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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention I, claims 1-11, in the reply filed on 12/19/2025 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 9,310,553 (Braunisch) in view of US 2019/0295918 (Trulli).
For claim 1, Braunisch teaches an apparatus (fig. 2) comprising:
a substrate (fig. 2, 202; col. 8, l. 37);
a processing unit that is mounted to the substrate (fig. 2, 204; col. 8, 38);
an optical element that is mounted to the substrate with the processing unit (fig. 2, 206, col. 8, l.12); and
a heat spreader that is attached to surfaces of the chip and of the optical element, opposite the substrate (col. 8, 42-46).
Braunisch teaches a generic heat spreader and does not teach the heat spreader comprises:
a first thermally anisotropic portion adjacent to the chip, with high-conductivity axes and a low-conductivity axis, one of the high-conductivity axes being directed away from the chip;
a second thermally anisotropic portion adjacent to the optical element, with high-conductivity axes and a low-conductivity axis, one of the high-conductivity axes being directed away from the optical element; and
a connecting thermally anisotropic portion between the first and second thermally anisotropic portions, with high-conductivity axes and a low-conductivity axis, the low-conductivity axis being directed between the first and second thermally anisotropic portions.
However, Trulli teaches an electronic device (fig. 3) with multiple heat generating elements (fig. 3, 15a) with a heat spreader attached to the surfaces of the heat generating elements on the same side the elements (fig. 3, heat spreader 28) where the heat spreader comprises:
a first thermally anisotropic portion adjacent to a first heat generating element (fig. 3, portion of 28 below left 15a), with high-conductivity axes (fig. 3, y and z; [0030]) and a low-conductivity axis (fig. 3, x; [0030]), one of the high-conductivity axes being directed away from the first heat generating element (fig. 3, z);
a second thermally anisotropic portion adjacent to a second heat generating element (fig. 3, portion of 28 below second from left 15a), with high-conductivity axes (fig. 3, y and z; [0030]) and a low-conductivity axis (fig. 3, x; [0030]), one of the high-conductivity axes being directed away from the second heat generating element (fig. 3, z); and
a connecting thermally anisotropic portion between the first and second thermally anisotropic portions (portion of 28 between the space between the left and second from left heat generating elements 15a), with high-conductivity axes (fig. 3, y and z; [0030]) and a low-conductivity axis (fig. 3, x; [0030]), the low-conductivity axis being directed between the first and second thermally anisotropic portions (fig. 3, x)
in order to increase the area of heat transfer ([0016]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the anisotropic heat spreader attached to the same side of heat elements of Trulli as the heat spreader of Braunisch attached to the surfaces of the chip and of the optical element, opposite the substrate of the top side in order to increase the area of heat transfer.
For claim 2, Braunisch teaches the optical element is a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (col. 5, l. 35-40).
For claim 3, Trulli teaches the anisotropic portions are pyrolytic graphite ([0030]). Trulli does not explicitly teach thermally anisotropic portions has a thermal conductivity along the high-conductivity axes that is about 10 times to about 300 times a thermal conductivity along the low-conductivity axes.
However, pyrolytic graphite’s thermal conductivity in the high-conductivity axes and low conductivity axis covers a range of values including values wherein the thermal conductivity along the high-conductivity axes that is about 10 times to about 300 times a thermal conductivity along the low-conductivity axes. Additionally, thermal conductivity is a results effective variable.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine optimal and workable values for thermal conductivity in the high-conductivity axes and low conductivity axis in order to transfer heat including values wherein the thermal conductivity along the high-conductivity axes that is about 10 times to about 300 times a thermal conductivity along the low-conductivity axes in order to form the thermal spreader of the combination, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
For claim 4, the combination does not explicitly teach the thermal conductivity along the low-conductivity axes is between 1 W/m-K and 10 W/m-K. However, as discussed in the rejection of claim 3 above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine optimal and workable values for thermal conductivity in low conductivity axis including between 1 W/m-K and 10 W/m-K in order to form the thermal spreader of the combination, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
For claim 5, the combination does not explicitly teach the thermal conductivity along the high-conductivity axes is between 500 W/m-K and 2000 W/m-K. However, as discussed in the rejection of claim 3 above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine optimal and workable values for thermal conductivity in the high-conductivity axes including between 500 W/m-K and 2000 W/m-K in order to form the thermal spreader of the combination, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
For claim 6, the combination does not explicitly teach the thermal conductivity along the low-conductivity axes is about 6 W/m-K and the thermal conductivity along the high- conductivity axes is about 1500 W/m-K. However, as discussed in the rejection of claim 3 above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine optimal and workable values for thermal conductivity in the thermal conductivity along the low-conductivity axes is about 6 W/m-K and the thermal conductivity along the high- conductivity axes is about 1500 W/m-K in order to form the thermal spreader of the combination, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
For claim 7, Trulli teaches the thermally anisotropic portions comprise graphite ([0030]).
For claim 8, the combination does not teach the processing unit is configured to dissipate at least 4 times as much heat as the optical element when both are powered up. However, the examiner takes official notice that the heat generated by the CPU and the optical element were both known results effective variables at the time the invention was made. For the CPU, an increase in clock frequency corresponds to an increase in heat generation. For the optical element, the VCSEL, an increase in heat generation corresponds to a decrease in power conversion efficiency. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the heat generation and resulting and the dissipation of the heat due to the heat spreader such that the processing unit is configured to dissipate at least 4 times as much heat as the optical element when both are powered up in order to optimize clock speed and conversion efficiency, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
For claim 9, the combination does not explicitly teach the processing unit is configured to dissipate at least 25 W/m2 when it is powered up. However, the examiner takes official notice that CPUs generate at least 10-30W/cm2 were known before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a known CPU generating heat at least 10-30W/cm2 as a simple substitution for the processing unit of the previous combination such that the generated heat is dissipated at least 25 W/m2 by the heat spreader as the substituted components and their functions were known in the art and the substitution would have yielded predictable results. In the present case, the substituted component provides an alternative processing unit. See MPEP 2143 I.B.
For claim 10, Braunisch further teaches the substrate comprises a laminate structure (fig. 3, 377 and 202) in order to route electrical signals via PCB 377 (col. 8, l. 55-60).
For claim 11, Braunisch further teaches the substrate comprises a printed circuit board (PCB 377; col. 8, l. 55-60).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2011/0014417 and US 2022/0042750 teach similar heat spreaders. US 2018/0226320 teaches ranges for pyrolytic graphite.US 2002/0124995 teaches heat fluxes for CPUs. US 5,664,118 teaches heat’s relation to speed. US 5,493,577 teaches heats relation to power conversion.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael W Carter whose telephone number is (571)270-1872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9:00-5:30.
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/Michael Carter/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828