DETAILED ACTION
Priority
1. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a) — (d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration
2. Oath and declaration filed on 12/1/2024 is accepted.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The prior art documents submitted by application in the Information Disclosure Statement filed on 12/1/2024 have all been considered and made of record ( note the attached copy of form PTO – 1449).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
Claims 1,2 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong et al (2022/0351026 A1) in view of Falk et al (2021/0048693 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tong et al (refer to figures 1-3) a pixel structure, wherein the pixel structure comprises: a plurality of phase change units (phase change unit array 3) , and the plurality of phase change units are in identical phase change unit array 3 includes upper phase change units 3134 to 3134 and lower change unit 3231 to 3234); the plurality of phase change units are arranged in an array (phase change unit array 3) (paragraph 0034); each phase change unit comprises an excitation element and a phase change element, and the excitation element is used for applying independent excitation to the phase change element to change a phase state of the phase change element (paragraph 0034); each phase change element comprises at least one nanostructure made of a phase change material (figures 1-3).
Tong et al discloses all of the claimed limitations except the phase state of the phase change element comprises a crystalline state or an amorphous state and the pixel structure corresponds with the number of the phase change states of the phase change units in the pixel structure one to one; and the number of the phase change states of the phase change units includes the number of phase change units with crystalline states and the number of the phase change units with amorphous states.
Falk et al discloses the phase state of the phase change element comprises a crystalline state or an amorphous state and the pixel structure corresponds with the number of the phase change states of the phase change units in the pixel structure one to one (PCM may be amorphous to – crystalline and Chalcogenide may be thermally switched between a crystalline phase and an amorphous phase ; and the number of the phase change states of the phase change units includes the number of phase change units with crystalline states and the number of the phase change units with amorphous states(number of phase change state and number of phase change unit one to one ) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention was made to provide teaching of the phase state of the phase change element comprises a crystalline state or an amorphous state and the pixel structure and the number of the phase change states of the phase change units includes the number of phase change units with crystalline states and the number of the phase change units with amorphous states in to the Tong et al pixel structure to provide a techniques for forming arrays of pixels of an optical tunable material each array as taught by Falk (paragraph 0002).
Regarding claim 2, combination of Tong et al in view of Falk et al discloses wherein a number of the pixel structure is less than or equal to 25 (each of pixelated antennas 401 through 406 comprises 25 pixels , Tong, paragraph 0013-0072).
Regarding claim 19, combination of Tong et al in view of Falk et al discloses wherein the metasurface comprises the plurality of pixel structures, and the plurality of pixel structures are arranged in an array (3) (Tong ).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 3-18 and 20 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.
6. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: wherein each excitation element of the phase change unit comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, and an air gap is set between the first electrode and the second electrode; the first electrode and the second electrode are electrically connected by a middle element of the phase change unit; there is a potential difference between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a temperature of the middle element of the phase change unit is changed by an electro-thermal conversion, so as to change the temperature of a phase change element and wherein the middle element comprises the phase change element; the first electrode is electrically connected to a side of the phase change element, and the first electrode is electrically connected to another side of the phase change element and , wherein the method comprises: pre-setting a one-to-one corresponding relationship between the number of the phase change state of the phase change unit in the pixel structure and the phase change state of the pixel structure; determining a phase change state of the pixel structure corresponding to a current modulation phase, and determining a number of a target phase change state of the phase change units corresponding to the current modulation phase based on the correspondence between the a phase change state of the pixel structure and the current modulation phase; modulating at least partial electrodes of the phase change units independently, so as to change at least partial phase change states of the phase change units and make the number of the phase change states consistent with the number of the target phase change states.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED A HASAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2331. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 6 AM -4 PM.
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/MOHAMMED A HASAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 9/22/2026
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