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 .
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Abe USPA_20200131841_A1.
1. Regarding Claim 1, Abe discloses a double-pane glass panel, comprising:
a pair of glass plates (1,2) facing each other; a peripheral sealing material (41) provided over whole outer edges of the pair of glass plates to form a gap sealed between the pair of glass plates; a plurality of spacing members (43) disposed in the gap; and a gas adsorption material disposed (441) on one surface out of a pair of plate
surfaces facing each other via the gap between the pair of glass plates, the gas
adsorption material being apart from the other surface out of the pair of plate
surfaces, the gas adsorption material (441) including a zeolite-based nonmetal getter
material having a porous structure (paragraphs [0047]-[0048]), and an inorganic binder
material connecting the nonmetal getter material ("in a paste form", paragraphs
[0135] and [0143]). It is pointed out that the gas absorption material 441 does need not to be sealed by a package material, which discloses to the skilled person that the paste
material cannot be organic as gas would be generated from the organic material (paragraphs 0008, 0009).
2. Regarding Claim 2, Abe discloses the claimed suction hole (paragraph 0153).
3. Regarding Claims 3-11, these are all design related modifications that fall under routine skill in the art. Applicants have not indicated how these arrangements result in unexpected and surprising properties.
4. Regarding Claims 12-14, Abe discloses a metal getter material (442, fig. 15D, Abstract) that can be disposed at different positions as viewed vertically to the plate surfaces (paragraph 0141), which presumably is alloys of barium and aluminum and evaporable.
Conclusion
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/TAHSEEN KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781 February 6, 2026