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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election with traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 14 November 2025 is acknowledged.
The traversal is on the ground(s) that the cited reference Krishna does not teach a thickness of 2-40 nm for its Ge/GeOx layer. This is not found persuasive because “a” is not the same as “an entire”, and a coating whose entire thickness is 100 nm to 500 nm does indeed possess a thickness of 2-40 nm. Furthermore, the references cited below clearly show that even entire thickness of 2-40 nm is known in the art.
Claims 13 and 14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Interpretation
Claim 1 recites “said germanium or germanium oxide layer comprising less than 20% tin” (emphasis added). “Comprise”/ “include” usually denotes actual presence of a material. However, in view of further limitations in claim 2 requiring said germanium or germanium oxide layer to be tin-free, “comprising less than 20% tin” is considered to mean that presence of tin is optional, and that should it be contained, its content <20% in the germanium or germanium oxide layer.
It is noted that none of claims 5, 6, 17, and 18 expressly requires the presence of the optional oxygen barrier layer. As such, these claims are treated to further limit an element that is optional, as opposed to requiring the presence of an (optional) element and further defining an attribute of this element.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 11 is indefinite, as it is unclear whether the direct contact requirement also pertains to the DLC layer, which is nominally located on a substrate and not on a layer. For prior art rejection below, it is presumed that the claim requires immediate contact only between 1) the DLC layer and the layer of germanium or germanium oxide and between 2) the layer of germanium or germanium oxide and the optional oxygen barrier.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-13 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. 2021/0122671 A1 (“Hart”).
Considering claims 1-3, 7, 9, 10, 15, and 19, Hart discloses a coated glass substrate comprising a glass substrate and a multilayered film 14 deposited upon the glass substrate, wherein the multilayered film 14 comprises alternate deposition of a first layer 14A that may be DLC and a second layer 14B placed immediately thereupon, the second layer may be composed of a low refractive index material such as GeO2. (Hart ¶¶ 0085, 0086, and 0096; and Fig. 1). Hart is analogous art, for it is directed to the same field of endeavor as that of the instant application (coated glass substrate having a DLC layer). Selections of respective materials for layers 14A and 14B are obvious, as these are specifically disclosed in Hart.
Hart further discloses that a seed layer 22 maybe placed between the glass substrate and the multilayered film 14, wherein the seed layer 22 may comprise silicon nitride. (Id. ¶ 0105). As expressly illustrated in Fig. 1 of Hart, a sequence of immediate layers of seed layer 22/ a first layer 14A/ a second layer 14B is shown.
With the reference not mentioning Sn, and with the second layer being composed of GeO2 (viz. containing no other element), no layer contains any tin. Further, no metal layer is contained anywhere in the multilayered film 14. Hart discloses that layer 14B has thickness of 5 nm or greater. (Id. ¶ 0087). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected the overlapping portion of the ranges disclosed by the reference because overlapping ranges have been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness. (See In re Wertheim, 191 USPQ 90, In re Woodruff, 16 USPQ2d 1934, and In re Peterson, 65 USPQ2d 1379; MPEP § 2144.05).
Hart thus renders obvious claims 1-3, 7, 9, 10, 15, and 19.
Considering claims 4, 8, 16, and 20, Hart discloses that layer 14A has thickness of 5 nm or greater, and that layer 22 has thickness of ~1 to ~10 nm. (Hart ¶¶ 0087 and 0104). These overlap the respectively recited ranges.
Considering claims 5, 6, 17, and 18, as each of these claims further modifies an optional element without actually requiring presence of the optional element, Hart also reads on each of claims 5, 6, 17, and 18.
Considering claim 11, this configuration is expressly shown in Fig. 1 of Hart.
Considering claim 12, Hart discloses that the multilayered film 14 can contain only two layers. (Id. ¶ 0085). In which case, there is only one layer 14A and one layer 14B.
Concluding Remarks
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Zheren Jim Yang whose telephone number is (571)272-6604. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:30 - 7:30 ET.
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/Z. Jim Yang/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781