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 § 112(b)
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.
Claims 1–4 are 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 1 recites:
1. A process for preparing a hybrid crosslinked polymer membrane, which comprises (1) dissolving a polymer composition comprising 70 to 90% by weight of a glassy polymer having a first functional group and 10 to 30% by weight of a ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane having a second functional group capable of reacting with the first functional group in an organic solvent; (2) forming the polymer solution obtained in step (1) into a membrane shape and removing the organic solvent therefrom to obtain a hybrid polymer precursor membrane; and (3) thermally treating the hybrid polymer precursor membrane obtained in step (2) to form a crosslinked structure. Emphasis added.
Claim 1 is indefinite because it is unclear whether “by weight” refers to the weight of the entire solution, or whether “by weight” refers to the relative weight of the glassy polymer to the ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane. This ambiguity exists in part because claim 3 indicates that the weight ratio of the organic solvent to the total weight of the glassy polymer and the ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane can be as high as 40:60, which would require that the glassy polymer to be less than 70% by weight of the entire solution. For the purpose of compact prosecution, claim 1 is interpreted such that “by weight” refers to the relative weight of the glassy polymer to the ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane.
Claims 2–4 are indefinite because they depend from claim 1.
Also, claim 3 recites:
3. The process for preparing a hybrid crosslinked polymer membrane of claim 1, wherein the weight ratio of the organic solvent to the total weight of the glassy polymer and the ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane is 0.1:99.9 to 40:60. Emphasis added.
Claim 3 is indefinite because the claimed weight ratio contradicts the teaching of the disclosure. Specifically, claim 3 requires that “the weight ratio of the organic solvent to the total weight of the glassy polymer and the ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane is 0.1:99.9 to 40:60” (emphasis added). But the disclosure says that the weight ratio is the opposite (i.e., the total weight of glassy polymer/ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane to the total weight of glassy polymer/ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane/solvent)—because the specification says that the weight of the solid contents of the glass polymer and the ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane may be at least 0.1 to at most 40% by weight of the total weight of the glassy polymer, ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane, and the organic solvent. See Spec. p. 15. The disclosure also says it is difficult to form a hybrid polymer membrane if the total weight of the glassy polymer/ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane being greater than 40% by weight of the glassy polymer, ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane, and the organic solvent. Id. The conflict of claim 3 with the specification renders claim 3 indefinite. See MPEP 2173.02 (a claim, although clear on its face, may be indefinite when a conflict or inconsistency between the claimed subject matter and the specification disclosure renders the scope of the claim uncertain).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kyung et al., KR 20200064651 A.1
Regarding claim 1, Kyung teaches a process of synthesizing an organic-inorganic polyimide using LPS 64 (ladder-like polysilsesquioxane 64), which reads on the claimed “process for preparing a hybrid crosslinked polymer membrane.” See Kyung ps. 4–5. The method comprises:
(1) Adding LPS 64 to a polyamic acid solution to form a solution. See Kyung ps. 4–5 (“Synthesis of organic-inorganic composite polyimide”). The polyamic acid (a glassy polymer) has a first functional group and the LPS 64 (a ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane) has a second functional group capable of reacting with the first functional group, because the polyamic acid and LPS 64 are reacted to synthesize an organic-inorganic composite polyimide containing LPS 64. Id. The weight ratio of polyamic acid to LPS 64 is 8:2 to 9:1. Id. at p. 3. The solution comprises the organic solvent, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). Id. at p. 5 (“In NMP 2ml Remark PI(90)+LPS64(10)”).
This reads on “(1) dissolving a polymer composition comprising 70 to 90% by weight of a glassy polymer having a first functional group and 10 to 30% by weight of a ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane having a second functional group capable of reacting with the first functional group in an organic solvent.”
(2) Forming the solution of LPS64 and polyamic acid into a “membrane shape” by applying it to a glass plate to form a coating film, and then heating the coating film at 80°C for 1 hour, and then heated at 150°C for 2 hours. See Kyung ps. 4–5 (“Synthesis of organic-inorganic composite polyimide using LPS 64”). At least some of the solvent, NMP, will be removed while heating is performed, because the film is heated in what is interpreted as an open environment. Id.
This reads on “(2) forming the polymer solution obtained in step (1) into a membrane shape and removing the organic solvent therefrom to obtain a hybrid polymer precursor membrane.”
(3) Additionally heating the film at 250°C for 2 hours. See Kyung ps. 4–5 (“Synthesis of organic-inorganic composite polyimide using LPS 64”). Crosslinking is interpreted as occurring during the process because LPS acts as a crosslinking agent (Id. at p. 6), with the disclosure indicating that crosslinking between ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane and glass polymers (such as polyamic acid) occurring between at elevated temperature of, for instance, 300–400°C (which is relatively near to 250°C) (see Spec. p. 17).
This reads on “(3) thermally treating the hybrid polymer precursor membrane obtained in step (2) to form a crosslinked structure.”
Regarding claim 2, Kyung teaches that the organic solvent in “step (1)” is NMP, as claimed. See Kyung p. 5 (“In NMP 2ml Remark PI(90)+LPS64(10)”).
Conclusion
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T. BENNETT MCKENZIE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1776
/T. BENNETT MCKENZIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
1 Kying is in the record as the 38-page Foreign Reference filed December 20, 2024.
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