NCC NANO, LLC

Patent Trials and Appeals Board

Dec 4, 2020

2019005880 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 4, 2020)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
14/540,639 11/13/2014 KURT A. SCHRODER NCC.001007A 3096
124676 7590 12/04/2020
Russell Ng PLLC
8729 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 100
Austin, TX 78757
EXAMINER
TRAN, THIEN S
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3761
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
12/04/2020 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
stephanie@russellnglaw.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
____________

Ex parte KURT A. SCHRODER, STEVEN C. McCOOL, and
DOUGLAS K. JACKSON
____________

Appeal 2019-005880
Application 14/540,6391
Technology Center 3700
____________

Before GEORGE R. HOSKINS, BRANDON J. WARNER, and
ERIC C. JESCHKE, Administrative Patent Judges.

JESCHKE, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant2 seeks review, under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), of the Examiner’s
decision, as set forth in the Final Office Action dated January 15, 2019, and

1 We rendered a prior decision on appeal in this application on May 29,
2018, in Appeal No. 2016-002858.
2 Appellant is the Applicant listed on the Application Data Sheet, NCC
Nano, LLC. See Application Data Sheet (filed Nov. 13, 2014). The
Application was assigned to NCC Nano, LLC, according to an assignment
recorded with the Office on April 22, 2015. In the Appeal Brief,
Novacentrix Corporation is identified as the assignee and the real party in
interest. Appeal Br. 3.
Appeal 2019-005880
Application 14/540,639
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as further explained in the Advisory Action dated March 26, 2019, rejecting
claims 1–10 and 12–16.3 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We reverse.

BACKGROUND
The disclosed subject matter relates “to an apparatus for providing
transient thermal profile processing for thin films on a moving substrate.”
Spec. 2:12–13. Claim 1, the sole independent claim on appeal, is
reproduced below, with emphasis added:
1. An apparatus for curing a thin film on a
moving substrate, said apparatus comprising:
a conveyance system for moving said thin
film mounted on said substrate;
a flashlamp controller for modifying pulse
widths of multiple pulses to generate a specific
waveform that controls temperatures of a first side
and a second side of said substrate in a time scale
according to a specific thermal profile such that said
temperatures of said first and second sides of said
substrate are different, wherein said flashlamp
controller includes
a waveform generator; and

3 Although claim 11 is listed as rejected in the Office Action Summary
(Final Act. 1) and in the lead paragraph to this Rejection (id. at 2), we are
unable to discern where the Examiner addresses the language recited in
claim 11 in the body of the Rejection. See id. at 2–7; Appeal Br. 7 (arguing
that “none of the cited references discloses the claimed specific thermal
profile that is expressed in temperature as a function of time and depth of
said thin film and substrate, as recited in Claim 11”). As such, we do not
consider claim 11 to be subject to a rejection for review.
Appeal 2019-005880
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an encoder that sends control signals
to said waveform generator to generate said
specific waveform; and
a flashlamp for providing an electromagnetic
pulse according to shapes and timing of said
specific waveform, wherein said electromagnetic
pulse is utilized to cure said thin film while said thin
film is being moved in relation to said flashlamp.

REFERENCES
The Examiner relies on the following references:
Name Reference Date
Flicstein US 5,221,561 Issued June 22, 1993
Timans US 2003/0183612 A1 Published Oct. 2, 2003
Ott US 2006/0021975 A1 Published Feb. 2, 2006
Govek US 2006/0174508 A1 Published Aug. 10, 2006
Kusuda US 2009/0067823 A1 Published Mar. 12, 2009
Pope US 2009/0181184 A1 Published July 16, 2009
Schroder ’419 WO 2006/071419 A2 Published July 6, 2006
Zhenhua CN 2012298004 Published April 29, 2009

REJECTIONS
1. Claims 1, 2, 8, and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as unpatentable over Govek, Timans, and Kusuda.5
2. Claims 3–7 and 10 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Govek, Timans, Kusuda, and Schroder ’419.6

4 The Examiner relies on only a translation of the abstract of this
Chinese patent publication. See, e.g., Final Act. 10. The translation was
added to the file history on March 20, 2015.
5 Although the Examiner lists claim 11 in Rejection 1, we do not
consider claim 11 to be subject to a rejection for review. See supra note 3.
6 The Examiner relies on Schroder ’419 in Rejection 2 but states to
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3. Claim 9 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Govek, Timans, Kusuda, and Zhenhua.
4. Claims 13 and 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Govek, Timans, Kusuda, and Flicstein.
5. Claim 15 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Govek, Timans, Kusuda, and Ott.
6. Claim 16 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Govek, Timans, Kusuda, and Pope.

DISCUSSION
Rejection 1 – Claims 1, 2, 8, and 12
Independent claim 1 recites, among other limitations, “an encoder that
sends control signals to [a] waveform generator to generate [a] specific
waveform.” Appeal Br. 9 (Claims App.). For this, as well as the “waveform
generator” recited immediately prior, the Examiner relied on Kusuda:
K[u]suda discloses the flashlamp controller (Figs 1, 5, 6,
controller 3, [¶] 0031) includes a waveform generator (Fig 6,
pulse generator 31, waveform setter 32, [¶] 0052, [¶] 0055); and
encoder (Fig 6, input unit 33, [¶] 0055) that sends control signals
to said waveform generator to generate said specific waveforms
(Figs 7-9, various pulse waveforms shown) for processing the
thin film is known in the art.
Final Act. 6 (emphasis added).
Appellant states that, in paragraph 55, cited by the Examiner as to the
recited “encoder,” Kusuda discloses that the identified “encoder,” input unit
33, “may be any of various known input equipment such as a keyboard, a

“us[e] Schroder (US 2008/0020304) as an English language equivalent for
Schroder (WO2006071419).” Final Act. 7.
Appeal 2019-005880
Application 14/540,639
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mouse, or a touch panel.” Appeal Br. 6 (quoting Kusuda ¶ 55). According
to Appellant, this “explanation does not [address] the claimed encoder that
‘sends control signals to said waveform generator to generate said specific
waveform’” as required by the limitation at issue. Id. In the Answer, the
Examiner does not discuss this argument. See Ans. 3–6.
We are persuaded by Appellant’s argument that input unit 33 in
Kusuda does not satisfy the requirement for “an encoder that sends control
signals to said waveform generator to generate said specific waveform.” In
a discussion of Appellant’s Figure 2, the Specification provides this
description of the encoder:
As shown, flashlamp controller 130 includes an encoder 210, an
arbitrary waveform generator 220, a thermal simulator 225, and
control computer 160. User initially inputs thin film stack
properties 240 and desired processing level 250 into flashlamp
controller 130. After receiving inputs, such as conveyance
speed, from conveyance system 110 (from Figure 1) and
additional system limits 270, encoder 210 provides trigger
signals to computer which sends signals to arbitrary waveform
generator 220 at appropriate times for curing thin films located
on conveyance system 110.
Spec. 9:24–30 (emphasis added). Figure 2 is reproduced below:

Appeal 2019-005880
Application 14/540,639
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Figure 2 is a “block diagram of a flashlamp controller within the
thermal processing apparatus from Figure 1.” Spec. 5:11–12. Although
input unit 33 in Kusuda would seem capable of providing the initial “inputs”
discussed in the description of Figure 2 above (Spec. 9:27), the Examiner
has not adequately explained how input unit 33 would send “control signals”
to the identified “waveform generator”— i.e., pulse generator 31 and
waveform setter 32 together—as recited in the limitation at issue. See Final
Act. 6. The paragraph of Kusuda relied on by the Examiner supports this
understanding of the function of input unit 33, stating that “waveform setter
32 sets a pulse-signal waveform, based on the contents of input from the
input unit 33, and the pulse generator 31 generates a pulse signal with that
waveform.” Kusuda ¶ 55 (emphasis added). Thus, we do not sustain the
rejection of claim 1, or of claims 2, 8, and 12, which depend from claim 1.
Rejections 2 through 6 – Claims 3–7, 9, 10, and 13–16
Claims 3–7, 9, 10, and 13–16 each depend from claim 1. Appeal Br.
9–10 (Claims App.). The Examiner’s added reliance on Schroder ’419 (in
Rejection 2), Zhenhua (in Rejection 3), Flicstein (in Rejection 4), Ott (in
Rejection 5), and Pope (in Rejection 6) does not remedy the deficiencies in
the rejection based on Govek, Timans, and Kusuda, discussed above (see
supra Rejection 1). Thus, for the same reasons discussed above, we do not
sustain the rejections of claims 3–7, 9, 10, and 13–16.
CONCLUSION
We reverse the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1–10 and 12–16 under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a).

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DECISION SUMMARY
In summary:
Claims
Rejected
35 U.S.C. § Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed
1, 2, 8, 12 103(a) Govek, Timans, Kusuda 1, 2, 8, 12
3–7, 10 103(a) Govek, Timans,
Kusuda, Schroder ’419
3–7, 10
9 103(a) Govek, Timans,
Kusuda, Zhenhua
9
13, 14 103(a) Govek, Timans,
Kusuda, Flicstein
13, 14
15 103(a) Govek, Timans,
Kusuda, Ott
15
16 103(a) Govek, Timans,
Kusuda, Pope
16
Overall
Outcome
1–10,
12–16

REVERSED