FINAL OFFICE ACTION
This final Office action addresses U.S. Application Serial No. 18/043,145, entitled WINDING SUPPORT FOR A MAGNETIC COMPONENT OF AN ELECTRICAL ASSEMBLY.
Claims 2-7, 9-11, 13-19, 21 and 22 are pending.
Claims 2-7, 9-11, 13-19, 21 and 22 are rejected.
I. STATUS OF CLAIMS
Applicant filed an amendment on April 29, 2026 (hereinafter the “Apr 2026 Amendment”) in response to the non-final Office action mailed December 12, 2025. In the Apr 2026 Amendment, claims 1, 8, 12 and 20 were cancelled, claims 2-7, 9-11, 13, 15 and 17-19, were amended, claims 14 and 16 were unchanged, and new claims 21 and 22 were added. Therefore, claims 2-7, 9-11, 13-19, 21 and 22 are pending and examined in this application.
II. PRIORITY
Examiner recognizes the Applicant’s claim that this application is a 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT/EP2021/073752, filed August 27, 2021, which claims priority to France Patent Application No. FR2008809 filed August 31, 2020.
III. CLAIM REJECTIONS – 35 U.S.C. §112
The following is a quotation of certain paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. §112:
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
(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 21 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Both claims 21 and 22 recite a “clearance wall” which is a new phrase or structure which is not previously included in any claims and further the specification does not disclose or describe any such “clearance wall.” Accordingly, these claims contain new matter.
Claims 21 and 22 are further rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. Claims 21 and 22 recite the limitation "clearance wall.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Furthermore, there is no antecedent basis in the specification for the limitation.
IV. DRAWING OBJECTIONS
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 “clearance wall” in addition to the spacing wall, the intermediate wall and the wedging protrusion on the winding supports must be shown or the features canceled from the claims. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 C.F.R. §1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
V. CLAIM INTERPRETATION
After careful review of the original specification, the prosecution history, and unless expressly noted otherwise by the Examiners, the Examiners find that they are unable to locate any lexicographic definitions (either express or implied) with the required clarity, deliberateness, and precision with regard to pending and examined claims. Because the Examiners are unable to locate any lexicographic definitions with the required clarity, deliberateness, and precision, the Examiners conclude that Applicant is not his own lexicographer for the pending and examined claims. See MPEP §2111.01(IV).
The Examiners further find that because the pending and examined claims herein recite neither “step for” nor “means for” nor any substitute therefore, the examined claims fail Prong (A) as set forth in MPEP §2181(I). Because all examined claims fail Prong (A) as set forth in MPEP §2181(I), the Examiners conclude that all examined claims do not invoke 35 U.S.C. §112(f). See also Ex parte Miyazaki, 89 USPQ2d 1207, 1215-16 (B.P.A.I. 2008)(precedential)(where the Board did not invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) because “means for” was not recited and because applicant still possessed an opportunity to amend the claims).
Because of the Examiners’ findings above that Applicant is not his own lexicographer and the pending and examined claims do not invoke 35 U.S.C. §112(f) the pending and examined claims will be given the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification since patentee has an opportunity to amend claims. See MPEP §2111, MPEP §2111.01 and In re Yamamoto et al., 222 USPQ 934 (Fed. Cir. 1984). Under a broadest reasonable interpretation, words of the claim must be given their plain meaning, unless such meaning is inconsistent with the specification. See MPEP §2111.01(I). It is further noted it is improper to import claim limitations from the specification, i.e., a particular embodiment appearing in the written description may not be read into a claim when the claim language is broader than the embodiment. See MPEP §2111.01(II).
VI. CLAIM REJECTIONS – 35 U.S.C. §102
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. §102 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
V.A. Anticipation Rejections Applying Chen
Claims 2-7, 9-11 and 13-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0278646 to Yi-Lin Chen et al. (hereinafter “Chen”). Note claim 13 is the only independent pending claim, with all other claims depending therefrom, and thus claim 13 is listed first.
Regarding claim 13, Chen discloses
13. An electrical assembly comprising a magnetic component and winding supports,
See FIGS. 6 and 4, reprinted below, showing the transformer comprising a magnetic core 22, windings 23 and winding supports 21a and 22b.
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Chen FIG. 6
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Chen FIG. 4 (annotated by Examiner)
said winding supports each comprising a tube configured to receive half-legs of one of a plurality of legs of a ferromagnetic core of said magnetic component; for each of said legs, the magnetic component further comprising windings which correspond to said leg and which are wound on the tube in which the half-legs of the leg are facing
See Chen FIG. 4, reprinted above, winding support/tube 21a. See also Chen FIGS. 4 and 6 above which shows the windings wound in the spaces 214 and 215 of the winding support/tube 21a. Finally note cores 22 which are provided in windings supports 21a and 21b.
wherein each of the winding supports comprises: a wedging protrusion formed on an internal surface of the tube, so as to define an air gap between two facing half-legs of the leg; and
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.”
at least one spacing wall, formed facing the wedging protrusion and on an external surface of said tube, and configured to space apart at least one of the windings from said air gap, and
See Chen FIG. 4 above, note identified spacing wall 212 facing the wedging protrusion 219.
wherein at least one of the wedging protrusion and the at least one spacing wall is formed at an intermediate plate, said intermediate plate separating the windings that are wound on the tube of the winding support.
See Chen FIG. 4 above, note identified intermediate wall 212 facing the wedging protrusion 219 and separating windings placed in spaces 215 and 215.
Regarding claim 2, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
2. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein for each of the winding supports, the wedging protrusion, having a thickness parallel to a longitudinal axis of said tube, is formed orthogonally with respect to said internal surface of the tube; the dimension of said air gap being defined as a function of the thickness of the wedging protrusion.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.”
Regarding claim 3, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 2 as evidenced above, and further wherein
3. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein for each of the winding supports, a section of the wedging protrusion, said section being transverse to the longitudinal axis of said tube of the wedging protrusion, is in a form of a ring; a height of the wedging protrusion being perpendicular to said internal surface of the tube.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.” Thus, Examiners find this disclosure describes the pacer 219 as a ring extending from the inner of the channel 213.
Regarding claim 4, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
4. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein each of the windings supports comprises a receiving cavity defined by the wedging protrusion such that an adhesive used during the manufacture of the magnetic component can spread out into said receiving cavity; said receiving cavity being a space between facing portions of the wedging protrusion.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.” Thus, Examiners find this disclosure describes the pacer 219 as a ring extending from the inner of the channel 213. This ring thus would provide a cavity that “an adhesive used during manufacture of the magnetic component can spread…” (emphasis added by Examiner).
Regarding claim 5, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 2 as evidenced above, and further wherein
5. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein for each of the winding supports, the at least one spacing wall, having a thickness parallel to the longitudinal axis of said tube, is formed perpendicularly with respect to the external surface of the tube.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.” Thus, Examiners find this disclosure describes the pacer 219 as a ring extending from the inner of the channel 213.
Regarding claim 6, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 5 as evidenced above, and further wherein
6. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein for each of the winding supports, a section of the at least one spacing wall, said section being transverse to the longitudinal axis of said tube, is in the form of a ring.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.” Thus, Examiners find this disclosure describes the pacer 219 as a ring extending from the inner of the channel 213.
Regarding claim 7, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
7. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein for each of the winding supports, the thickness of the wedging protrusion and/or the thickness of the at least one spacing wall are uniform.
See Chen FIG. 4 above, note uniform wedging protrusion 219 and spacing walls 212.
Regarding claim 9, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
9. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein for each of the winding supports, the wedging protrusion and/or the at least one spacing wall are formed integrally with the winding support.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027 wherein the winding support 21a, the wedging protrusion 219 and the spacing walls 212 are shown or are disclosed be integrated together.
Regarding claim 10, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
10. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein each of the winding supports is a single piece manufactured by molding.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027 wherein the winding support 21a, the wedging protrusion 219 and the spacing walls 212 are shown or are disclosed be integrated together. Examiners further find this claim is a product-by-process claim, defined only by how the winding support is made. Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. Since Chen otherwise discloses all the features of the winding support as evidenced above, the winding support of Chen reads on the product-by-process limitation.
Regarding claim 11, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
11. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein each of the winding supports is made of plastics material.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶¶0027-0028 wherein the winding support 21a, the wedging protrusion 219 and the spacing walls 212 are shown or are disclosed be integrated together, and are further disclosed to be made from plastic.
Regarding claim 14, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
14. The electrical assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the magnetic component has air gaps respectively defined by one of the winding supports, the air gaps being identical on the legs of the ferromagnetic core.
See Chen FIGS. 4 and 6 above, note wedging protrusions 219 in winding supports 21a and 21b provide a gap between the magnetic cores 22.
Regarding claim 15, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
15. The electrical assembly as claimed in claim 13, further comprising: a frame comprising a cavity in which the winding supports and the magnetic component are housed; and mechanical upright portions placed in a spacing between two adjacent legs of the ferromagnetic core, so as to homogenize dissipation of heat generated during operation of the magnetic component.
See Chen FIG. 8, reprinted above, showing a frame housing 28 with upright supports 286 placed between the legs of the of the core 22 for isolation.
Regarding claim 16, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
16. An item of electrical equipment comprising an electrical assembly as claimed in claim 13.
See Chen FIG. 6 above.
Regarding claim 17, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 13 as evidenced above, and further wherein
17. The electrical assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of the winding supports comprises a receiving cavity defined by the wedging protrusion such that an adhesive used during the manufacture of the magnetic component can spread out into said receiving cavity; said receiving cavity being a space between facing portions of the wedging protrusion.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.” Thus, Examiners find this disclosure describes the pacer 219 as a ring extending from the inner of the channel 213. This ring thus would provide a cavity that “an adhesive used during manufacture of the magnetic component can spread…” (emphasis added by Examiner).
Regarding claim 18, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 3 as evidenced above, and further wherein
18. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein for each of the winding supports, the at least one spacing wall, having a thickness parallel to the longitudinal axis of said tube, is formed perpendicularly with respect to the external surface of the tube.
See Chen FIG. 4 above and ¶0027, wedging protrusion 219, wherein “the pacer 219 is a bulge that has a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the channel 213 and is extended from an inner wall of the channel 213.” Thus, Examiners find this disclosure describes the pacer 219 as a ring extending from the inner of the channel 213.
Regarding claim 19, Chen discloses the assembly of claim 2 as evidenced above, and further wherein
19. The electric assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein for each of the winding supports, the thickness of the wedging protrusion and/or the thickness of the at least one spacing wall are uniform.
See Chen FIG. 4 above, note uniform wedging protrusion 219 and spacing walls 212.
VII. EXAMINER’S RESPONSES TO APPLICANT’S ARGUMENTS
On page 8 of the Apr 2026 Amendment, Applicant argues that Applicant and Examiner “discussed and agree” to the allowability of claim 13. Examiner disagrees. As noted in the Interview Summary mailed March 20, 2026, no agreement to the claims was reached.
VIII. CONCLUSION
Claims 2-7, 9-11, 13-19, 21 and 22 are pending.
Claims 2-7, 9-11, 13-19, 21 and 22 are rejected.
Applicant's substantial amendments to the claims in the Apr 2026 Amendment necessitated the new/amended grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP §706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 C.F.R. §1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 C.F.R. §1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH WHITTINGTON whose telephone number is (571) 272-2264. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am - 5:00pm, Monday - Friday.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew Fischer can be reached at (571) 272-6779. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/KENNETH WHITTINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
Prosecution Insights