DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/15/26 has been entered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “displacement and/or positioning module” and “transducer” in claim 1, “upper surface” in claim 4, “bonding head” and “the second part of the optical waveguide, at least in sections, is fixed to a bonding head” in claim 7, “the head end” in claim 8, and “wherein the beam-forming optical unit is fixed on the bonding head” in claim 9 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 1 the last wherein clause should be less indented and preceded by an “and”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-4 and 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites “ultrasonic transducer configured to excite”. While support for “a device for exciting” can be found in the originally filed claim 1, support for “ultrasonic transducer configured to excite” cannot be found.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 7-9, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troska et al. (US 2020/0282663 A1) in view of Vanzetti et al. (US 4,481,418).
Concerning claim 1, Troska teaches:
An apparatus [joining arrangement shown in figure 1] for detecting temperature during laser-assisted ultrasonic bonding [0025], the apparatus comprising:
an automatic bonding machine [joining arrangement shown in figure 1] having a bonding tool [tool (42)], having a displacement and/or positioning module for the bonding tool [the tool is moved so the arrangement inherently has a displacement module; 0017] and having an ultrasonic transducer configured to excite the bonding tool to ultrasonically vibrate [ultrasonic transducer (43)];
a laser generator to provide a laser beam [temperature unit (421) may contain a laser unit which inherently has a generator in in order to create a laser]; and
a temperature sensor [temperature unit (421) may contain an infrared temperature sensor; 0038-0039].
Troska does not teach:
an optical waveguide to guide the laser beam from the laser generator to the bonding tool, the optical waveguide having a multi-part design; and
a deflecting and beam-splitting unit provided between at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide;
wherein the deflecting and beam-splitting unit is arranged between the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide and is assigned to the temperature sensor such:
that the laser beam provided by the laser generator is guided through a first part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide to the deflecting and beam-splitting unit, then is incident on the deflecting and beam-splitting unit and there is deflected in a direction of a second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide and is guided through the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide to the bonding tool and the bonding tool is heated;
that a portion of thermal radiation emitted by the bonding tool as a result of the heating is coupled into the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide via an end face of the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide that is facing the bonding tool, and is fed to the deflecting and beam-splitting unit; and
that at least some of the coupled-in thermal radiation passes through the deflecting and beam-splitting unit and then is incident on the temperature sensor,
wherein the second part of the optical waveguide simultaneously guides the laser beam toward the bonding tool and the thermal radiation away from the bonding tool, the laser beam and the thermal radiation propagating through the second part of the optical waveguide in opposite directions.
Concerning the guiding of the laser,
Vanzetti teaches an arrangement for heating area (12) and sensing the reflected thermal radiation of the area comprising Nd:YAG heating laser (16), optical fiber (20), and an optical head (14), the optical head comprises lens (30), infrared detector (22), dichroic mirror (28), radiation transmitting member (32), and lens (34);
wherein the laser beam is guided from the laser, to the optical fiber, to lens (30), to the dichroic mirror, and then to lens (34) in order to heat the area,
heated area (12) produces thermal infrared radiation which is then transmitted back thru the lens (34), radiation transmitting member (32), dichroic mirror (28), and lens (36) for transmission to thermal-infrared detector (22); 2:35-61, 3:55-65, and figure 2.
Since Troska desires a laser that can heat the tool and a means for detecting the temperature of the tool it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the Vanzetti arrangement since it can do both.
Concerning claim 2, this claim is addressed by the incorporation of Vanzetti as noted above:
wherein a collimator [Vanzetti lens (30); figure 2] is assigned to an end face of the first part of the optical waveguide facing the deflecting and beam-splitting unit such that the laser beam is incident on the deflecting and beam-splitting unit with an at least essentially parallel beam path.
Concerning claim 3, Troska teaches:
wherein the temperature sensor is connected to the laser generator via a communication link and wherein a control unit interacting with the temperature sensor and/or the laser generator is provided for operating the laser generator in dependance on the temperature of the bonding tool that is determined via the temperature sensor [0038-0040].
Concerning claim 7, Troska does not teach:
wherein the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide is assigned to the bonding tool from outside,
wherein the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide is spaced at a distance from the bonding tool, and/or
wherein the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide, at least in sections, is fixed to a bonding head of the automatic bonding machine serving to receive and position the bonding tool and is moved along with the bonding head when it is displaced.
However, Troska depicts temperature unit (421) outside tool (42); figure 1.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to place the Vanzetti arrangement, including member (32), outside the tool since Troska teaches placing the temperature unit outside the tool. One would have also been motivated to do so as no special tool would be required.
Concerning claim 8, Troska does not teach:
wherein a head end of the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide is assigned a beam-forming optical unit such that a beam path is formed from the laser beam escaping from the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide.
However, Vanzetti teaches the bottom of member (32) emits the laser to lens (34); figure 2, and thus the incorporation of Vanzetti meets this claim.
Concerning claim 9, Troska does not teach:
wherein the deflecting and beam-splitting unit, the laser generator, a collimator, and/or the temperature sensor are arranged in a stationary manner outside a bonding head and/or
wherein the beam-forming optical unit is fixed on the bonding head and moved along with the bonding head when this is displaced.
Note that Troska intrinsically has a bond head as some apparatus is needed to hold, move, and apply force to the tool and transducer.
Vanzetti teaches laser (16) is stationary relative to movable optical head (14); 2:14-22.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the Vanzetti stationary laser concept into Troska as the laser does not need to move due to the flexibility of the optical fiber and/or to reduce the weight/bulk of the bonding head.
Concerning claim 11, Troska does not teach:
wherein the laser beam provided by the laser generator has a wavelength in the range of about 1070 nm.
Vanzetti teaches using an Nd:YAG laser and fiber (20) must be able to transmit in the 1-micrometer wavelength; 2:59-61.
The examiner notes that it is well-known that Nd:YAG lasers typical emit a wavelength of 1064 nm since they are readily available for purchase.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser since Vanzetti implies this is wavelength that must be emitted to be transmitted.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troska et al. (US 2020/0282663 A1) in view of Vanzetti et al. (US 4,481,418) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Vanzetti et al. (US 4,696,101) [Vanzetti 2]. This rejection applies should the applicant prove that lens (30) does not render the beam essentially parallel.
Concerning claim 2, Troska teaches:
wherein a collimator [Vanzetti lens (30); figure 2] is assigned to an end face of the first part of the optical waveguide facing the deflecting and beam-splitting unit such that the laser beam is incident on the deflecting and beam-splitting unit.
Troska does not teach:
the laser beam is incident with an at least essentially parallel beam path.
Vanzetti 2 teaches using Nd:YAG laser (20) to create reflected thermal radiation wherein the lens (13) renders the beam more parallel before it hits dichroic mirror (14); 6:52-7:3 and figure 3.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a lens to render the beam parallel as taught by Vanzetti 2, since this is a known method, minus nay unexpected results.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troska et al. (US 2020/0282663 A1) in view of Vanzetti et al. (US 4,481,418) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Geissler et al. (US 8,020,746 B2).
Concerning claim 4, Troska does not teach:
wherein a recess is formed on a casing side of the bonding tool and wherein an end face of the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide facing the bonding tool is assigned to the recess such that the laser beam escaping from the second part of the at least two adjacent parts of the optical waveguide is incident on an upper surface of the recess.
Geissler teaches ultrasonic device (1) comprising tool (2) and laser interferometer (8), wherein the tool has region/recess (5) as to guarantee that the reflected light beam (7) is oriented parallel with respect to the incident light beam (6) when beam (6) hits the surface of the region; 8:1-21.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the Geissler recess concept into Troska in order to guarantee that the reflected radiation is oriented parallel with respect to the laser beam. In doing so, the end face of member (32) would be assigned to the recess.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troska et al. (US 2020/0282663 A1) in view of Vanzetti et al. (US 4,481,418) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Dostoomian (US 4,657,169).
Concerning claim 10, Troska does not teach:
wherein the temperature sensor has a wavelength measuring range of 1500 nm to 2100 nm.
Vanzetti teaches infrared detector (22) measures radiation in the range of 4-6 µm; 6:64-66.
Dostoomian teaches using Nd:YAG laser (10) to create reflected thermal radiation which has wavelength typically in the range of 2-5 µm; 8:33-52.
Note that since emissivity of an object depends on the material and temperature, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use any infrared sensor, including that claimed, in order to measure the reflected thermal radiation. Additionally, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a sensor that measures wavelengths of 2-5 µm since this is a typical range of reflected radiation, minus any unexpected results.
Response to Arguments
The applicant argues,
“The specification expressly describes an automatic bonding machine having a bonding tool, a displacement and/or positioning module, and an apparatus for exciting the bonding tool to ultrasonically vibrate. These features are disclosed as conventional components of the bonding machine and are not the point of novelty of the invention. The drawings illustrate the automatic bonding machine and bonding tool arrangement, and one of ordinary skill in the art would readily understand the presence of corresponding positioning and excitation structures.
The specification further describes the bonding head as a component serving to receive and position the bonding tool and expressly discloses embodiments in which the second part of the optical waveguide is fixed to the bonding head and moves with the bonding head.”
While these features may be conventional and not the point of novelty this does not mean the applicant is admitting they are prior art. Additionally, this does not address “upper surface” or “head end” which only appear in the claims.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference as applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS J GAMINO whose telephone number is (571)270-5826. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-6.
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/CARLOS J GAMINO/Examiner, Art Unit 1735
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735
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