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
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 1-9 and 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beteille et al. (US 2005/0002081) in view of WO2021/071263A1, with Gim et al. (US 2022/0350185) serving as an English translation of WO2021/071263A1.
As to claim 1, Beteille discloses in figures 1 and 2 and claims 25-26, 33 and 35, an optical device (glazing unit for a vehicle sunroof, see paragraph [0059]) comprising: a first outer substrate (glass pane S1); a liquid crystal cell (“active system A” in figure 1 may be a liquid crystal cell, see paragraphs [0035] and [0042]); a second outer substrate (glass pane S3); a first intermediate layer (thermoplastic sheet f1) between the first outer substrate and the liquid crystal cell (see figure 1); and a second intermediate layer (thermoplastic sheet f2) between the second outer substrate and the liquid crystal cell (see figure 1), the first outer substrate (S1), first intermediate layer (f1), the liquid crystal cell (“active system A"), the second intermediate layer (f2), and the second outer substrate (S3) are sequentially arranged, wherein at least one region satisfying Equation 1: 20 mm ≤ L1 – L2, wherein L1 is the distance between the outer portion of the first outer substrate (S1) and the outer portion of the liquid crystal cell (figure 2: L1 ≥ 37 mm, in view of paragraph [0080], last sentence), and L2 is the distance between the outer portion of the first outer substrate (S1) and the outer portion of the first intermediate layer (L2 = 0 mm, see figures 1 and 2, thermoplastic sheet f1 has the same size as glass pane S1).
Beteille does not disclose the claimed structure of the liquid crystal cell. WO2021/071263A1 discloses in figure 1, a typical liquid crystal cell structure for a vehicle sunroof glazing (see paragraph [0111] of Gim) comprising: an upper substrate including a first base layer (101) and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (103); a lower substrate including a second base layer (201) and spacers (400); and a liquid crystal layer (300) including a liquid crystal compound between the upper substrate and the lower substrate (see figure 1 and paragraph [0016] of Gim). It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Beteille by providing the liquid crystal cell structure of WO2021/071263A1 because conventional structures were known to be cost effective and reliable.
As to claim 2, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, in the optical device of Beteille, the perimeter of the liquid crystal cell (“active system A”) is disposed within a perimeter of the first intermediate layer (f1) when observing the optical device in the normal direction (see paragraph [0080], last sentence, and paragraph [0063]).
As to claim 3, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, the optical device of Beteille comprises two or more regions satisfying Equation 1 (see figure 6: at the left-hand side and at the right-hand side).
As to claims 4 and 5, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Alternatively, the polarizers 102 and 202 in figure 1 of WO2021/071263A1 can be interpreted as the first and second intermediate layers respectively. Under this interpretation, the optical device of Beteille has at least one region satisfying Equation 1: 20 mm ≤ L1 – L2, wherein L1 is the distance between the outer portion of the first outer substrate (S1) and the outer portion of the liquid crystal cell (figure 2: L1 ≥ 37 mm, in view of paragraph [0080], last sentence), and L2 is the distance between the outer portion of the second outer substrate (S3) and the outer portion of the second intermediate layer (L2 is small because the dimensions of the liquid crystal cell are only “slight less than those of the substrate S3” according to paragraph [0080], and the dimensions of polarizer 202 in figure 1 of WO/2021/017263A1 are the same size that of the liquid crystal cell).
As to claims 4 and 6, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, in the optical device of Beteille, each of the first intermediate layer (f1) and the second intermediate layer (f2) is a polymer film comprising a polyvinyl alcohol film (polyvinylbutyral; see paragraphs [0065] and [0076]).
As to claim 7, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, in the optical device of Beteille, each of the first outer substrate and the second outer substrate is a glass substrate (see paragraph [0059]).
As to claim 8, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, because the surface of the active system A in the optical device of Beteille has dimensions which are only “slightly less than those of the substrate S3”, it can be assumed that L1 – L2 ≤ 200 mm.
As to claim 9, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, the optical device of Beteille satisfies Equation 2: A1 < A2 < A3, wherein A1 is the area of the liquid crystal cell, A2 is the area of the second intermediate layer (see paragraph [0080], last sentence, and figures 1 and 2 from which it can reasonably be assumed that thermoplastic sheet f2 has the same shape as the glass substrate S3), and A3 is the area of the first outer substrate (see paragraph [0063]).
As to claims 11 and 13, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, the optical device of Beteille further comprises an outer layer (figure 3: encapsulating peripheral seal J) surrounding side surfaces of the liquid crystal cell (see paragraphs [0084]-[0085]). Moreover, at temperatures as high as 110°C and at a frequency of 1Hz, typical encapsulating materials that would be considered for the encapsulating peripheral seal J in figure 3 of Beteille would have a storage elastic modulus of 100,000 Pa or less.
As to claim 12, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 11. Furthermore, the thickness of the outer layer (peripheral seal J) in figure 3 of Beteille is certainly larger than the thickness of the liquid crystal cell. Moreover, it appears to be an incentive for a skilled person to render the whole glazing unit of Beteille as thin as possible so that it appears to be an obvious option to render the thickness of the peripheral seal J smaller than 1.8 times the thickness of the liquid crystal cell.
As to claim 14, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, the liquid crystal layer is configured to switch orientation states upon application of a voltage thereto (see paragraph [0014], “When a voltage is applied to the film, the liquid crystals are oriented along a favored axis”).
As to claim 15, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, WO2021/071263A1 discloses (see figure 2 and paragraph [0106]) a liquid crystal cell structure comprising a first electrode layer (500) between the first base layer (101) and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (103), and a second electrode layer (500) between the second base layer (201) and the spacers 400.
As to claim 16, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 15. Furthermore, WO2021/071263A1 discloses (see figure 2 and paragraph [0106]) wherein the upper substrate comprises no alignment film, and the lower substrate further comprises an alignment film (203).
As to claim 17, Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1. Furthermore, the optical device of Beteille is mounted as a sunroof in an opening of an auto body of an automobile (paragraph [0059]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beteille et al. (US 2005/0002081) in view of WO2021/071263A1 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Satake et al. (US 2004/0209007).
Beteille in view of WO2021/071263A1 discloses all of the elements of the claimed invention discussed above regarding claim 1, but does not disclose the use of adhesive layers between all the layers of the optical device of Beteille. However, Satake discloses (see paragraph [0005]) that for adhesion between optical films and liquid crystal cells, and between optical films, each element usually is attached using a pressure-sensitive adhesive in order to reduce loss of light. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Beteille by providing adhesive layers between all of the layers of the optical device in order to reduce loss of light.
Conclusion
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/DAVID Y CHUNG/Examiner, Art Unit 2871