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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 01/22/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of a new ground of rejections.
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.
Claims 1-4, 7, 10, and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda et al. (US 2020/0391698 A1 – hereinafter Fukuda) and Newhouse et al. (High electron mobility W-doped In2O3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition, Applied Physics Letters 87, 112108 (2005) – hereinafter Newhouse, provided by Applicant in IDS 01/20/2026).
Regarding claim 1, Fukuda discloses a vehicle glazed unit (Fig. 2), comprising: a first glass sheet forming an outer glazing with a first external main face oriented towards an exterior environment of a vehicle and a second internal main face oriented towards a passenger compartment of the vehicle (Fig. 2; [0029]-[0031] – glass sheet of windshield 1 or inner glass 2), at least one first zone that forms an infrared transmission zone transparent to a working wavelength in the infrared in a range from 800 nm to 1800 nm (Fig. 2; [0093] – the zone in front of the camera, in one embodiment, is infrared transmission zone so that infrared light can be captured by infrared camera 100), wherein, in said infrared transmission zone, the glazed unit comprises, opposite the first external main face, a heating coating comprising a heating layer made of an electrically conductive material which is transparent to said working wavelength (Fig. 2; [0036]-[0037]; [0043] – heater 11 is transparent to infrared camera 100).
However, in the embodiment, Fukuda does not disclose the heating layer is a transparent conductive oxide comprising an indium oxide and another metal chosen from molybdenum and titanium, and wherein in the infrared transmission zone with the heating layer, the vehicle glazed unit has a total infrared transmission of at least 70% at the working wavelength.
In another embodiment, Fukuda discloses a heating layer is a transparent conductive oxide comprising an indium oxide and another metal ([0093] - indium tin oxide), wherein in an infrared transmission zone with a heating layer ([0063] – transmission zone of near-infrared wavelength), a vehicle glazed unit has a total infrared transmission of at least 70% at a working wavelength of infrared light ([0070]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Fukuda in the second embodiment into the glazed unit of the first embodiment since indium tin oxide has superior conductivity and lower cost than carbon nanotubes.
Fukuda does not disclose another metal chosen from molybdenum and titanium.
Newhouse discloses a transparent conductive oxide comprising an indium oxide and another metal chosen from molybdenum and titanium (page 1 – metal doping of In2O3 using Mo or Ti).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Newhouse into the glazed unit to optimize electrical conductivity , thereby averting transparency losses from free-carrier absorption (Newhouse: first paragraph, last four lines).
Regarding claim 2, see the teachings of Fukuda and Newhouse as discussed in claim 1 above. Fukuda and Newhouse do not explicitly disclose a thickness of the heating layer is at most 150 nm and the resistivity is at most 500 µohm.cm.
Official Notice is taken selecting a thickness of heating layer at most 150 nm and the resistivity being at most 500 µohm.cm is a common practice.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate a thickness of at most 150 nm and resistivity of at most 500 500 µohm.cm into the heating layer of the glazed unit taught by Fukuda and Newhouse for optimal performance.
Regarding claim 3, see the teachings of Fukuda and Newhouse as discussed in claim 1 above. Fukuda and Newhouse do not explicitly disclose wherein the heating layer is defined by a power density of at least 100 W/m² and of at most 2000 W/m².
Official Notice is taken defining a heating layer by a power density of at least 100 W/m² and of at most 2000 W/m² is a common practice.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate such a power density range into the heating layer of the glazed unit taught by Fukuda and Newhouse for optimal performance.
Regarding claim 4, see the teachings of Fukuda and Newhouse as discussed in claim 1 above, in which Newhouse in view of Fukuda also discloses for the heating layer, a percentage by weight of indium oxide is at least 90% of a total weight of the transparent conductive oxide (page 3, third paragraph – doping level of 2 wt % of Mo, thus a percentage by weight of indium oxide is 98%).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Newhouse into the glazed unit has been discussed in claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 7, Fukuda also discloses the heating coating comprises a stack of layers as follows: at least one underlayer of oxy and/or metal or silicon nitride underlying the heating layer, and/or at least one overlayer of oxy and/or metal or silicon nitride on the heating layer ([0080] – at least one underlayer of air, i.e. including oxy).
Regarding claim 10, Fukuda also discloses the heating layer extends to cover another transmission zone adjacent to said infrared transmission zone ([0093] – at least extending to cover a visible light transmission zone).
Regarding claim 20, Fukuda and Newhouse disclose a device, comprising: said vehicle glazed unit according to claim 1 (see discussion of claim 1 above), and an infrared detection system at the working wavelength in the infrared (Fukuda: Fig. 2; [0093] – camera 100, in one embodiment, captures light in working wavelength in the infrared), arranged in the passenger compartment and comprising a transmitter and/or receiver, so as to transmit and/or receive radiation passing through the first glass sheet at the infrared transmission zone (Fukuda: Figs. 1-2 – at least receiver to receive radiation passing through the first glass sheet at the infrared transmission zone to capture infrared light).
Regarding claim 21, Fukuda in view of Newhouse also discloses the device according to claim 20, wherein the infrared detection system is a LIDAR or a near-infrared camera ([0063]; [0093]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 8-9, and 11-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484