Appeal No. 2001-2124
Application No. 09/416,914
the coating, i.e., about 2 hours or 120 minutes. Accordingly, we conclude that Schulze
meets the requirement of the claimed subject matter in that patentee coats a pigmented
phosphor with silica for both a period of time, which falls within that disclosed in the
specification and at temperatures overlapping those of the claimed subject matter.
As for the particle size of the core particles and the silica coating, the examiner relies
upon two secondary references to Aihara and Hase each of which are directed to
embodiments likewise containing a pigmented phosphor. Aihara discloses the addition of
pigment which is attached to the phosphor. See column 5, lines 17-34. The pigmented
phosphor is thereafter coated with colloidal silica disclosed among a limited number of other
coating agents and having a grain size of 50 nm or less. See column 4, lines 33-42 and line
67 to column 5, line 16. Aihara specifically discloses that, “[i]f the grain size of a powder
exceed 50 nm, dispersability of a phosphor tends to be degraded. Therefore, a powder
having a grain size of 50 nm or less is preferably selected.” Id. We conclude, therefrom, that
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have chosen a silica coating
having a particle size of 50 nm or less to coat the pigmented phosphor of Schulze.
Hase is also directed to embodiments including pigmented phosphors. See column 15,
lines 3-12 and column 18, lines 7-17 and claim 2, among other disclosures. Hase discloses
in the background of the invention, that phosphor grains having a median grain size in a range
of about 6 to 12 microns are generally utilized for the phosphor particles. See column 3,
8
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