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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 9-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected product, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/09/2026.
Claim Interpretation
Claim 1 is directed to a method. Claim 1 requires a step of generating a plasma at the first surface of the ionic amorphous material and further recites,
“from the ionization of a gas located between said first surface of ionic amorphous material and different portions of the first electrode and the application of a given voltage at the terminals of the first electrode said application of the voltage at the terminals of the first electrode and said generation of plasma being configured so as to modify surface electrical properties of said ionic amorphous material to define at least one area of the surface locally polarized between different portions of the first electrode extracting the treated ionic amorphous material polarized ionic amorphous material being used to define a liquid crystal cell”
As indicated in MPEP 2106.04(c ) process claims are defined by active steps of the process. The above limitations introduce existing elements or properties and are not considered active steps required by the process.
For the purpose of this examination generating of plasma by ionization of gas in contact with any portion of the surface of the ionic amorphous material is considered to meet these limitations
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "different portions of the first electrodes". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim and it is unclear what portions of the first electrode are attempted to be referred to.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "different portions of the first electrodes". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim and it is unclear what portions of the first electrode are attempted to be referred to.
Claim 1 is directed to a method. Claim 1 requires a step of generating a plasma at the first surface of the ionic amorphous material and further recites,
“from the ionization of a gas located between said first surface of ionic amorphous material and different portions of the first electrode and the application of a given voltage at the terminals of the first electrode said application of the voltage at the terminals of the first electrode and said generation of plasma being configured so as to modify surface electrical properties of said ionic amorphous material to define at least one area of the surface locally polarized between different portions of the first electrode extracting the treated ionic amorphous material polarized ionic amorphous material being used to define a liquid crystal cell” it is unclear if each element is an active step or result thereof
As indicated in MPEP 2106.04(c ) process claims are defined by active steps of the process. The above limitations introduce existing elements or properties and are not considered active steps required by the process.
Claim 1 recites; “extracting the treated ionic amorphous material Said, polarized ionic amorphous material being used to define a liquid crystal cell”. The term, “being used to define a liquid crystal cell” is considered intended use. Additionally, it is unclear where there is original support for “extracting the treated ionic amorphous material” in the claims or specification. The specification refers to: The extraction EXT.sub.1 consists in the separation of the ionic amorphous material MA from the other layers of the multilayer structure 1 of FIG. 1. However there is no extraction of a treated ionic amorphous material in the specification and it is unclear how the “extracting” should be considered in view of the specification.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dussauze (EP 3263535).
Regarding claims 1 and 3-4, Dussauze discloses a method for treating a first surface of an ionic amorphous material comprising;
Arranging said first surface of the ionic amorphous material (10), claim 14, [0126] in contact with a first electrode (20) [0139], [0150], [0172] Fig 1a-d
Generating a plasma, thus ionizing gas, on the first surface of the ionic amorphous material (10) via a voltage applied to the electrode (20) ([0106], Claim 12-13) in between electrode (20) and material (40) thus voltage at terminals to apply voltage to the electrode (20). This can be considered cold plasma, which is just done at high voltage which has not been defined and dielectric barrier discharge plasma because there is an anode (20) and cathode (60) on either surface of the amorphous ionic material (10) which cause the displacement of the charged ions in the amorphous ionic material
Dussauze fails to state “extracting” step however the treated ionic amorphous material is considered “extracted” due to the ion exchange that occurs at the treatment locations thus yielding a different ionic amorphous material [0080] or depletion zone [0083] thus considered equivalent to the extracting step of claim 1. Furthermore, Dussauze discloses the ionic amorphous material(10) may be in layers [0072]/ [0074]
Regarding claim 2, Dussauze does not disclose the different portions of the electrode are separated precisely by a distance of less than 500 microns however as indicated in [0054]-[0055] it would be obvious to structure the electrode with spacing as motivated to obtain the desired refractive index.
Regarding claim 5, Dussauze discloses the ion exchange that occurs at the treatment locations forcing the cations to displace away from the first electrode (20) or anode, thus toward the cathode [0080]- [0083] as the cations are forced away the negative charge carriers necessarily move toward the anode, generation of plasma and further recitations of claim 5 are considered natural movement of charged ions with an anode and cathode applied on each side of the amorphous material the ions reside in. As indicated in claim 2 the geometry of the anode is obvious as motivated to obtain the desired refractive index.
Regarding claim 6, the ion displacement is parallel to the plane of the surface in at least some directions and occur in less than 3 microns of the thickness Fig 2a. Overlapping ranges are prima facie obvious.
Regarding claim 7, the polarized areas are created by the anode (20) [0083]-[0085], As indicated in claim 2 the geometry of the anode is obvious as motivated to obtain the desired refractive index.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CN 103906716 [0082] the net electric field may produce some microampere. In some cases, the ion from the film and/or layer pushed into the glass. After the ion exchange, the residual ions of the glass surface can be removed, such as by washing. In an exemplary embodiment, the ion of the other similar silver can be used for adjusting the refractive index of the glass substrate. In some other exemplary embodiments other ion can be used in plasma.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JODI COHEN FRANKLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3966. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8 am-4 pm.
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JODI COHEN FRANKLIN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1741
/JODI C FRANKLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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