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
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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi et al. (US 2017/0365439 A1) in view of Tang et al. (US 2015/0078511 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Takahashi et al. disclose an electric field emission device comprising: a vacuum vessel (11) configured to include a vacuum chamber (1); an emitter (3) that is positioned on one side in an axial direction of the vacuum chamber and includes an electron generation portion (31) facing an other side in the axial direction of the vacuum chamber; a target (7) that is positioned on the other side of the vacuum chamber and provided to face the emitter; a guard electrode (5) that is a cylindrical body provided on an outer peripheral side of the emitter, is fixed to the vacuum vessel on the one side, and has an opening portion on the other side; a support (4) configured to move the emitter in the axial direction on an inner side of the guard electrode (paragraphs 0034-0043).
Takahashi et al. disclose all of the elements except for an electric field shield body that is formed of a conductor connected to the guard electrode and is disposed on one side of an edge portion of the guard electrode, wherein the electric field shield body is disposed so as to partially overlap the opening portion on a projection plane in the axial direction, and is formed in a shape partitioning the opening portion into a plurality of areas. Tang et al. disclose an electric field shield body (Fig. 2 - 103 &107) that is formed of a conductor connected to the guard electrode (104) and is disposed on one side of an edge portion of the guard electrode, wherein the electric field shield body is disposed so as to partially overlap the opening portion on a projection plane in the axial direction, and is formed in a shape partitioning the opening portion into a plurality of areas (Figs. 3A-3B & 4A-4B and paragraphs 0038-0044). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Takahashi et al. to include an electric field shield body that is formed of a conductor connected to the guard electrode and is disposed on one side of an edge portion of the guard electrode, wherein the electric field shield body is disposed so as to partially overlap the opening portion on a projection plane in the axial direction, and is formed in a shape partitioning the opening portion into a plurality of areas, to enable better focusing of the electron beam, as taught by Tang et al.
With respect to claim 2, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. disclose wherein the electric field shield body (103 &107) is formed of one or more linear members fixed to an edge portion of the opening portion (Tang et al. - Figs. 3A-3B & 4A-4B).
With respect to claim 3, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. disclose wherein the electric field shield body (103 &107) is formed of the linear members disposed in a lattice shape (Tang et al. - Figs. 3A-3B & 4A-4B).
With respect to claim 4, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. disclose wherein the electric field shield body (103 &107) is formed in a plate shape having a plurality of through-holes (Tang et al. - Figs. 3A-3B & 4A-4B & paragraphs 0040+).
With respect to claim 5, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. disclose wherein, when the emitter (3) moves to the other side and comes into contact with the guard electrode (5), the electric field shield body (103 & 107) partitions the electron generation portion (31) to form edges.
With respect to claim 6, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. disclose wherein at least one surface of the emitter (102) or the support (104) is electrically insulating at a contact portion between the emitter and the support (Tang et al. - paragraph 0038).
With respect to claim 7, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. do not specifically disclose wherein an axial height of the electric field shield body is formed to be lower than an axial height of the electron generation portion. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to further modify Takahashi et al./Tang et al. to this configuration, as a matter of design choice, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
With respect to claim 8, Takahashi et al./Tang et al. do not specifically disclose wherein the electric field shield body is formed integrally with the guard electrode. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to further modify Takahashi et al./Tang et al. to have the electric field shield body be formed integrally with the guard electrode, as a matter of design choice. This would simplify assembly.
Conclusion
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/JURIE YUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
February 5, 2026