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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 40 depends on cancelled claim 32.
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 (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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 9, 17-19, 21, 34, 41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a2) as being anticipated by Almenar (US 20240198714)
Almenar discloses
1. A security feature for a security document, the security feature comprising:
one or more photoluminescent ink layers (201, 202), each including a composition capable of emitting visible light when irradiated with a specified electromagnetic wavelength range, wherein the one or more photoluminescent ink layers are at least partially printed in a window region of the security document (par. 98-103, 127-128); and
at least one opacifying layer (204a-204d), at least partially overlapping the one or more photoluminescent ink layers,
wherein the one or more photoluminescent ink layers and the at least one opacifying layer have the same or substantially similar colour appearances when viewed under visible light (par. 21, 128-130: first functional effect inks 201, 201 include an ink comprising metallic ink particles, which create a metallic appearance; opacifying non-functional ink is light color, i.e. white, grey, or blue, and semi-transparent allowing the functional effect inks to be viewed through … all the printed ink layers such that they appear identical from one security substrate to another)
2.1, wherein the one or more photoluminescent ink layers are fluorescing ink layers, or phosphorescing ink layers (par. 22, 66).
9.1, comprising a plurality of photoluminescent ink layers, wherein the photoluminescent ink layers at least partially overlap in selected regions of the security feature, enabling colour mixing of the coloured visible light emitted by the fluorescent composition (Fig. 4-6, summary).
17.1, wherein the security feature includes a metallic ink layer, at least partially overlapping the one or more photoluminescent ink layers (par. 22-23, 125: first functional effect ink is photoluminescent, second is metallic color ink).
18.17, wherein the metallic ink layer and the one or more photoluminescent ink layers are printed to create simulate a visual appearance of a security thread, which has a narrow width and extends a substantial length or width of the security document (Fig. 3).
19.17, wherein the metallic ink layer is printed to form a background of the one or more photoluminescent ink layers, such that the security feature displays a metal sheen when viewed under visible light (see summary, par. 125, 128-129).
21.1, wherein the at least one opacifying layer is overprinted onto the photoluminescent ink layers, or wherein the at least one opacifying layer is directly printed onto a transparent base film of the security document, and the photoluminescent ink layers are overprinted onto the at least one opacifying layer (Fig. 5-6).
34.1, wherein at least one of the photoluminescent ink layers is at least partially directly printed onto a transparent film surface of the security document (Fig. 4-6).
41. A security document, comprising one or more security features of claim 1 (see discussion regarding claims above.)
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) 5-6, 10-11, 13, 13, 23-24, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Almenar (US 20240198714) in view of Godfrey (US 20220144006)
Re claim 5.1, Almenar is silent to wherein the security feature includes three photoluminescent ink layers, wherein each photoluminescent ink layer includes a fluorescent composition arranged to emit a coloured visible light when irradiated with UV.
Godfrey discloses [0151] FIG. 8 illustrates an example embodiment where the luminescent ink of the decorative layer exhibits a complex multi-coloured photograph under both visible and UV light. As will be appreciated by the skilled person, in order to form a multi-coloured photograph the decorative layer therefore typically comprises a plurality of luminescent inks, e.g. four inks that exhibit CMYK colour mixing in visible light and corresponding colour mixing in UV light. Other colour mixing models such as RGB may be used.
As can be seen, it is well known for photoluminescent ink layer to emit a color when irradiated with UV.
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 Godfrey for authenticating purposes. It would have also been obvious that three or more photoluminescent ink layers can be incorporated as it is well recognized that duplication of parts is obvious modification; MPEP 2144.04.
6. 5, wherein the three photoluminescent ink layers are each arranged to emit a primary visible colour when irradiated with UV (Godfrey, par. 151; each exhibit is corresponding color).
10.9, wherein the one or more photoluminescent ink layers include two photoluminescent ink layers, wherein each photoluminescent ink layer includes a fluorescent composition arranged to emit a coloured visible light when irradiated with UV (Godfrey, i.e. par. 151).
11.10, wherein the two photoluminescent ink layers are arranged to emit a blue and a yellow visible colour respectively, when irradiated with UV, wherein colour mixing of the blue and yellow visible colours produces a white luminescent colour (Godfrey, par. 39, 151: color mixing can be used; luminescent colour mixing of the blue and yellow visible colours is also well known to produce a white luminescent colour).
13.1, wherein the security feature includes an array of sub image regions (Almenar, Fig. 3-6 show multiple sub image regions, wherein the photoluminescent ink layers are selectively printed within the sub image regions in accordance with a desired colour appearance of the security feature when irradiated with UV (Almenar, par. 118-120, 124-125, 129; Godfrey, par. 39, 151).
23.1, wherein the security feature displays a first image when viewed under visible light, and displays a second image when irradiated with the specified electromagnetic wavelength range (Godfrey, when irradiated with UV, a second image is produced).
24.23, wherein the second image is a coloured version of the first image, or a true RGB colour version of the first image, or a distinct image that is not correlated with the first image (Godfrey, when irradiated with UV, a second image is produced).
28.23, wherein the first image is a vignette image which at least partially extends into the window region of the security document; or a shadow image, or a multi-tonal image, wherein the multi tonal image includes tonal variations across different regions of the first image, wherein the tonal variations are created by the at least one opacifying layer, and/or the one or more photoluminescent ink layers (Almenar, par. 118-119).
36.1, wherein when the security feature is printed in a full window of the security document, it displays a multi-colour appearance when viewed from either side of the security document, when irradiated with the specified electromagnetic wavelength range (Godfrey, par. 219-228); wherein when the security device is printed in a half window (Godfrey, par. 225) of the security document, it displays a multicolour appearance when viewed from a first side of the security document, and a monochromatic colour appearance when viewed from a second side of the security document, when viewed in reflection viewing mode with the specified electromagnetic wavelength range; or a multi-coloured appearance when viewed from a second side of the security document, when viewed in transmission view mode with the specified electromagnetic wavelength range (Figs. 1, 16, 18-22, par. 38, 135: when viewed on side of decorative 1, under visible light, the viewer would see the images as shown in FIG. 1(c) due to the coloured nature of the luminescent ink under visible light. Under UV light, the viewer would perceive a yellow circle corresponding to the region, R, of the luminescent ink at both viewing angles θ.sub.1 and θ.sub.2, as illustrated in FIG. 1(d). In contrast to the situation when the device is viewed from the side of the lenses, although there is a change in colour when moving from one lighting condition to the other, there is no change in information content in the manner as discussed above as there is no introduction of an optically variable effect)
Claim(s) 33, 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Almenar (US 20240198714)
Re claim 33.1, Almenar is silent to wherein the one or more photoluminescent ink layers, and the at least one opacifying layer both display a substantially white or grey colour appearance when viewed under visible light.
However, this is considered an obvious extension of Almenar’s teachings since Almenar discloses in par. 21, 128-130: first functional effect inks 201, 201 include an ink comprising metallic ink particles, which create a metallic appearance; opacifying non-functional ink is light color, i.e. white, grey, or blue, and semi-transparent allowing the functional effect inks to be viewed through … all the printed ink layers such that they appear identical from one security substrate to another. The metallic color in the functional ink can be chosen to be silver which is grey color.
Re claim 40, although silent to wherein the photoluminescent ink layers include titanium dioxide, this feature is well understood in the art and considered an obvious extension of Almenar’s teachings.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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