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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-5,8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a as being anticipated by Masahiro Shiozawa et al (JPH10319825A)
Regarding Claim 1,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al discloses [0013-0019] a method for producing an optical element, comprising :performing recording exposure on a medium having a recording layer containing a polymerizable compound (monomers) and a photopolymerization initiator; performing post exposure (second exposure) on the medium in a state where a temperature of the medium is lower than during the recording exposure (hologram exposure).
Regarding Claim 2,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al [0013-0019] discloses wherein a difference between the temperature of the medium during the recording exposure and the temperature of the medium during the post exposure is 5 ℃ or higher.
Regarding Claim 3,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al [0013-0019] discloses wherein the temperature of the medium during the post exposure (second exposure) is 5 degrees Celsius or higher.
Regarding Claim 4,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al [0013-0019] does not explicitly indicate that the dry plate temperature at the time of the hologram exposure is in the range of 10-40 degrees Celsius, but indicates that the lower limit of the dry plate cooling temperature at the time of the second exposure is 30 degrees celsius (Fig. 9). Therefore, setting the dry plate cooling temperature to 30 degrees Celsius in accordance with Fig. 9 and setting the dry plate temperature at the time of hologram exposure to approximately 30-40 degrees Celsius in conjunction with this set cooling temperature are merely design matters for a person skilled in the art.
Regarding Claim 5,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al discloses [0013-0019] wherein the post exposure (second exposure) is performed at a light intensity 0.3 times or more higher than that of the recording exposure.
Regarding Claim 8,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al discloses [0013-0019] wherein the recording exposure is a holographic recording exposure.
Claim(s) 6,7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Masahiro Shiozawa et al (JPH10319825A) in view of Sato Ken et al (JP 2017147012 A)
Regarding Claim 6,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al disclose everything as disclosed above.
Masahiro Shiozawa et al do not disclose wherein a light source for post exposure during the post exposure is incoherent light.
Stao Ken et al discloses wherein a light source for post exposure during the post exposure is incoherent light (“… In the present invention, either one of the pre-exposure light from each surface is preferably incoherent light, and more preferably both are incoherent light. By using such incoherent light, a uniform pre-exposure process can be performed in the film thickness direction of the recording layer. There are LEDs and lamps as light sources for incoherent pre-exposure light, but pre-exposure light is incoherent light, even if the light source is coherent light such as a laser, The case where it is incoherent light at the time of irradiation by a typical process is also included. Examples of the optical treatment include a method using a multiple reflection element and a diffraction element…”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Masahiro Shiozawa et al to include Stao Ken et al’s light source for post exposure during the post exposure is incoherent light motivated by the desire to perform an uniform pre exposure process.
Regarding Claim 7,
Masahiro Shiozawa et al disclose everything as disclosed above.
Masahiro Shiozawa et al do not disclose wherein the medium comprises an upper side and a lower side, and wherein the post exposure is performed from both sides of the medium.
Sato Ken et al discloses wherein the medium comprises an upper side and a lower side, and wherein the post exposure is performed from both sides of the medium (ABSTRACT).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Masahiro Shiozawa et al to include Sato Ken et al medium comprises an upper side and a lower side, and wherein the post exposure is performed from both sides of the medium motivated by the desire to attain high diffraction efficiency and high multiplicity (ABSTRACT).
Conclusion
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/LUCY P CHIEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871