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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument that the examiner's conclusion of obviousness is based upon improper hindsight reasoning, it must be recognized that any judgment on obviousness is in a sense necessarily a reconstruction based upon hindsight reasoning. But so long as it takes into account only knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was made, and does not include knowledge gleaned only from the applicant's disclosure, such a reconstruction is proper. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971).
Applicant argues that modifying Reiter’s arrangement to provide an enclosure formed by a housing and carrier 102 would require attaching clamping device 122 to carrier 102 rather than cooling device 116, thereby preventing pressing members 132 from applying the disclosed clamping force that provides a thermal connection between carrier 102 and cooling device 116.
The obviousness inquiry does not require the physical incorporation of one reference’s structure into another reference exactly as disclosed, nor does it require retaining all features or advantages of the primary reference. KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 420–21 (2007); In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425 (CCPA 1981); MPEP § 2143. Rather, the relevant question is whether the prior art as a whole would have suggested the claimed arrangement to a person of ordinary skill in the art, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Applicant’s argument is not persuasive because it presumes that the claimed housing must be Reiter’s clamping device 122 and that the clamping device must remain attached to cooling device 116 exactly as in Reiter. The rejection does not rely on that premise. Jiang teaches a protective cover 7 attached at the edge of circuit board 5 and arranged to protect both circuit board 5 and power circuit board 2 within the cover-defined enclosure. See Jiang, Fig. 3. Thus, Jiang teaches the particular protective-enclosure concept missing from Reiter: an enclosure arrangement that protects multiple circuit boards in a multi-board electrical apparatus.
Reiter teaches a multiple-circuit-carrier apparatus, including carrier 102 and circuit board 140, but its clamping device 122 and cover member 130 protect or cover only the circuit-board region associated with the power semiconductor arrangement. Jiang teaches that, where an apparatus has multiple circuit boards 2 5, a protective cover 7 may be arranged with one circuit board to form an enclosure that contains and protects both circuit boards. A person of ordinary skill in the art would therefore have found it obvious to modify Reiter’s multi-carrier module using Jiang’s protective-cover arrangement so that a housing and first circuit carrier 102 form an enclosure containing second circuit carrier 140, thereby extending environmental protection to both circuit carriers.
Moveover, Jiang teaches, in the Figure 3 embodiment, an arrangement including power circuit board 2, auxiliary circuit board 5, protective cover 7, and heat-dissipation substrate 3. Jiang therefore demonstrates that an enclosure protecting multiple circuit boards can coexist with a heat-dissipation structure in an electronic apparatus. Thus, Jiang reasonably suggests that the modification of Reiter to provide an enclosure protecting both circuit carriers does not preclude thermal management of the heat-generating components.
The predictable benefit of the modification is not merely generic “environmental protection,” but protection of all circuit boards/circuit carriers in Reiter’s multi-carrier assembly, including circuit board 140, rather than protection associated with only one circuit-board region.
Further, even if Applicant’s proposed interpretation of the modification resulted in clamping device 122 no longer providing the same clamping-force and thermal-interface advantages described by Reiter, that possibility does not defeat the obviousness rationale. The claims do not require clamping device 122, pressing members 132, fasteners 124, or the particular thermal-coupling arrangement of Reiter. Nor must the combination preserve every feature or stated advantage of Reiter when the prior art provides a reason to modify Reiter to obtain Jiang’s known benefit of protecting multiple circuit boards within an enclosure.
Jiang supplies the missing teaching and motivation for enclosing and protecting both circuit carriers in Reiter’s multi-circuit-carrier apparatus. Because the proposed modification need not preserve Reiter’s clamping-device arrangement or every advantage associated with that arrangement, Applicant’s argument concerning pressing members 132 does not overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-2, 5-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Reiter et al (US 2022/0093486) in view of Toyama et al (US 20090087322) in view of Jiang et al (US 20160065144).
As per claims 1 and 14, Reiter teaches the following limitations:
“first circuit carrier comprising one or more heat generating elements” at 102, 106, 108 of Fig 1;
“second circuit carrier…” at 140 of Fig 1; and
“temperature sensor…arranged in sufficient proximity to a first one of heat generating elements...” at 126, 108 of Fig 1.
Reiter discloses multiple circuit carriers spaced from each other with a temperature sensor in multiple embodiments in Figs 1-8, para 30-58, with clamping device 122 including cover 130 over the circuit board 106.
Reiter does not teach a housing that surround an interior volume over the first circuit carrier wherein the housing and first circuit carrier form an enclosure, second circuit carrier is within the enclosure, and encapsulant material the fills said interior volume and a second circuit contained within the encapsulant material.
However, Toyama teaches two circuit boards 15, 16 contained in a housing 11b and the interior of the housing filled with a silicone gel 53 fills a volume inside the housing containing the circuit board (para 0047, 0049, Figs, 1, 10).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of filing to modify Reiter with the housing and filling with encapsulant material in order to better protect from the environment and increase durability of electrical components.
Reiter in view of Toyama does not teach the housing and first circuit carrier form an enclosure and second circuit carrier is within the enclosure.
However, Jiang teaches several embodiments with a protective cover (7, 8, 9) attached to a circuit board (2, 5) in Figs 1-5. As an example in Fig 3, cover 7 protects boards 2 and 5 and is attached at the edge of circuit board 5 and forms an enclosure.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of filing to modify Reiter in view of Toyama with an enclosure in order to better protect from the environment.
As per claim 2, Reiter teaches galvanically isolated from the heat generating elements at para 28, 44.
As per claim 5, Reiter teaches power semiconductor die at 108, para 31.
As per claim 6, Reiter teaches half bridge or full bridge configuration which suggests passive elements at para 28-31.
As per claim 7, Reiter teaches sensor directly over the heat generating element at 126, 406 of Figs 5, 8.
As per claim 8, Reiter teaches a second one of the heat generating element and temperature between elements at 126 of Figs 1-3.
As per claim 9 and 15, Reiter teaches a controller mounted on an upper surface of the second circuit carrier at para 45.
As per claim 10 and 16, Reiter teaches plurality of temperature sensors attached to the second circuit carrier at 126, 406 of Figs 4-6, 8.
As per claim 11, Reiter teaches determine a temperature each of the elements and sensors outnumber the elements at para 45.
As per claim 12, Reiter teaches a first carrier is DCB, AMB or IMS substate at para 30.
As per claim 13, Reiter teaches second carrier is a printed circuit board at para 45.
As per claim 17, Reiter teaches additional temperature sensors, more than heat generating elements at para 20, 28, 42.
As per claim 18, Reiter teaches a temperature measurement with an infrared sensor at para 20.
As per claims 19-20, Toyama teaches a dielectric gel (para 0047).
As per claim 21-22, Reiter teaches support structures (134, 136, 136) in Figs 1-8.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN E BREENE whose telephone number is (571)272-4107. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrea Wellington can be reached at (571)272-4483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN E BREENE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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