DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the communication filed on Augst 22, 2025. Claims 1-10 are currently pending in this application. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) based on application filed in Taiwan on September 16, 2024 has been acknowledged and considered by Examiner. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) that are placed on record in the application file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Publication 2019/0163301 A1 by Tai et al. (“Tai.”)
Regarding claim 1, Tai discloses a metal mesh structure (Fig. 3), comprising:
a plurality of unit pattern columns (Fig. 3, unit pattern was interpreted as ∧-shaped repeating pattern of the top three complete mesh squares and the lower right intersected by line 112 repeating in rows) ,
PNG
media_image1.png
638
595
media_image1.png
Greyscale
wherein each of the unit pattern columns comprises a plurality of unit patterns repeatedly arranged in a first direction, the unit pattern columns are arranged in a second direction to form the metal mesh structure, the second direction is not parallel to the first direction (Fig. 4, second unit pattern was interpreted as second set of top three complete mesh and lower right squares repeating in rows in a second column not parallel to a row), and each of the unit patterns comprises:
a first frame-shaped pattern and a second frame-shaped pattern connected to and arranged next to each other to form a ∧-shaped pattern (Fig. 3; ∧-shaped (lambda-shaped) pattern is defined as two quadrilaterals intersecting such as Tai’s left and center mesh squares and right and lower right mesh squares of the first three complete mesh squares intersecting)
wherein each of the first frame-shaped pattern and the second frame-shaped pattern comprises a first side, a second side, a third side, and a fourth side, the first side is connected to the second side and the fourth side and is opposite to the third side, and a length of the first side and a length of the third side are both less than a length of the second side and a length of the fourth side (See Fig. 3, combination of the left and center mesh squares where the top and bottom sides are longer with two square width compared to one square width sides. This is the same for the combination of the right and lower right mesh squares),
wherein the first side of the first frame-shaped pattern overlaps a portion of the fourth side of the second frame-shaped pattern (Fig. 3, short side of the right and lower right mesh squares overlapped the long side of the left and center mesh squares), the second side of the first frame-shaped pattern meets the fourth side of the second frame-shaped pattern at a node (Fig. 3, long side of the right and lower right mesh squares overlapped the same long side of the left and center mesh squares at a midpoint node) , and the fourth side of the first frame-shaped pattern connects with the first side of the second frame-shaped pattern and shares a same vertex with the first side of the second frame-shaped pattern (Fig. 3, second long side of the right and lower right mesh squares connected at point V to short side of left and center mesh squares as annotated below),
wherein at the node, the second side of the first frame-shaped pattern meets the fourth side of the second frame-shaped pattern to form two angles on two sides of the second side of the first frame-shaped pattern, and the two angles are supplementary angles to each other (Fig. 3, long side of the right and lower right mesh squares overlapped the same long side of the left and center mesh squares at a midpoint node P where long side of right side of the right and lower right formed two 90 degree angles and the long side of the left and center mesh squares formed a supplementary 180 degrees).
PNG
media_image2.png
646
626
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 2, Tai further discloses the metal mesh structure according to claim 1, wherein the first frame-shaped patterns and the second frame-shaped patterns have identical shapes (Figs. 3; ∧-shaped (lambda-shaped) pattern is defined as two quadrilaterals intersecting such as Tai left and center mesh squares and right and center mesh squares of the first three complete mesh squares intersecting have identical shapes).
Regarding claim 3, Tai further discloses the metal mesh structure according to claim 1, wherein in each of the unit patterns, the first side and the fourth side of the first frame-shaped pattern have a first angle, the first side and the fourth side of the second frame-shaped pattern have a second angle, the first angle is different from the second angle, and the first angle is supplementary to the second angle (Fig. 3, at point V, the short and long side of the left and center mesh squares have a 90 degree angle and the short and long side of right and lower right mesh squares have 90 degree angle in the opposite direction and they supplement to 180 degrees).
Regarding claim 4, Tai further discloses the metal mesh structure according to claim 1, wherein the first frame-shaped pattern and the second frame-shaped pattern are parallelograms (Fig. 3; ∧-shaped (lambda-shaped) pattern is defined as two quadrilaterals intersecting such as Tai’s left and center mesh squares and right and lower right mesh squares of the first three complete mesh squares intersecting).
Regarding claim 10, Tai further discloses the touch panel, comprising: a substrate ([0014], In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of first openings is randomly distributed on a substrate for a touch apparatus as in [0002]); and a metal layer disposed on the substrate, wherein the metal layer comprises: a plurality of touch electrodes separated from each other, wherein each of the touch electrodes comprises the metal mesh structure according to claim 1 ([0032] and [0031], According to the embodiment, in consideration of conductivity, a material of the first touch electrodes 110 and a material of the second touch electrodes 120 are metal with low electrical resistance. Referring to FIG. 2, the first touch electrodes 110 have a plurality of first conductive lines 112 constituting a mesh pattern. The second touch electrodes 120 have a plurality of second conductive lines 122 constituting a mesh pattern. In the embodiment, an outer profile of the first touch electrodes 110 and an outer profile of the second touch electrodes 120 are rhombus patterns serially connected to each other.)
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 of this title, 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 5-7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication 2019/0163301 A1 by Tai in view of U.S. Patent Publication 2014/0198264 A1 by Gao et al. (“Gao.”)
Regarding claim 5, Tai further discloses the metal mesh structure according to claim 1, and a ratio of a length of the second side to the length of the first side is greater than 1 and less than or equal to 5 (Fig. 3, ratio of the longer side to the shorter side of the mesh squares was two).
While Tai teaches the first conductive lines are spaced from the second conductive line mesh in micrometers. Tai does not teach wherein in any one of the first frame-shaped patterns and the second frame-shaped patterns, a length of the first side ranges from 300 micrometers to 700 micrometers,
However, in the analogous art of metal meshes for touch panels, Gao teaches printing electronic technology was used to print transparent conductive regions having period metal meshes for transparent electrodes. The grid (repeating) period of the metal mesh greater than 300 micrometers (Gao Fig. 4; [0004]-[0005]). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date to have implemented a metal mesh grid period of a short side as in Tai was also greater than 300 micrometers. One having ordinary skill in the art would have used convention printing technology for the metal mesh that allowed the mesh to have been perceived visually. (Gao Fig. 4; [0004]-[0005]).
Regarding claim 6, Tai does not disclose metal mesh structure according to claim 1, wherein in any one of the first frame-shaped pattern and the second frame-shaped pattern of each of the unit patterns, at least one of the first side, the second side, the third side, and the fourth side comprises a bend.
However, in the analogous art of metal meshes for touch panels, Gao teaches printing electronic technology was used to print transparent conductive regions having period metal meshes for transparent electrodes. The mesh was an irregular mesh composed of irregular polygons and the gridlines of the mesh are straight segments, and angles θ formed by gridlines and the right horizontal direction X are evenly distributed, when angles θ for each irregular mesh is counted, using 5° as an interval, the probability pi that segments fall within each interval are counted, whereby p1, p2, . . . and p36 are obtained in 36 angle intervals within 0-180, where the figure 4 shows a majority between 90 and 180 degrees. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date to have modified a metal mesh grid period of Tai to have been irregular so relative transmittance of the mesh of electrode lead region was less than 80 percent and the gridlines of the transparent electrode are evenly distributed in each angular direction (Gao Fig. 4; [0011]-[0012]).
Regarding claim 7, Tai does not disclose metal mesh structure according to claim 6, wherein each of the unit patterns has a bending angle at the bend, and the bending angle is greater than or equal to 90 degrees and less than or equal to 180 degrees.
However, in the analogous art of metal meshes for touch panels, Gao teaches printing electronic technology was used to print transparent conductive regions having period metal meshes for transparent electrodes. The mesh was an irregular mesh composed of irregular polygons and the gridlines of the mesh are straight segments, and angles θ formed by gridlines and the right horizontal direction X are evenly distributed, when angles θ for each irregular mesh is counted, using 5° as an interval, the probability pi that segments fall within each interval are counted, whereby p1, p2, . . . and p36 are obtained in 36 angle intervals within 0-180, where the figure 4 shows a majority between 90 and 180 degrees. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date to have modified a metal mesh grid period of Tai to have been irregular so relative transmittance of the mesh of electrode lead region was less than 80 percent and the gridlines of the transparent electrode are evenly distributed in each angular direction (Gao Fig. 4; [0011]-[0012]).
Regarding claim 9, Tai does not disclose metal mesh structure according to claim 7, wherein the bending angle of one of the unit patterns is different from the bending angle of another one of the unit patterns.
However, in the analogous art of metal meshes for touch panels, Gao teaches printing electronic technology was used to print transparent conductive regions having period metal meshes for transparent electrodes. The mesh was an irregular mesh composed of irregular polygons and the gridlines of the mesh are straight segments, and angles θ formed by gridlines and the right horizontal direction X are evenly distributed, when angles θ for each irregular mesh is counted, using 5° as an interval, the probability pi that segments fall within each interval are counted, whereby p1, p2, . . . and p36 are obtained in 36 angle intervals within 0-180, where the figure 4 shows a majority between 90 and 180 degrees. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date to have modified a metal mesh grid period of Tai to have been irregular so relative transmittance of the mesh of electrode lead region was less than 80 percent and the gridlines of the transparent electrode are evenly distributed in each angular direction (Gao Fig. 4; [0011]-[0012]).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication 2019/0163301 A1 by Tai in view of U.S. Patent Publication 2014/0198264 A1 by Gao, and further in view of U.S. Patent Publication 2009/0218310 A1 by Zu et al. (“Zu.”)
Regarding claim 8, Tai in view of Gao does not teach the metal mesh structure according to claim 7, wherein the bending angles of any two of the unit patterns have identical angles.
However, in the analogous art of transparent sensor elements for touch sensors, Frey teaches a sensor element that included two patterned conductor layers where two repeating micropatterns were made in the form of a series of parallel mesh bars and also isolated line segments to maintain optical uniformity across the sensor (Zu Fig. 23; [0153] and [0158]). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date to have modified the metal mesh of Tai in view of Gao to have also had repeating micropatterns where unit patterns had identical angles. One having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to have micropattern with parallel mesh bars be supplemented with isolated line segments with a similar geometry to the mesh bars to maintain optical unity and include two patterned conductive layers (Zu Fig. 23; [0153] and [0158]).
Conclusion
CN 204331661 U by Xie et al. teaches an intersecting lambda-shape in certain columns of a metal mesh structure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHEEN I JAVED whose telephone number is (571)272-0825. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9:00 am-5:00 pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, AMR AWAD can be reached on 571-272-7764. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MAHEEN I JAVED/Examiner, Art Unit 2621
/AMR A AWAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2621
Prosecution Insights