Appeal 2006-3072
Application 10/419,763
(‘nematics’) and liquid crystals in general, on coming into contact with a
boundary surface, orient themselves in one or more directions because of
their interaction with the substrate” (Martinot-Lagarde col. 1, ll. 7-11). The
reference further acknowledges the additional surface energy resulting from
applying an external field to the surface of the substrate reorients the liquid
crystal molecules and is termed the anchoring energy (id. col. 1, ll. 11-38;
see Br. 11).
We determine the combined teachings of Walton, Nakamura, and
Martinot-Lagarde, the scope of which we determined above, provide
convincing evidence supporting the Examiner’s case that the claimed
invention encompassed by claims 1 and 2, as we interpreted these claims
above, would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
liquid crystal device arts familiar with the interaction at the interface
between alignment layers on cell wall surfaces and the liquid crystal layer
therebetween in liquid crystal cells of liquid crystal devices. Indeed, on this
record and in light of the advanced contentions, the acknowledgements and
teachings of the combined references establish that one of ordinary skill in
the art had knowledge of the affect of the interaction at the interface between
the alignment layers and the liquid crystal layer on the orientation of the
liquid crystal molecules relative to the liquid crystal cell walls, with and
without an applied field. This interaction is described by Nakamura and
Martinot-Lagarde in terms of surface energies of the alignment layers and
the liquid crystal layer, with Martinot-Lagarde referring to the additional
surface energy provided by an applied field as anchoring energy.
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