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.
Claims 1, 4, 6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kiyose et al. (“Microfabricated alkali metal vapor cells filled with an on-chip dispensing component”, hereinafter “Kiyose”).
The examiner notes that the publication date of Kiyose et al. is February 22, 2021, which is more than a year before the priority date of September 9, 2022. Therefore, an exception under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1) does not apply.
Claim 1: Kiyose discloses a metal-vapor-filled cell (Fig.1) comprising:
a cell main body (Si) comprising a first surface (top surface) and a vapor generating portion (Dispenser);
a glass sheet (“Glass”) bonded to the first surface of the cell main body (see Fig.1 and pg.1, “1.Introduction”, first paragraph);
an optical chamber (Optical cavity) provided in at least one selected from the cell main body and the glass sheet (within the main body; see Fig.1), the optical chamber communicating with the vapor generating portion (via Microchannels; see Fig.1); and
a metal vapor filling the optical chamber (see pg. 1, last paragraph: “In the Cs-dispenser component, a grid-like deep groove with multiple re-entrant microstructures is provided to deposit the CsN3 precursor injected from the pipetting cavity”),
wherein the vapor generating portion comprises a plurality of pillars (shown in Fig.1b), a plurality of bottomed grooves provided between the plurality of pillars (see Fig.1b, between the pillars) and open to the first surface (to the top surface; see Figs.1a and 1b), and an introduction port (Pipetting cavity) for introducing a raw material solution (CsN3, pipetted into the pipetting cavity; see pg.1, last paragraph - pg.2, second paragraph, and Fig.3) of the metal vapor (Cs) into the plurality of bottomed grooves (see Fig.3a), and
the introduction port comprises at least one of a structure lacking a portion of at least one pillar selected from the plurality of pillars and a structure lacking the entirety of at least one pillar selected from the plurality of pillars (see Fig.1a, where the pipetting cavity has a structure lacking pillars).
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Claim 4: Kiyose discloses wherein the optical chamber is provided in the cell main body (see Fig.1a).
Claim 6: Kiyose discloses wherein when the metal-vapor-filled cell is viewed in plan (shown in Fig.1a), an opening area of the introduction port is larger than an area of the pillar (see Fig.1a, where the pipetting cavity is clearly larger than the area of a pillar).
Claim 9: Kiyose discloses wherein the cell main body (Si, Fig.1a) further comprises a second surface (bottom surface), a first glass sheet (Glass) is bonded to the first surface (top surface of Fig.1a), a second glass sheet (Glass) is bonded to the second surface (bottom surface), and the optical chamber is provided in at least one selected from the group consisting of the cell main body (within the cell main body; see Fig.1a), the first glass sheet, and the second glass sheet.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 5, and 7-8 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: the prior art does not disclose the following limitations within the context of the claims:
wherein the introduction port is surrounded by the plurality of pillars (claim 2; Fig.1a of Kiyose only discloses the pillars on opposing sides and cannot reasonably be considered “surrounded” by the pillars);
“the vapor generating portion is provided at least two selected from four corner portions of the cell main body” (claim 3);
“wherein the cell main body further comprises a step, the step being provided on the first surface so as to surround the vapor generating portion” (claim 5);
“wherein the introduction port and the plurality of bottomed grooves are open to only the first surface” (claim 7; Kiyose discloses that the introduction port is open on two sides; see Figs.1a and 3); and
“no through hole is present other than the through hole serving as the optical chamber” (claim 8; Kiyose discloses the pipetting cavity also as a through hole; see Figs.1a and 3).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN JOHNSON whose telephone number is (571)270-1264. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Menna Youssef can be reached at (571)270-3684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RYAN JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2849
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