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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1, 3, 7, and 20-21 are amended. Claims 4-6, 8-17 are as previously presented. Claims 2, 18-19, and 22 are cancelled. Therefore, claims 1, 3-17, and 20-21 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on December 16, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pages 9-13, filed on 12/16/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-17 and 19-22 under U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of applicant’s amendment and newly found prior art regarding the grounding terminal ring shape with the bolt head contact.
Applicant argument that there are five prior art references used together is not persuasive. It has been held that reliance on a large number of references in a rejection does not, without more, weight against the obviousness of the claimed invention. In re Gorman, 933 F.2d 982, 18 USPQ2d 1885 (Fed. Cir. 1991).
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. KR10-2021-0069181, filed on 05/28/2021.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3-4 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (WO 2014156010 A1, hereinafter Suzuki) in view of Ueno (BR 102013030508 A2) and Endo et al. (WO 2019146589 A1, hereinafter Endo).
Regarding claim 1, Suzuki discloses an electric range (Abstract, “induction heating cooking device”, where an electric range is a stove with an integrated electrical heating device, where an induction cooking device would satisfy being an electric range), comprising:
a cover plate (Page 6, Para. 3 from end, “The top plate 22 is provided.”) on which a heating target is disposed (Page 2, Para. 3, “a top plate 101 on which a cooking container that is an object to be heated is placed”);
a case coupled to a lower surface of the cover plate (Page 7, Para. 3, “As shown in FIG. 4, the upper part of the outer shell 21 has a substantially rectangular opening 21i. Inside the outer casing 21”, where there is a casing 21 connected to the lower part of the top plate 22) and having an accommodation space defined therein (Page 7, Para. 3 ,” Inside the outer casing 21, a heating coil unit 25, a circuit board 26 on which a drive control circuit (including a power supply circuit) for performing induction heating and the like are mounted”, where this is a space to hold components for the induction cooker);
a heater comprising a working coil (Page 7, Para. 3, “a heating coil unit 25”) to which high-frequency power is applied and configured to heat the heating target using a magnetic field generated from the working coil (Page 7, Para. 4, “the heating coil unit 25 generates a high-frequency magnetic field and generates an eddy current at the bottom of the cooking container that is the object to be heated to inductively heat the cooking container”);
a control circuit board module disposed in the accommodation space and configured to supply the high-frequency power to the working coil (Page 7, Para. 3, “a circuit board 26 on which a drive control circuit (including a power supply circuit) for performing induction heating and the like are mounted”; Page 11, Para. 2, “Circuit components such as a drive control circuit (including a power supply circuit) for generating a high-frequency current in the first heating coil unit 25 and the second heating coil unit 42 are mounted on the circuit board 44.”); and
a fastener that extends through the control circuit board module and configured to secure the control circuit board module (Page 7, Para. 3, “The circuit board 26 is configured to be fixed to the bottom surface 21a of the outer shell 21 by tightening a screw 28b.”).
Suzuki does not disclose:
a base bracket disposed between a bottom surface of the case and the control circuit board module and to which the control circuit board module is secured;
where the fastener secures the control circuit board module to the base bracket, wherein the fastener is fastened to the case through the control circuit board module and the base bracket;
wherein the fastener is an electrically conductive fastening bolt, wherein the control circuit board module comprises: a bolt hole through which a stem portion and a male screw portion of the fastening bolt pass, wherein a ground terminal having a ring-shape is disposed around the bolt hole of the control circuit board module, and wherein a head of the fastening bolt contacts the ground terminal, and the head of the fastening bolt is electrically connected to the ground terminal.
However, Edwards discloses, in the similar field of circuit boards (Abstract, “circuit board”), where there can be a base bracket between the bottom of the case and the control circuit board that secures the control circuit board (Para. 0007, “expanding standoff connector for mounting a circuit board”, where this standoff is construed to be a base bracket for securing the control circuit board position, Para. 0022, “An exterior surface 112 of collar 102 is configured to engage an interior 114 (FIG. 4A-B) of a mounting opening 116 (FIG. 4A) of circuit board 118.”), where a fastener secures the control circuit board to the base bracket and to the case through the control circuit board and the base bracket (Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the control circuit board in Suzuki to include a standoff connection as taught by Edwards.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using standoffs to be able to adjust the positioning of the circuit board so that it maintains a proper connection with a heatsink or so that the height is positioned correctly in order to receive proper airflow like in Suzuki, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0004, “Establishing a thin, uniform thermal interface between chip and heatsink is critical for achieving adequate thermal performance for high powered applications. Variable height standoffs are sometimes used to accommodate variations in stack-up height and tilt. Nonparallelism between chip and heatsink will increase a thermal interface gap, thus decreasing thermal performance.”.
Ueno discloses, in the similar field of circuit boards (Page 3, Para. 5, “The substrate element 11 is a printed circuit board in the first embodiment. The electronic circuit includes wiring and various Z electronic components.”), where the fastener is an electrically conductive fastening bolt (Page 4, Para. 6, “The clamping element 4 is made of metal and fixes the substrate 1 to the transfer element 3. The clamping element. 4 is a screw in the first embodiment. Clamping element 4 is used as a male screw 5. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a clamping element head portion 4 contacts a surface of the substrate 1. Specifically, the clamping element head portion 4 contacts the first surface 11a of the clamping element.”, and Page 3, Para. 4 from end, “When a metal contacts an 11B ground terminal surface, the IlB ground terminal electrically connects the metal to the electronic circuit.”, where the clamping element 4 or the screw is made of metal and would be electrically conductive when contacting the ground terminal surface), wherein the control circuit board comprises a bolt hole through which a stem portion and a male screw portion of the fastening bolt pass (Fig. 1, where the screw 4 includes a head near the surface 111a and when inserted into the screw hole 11a, the stem portion with the threaded male part of the screw extend to connect the circuit board to a fixed case 3), where a ground terminal is disposed around the bolt hole of the control circuit board module (Page 4, Para. 4 from end, “The clamping element 4 contacts the ground terminal IlB provided on the first surface 111a. Thus, the substrate electronic circuit 1 is connected to the vehicle floor via ground terminal 11B, the clamping element 4 and the transfer element 3. In this way, the substrate electronic circuit 1 is connected to a vehicle body for grounding.”, where the screw head contacts the surface 111a), and wherein the head of the fastening bolt contacts the ground terminal (Fig. 1, where the screw head is shown to contact the surface 111a, where the surface 111a includes a ground terminal 11b), and the head of the fastening bolt is electrically connected to the ground terminal (Page 3, Para. 4 from end, “An IlB ground terminal (GND terminal) is provided on at least one of the first surfaces 11a. The IlB ground terminal has a wiring form and is connected to the electronic circuit. When a metal contacts an 11B ground terminal surface, the IlB ground terminal electrically connects the metal to the electronic circuit.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the circuit board configuration in modified Suzuki to include the ground terminal configuration and screw features as taught by Ueno.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to reduce the number of components and manufacturing cost required to ground the circuit board to a case body, as stated by Ueno, Page 5, Para. 3 from end, “In the first embodiment, the transfer element 3 and the clamping element 4 connect the substrate ground terminal IIB 1 to the floor of the vehicle. Therefore, it is unnecessary to provide additional ground wiring to the vehicle body. The number of components and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.”.
Endo discloses, in the similar field of circuit boards (Abstract, “A flexible printed board 530”), where the ground terminal is a ring-shape disposed around a bolt hole (Page 5, Para. 1, “A ground terminal 532 b is provided on a fixed surface of the mounting portion 532 (a surface that contacts the top surface of the second boss 102 h in a state where the mounting portion 532 is fixed to a second boss 102 h described later of the lower housing). It is provided (see FIG. 7). The ground terminal 532b is formed, for example, by gold plating.”, where Fig. 7 shows that the ground terminal 532b forms a ring shape around the bolt hole 532). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the ground terminal in modified Suzuki to include the shape as taught by Endo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to have the ground terminal shape be capable of pressure contact with another circular structure, where this circular structure would be the screw head from the teaching of Ueno, as stated by Endo, Page 5, Para. 2 from end, “In the fixed state, the ground terminal 532b of the mounting portion 532 is in pressure contact with the top surface of the second boss 102h to be in close contact.”.
Regarding claim 3, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the fastening bolt comprises: the head configured to press an upper surface of the control circuit board module;
the stem portion which protrudes from the head; and
the male screw portion at least partially formed on an outer circumferential surface of the stem portion, and wherein the stem portion passes through the control circuit board module and the base bracket and the male screw portion is screw-fastened to a bottom surface of the case.
However, Edwards discloses where the fastening bolt can include a head that presses upon the upper surface of a circuit board (Para. 0004, “As shown in FIG. 2, as threaded fastener 20 is tightened into end 18 of a standoff connector 12”, where in the prior art, it is shown that a screw with a head can engage with a lateral protrusion18 of the standoff, where that lateral protrusion presses upon the upper surface of the circuit board; where such a feature is a known variation of the standoff shown in later figures), where a stem portion protrudes from the head (Fig. 4a, where 146 is the stem portion; Para. 0023, “a separate bolt 146”), where a male screw portion is on the outer circumferential surface of the stem portion (Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146”), where that stem passes through the circuit board and base backet to have the male screw fasten to the bottom surface of the case (Fig. 4b, where the step 146 is shown to pass through the circuit board 118 and the base bracket or standoff 112, where the threaded area 140 engages with the case 150 at the bottom surface of the case). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the fastening bolt in modified Suzuki to include the features as taught by Edwards.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of allowing the fastening bolt to secure a connection between the circuit board the chassis or case, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”, which can also allow the circuit board to be lifted at a specific height in order to receive proper airflow like in Suzuki, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0004, “Establishing a thin, uniform thermal interface between chip and heatsink is critical for achieving adequate thermal performance for high powered applications. Variable height standoffs are sometimes used to accommodate variations in stack-up height and tilt. Nonparallelism between chip and heatsink will increase a thermal interface gap, thus decreasing thermal performance.”.
Regarding claim 4, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 3, as set forth above, discloses where the male screw portion passes through the base bracket to be screw-fastened to the bottom surface of the case (Teaching from Edwards, Fig. 4b, where the step 146 is shown to pass through the circuit board 118 and the base bracket or standoff 112, where the threaded area 140 engages with the case 150 at the bottom surface of the case).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the male screw portion enters from an upper surface of the control circuit board module and proceeds downward.
However, Edwards discloses where the male screw portion enters from an upper surface of the control circuit and proceeds downwards (Para. 0022, “An exterior surface 112 of collar 102 is configured to engage an interior 114 (FIG. 4A-B) of a mounting opening 116 (FIG. 4A) of circuit board 118.”, and Fig. 4b, where the screw with the threaded part 140 goes through the mounting opening 116 and passes through the upper surface of the control circuit to go down towards the chassis or case). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the fastening bolt in modified Suzuki to include the features as taught by Edwards.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of allowing the fastening bolt to secure a connection between the circuit board the chassis or case, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”, which can also allow the circuit board to be lifted at a specific height in order to receive proper airflow like in Suzuki, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0004, “Establishing a thin, uniform thermal interface between chip and heatsink is critical for achieving adequate thermal performance for high powered applications. Variable height standoffs are sometimes used to accommodate variations in stack-up height and tilt. Nonparallelism between chip and heatsink will increase a thermal interface gap, thus decreasing thermal performance.”.
Regarding claim 21, Suzuki discloses an electric range (Abstract, “induction heating cooking device”, where an electric range is a stove with an integrated electrical heating device, where an induction cooking device would satisfy being an electric range), comprising:
a cover plate (Page 6, Para. 3 from end, “The top plate 22 is provided.”) on which a heating target is disposed (Page 2, Para. 3, “a top plate 101 on which a cooking container that is an object to be heated is placed”);
a case coupled to a lower surface of the cover plate (Page 7, Para. 3, “As shown in FIG. 4, the upper part of the outer shell 21 has a substantially rectangular opening 21i. Inside the outer casing 21”, where there is a casing 21 connected to the lower part of the top plate 22) and having an accommodation space defined therein (Page 7, Para. 3 ,” Inside the outer casing 21, a heating coil unit 25, a circuit board 26 on which a drive control circuit (including a power supply circuit) for performing induction heating and the like are mounted”, where this is a space to hold components for the induction cooker);
a heater comprising a working coil (Page 7, Para. 3, “a heating coil unit 25”) to which high-frequency power is applied and configured to heat the heating target using a magnetic field generated from the working coil (Page 7, Para. 4, “the heating coil unit 25 generates a high-frequency magnetic field and generates an eddy current at the bottom of the cooking container that is the object to be heated to inductively heat the cooking container”);
a control circuit board module disposed in the accommodation space and configured to supply the high-frequency power to the working coil (Page 7, Para. 3, “a circuit board 26 on which a drive control circuit (including a power supply circuit) for performing induction heating and the like are mounted”; Page 11, Para. 2, “Circuit components such as a drive control circuit (including a power supply circuit) for generating a high-frequency current in the first heating coil unit 25 and the second heating coil unit 42 are mounted on the circuit board 44.”);
a bolt that extends through the control circuit board module and secures the control circuit board module (Page 7, Para. 3, “The circuit board 26 is configured to be fixed to the bottom surface 21a of the outer shell 21 by tightening a screw 28b.”).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
a base bracket disposed between a bottom surface of the case and the control circuit board module and to which the control circuit board module is secured; and
wherein the bolt is fastened to a bottom surface of the case and presses an upper surface of the control circuit board module, where the bolt secures the circuit board module to the base bracket, and
wherein when the bolt is screw-fastened to the bottom surface of the case, the control circuit board module is grounded to the case by the bolt;
wherein the bolt is electrically conductive, wherein the control circuit board module comprises: a bolt hole through which a stem portion and a male screw portion of the bolt pass, wherein a ground terminal having a ring-shape is disposed around the bolt hole of the control circuit board module, and wherein a head of the bolt contacts the ground terminal, and the head of the bolt is electrically connected to the ground terminal.
However, Edwards discloses, in the similar field of circuit boards (Abstract, “circuit board”), where there can be a base bracket between the bottom of the case and the control circuit board that secures the control circuit board (Para. 0007, “expanding standoff connector for mounting a circuit board”, where this standoff is construed to be a base bracket for securing the control circuit board position, Para. 0022, “An exterior surface 112 of collar 102 is configured to engage an interior 114 (FIG. 4A-B) of a mounting opening 116 (FIG. 4A) of circuit board 118.”), where a fastener secures the control circuit board to the base bracket and to the case through the control circuit board and the base bracket (Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the control circuit board in Suzuki to include a standoff connection as taught by Edwards.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using standoffs to be able to adjust the positioning of the circuit board so that it maintains a proper connection with a heatsink or so that the height is positioned correctly in order to receive proper airflow like in Suzuki, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0004, “Establishing a thin, uniform thermal interface between chip and heatsink is critical for achieving adequate thermal performance for high powered applications. Variable height standoffs are sometimes used to accommodate variations in stack-up height and tilt. Nonparallelism between chip and heatsink will increase a thermal interface gap, thus decreasing thermal performance.”.
Ueno discloses, in the similar field of circuit boards (Page 3, Para. 5, “The substrate element 11 is a printed circuit board in the first embodiment. The electronic circuit includes wiring and various Z electronic components.”), where the fastener is an electrically conductive fastening bolt (Page 4, Para. 6, “The clamping element 4 is made of metal and fixes the substrate 1 to the transfer element 3. The clamping element. 4 is a screw in the first embodiment. Clamping element 4 is used as a male screw 5. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a clamping element head portion 4 contacts a surface of the substrate 1. Specifically, the clamping element head portion 4 contacts the first surface 11a of the clamping element.”, and Page 3, Para. 4 from end, “When a metal contacts an 11B ground terminal surface, the IlB ground terminal electrically connects the metal to the electronic circuit.”, where the clamping element 4 or the screw is made of metal and would be electrically conductive when contacting the ground terminal surface), wherein the control circuit board comprises a bolt hole through which a stem portion and a male screw portion of the fastening bolt pass (Fig. 1, where the screw 4 includes a head near the surface 111a and when inserted into the screw hole 11a, the stem portion with the threaded male part of the screw extend to connect the circuit board to a fixed case 3), where a ground terminal is disposed around the bolt hole of the control circuit board module (Page 4, Para. 4 from end, “The clamping element 4 contacts the ground terminal IlB provided on the first surface 111a. Thus, the substrate electronic circuit 1 is connected to the vehicle floor via ground terminal 11B, the clamping element 4 and the transfer element 3. In this way, the substrate electronic circuit 1 is connected to a vehicle body for grounding.”, where the screw head contacts the surface 111a), and wherein the head of the fastening bolt contacts the ground terminal (Fig. 1, where the screw head is shown to contact the surface 111a, where the surface 111a includes a ground terminal 11b), and the head of the fastening bolt is electrically connected to the ground terminal (Page 3, Para. 4 from end, “An IlB ground terminal (GND terminal) is provided on at least one of the first surfaces 11a. The IlB ground terminal has a wiring form and is connected to the electronic circuit. When a metal contacts an 11B ground terminal surface, the IlB ground terminal electrically connects the metal to the electronic circuit.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the circuit board configuration in modified Suzuki to include the ground terminal configuration and screw features as taught by Ueno.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to reduce the number of components and manufacturing cost required to ground the circuit board to a case body, as stated by Ueno, Page 5, Para. 3 from end, “In the first embodiment, the transfer element 3 and the clamping element 4 connect the substrate ground terminal IIB 1 to the floor of the vehicle. Therefore, it is unnecessary to provide additional ground wiring to the vehicle body. The number of components and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.”.
Endo discloses, in the similar field of circuit boards (Abstract, “A flexible printed board 530”), where the ground terminal is a ring-shape disposed around a bolt hole (Page 5, Para. 1, “A ground terminal 532 b is provided on a fixed surface of the mounting portion 532 (a surface that contacts the top surface of the second boss 102 h in a state where the mounting portion 532 is fixed to a second boss 102 h described later of the lower housing). It is provided (see FIG. 7). The ground terminal 532b is formed, for example, by gold plating.”, where Fig. 7 shows that the ground terminal 532b forms a ring shape around the bolt hole 532). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the ground terminal in modified Suzuki to include the shape as taught by Endo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to have the ground terminal shape be capable of pressure contact with another circular structure, where this circular structure would be the screw head from the teaching of Ueno, as stated by Endo, Page 5, Para. 2 from end, “In the fixed state, the ground terminal 532b of the mounting portion 532 is in pressure contact with the top surface of the second boss 102h to be in close contact.”.
Claims 5-9 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (WO 2014156010 A1, hereinafter Suzuki) in view of Ueno (BR 102013030508 A2) and Endo et al. (WO 2019146589 A1, hereinafter Endo) in further view of Hirose et al. (JP 2015053140 A, hereinafter Hirose).
Regarding claim 5, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 3, as set forth above, discloses wherein the case is formed of an electrically conductive metal plate (Suzuki, Page 14, Para. 3, “the bottom surface 50a formed of a thin metal plate (for example, 0.5 mm)”).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein an upward extending portion that protrudes upward is provided on the bottom surface of the case by a press work, and wherein the male-screw portion of the fastening bolt is screw-fastened through an upper surface of the upward extending portion.
However, Hirose discloses, in the similar field of fastening bolts (Abstract, “a bus bar bolt 47 that can fasten a bus bar 49”), where the bottom surface of a base can include an upward extending portion (Modified Fig. 2, where the bottom surface of a base is shown to include an upward extending portion; where the shape could be created through any known methods that include press work), where the male screw is fastened through that upper surface of the upward extending portion (Modified Fig. 2, where the where the upper surface of the upper extending portion includes threads for engaging a screw; Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the case or chassis in modified Suzuki to include the upward extending portion and threads as taught by Hirose; where in the combined invention of modified Suzuki, the base bracket still be the standoff on top of a case.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using any shape for the case to suit a user’s needs, where an upward extending portion along with a disk shape can provide greater stability to the case for engaging the screw, as stated by Hirose, Page 3, Para. 1, “In addition, there is no restriction | limiting in the shape of case 1, For example, cylindrical shape and a rectangular parallelepiped shape may be sufficient.”, and Page 3, Para. 2, “The base portion 15 has a disk shape and is located at one end (the lower end in FIG. 1) of the cylindrical portion 14. The diameter of the base portion 15 is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical portion 14. The cylindrical portion 14 and the base portion 15 are arranged concentrically”, where a larger bottom diameter can increase the stability in the shape.
Regarding the use of press work to create a shape, it is the Examiner's position that one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to try as there are a limited number of manufacturing methods to create shapes from metal, where press work is one such method. Each method has benefits and drawbacks, but the overall end result of being able to produce a metal part is still the same. As a result, it is the Examiner’s position that selecting one such method like press work would be a mere matter of user design choice.
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Modified Figure 2, Hirose
Regarding claim 6, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, as set forth above, discloses wherein the upper surface of the upward extending portion is in surface-contact with a lower surface of the base bracket (Teaching from Edwards, Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”, where there is a base bracket or standoff 112 positioned on top of the bottom of the case 150; and teaching from Hirose, Modified Fig. 2, where the bottom surface of a case or base is shown to include an upward extending portion that can engage a screw, Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”; where in the combined Suzuki apparatus, there would still be a standoff connected to the upper surface of the case, where that case would now have the upward extending shape).
Regarding claim 7, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, as set forth above, discloses wherein the bolt hole through which the male-screw portion of the fastening bolt passes is formed in the upper surface of the upward extending portion (Teaching from Hirose, Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”, where in modified Fig. 2, where the female screw portion 53 is shown to extend up along the sides to the upper surface of the upward extending portion), wherein a burring portion that protrudes downward is provided on a lower surface of the bolt hole (Teaching from Hirose, Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”, modified Fig. 2, where the rest of the female screw portion 53 extends to a lower surface within the bolt hole for engaging the screw), and wherein the male-screw portion of the fastening bolt is screw-fastened to the burring portion (Teaching from Hirose, Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”).
Regarding claim 8, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein a downward extending portion that protrudes upward is provided on the bottom surface of the case by the press work, and wherein the upward extending portion protrudes upward from the downward extending portion.
However, Hirose discloses where a downward extending portion that protrudes upwards is shown on the bottom surface of the base or case (Modified Fig. 2, where the downward extending portion is shown to be the curved surface, where that surface extends upwards; where the shape could be created through any known methods that include press work), where an upward extending portion goes upwards from the downward extending portion (Modified Fig. 2, where the bottom surface of a base is shown to include an upward extending portion that extends from the downward extending part).It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the case or chassis in modified Suzuki to include the downward and upward extending portions as taught by Hirose; where in the combined invention of modified Suzuki, the base bracket still be the standoff on top of a case.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using any shape for the case to suit a user’s needs, where an upward extending portion along with a downward extending portion that leads to a disk shape can provide greater stability to the case for engaging the screw, as stated by Hirose, Page 3, Para. 1, “In addition, there is no restriction | limiting in the shape of case 1, For example, cylindrical shape and a rectangular parallelepiped shape may be sufficient.”, and Page 3, Para. 2, “The base portion 15 has a disk shape and is located at one end (the lower end in FIG. 1) of the cylindrical portion 14. The diameter of the base portion 15 is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical portion 14. The cylindrical portion 14 and the base portion 15 are arranged concentrically”, where a larger bottom diameter can increase the stability in the shape.
Regarding the use of press work to create a shape, it is the Examiner's position that one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to try as there are a limited number of manufacturing methods to create shapes from metal, where press work is one such method. Each method has benefits and drawbacks, but the overall end result of being able to produce a metal part is still the same. As a result, it is the Examiner’s position that selecting one such method like press work would be a mere matter of user design choice.
Regarding claim 9, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 8, as set forth above, discloses wherein an area of the downward extending portion is larger than an area of the base bracket (Teaching from Hirose, Page 3, Para. 2, “The base portion 15 has a disk shape and is located at one end (the lower end in FIG. 1) of the cylindrical portion 14. The diameter of the base portion 15 is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical portion 14. The cylindrical portion 14 and the base portion 15 are arranged concentrically”).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the base bracket is included in a zone of the downward extending portion as a whole.
However, Edwards discloses that the base bracket can be located on top of the case or base (Fig. 4a, where the base bracket 112 is shown to be placed on top of the case 150; where when combined with the teaching of Hirose, the case 150 would have an upward extending and downward extending portion that are both part of the base, where the base bracket 112 could be placed in connection with either the upward or downward areas). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the base bracket and case in modified Suzuki to include the features as taught by Edwards.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to have a standoff connected to the case, where no matter the location of the connection, the standoff is able to lift the circuit board upwards, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0004, “Establishing a thin, uniform thermal interface between chip and heatsink is critical for achieving adequate thermal performance for high powered applications. Variable height standoffs are sometimes used to accommodate variations in stack-up height and tilt. Nonparallelism between chip and heatsink will increase a thermal interface gap, thus decreasing thermal performance.”.
Regarding claim 19, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the control circuit board module comprises: a bolt hole through which the stem portion and the male screw portion of the fastening bolt pass,
wherein a ground terminal having a ring-shape is disposed around the bolt hole of the control circuit board module, and wherein the head of the fastening bolt is electrically connected to the ground terminal.
However, Edwards discloses where the male screw portion enters from an upper surface of the control circuit and proceeds downwards (Para. 0022, “An exterior surface 112 of collar 102 is configured to engage an interior 114 (FIG. 4A-B) of a mounting opening 116 (FIG. 4A) of circuit board 118.”, and Fig. 4b, where the screw with the threaded part 140 goes through the mounting opening 116 and passes through the upper surface of the control circuit to go down towards the chassis or case). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the fastening bolt in modified Suzuki to include the features as taught by Edwards.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of allowing the fastening bolt to secure a connection between the circuit board the chassis or case, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”, which can also allow the circuit board to be lifted at a specific height in order to receive proper airflow like in Suzuki, as stated by Edwards, Para. 0004, “Establishing a thin, uniform thermal interface between chip and heatsink is critical for achieving adequate thermal performance for high powered applications. Variable height standoffs are sometimes used to accommodate variations in stack-up height and tilt. Nonparallelism between chip and heatsink will increase a thermal interface gap, thus decreasing thermal performance.”.
Further, Hirose discloses where the bottom surface of a base can include an upward extending portion that is a ring-shape (Modified Fig. 2, where the bottom surface of a base is shown to include an upward extending portion; where in modified Suzuki, the ring-shape of the base would surround the bolt hole as both features surround the bolt), where the male screw is fastened through that upper surface of the upward extending portion (Modified Fig. 2, where the where the upper surface of the upper extending portion includes threads for engaging a screw; Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the case or chassis in modified Suzuki to include the upward extending portion and threads as taught by Hirose; where the head of the bolt would be electrically connected to the ground from the teaching of Ueno; where in the combined invention of modified Suzuki, the base bracket still be the standoff on top of a case.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using any shape for the case to suit a user’s needs, where an upward extending portion along with a disk shape can provide greater stability to the case for engaging the screw, as stated by Hirose, Page 3, Para. 1, “In addition, there is no restriction | limiting in the shape of case 1, For example, cylindrical shape and a rectangular parallelepiped shape may be sufficient.”, and Page 3, Para. 2, “The base portion 15 has a disk shape and is located at one end (the lower end in FIG. 1) of the cylindrical portion 14. The diameter of the base portion 15 is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical portion 14. The cylindrical portion 14 and the base portion 15 are arranged concentrically”, where a larger bottom diameter can increase the stability in the shape.
Regarding claim 20, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein an outer diameter of the ring-shaped ground terminal is equal to or larger than an outer diameter of the head of the fastening bolt.
However, Hirose discloses where the ring-shaped protrusion of the case can have a diameter that is larger than head of the bolt (Modified Fig. 4, where the larger diameter of a bus bar 49 is shown, where this similarly applies to the protrusion 14 of the case). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the diameter of the ring-shaped protrusion in modified Suzuki to be greater than the outer diameter of the head of the bolt as taught by Hirose.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of the greater diameter of the case protrusion allowing for an object to be placed between the case and bolt, which can allow a user to easily find out if the bolt screwed is the incorrect length, as stated by Hirose, Page 6, Para. 2 from end, “At this time, the head 61a of the bus bar bolt 47a and the upper surface of the bus bar 49 are not in contact with each other, and a gap is formed between them. For this reason, the assembling worker can easily find out that the bus bar bolt 47a having the wrong length is screwed.”.
Claims 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (WO 2014156010 A1, hereinafter Suzuki) in view of Ueno (BR 102013030508 A2) and Endo et al. (WO 2019146589 A1, hereinafter Endo) in further view of Hirose et al. (JP 2015053140 A, hereinafter Hirose) and Petri (US 20020027017 A1).
Regarding claim 10, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 6, as set forth above, discloses wherein a lower surface of the protruding surface is in surface-contact with the upper surface of the upward extending portion (Teaching from Edwards, Para. 0023, “threaded portion 140 includes a separate bolt 146 that extends through opening 144 to fasten into a chassis 150 to which circuit board 118 is mounted.”, where there is a base bracket or standoff 112 positioned on top of the bottom of the case 150; and teaching from Hirose, Modified Fig. 2, where the bottom surface of a case or base is shown to include an upward extending portion that can engage a screw, Abstract, “The penetration hole has: a female screw portion 53 which the male screw portion 65 of the bus bar bolt is engaged with”; where in the combined Suzuki apparatus, there would still be a standoff connected to the upper surface of the case, where that case would now have the upward extending shape).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the base bracket comprises a protruding surface that protrudes toward a lower surface of the control circuit board module.
However, Petri discloses, in the similar field of fasteners for circuit boards (Abstract, “A circuit board standoff including a fastener mechanism”), where the standoff could also include a protruding surface that engages with the lower surface of the circuit board (Para. 0027, “The printed circuit board 51 then is placed on the assembled body members 12 and supported by contact between the collars 31 thereof and a lower surface of the board 51 facing the second board 52.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the standoff or base bracket in modified Suzuki to include the feature as taught by Petri.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of another type of standoff that can support a circuit board by being under it, instead of through the expanding connection shown from Edwards, as stated by Petri, Para. 0027, “The printed circuit board 51 then is placed on the assembled body members 12 and supported by contact between the collars 31 thereof”.
Regarding claim 11, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 10, as set forth above, discloses wherein an upper surface of the protruding surface is at least partially in surface-contact with a lower surface of the control circuit board module (Teaching from Petri, Para. 0027, “The printed circuit board 51 then is placed on the assembled body members 12 and supported by contact between the collars 31 thereof”).
Claims 12, 14, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (WO 2014156010 A1, hereinafter Suzuki) in view of Ueno (BR 102013030508 A2) and Endo et al. (WO 2019146589 A1, hereinafter Endo) in further view of Hirose et al. (JP 2015053140 A, hereinafter Hirose) and Petri (US 20020027017 A1) and Cai (CN 207921098 U).
Regarding claim 12, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 11, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein a deformable protrusion that protrudes toward the control circuit board module is provided on the upper surface of the protruding surface, and wherein a shape of the deformable protrusion is deformed by a fastening force of the fastening bolt.
However, Cai discloses, in the similar field of fasteners (Abstract, “one screw cap structure”), where a deformable protrusion on an upper surface of a protruding surface is possible (Page 1, last Para., “annular retaining wall 411 forming a groove 412, and it is set with a lock washer 42 in to the groove 412 and is provided with a through hole 421 at the central to the lock washer 42”), where that deformable protrusion is deformed by the fastening force of the bolt (Page 1, last Para., “Therefore, the bolt passes through the object, and then it will feed along the screw cap 4 screw hole 413 screw, to lock washer 42, bolt extruding after passing through the lock washer 42 to the through hole 421, and lock washer 42 bolt extrusion deformation will generate reaction force, the tightening bolt, to fix the combined state of the two.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the protruding surface that faces the circuit board in modified Suzuki to include the lock washer as taught by Cai.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of preventing the bolt from loosening after it has been screwed into place through the lock washer, as stated by Cai, Page 3, Para. 4, “screw cap main body is slip set can be generated to prevent the lock washer rotational resistance, so that the bolt is combined with the anti-loosening gasket cannot be relative rotation of screw cap, therefore, so as to effectively prevent the bolt loosing effect.”.
Regarding claim 14, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the deformable protrusion is integrally formed with the protruding surface of the base bracket.
However, Cai discloses that a deformable protrusion on an upper surface of a protruding surface is possible (Page 1, last Para., “annular retaining wall 411 forming a groove 412, and it is set with a lock washer 42 in to the groove 412 and is provided with a through hole 421 at the central to the lock washer 42”, where the lock washer is a separate component from the base bracket). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the lock washer in modified Suzuki to be within a groove as taught by Cai.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of preventing the bolt from loosening after it has been screwed into place through the lock washer, as stated by Cai, Page 3, Para. 4, “screw cap main body is slip set can be generated to prevent the lock washer rotational resistance, so that the bolt is combined with the anti-loosening gasket cannot be relative rotation of screw cap, therefore, so as to effectively prevent the bolt loosing effect.”.
Regarding the lock washer being integral with the base bracket, it has been held that merely making two things integral is an obvious modification to make. In re Larson, 340 F.2d 965, 968, 144 USPQ 347, 349 (CCPA 1965). In Cai, the groove already encloses a lock washer to hold it in place and is able to use that lock washer to prevent the bolt from loosening. It is the Examiner’s position that making these features integral or one piece would still be able to achieve the same end result of using the lock washer to prevent the bolt from loosening. As a result, integrating the components would be a mere matter of user design choice.
Regarding claim 16, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above, discloses wherein the deformable protrusion is provided in a ring-shape that surrounds the stem portion of the fastening bolt (Teaching from Cai, Page 1, last Para., “Therefore, the bolt passes through the object, and then it will feed along the screw cap 4 screw hole 413 screw, to lock washer 42, bolt extruding after passing through the lock washer 42 to the through hole 421”, where the bolt passes through the lock washer’s inner hole).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein an outer diameter of the deformable protrusion is equal to or larger than an outer diameter of the head of the fastening bolt.
However, Hirose discloses where a similar protrusion located between the bolt and case can have a diameter that is larger than head of the bolt (Modified Fig. 4, where the feature is shown). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the diameter of the lock washer in modified Suzuki to be greater than the outer diameter of the head of the bolt as taught by Hirose.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of the lock washer’s greater diameter allowing a user to easily find out if the bolt screwed is the incorrect length, as stated by Hirose, Page 6, Para. 2 from end, “At this time, the head 61a of the bus bar bolt 47a and the upper surface of the bus bar 49 are not in contact with each other, and a gap is formed between them. For this reason, the assembling worker can easily find out that the bus bar bolt 47a having the wrong length is screwed.”, where the greater diameter in the lock washer allows a user to view the washer when the screw is inserted, where it can be found if the engagement of the fastener is proper.
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Modified Figure 4, Hirose
Regarding claim 17, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above, discloses wherein a protruding height of the deformable protrusion is smaller than a thickness of the protruding surface (Teaching from Cai, Page 1, last Para., “annular retaining wall 411 forming a groove 412, and it is set with a lock washer 42 in to the groove 412 and is provided with a through hole 421 at the central to the lock washer 42”, where the thickness of the lock washer is smaller than the thickness of the groove and annular retaining wall that make up the “standoff” feature from modified Suzuki).
Claims 13 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (WO 2014156010 A1, hereinafter Suzuki) in view of Ueno (BR 102013030508 A2) and Endo et al. (WO 2019146589 A1, hereinafter Endo) in further view of Hirose et al. (JP 2015053140 A, hereinafter Hirose) and Petri (US 20020027017 A1) and Cai (CN 207921098 U) and Gronvold (WO 2018088913 A1).
Regarding claim 13, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above.
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the deformable protrusion is elastically deformable.
However, Gronvold discloses, in the similar field of lock washers (Abstract, “a lock washer adapted for use with a bolt and nut arrangement”), where a lock washer can be elastically deformable (Page 4, lines 16-18, “The two lips defined by the slot and the two oppositely arranged engaging surfaces are elastically deformable in order to be compressed and forced towards each other when the lock washer is loaded by tensioning the nut and/or bolt.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the lock washer in modified Suzuki to include the elastically deformable feature as taught by Gronvold.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to have a lock washer provide a locking effect through other configurations such as with the deformable lips, as stated by Gronvold, Page 4, lines 18-20, “The compression of the two lips results in an axial spring force between a workpiece and the bolt and/or nut, 20 providing a locking effect.”.
Regarding claim 15, modified Suzuki teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above, discloses wherein the deformable protrusion is formed separately from the base bracket and attached to the protruding surface of the base bracket (Teaching from Cai, Page 1, last Para., “annular retaining wall 411 forming a groove 412, and it is set with a lock washer 42 in to the groove 412 and is provided with a through hole 421 at the central to the lock washer 42”, where the lock washer is a separate object that is inserted into the protrusion).
Modified Suzuki does not disclose:
wherein the deformable protrusion has a higher elastic modulus than the base bracket.
However, Gronvold discloses where the lock washer can be made from multiple different materials (Page 4, lines 29-34, “The locking washer can be made from a material chosen from the group; metals, metal alloys, plastic materials, ceramic materials and composite materials. The metal may be chosen from the group; a steel alloy, a stainless steel alloy, a duplex stainless steel alloy, a spring steel alloy, an aluminium alloy, a bronze alloy, a brass alloy, titanium, nickel or
any metal or suitable alloy.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the lock washer in modified Suzuki to be of a different material than the base that has a higher elastic modulus as taught by Gronvold.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to have more design choices in the material selection of the lock washer, as stated by Gronvold, Page 4, lines 29-30, “The locking washer can be made from a material chosen from the group; metals, metal alloys, plastic materials, ceramic materials and composite materials.”, where it is the Examiner’s position that the lock washer material could be changed to where the elastic modulus is higher than the base bracket and still the end result would be the same in that the lock washer prevents the bolt from loosening, where picking such a material would be a mere matter of user design choice.
Conclusion
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/KEVIN GUANHUA WEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
04/09/2026
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