miscible with a liquid crystalline material and (1b) a second monomer that is poorly miscible
with the liquid crystalline material. Appellants’ claims 7 and 8 depend from claim 5 and further
define the proportions of monomers and liquid crystalline material.
Appellants’ claim 9 is generally directed to a display device comprising a polymer-
dispersed liquid crystal cell with a matrix of individually drivable rows and columns of
electrodes. The cell is made from a mixture having a liquid crystalline material, two types of
non-volatile, reactive monomers and a photoinitiator. The first monomer being an ethoxylated
acrylate and readily miscible with the liquid crystalline material. The second monomer being
poorly miscible with the liquid crystalline material.
The examiner has entered a single rejection against Serbutoviez’s claimed subject matter.
Specifically, the examiner has made the following rejection:
Claims 5, 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as unpatentable over Masayuki 01-
1993, JP 05019240 (JPO Website Machine English Translation).
(Examiner’s Answer, pages 2-3).
Generally, the rejection states that Masayuki describes a liquid crystal cell where the cell
is manufactured from a mixture of liquid crystalline material, photoinitiator, an ethoxylated
acrylate monomer that is poorly miscible with the liquid crystalline material and an acrylate
oligomer that is miscible with the crystalline liquid material. (Examiner’s Answer, pages 3-4).
As to the use of monomers, the rejection states that “[a]n oligomer is a coupling of several
identical monomers and thus qualifies as a homolog of the monomer.” (Examiner’s Answer, p.
4). For the guidance to employ a readily miscible ethoxylated acrylate with a poorly miscible
second monomer, the rejection states that:
2
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