Appeal No. 1996-2690
Application 07/967,787
over Ulman alone is subsumed by the rejection over the combination of Ulman and Reck
we will limit our discussion to the rejection over the combination.
Claims 1 and 37:
As with the present claimed invention, Ulman is concerned with the preparation of
optical articles exhibiting a high level of second order polarization. Ulman discloses
several techniques whereby molecular dipoles can be incorporated into a polymeric binder
or matrix to form optical active elements. One such technique comprises (Ulman, column
23, lines 49-58):
placing the molecular dipole in a transparent polymeric binder,
raising the temperature of the binder above its glass transition
temperature, externally applying an electric field (also
commonly referred to as poling) to align the molecule dipoles
in the polymer, and then cooling the optically active element
below the glass transition temperature of the polymer with the
external field still applied. When the external field is removed,
the molecular dipoles will remain in polar alignment.
As noted by the examiner (Answer, page 6), Ulman further teaches that (Column 24, line
23):
[a]n important variation of this assembly technique is to employ
linear polymers having pendant groups which are capable of
being aligned by the externally applied electric field.
Similarly, Ulman teaches that (column 24, lines 34-41):
[l]inear polymers which are capable of supplementing the
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