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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/7/2025 has been entered.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 1-5, 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dunwoody et al. (US 2015/0366105 – hereinafter, “Dunwoody”) in view of Lin (US 2018/0317343).
With respect to claim 1, Dunwoody teaches (In Figs 2a-2c) a heat dissipation structure, comprising: a first plate body (204); a second plate body (206); and a plurality of thermally conductive members (218) disposed between the first plate body and the second plate body (See Figs 2B, 2C); wherein a part (See Fig A below) of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged along a length direction of the first plate body and a length direction of the second plate body (See Fig A below), and another part (See Fig A below) of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged along a width direction of the first plate body and a width direction of the second plate body (See Fig A below), and the another part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged outside of the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members (See Fig A below).
Dunwoody fails to specifically teach or suggest that the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are spaced apart by air at a predetermined distance.
Lin, however, teaches (In Figs 2-3) two heat pipes (250) where ends of the heat pipe are spaced apart from each other by air (See Fig 3A).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lin with that of Dunwoody, such that the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members of Dunwoody are spaced apart by air at a predetermined distance, as taught by Lin, since doing so would allow for the thermally conductive members to have a thermal break between the two preventing unwanted heat from transferring from one heat pipe to another.
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With respect to claim 2, Dunwoody further teaches that the first plate body and the second plate body are made of a same material or different materials (204 and 206 will either be made of the same material or different materials).
With respect to claim 3, Dunwoody further teaches that the first plate body is made of copper, copper alloy, aluminum, aluminum alloy, gold, gold alloy, silver, or silver alloy (¶ 0056).
With respect to claim 4, Dunwoody further teaches that the second plate body is made of copper, copper alloy, aluminum, aluminum alloy, gold, gold alloy, silver, or silver alloy (¶ 0056).
With respect to claim 5, Dunwoody further teaches that the first plate body is made of copper, copper alloy, aluminum (¶ 0054), aluminum alloy, gold, gold alloy, silver, or silver alloy, and the second plate body is made of copper, copper alloy, aluminum (¶ 0054), aluminum alloy, gold, gold alloy, silver, or silver alloy.
With respect to claims 8-9, Dunwoody teaches (In Figs 2A-2C) an electronic device, comprising: a CPU (¶ 0045, “processing components”); and at least one heat dissipation structure (200), the at least one heat dissipation structure including a first plate body (204), a second plate body (206), and a plurality of thermally conductive members (218), and one end of at least one of the plurality of thermally conductive members is arranged adjacent to the CPU (Not shown in Fig 2, however Dunwoody teaches that the thermally conductive members cool a component and thus the members must be arranged adjacent to the CPU. See, ¶ 0052, for example.) wherein the plurality of thermally conductive members are disposed between the first plate body and the second plate body (See Fig 2B); wherein a part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged along a length direction of the first plate body and a length direction of the second plate body, and another part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged along a width direction of the first plate body and a width direction of the second plate body, wherein the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are spaced apart by air at a predetermined distance, and the another part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged outside of the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members (See Fig A above).
Dunwoody fails to specifically teach or suggest that the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are spaced apart by air at a predetermined distance.
Lin, however, teaches (In Figs 2-3) two heat pipes (250) where ends of the heat pipe are spaced apart from each other by air (See Fig 3A) by a predetermined distance.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lin with that of Dunwoody, such that the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members of Dunwoody are spaced apart by air at a predetermined distance, as taught by Lin, since doing so would allow for the thermally conductive members to have a thermal break between the two preventing unwanted heat from transferring from one heat pipe to another.
With respect to claim 10, Dunwoody further teaches at least one heat dissipation member (¶ 0054, “cooling clamp engagements”), wherein another end of the at least one of the plurality of thermally conductive members is connected to the at least one heat dissipation member (¶ 0054, “In some embodiments, one or more cooling clamp engagements (e.g., corresponding with one or more module guides) may be disposed along outer ends of cooling frame 102 corresponding with the external heat exchange interface regions, such as outer ends 108 and 110 that respectively correspond with external heat exchange interface regions 120 and 118.”).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dunwoody in view of Lin and further in view of Lai et al. (US 2009/0151898 – hereinafter, “Lai”).
With respect to claim 6, Dunwoody as modified by Lin teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above but fails to specifically teach or suggest wherein the m thermally conductive members are fixedly connected between the first plate body and the second plate body by welding.
Lai, however, teaches m thermally conductive members (60) which are fixedly connected between the first plate body and the second plate body by welding (¶ 0022, “the heat pipes 60 are sandwiched between the lower plate 20 and the upper plate 30 and directly welded on the lower plate 20”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lai with that of Dunwoody, such that the m thermally conductive members of Dunwoody are fixedly connected between the first plate body and the second plate body by welding, as taught by Lai, since doing so would secure the thermally conductive members preventing them from moving.
Response to Arguments
With respect to the Applicant’s remarks to claims 1 and 8 that, “Dunwoody disclosed a configurable heat transfer grid 200. Channel surfaces 210 and/or 212 of contoured components 204 and 206, respectively, may be configured to receive one or more cooling elements 218 when contoured component 204 is separated from contoured component 206. In that sense, the one or more cooling elements 218 can be disposed in one or more of the receptacles of configurable heat transfer grid 200. Configurable heat transfer grid 200 may be configured to include various arrangements of cooling elements 218 that can be changed subsequent to the separation of contoured component 204 from contoured component 206 of split cooling frame 202. Therefore, Dunwoody fails to disclosed "a part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged along a length direction of the first plate body and a length direction of the second plate body, and another part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged along a width direction of the first plate body and a width direction of the second plate body" and "the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are spaced apart by air at a predetermined distance, and the another part of the plurality of thermally conductive members are arranged outside of the part of the plurality of thermally conductive members," as recited in amended claim 1 of the present application. " as recited in amended claim 1 of the present application. " (Present remarks page 7) the Examiner respectfully disagrees and notes the above rejection to claim 1 (with particular attention to Fig A above) where it is shown that Dunwoody is believed to teach the amended limitations of claim 1 (as well as claim 8).
Accordingly, claims 1 and 8 are believed to be prima facie obvious in view of Dunwoody and Lin.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY M PAPE whose telephone number is (571)272-2201. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9am - 6pm EST.
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/ZACHARY PAPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835