particles 21 are dispersed within the adhesive 22 (dispersion disclosed in Figs. 1A, 1B), and the scattered particles are located below or protruding from the surface of the substrate 10 away from the adhesive (location & protrusion disclosed in Fig. 1B).
Re: claims 3 and 17, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claims 1 and 15 respectively, and Yabuta further discloses that at least one of the plurality of scattering portions 20, 21, 22 is an island-shaped structure (shape disclosed in Figs. 1A, 2A; para. 60).
Re: claims 4 and 18, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claims 1 and 15 respectively, and Yabuta further discloses that the scattering particles comprise at least one of organic microspheres, inorganic microspheres, and inorganic nanoparticles (para. 42 discloses the particles having a diameter between 0.5 – 15 µm; para. 48 discloses organic and/or inorganic).
Re: claims 6 and 20, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claims 1 and 15 respectively, and Yabuta further discloses that a content of the scattering particles in at least one of the plurality of scattering portions ranges from 5% to 50% by mass (Examples 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Table 2 disclose 10%, 7%, 5.5%, and 10% respectively), and a haze of the anti-reflective film ranges from 10% to 70% (Examples 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Table 1 disclose 24.4%, 17.9%, 17.0%, and 27.8 % respectively).
Re: claim 8, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 1, and Yabuta further discloses that the heights of the plurality of scattering portions are different (Figs. 1A, 1B & paras. 42-43 disclose differing heights).
Re: claim 9, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 1, and Yabuta further discloses that heights of the scattering particles in the plurality of scattering portions are different (Figs. 1A, 1B & paras. 42-43 disclose differing heights).
Re: claim 10, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 1, and Yabuta further discloses that the scattering particles comprise at least one of polycarbonate, polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, polysiloxane, silica, titanium dioxide, silica, and barium sulfate (para. 21 discloses silica).
Re: claim 11, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 1, and Yabuta further discloses that light transmittance of the anti-reflective film is greater than 89% (Table 1 discloses that Examples 1-7 have light transmittance values ranging from 90.2% - 92.0%, which lies within the claimed range).
Re: claim 12, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 1, and Yabuta further discloses that a content of the scattering particles in at least one of the plurality of scattering portions ranges from 5% to 50% by mass (Examples 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Table 2 disclose 10%, 7%, 5.5%, and 10% respectively), a haze of the anti-reflective film ranges from 10% to 70% (Examples 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Table 1 disclose 24.4%, 17.9%, 17.0%, and 27.8 % respectively), and light transmittance of the anti-reflective film is greater than 89% (Examples 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Table 1 disclose transmittance values of 90.2%, 90.9%, 90.8%, and 90.3%, which lies within the claimed range).
Re: claim 13, Yabuta discloses the steps of dispersing scattering particles 21 in a solvent to form a particle dispersion (para. 62 “A dispersion of the particles 21 may be used in preparation of the coating liquid. A dispersion medium of the dispersion of the particles 21 can be water or a liquid organic compound such as an alcohol”); adding an adhesive to the particle dispersion to form an anti-reflective glue (para. 62 “[t]he coating liquid contains the particles 21 and the precursor of the binder 22”); and coating the anti-reflective glue on a surface of a substrate (para. 62 “the antiglare film 20 is formed on the first principal surface 11 of the substrate 10, … using a coating liquid containing raw materials of the antiglare film 20” and para. 63 “A coating film is formed by applying the coating liquid to the first principle surface 11 of the substrate 10”), and curing the anti-reflective glue to form a plurality of scattering portions dispersed on the surface of the substrate (para. 63 “[t]he coating film is hardened by drying and heating to form the antiglare film 20”), wherein each of the plurality of scattering portions comprises the adhesive 22 and the scattering particles 21 dispersed in the adhesive to form the anti-reflective film 20 (Figs. 1A, 1B)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
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(s) 5, 7, 14, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yabuta.
Re: claims 5 and 19, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claims 1 and 15, respectively, and while Yabuta does disclose that the adhesive 22 is comprised of an organic material (para. 48), Yabuta does not explicitly disclose that the organic material comprises a (meth)acrylic resin or an epoxy resin. However, it has been held that the selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use is a prima facie indicator of obviousness (MPEP 2144.07).
Re: claim 7, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 1, and while Yabuta does not explicitly disclose that the content of the scattering particles in at least one of the plurality of scattering portions is 20% by mass, and the haze of the anti-reflective film ranges from 30% to 40%, Yabuta does disclose a percentage of mass ranging from 1.8% – 10.0 % (Table 2) and a haze ranging from 8.2% - 27.8% (Table 1). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the range of the scattering particles in at least one of the plurality of scattering portions is 20% by mass and the haze of the anti-reflective film ranges from 30% to 40% since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges for the variable by routine experimentation (MPEP § 2144.05).
Re: claim 14, Yabuta discloses the limitations of claim 13, and Yabuta further discloses that the step of dispersing the scattering particles in the solvent to form the particle dispersion comprises: adding organic scattering particles or inorganic scattering particles 21 (para. 48 discloses organic or inorganic), a modifier (para. 62 discloses alkoxysilane), and a surfactant (para. 62 discloses alcohol) to a single solvent or a mixed solvent. While Yabuta does not explicitly disclose the step of heating and stirring at a temperature of 30 0C to 100 0C for 0.5 hour to 24 hours to obtain a uniformly dispersed particle dispersion, Yabuta does disclose the steps of heating, drying and coating (para. 63). The specific temperature and duration of the heating and stirring would depend upon the specific chemical content of the particle dispersion and the method used to apply the cured dispersion to the substrate. A person of ordinary skill in the art at a time prior to the effective date would have utilized known, routine techniques to heat and stir the dispersion according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELA MEDICH whose telephone number is (313)446-4819. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM ET.
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/ANGELA M. MEDICH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871