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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/12/26 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8-12, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin (US 20080272299 ) in view of Nohr (US 5645964 )
Jin discloses
1. A writing device, the device comprising: one or more emitters (Fig. 23: field emitter array) positioned to emit an energy beam into a recording layer of a tape of a linear tape open storage device to physically alter the recording layer of the tape; a controller controlling the one or more emitters and configured to write one or more pixels of information in 1nm
(Jin is silent to a tape and a controller ;
Nohr discloses “The optical disk 10 (FIG. 7) can be "recorded" with digital information, such as music, video, computer data, computer software, etc., by selectively exposing the recording layer 14 to mutating light, particularly ultraviolet light. The optical disk 10 is placed in a suitable optical disk drive (not shown) so that the disk is rotatably driven. Referring now to FIG. 8, positioned above the surface of the disk 10 which includes the recording layer 14 is an excimer laser 16 which emits controlled pulses of ultraviolet light 18 of a wavelength suitable to mutate the colorant in the recording layer. When the ultraviolet light 18 strikes the recording layer, it causes the colorant to mutate only in that area which is irradiated. Since the disk 10 is rotated and since the ultraviolet light 18 is pulsed, the portion of the recording layer 14 which is exposed to the radiation is a small arc 20. This small arcuate area 20 changes color from that of its surrounding area 22. The colorant in the colored composition is selected so that the color change produces the maximum contrast between the area of mutated color and the area of nonmutated color. The excimer laser 16 is controlled by a computer (not shown) so that the pulses of light emitted by the laser correspond to encoded information which is to be recorded on the disk. The series of pulses of light from the laser 16 produce a series of mutated arcuate areas formed in a track around the disk 10 (FIG. 10). The excimer laser 16 is radially movable with respect to the disk, as shown by the arrow "A," so that multiple tracks can be recorded on the disk. Each area of mutated colorant corresponds to one portion of a binary signal. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the longer arcualte arcs 20a correspond to the binary digit "1" and the shorter arcuate arcs 20b correspond to the binary digit "0.". In this manner, a series of on's and off's, pluses and minuses, yeses and nos and the like, can be recorded on the recording layer 14. This binary information corresponds to encoded information in a digitally encoded format.” (c24” 30-55)
Nohr further discloses that “techniques for forming polymers into disks, films, tapes or the like, are well known to those skilled in the art and can be utilized in the present invention” (c24: 10-25)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Nohr so that the thermoplastic recording medium can be made in tape form to be accurately recorded thereon using a computer.
2.1, wherein the one or more emitters emits an energy beam into the tape of the linear tape open storage device (Jin, Fig. 24-25; Nohr, Fig. 7-9).
3.1, wherein the one or more emitters comprises one or more microtips (Jin, Fig. 24-25).
8.1, wherein the controller includes a processor which performs parsing, compiling, and pixelating operations on informational input provided to the controller (this feature is an obvious extension of the prior art’s teachings since the controller needs to determine which storage areas of the recording medium 106 be modified to form an indicia image).
9.1, wherein the tape of the linear tape open storage device includes a recording layer (Jin, Fig. 24-25; Nohr, Fig. 7-9).
10.9, wherein the recording layer is further permanently altered by the writing device (Jin, Fig. 24-25; Nohr, Fig. 7-9).
11.10, wherein the permanent alternation forms one or more pixels in the recording layer of the tape of the linear tape open storage device (Jin discloses that “system illustrated in FIG. 24, can be useful for nano machining patterning of dots, lines, or circles on a thin film layer such as a conductor, a semiconductor or an insulator layer as a means of nanomachining, nano patterning, e.g., for semiconductor circuit interconnection fabrication, magnetic recording media fabrication (especially a master mold for subsequent nano imprint production of magnetic recording media”; par. 104; thus it would have been obvious that the line or pattern in the image would include a smallest dot representing a pixel).
12.11, wherein the one or more pixels create one or more characters in the recording layer of the tape of the linear tape open storage device (Jin, par. 104: circle or “O” can be created).
20.1, wherein the tape is disposed in a linear tape open storage device and is a non-magnetic tape (Nohr, c24: 10-55).
Claim(s) 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin (US 20080272299 ) /Nohr (US 5645964 )in view of Song (US 20020080099)
Re claim 4.3, Jin is silent to wherein the microtips are disposed on a resistive layer.
Song discloses a field emission device (Fig. 1, par. 6) being a conventional field emission display device includes a lower plate and a upper plate facing to each other, wherein the lower plate and the upper plate are vacuum-packaged. The lower plate includes a glass substrate 101, a cathode electrode 102 made of metal deposited on the glass substrate 101, a resistance layer 103 made of doped amorphous silicon on the cathode electrode 102, a cone-type field emission tip 104 made of a metal(mainly, molybdenum), which is partially deposited on the resistance layer 103, and a gate insulation layer 105 and a gate electrode 106 which are used to apply electric field to the field emission tip 104. The upper plate includes a glass substrate 121, a transparent electrode 122 formed on the glass substrate 121, a red, green, or blue phosphor 123 partially formed on the transparent electrode 122 (par. 6). See also Fig. 2, par. 9.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Song
5.4, wherein the resistive layer is disposed on a cathode conductor layer (layer 102 in Song, Figs. 1-2, par. 6, 9).
6.5, wherein the cathode conductor layer is disposed on a glass layer (layer 101 in Song, Figs. 1-2, par. 6, 9).
7.6, wherein the one or more microtips are arranged in rows and columns across one of the one or more emitters and wherein the controller controls each individual one of the one or more emitters (Jin, Figs. 23-25).
Claim(s) 13-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin (US 20080272299 ) /Nohr (US 5645964 ) in view of Lunt (US 20090195716)
Re claim 13.9, Jin is silent to wherein the tape includes an adhesion promotion layer.
Lunt discloses [0035] Referring again to FIG. 2A, the adhesion promotion layer 206 may be provided to improve adhesion of the recording layer 204 and the substrate 202, or between any other layer(s). The use of the adhesion promotion layer 206 depends on the type of material used for the substrate 202 and the recording layer 204. The material used in the adhesion promotion layer 206 may include any type of natural or synthetic materials, including metals, alloys, polymers, copolymers, ceramics, or organic small-molecules, or adhesives including any type of drying, contact, hot melt, light curing, reactive, pressure sensitive or other adhesives. For example, a Cr layer may be used as the adhesion promotion layer for a recording layer of Au alloy. [0036] The lubricant layer 208 may be optionally provided to prevent the recording layer 204 from being scratched or otherwise damaged.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Lunt in order to promote adhesion between layers of the recording medium.
14.9, wherein the tape includes a lubricant layer 208 (Lunt, Fig. 2, par. 36).
15.9, wherein the tape includes a substrate layer 202 (Lunt, Fig. 2).
16.15, wherein the substrate layer is a plastic layer (Lunt, par. 23, 35-38).
Claim(s) 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin (US 20080272299 ) /Nohr (US 5645964 )in view of Ashton (US 20030206512 )
Re claim 17.1, Jin is silent to wherein the one or more pixels have a resolution in the range of between 1 nanometer and 1 micrometer
Ashton discloses it is well known for one or more pixels have a resolution in the range of between 1 nanometer and 1 micrometer (Ashton, par. 18, 23)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Ashton for a nano resolution of choice.
18.17, wherein the one or more pixels are arranged to make a character with a height of between 100 nanometers and 1 millimeter (Ashton, par. 18, 23)
19.17, wherein the resolution of a character written by the writing device is in a range between 100 nanometers and 1 millimeter (Ashton, par. 18, 23)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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