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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 6, 8-9, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhou et al US 20180067395.
Per claims 1, 6, 8-9, 15, Zhou teaches a coating system comprising: a vessel (121, 145); a flexible container (131) within the vessel (121, 145) , the flexible container (collapsible liner 131) including an outlet port (147), wherein the flexible container (131) is configured to contract in response to an increase in pressure within the vessel, and the flexible container (131) is configured to output a coating composition through the outlet port in response to contraction (changing a first, second, and third volumes to introduce working fluid through the system); wherein a substrate can be conditioned [0014], a pressurized gas port (123) and a coating apparatus (160) for receiving the coating composition from the outlet port (147) (Abstract, Figs. 1-6 [0013]-[0017]).
Per claim 3, Zhou teaches utilizing and controlling a degassing valve (e.g., controlling the flow rate) in order to control the pressure [0019]-[0021] (which would inherently be between certain levels not defined by the claim).
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) 18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al US 20180067395 in view of Tom et al US 2013/0193164.
Per claims 18, 20, Zhou teaches that a venting valve is put in place to detect bubbles and remove bubbles from the composition (dissolved gas) [0020] but is silent regarding maintaining a vacuum. Tom teaches a similar rigid collapsible liner wherein Tom teaches that increase in pressure can cause gas to dissolve in the liquid photoresist and cause undesired bubble generation [0004], which is what Zhou seeks to reduce. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have utilized a vacuum (reduction in pressure) in order to reduce the gas dissolved in the coating composition. At least a 20% reduction in gas would have been clearly envisaged and obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as both Zhou and Tom teach that bubbles are undesirable; alternatively, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have reduced the dissolved gas (bubbles) to an extent as desired by one of ordinary skill in the art to arrive at the desired results via routine experimentation (see MPEP 2144.05).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4-5, 7, 10-14, 16-17, and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Zhou is silent regarding engaging a first attachment assembly on the flexible container with a second attachment assembly on the pressure vessel to form a temperature attachment and define an initial pressurized zone. Zhou is also silent regarding monitoring a first flow rate of photoresist into an intermediate reservoir and controlling a second flowrate as claimed. Zhao is also silent regarding reducing a pressure to the first volume below 1 atm to obtain a degassed composition. Zhao is also silent regarding treating the coating composition to provide claimed viscosity values and dissolved gas values. There would have been no apparent reason or motivation to have modified the prior art to arrive at the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN T. LEONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5352. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00-6:00pm.
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/NATHAN T LEONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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