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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/3/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because “Rn-1” in Fig. 4 should read “Rn-1“.
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 § 103
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.
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.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suetsugu et al. (US 20190159296) hereinafter Suetsugu, in view of Surjan et al. (US 7053344) hereinafter Surjan.
Regarding Claim 1, Suetsugu teaches a wiring sheet (10, electrical heating glass; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) comprising:
a pseudo sheet structure (Paragraph 82; Suetsugu teaches a sheet with a conductor includes a base film, a pair of bus bars, and a heat-generating conductor that couples between the pair of bus bars, in which the heat-generating conductor includes a plurality of conductive thin wires that linearly extends between the pair of bus bars and couples between the pair of bus bars and a coupling conductive thin wire for coupling between two adjacent main conductive thin wires, which the examiner interprets as a pseudo sheet structure) comprising a plurality of conductive linear bodies (22, heat-generating conducting body; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu teaches a plurality of heat-generating conducting bodies) arranged at intervals (B, interval; Fig. 4; Suetsugu);
a pair of electrodes (21, bus bar electrode; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu teaches a pair of electrodes 21a and 21b); and
a first power feeder (23a, first wire; Annotated Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) provided for one of the electrodes and a second power feeder (23b, second wire; Annotated Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) provided for the other of the electrodes (Annotated Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu teaches the first and second wires 23a and 23b are connected to the power supply 40 to feed power to the bus bar electrodes 21a and 21b. The examiner interprets the first and second wires as the first and second power feeders), wherein
provided that the number of the conductive linear bodies (22; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) is N (Annotated Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu), a resistance value of each of the conductive linear bodies is r (Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu teaches a plurality of heat-generating conducting bodies 22. Each heat-generating conducting body inherently possesses an electrical resistance, corresponding to the claimed resistance value r), a resistance value of each of the electrodes is R (Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu teaches bus bar electrodes 21. Each bus bar electrode inherently possesses an electrical resistance, corresponding to the claimed resistance value R), a resistance value of each of the electrodes between an n-th conductive linear body (n-th heat-generating conducting body; Annotated Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) and an (n-1)th conductive linear body ((n-1)th heat-generating conducting body; Annotated Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) counted from a side at which the first power feeder and the second power feeder (shown in Annotated Fig. 1) are provided is Rn (Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu discloses bus bar electrodes that extend along a plurality of heat-generating conducting bodies. Since electrical resistance is an inherent property of conductive materials, each segment of the bus bar electrode between adjacent heat-generating conducting bodies inherently has a resistance value, corresponding to the claimed resistance value Rn),
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Fig. 1(a) of Suetsugu, annotated
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Fig. 2 of Suetsugu
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Fig. 4 of Suetsugu
Regarding Claim 1, Suetsugu does not explicitly teach the wiring sheet satisfies all conditions represented by numerical formula (F1) below,
r/R ≤ 300 (F1)
Suetsugu discloses bus bar electrodes and a plurality of heat-generating conducting bodies, each of which inherently possesses an electrical resistance. Accordingly, Suetsugu inherently teaches a certain resistance ratio between the electrodes and the heat-generating conducting bodies, since the ratio r/R necessarily exists for any conductive structure including electrodes and resistive bodies, even though Suetsugu does not expressly disclose a numerical value for that ratio.
However, the courts have held that where a general condition of a claim is disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable range (MPEP 2144.05 (II)(A)). In this case, the relative resistance between bus bar electrodes and heat-generating conducting bodies directly affects current distribution and heating performance in a sheet-shaped resistive heater. Varying the ratio to select an appropriate resistance relationship between the bus bar electrodes and the heat-generating conducting bodies is recognized as a result-effective variable and would have been achieved through routine experimentation. Varying the ratio in order to ensure uniform distribution of current and temperature across the heat-generating conducting bodies is known in the art.
Regarding Claim 1, Suetsugu does not explicitly teach the wiring sheet satisfies all conditions represented by numerical formulae (F2) and (F3) below
Rn ≤ Rn-1 (F2)
where n is an integer of 2 or more,
0 < R2 - RN (F3).
However, Surjan teaches a pair of electrodes (16&18, bus bars; Fig. 1 and Col. 4 Ln. 17-27 teach the buss bars are configured in a decreasingly tapered arrangement. That is the width of the buss bars gradually decreases from the terminal end (20, 22) to the free end (24, 26). This insures that the electrical resistance created by the buss bars will create a heating effect that is substantially the same as that created by the heating areas. One knowing the electrical characteristics of the PTC material, conductive material and temperature requirements can readily design heating areas of varying sizes and shapes with varying buss sizes that can deliver varying amounts of heat over the heating area. The examiner considers this design choice would satisfy the formulae (F2) and (F3) since Resistance is inversely proportional to cross-sectional area of conductor).
Suetsugu and Surjan are considered are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because both are in the same field of sheet-shaped resistive heaters. Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the bus bar electrodes of the conductive sheet taught by Suetsugu to have tapered bus bar profile of Surjan. Such modification would have been a predictable and routine design choice in the field of resistive heaters, in order to achieve uniform heat generation and uniform temperature distribution across the sheet shaped resistive heater.
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Fig. 1 of Surjan, annotated
Regarding Claim 2, Suetsugu and Surjan teaches the wiring sheet (10, electrical heating glass; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) according to claim 1, wherein an interval (B; Fig. 4; Suetsugu) between the conductive linear bodies (22; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) is 20 mm or less (Paragraph 211; Suetsugu teaches the interval B between the adjacent heat-generating conducting bodies is equal to or more than 0.5 mm and equal to or less than 5.00 mm).
Regarding Claim 3, Suetsugu and Surjan teaches the wiring sheet (10, electrical heating glass; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) according to claim 1 [[or 2]], further comprising a base material (24, base material layer; Fig. 2; Suetsugu) supporting the pseudo sheet structure (Fig. 2; Suetsugu teaches the base material layer 24 supports the pseudo-sheet structure disclosed in Paragraph 82).
Regarding Claim 4, which is a dependent claim of Claim 1, Suetsugu and Surjan teaches a sheet-shaped heater (Paragraph 3; Suetsugu teaches a sheet with a conductor having a heat-generating conductor. The examiner interprets said sheet as a sheet-shaped heater) comprising the wiring sheet (10; Fig. 1(a); Suetsugu) according to claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JE HWAN JOHN PARK whose telephone number is (571)272-6405. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at 571-272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.J.P./Examiner, Art Unit 3761 /HELENA KOSANOVIC/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761