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 .
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 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO 1449.These IDS has been considered.
Examiner’s Note
The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 7-10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claims 7-8, " a metamaterial" in line 1, should be changed to –the metamaterial--.
In claims 9-10, " Use of a vibrational circular dichroism " in line 1, should be changed to – Use of the vibrational circular dichroism --.
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 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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. (US 20170222724 A1) (herein after Chang) in view of Hacke et al. (US 20080216887 A1) (herein after Hacke).
As to claim(s) 1, Chang discloses a metamaterial for use in a sensor comprising:
a substrate [¶0208, fig.1]; and
a pair of nanorod resonators [The switching device is composed of periodic, vertically-aligned nanorod arrays. The switching device may be prepared by epitaxially growth of nanorods on a lattice matched substrate…¶0208][ The nanorod arrays comprise a plurality of nanorods extending outwardly from a substrate. The plurality of nanorods may be composed of a metamateral…¶0219] that work at mid-infrared wavelengths [¶0210,0222],
each of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators arranged perpendicular to each other on the substrate [The nanorod arrays support two LSPRs with collective electron oscillations along orthogonal directions. We denote the LSPR where electrons oscillate perpendicular…¶0238][¶0252].
[Note: while each unit configured to perform as claimed may be recited either structurally or functionally, claims directed to an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function, because apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does].
Chang discloses all the features of the claimed invention except the limitation such as: “wherein the pair of nanorod resonators have an out-of-plane asymmetry in their geometric arrangement and an in-plane asymmetry in their geometric arrangement”.
However, Hacke from the same field of endeavor discloses a pair of nanorod resonators have an out-of-plane asymmetry in their geometric arrangement [The interconnect is preferably designed to isolate the stress in small geometric features of the interconnect (in-plane or out-of-plane stress-relief loops), or to use alternative interconnect materials with greater inherent flexibility…¶0041] and an in-plane asymmetry in their geometric arrangement [in-plane stress relief freeform structures or loops; i.e, the small symmetrical "u" features near the solder pad area… FIG. 5 shows a series of cells interconnected with offset island-type interconnects. Thus the interconnects preferably extend the length of a plurality of solar cell…¶0043][¶0060].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the device/method/system of Chang such that the pair of nanorod resonators have the out-of-plane asymmetry in their geometric arrangement and the in-plane asymmetry in their geometric arrangement, as taught by Hacke, for the advantages such as: in order to obtain an optimum measurement.
As of claims 2-3, Chang discloses all the features of the claimed invention except the limitation such as: “The metamaterial of claim 1, wherein the out-of-plane asymmetry is a difference in a height above the substrate of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators.
The metamaterial of claim 1, wherein the in-plane asymmetry is an offset of the relative location of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators”.
However, Hacke from the same field of endeavor discloses the out-of-plane asymmetry is a difference in a height above the substrate of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators [see fig.4][The interconnect is preferably designed to isolate the stress in small geometric features of the interconnect (in-plane or out-of-plane stress-relief loops), or to use alternative interconnect materials with greater inherent flexibility…¶0041] [in-plane stress relief freeform structures or loops; i.e, the small symmetrical "u" features near the solder pad area… FIG. 5 shows a series of cells interconnected with offset island-type interconnects. Thus the interconnects preferably extend the length of a plurality of solar cell…¶0043][¶0060]
wherein the in-plane asymmetry is an offset of the relative location of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators [fig.4,¶0042].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the device/method/system of Chang such that wherein the out-of-plane asymmetry is the difference in the height above the substrate of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators; wherein the in-plane asymmetry is the offset of the relative location of the nanorod resonators of the pair of nanorod resonators, as taught by Hacke, for the advantages such as: to use alternative interconnect materials with greater inherent flexibility.
As to claim(s) 5-6, Chang discloses the metamaterial of claim 1, wherein the nanorod resonators are made from gold [gold nanorods…¶0264];
the metamaterial of claim 1, further comprising a second pair of nanorod resonators arranged to form a ring with the first pair of nanorod resonators [¶0208].
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. in view of Hacke et al. and further on view of WU et al. (CN 105549140 B) (herein after WU).
As of claim 4, Chang when modified by Hacke discloses all the features of the claimed invention except the limitation such as: “The metamaterial of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises: a silicon (Si) layer; a gold (Au) layer on the Si layer; and an aluminum oxide (A1203) layer on the Au layer”.
However, WU from the same field of endeavor discloses a substrate comprises: a silicon (Si) layer; a gold (Au) layer on the Si layer; and an aluminum oxide (A1203) layer on the Au layer [the first described coating are silicon oxide layer, and the second described coating is plated copper film, gold plating One or more kinds of combinations in film, platinum plated film, silver coating, the 3rd described coating are alundum (Al2O3) layer…page 3].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the device/method/system of Chang when modified by Hacke such that the substrate comprises: the silicon (Si) layer; the gold (Au) layer on the Si layer; and the aluminum oxide (A1203) layer on the Au layer, as taught by WU, for the advantages such as: for achieving accurate spectral and spatial resolution of the image.
Claim(s) 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. in view of Hacke et al. and further on view of Dionne et al. (US 20200361897 A1) (herein after Dionne).
As of claims 7-10, Chang when modified by Hacke discloses all the features of the claimed invention except the limitation such as: “A vibrational circular dichroism sensor comprising: a metamaterial of claim 1, wherein the in-plane and out-of-plane asymmetries of the metamaterial provide asymmetric absorption of circularly polarized light.
A vibrational circular dichroism sensor comprising: a metamaterial of claim 6, wherein the first and second pairs of the nanorod resonators of the metamaterial provide a near-zero circular dichroism response.
Use of a vibrational circular dichroism sensor of claim 7 for protein secondary structure sensing and chiral mixture sensing.
Use of a vibrational circular dichroism sensor of claim 8 for enantiomer sensing.”.
However, Dionne from the same field of endeavor discloses an in-plane and out-of-plane asymmetries of the metamaterial provide asymmetric absorption of circularly polarized light [see abstract; ¶0030]; wherein the first and second pairs of the nanorod resonators of the metamaterial provide a near-zero circular dichroism response [¶0028, 0068]; for protein secondary structure sensing and chiral mixture sensing [see abstract; ¶0033]; for enantiomer sensing [¶0028,0033; see abstract].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the device/method/system of Chang when modified by Hacke such that the in-plane and out-of-plane asymmetries of the metamaterial provide asymmetric absorption of circularly polarized light; wherein the first and second pairs of the nanorod resonators of the metamaterial provide the near-zero circular dichroism response; the vibrational circular dichroism sensor for protein secondary structure sensing and chiral mixture sensing; the vibrational circular dichroism sensor for the enantiomer sensing, as taught by Dionne, for the advantages such as: to provide enhanced light chirality.
Conclusion
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MD M. RAHMAN
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2886
/MD M RAHMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877