Filing Date: P202102442US01
Claimed Priority Date: none
Inventors: Hoffmeyer et al.
Examiner: Shamita S. Hanumasagar
DETAILED ACTION
This Office action responds to the election filed on 12/22/2025.
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 . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for a rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Elections/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I, reading on figure 3, in the reply filed on 12/22/2025, is acknowledged. The applicant has cancelled claims 13-17 and indicated that claims 1-12 read on the elected species. The examiner agrees. Accordingly, pending in this Office action are claims 1-12.
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 following must be shown or the features canceled from the claims. It is further noted that all dependent claims must inherit the features of the claims from which they depend and recite features in addition to the claims from which they depend. No new matter should be entered.
“The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage source is a battery”, as recited in claim 3
“The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is a cryptographic card”, as recited in claim 4
“A circuit for a battery backup of a cryptographic card comprising: a cryptographic circuit board; a battery; a processor; and an electromigration (EM) joint assembly including a first wirebond having a first length of fused wire, the EM joint assembly electrically connected in series with the battery and the processor”, as recited in claim 7
“The circuit of claim 7, further comprising a voltage measuring circuit electrically connected in parallel with the processor to read the voltage across the processor”, as recited in claim 8
“The circuit of claim 7, wherein the EM joint assembly further includes a second wirebond having a second length of fused wire, the first and second wirebonds electrically connected in parallel, the second length being longer than the first length”, as recited in claim 10
“The circuit of claim 7, wherein the first length of fused wire is a middle portion of a wire having two end portions, the first length of fused wire being between the two end portions, each end portion including one of the two terminal ends, the fused portion having a diameter smaller than the two end portions, the two terminal ends attached to a component substrate of the EM joint assembly”, as recited in claim 11
The circuits of claims 7 and 11, “wherein the EM Joint assembly further includes an EM joint located at a first terminal end, the EM joint formed at a ball bond connecting the first terminal end of the wire to a metal pad at a wirebonding site on the component substrate”, as recited in claim 12
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 Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 8-9 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “the voltage across the processor”. No “voltage” has been previously sufficiently recited in the claim or in any parental claim to be located or disposed across the processor. Accordingly, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation “each end portion including one of the two terminal ends”. No “terminal ends” have been previously sufficiently recited in the claim or in any parental claim. Accordingly, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation “the two terminal ends attached to a component substrate of the EM joint assembly”. No “terminal ends” have been previously sufficiently recited in the claim or in any parental claim. Accordingly, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation “an EM joint located at a first terminal end”. No “terminal end” has been previously sufficiently recited in the claim or in any parental claim, and it is subsequently unclear to with what respect to or regarding which element the limitation “a first terminal end” is meant to be taken. Accordingly, this limitation in the claim is indefinite as it is unclear what element possesses “a first terminal end” for an EM joint to be located at.
Claim 12 recites the limitation “the first terminal end of the wire”. No “first terminal end of the wire” has been previously sufficiently recited in the claim or in any parental claim. Accordingly, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 depends from claim 8 and thus inherits the deficiencies identified supra.
Claim 12 depends from claim 11 and thus inherits the deficiencies identified supra.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 and 10 are allowable.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest an apparatus comprising all of: a component substrate having a wirebonding site configured for electrical connection between a voltage source and an electrical device, a wirebond including a wire having two terminal ends, the wire including a fused portion having a first length and two end portions, each end portion including one of the two terminal ends, the fused portion having a diameter smaller than the two end portions, the two terminal ends attached to the component substrate at the wirebonding site, and a first elecromigration (EM) joint at a first terminal end, the EM joint formed at a ball bond connecting the first terminal end of the wire to a metal pad at the wirebonding site. Regarding claim 7, the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest a circuit for a battery backup of a cryptographic card comprising all of: a cryptographic circuit board; a battery; a processor; and an electromigration (EM) joint assembly including a first wirebond having a first length of fused wire, the EM joint assembly electrically connected in series with the battery and the processor.
Conclusion
Papers related to this application may be submitted directly to Art Unit 2814 by facsimile transmission. Papers should be faxed to Art Unit 2814 via the Art Unit 2814 Fax Center. The faxing of such papers must conform to the notice published in the Official Gazette, 1096 OG 30 (15 November 1989). The Art Unit 2814 Fax Center number is (571) 273-8300. The Art Unit 2814 Fax Center is to be used only for papers related to Art Unit 2814 applications.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shamita Hanumasagar at (703) 756-1521 and between the hours of 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) Monday through Thursday or by e-mail via Shamita.Hanumasagar@uspto.gov. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Wael Fahmy, can be reached on (571) 272-1705.
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/Shamita S. Hanumasagar/Examiner, Art Unit 2814
/WAEL M FAHMY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2814
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