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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 27 March 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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:
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made 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.
Claims 1, 3-6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yoshihara et al. (“Yoshihara” US 2012/0227952).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshihara discloses a semiconductor module (Figures 18, 19) comprising:
a fin base (1) including a first surface (lower surface of fin base 1 in Figure 19) and a second surface (upper surface of fin base 1 in Figure 19), the second surface being a surface opposite to the first surface (see Figure 19);
an insulating sheet (10, para. [0034]) arranged on the first surface (lower surface of fin base 1, see Figure 19);
a plurality of frame patterns (7) arranged on the first surface (see Figure 19) with the insulating sheet (10) interposed therebetween (see Figure 19);
a semiconductor element (9) arranged on at least one of the plurality of frame patterns (7, see Figure 19); and
a plurality of fins (4) swaged onto the second surface (upper surface of fin base 1, see Figure 19, para. [0037]) so as to be spaced apart from each other in a first direction (spaced apart laterally in Figure 19, the first direction being a diagonal direction extending from the top left to the bottom right of Figure 18, see annotated Figure 18 below, the fins are spaced apart in this diagonal direction because the arrow representing the first direction intersects the fins with space therebetween, see annotated Figure 18 below), wherein
the second surface is provided with a plurality of rising wall portions (flat portions between fins, see labeled in annotated Figure 19 below) and a plurality of swaging portions (grooves 2), the plurality of rising wall portions extending along a second direction (bottom left to top right diagonal direction in Figure 18, the rising wall portions are a 3D object, thus extend in all directions including the second direction, see annotated Figure 18 below) that intersects with the first direction (see annotated Figure 18) and being spaced apart from each other in the first direction (see annotated Figure 18, similar to the spacing of the fins in the first direction), each of the plurality of swaging portions (2) extending along the second direction (the swaging portions extend primarily in the vertical direction of Figure 18, and the labeled second direction is made up of vertical and horizontal components, thus the swaging portions are considered as extending along the second direction as well) between adjacent two of the plurality of rising wall portions (see Figure 18),
at least one of the plurality of swaging portions (2) includes a contact portion (tilted portions of swaging portions directly contacting fins 4, and wall portions of the groove 2 that are on the left and right ends of the fin base 1, labeled in modified Figure 19) and a spaced-apart portion (flat portion between contact portions, see Figure 19 and labeled in modified Figure 19), the contact portion (tilted portion of groove) being in contact with a corresponding one of the plurality of fins (4, see Figure 19), the spaced-apart portion being spaced apart from the corresponding one of the plurality of fins (spaced apart from the fins, not directly contacting the fins), and wherein the contact portion (tilted portions of swaging portions directly contacting fins 4, and wall portions of the groove 2 that are on the left and right ends of the fin base 1, labeled in modified Figure 19) and the spaced-apart portion (flat portion between contact portions, see Figure 19 and labeled in modified Figure 19) are aligned in a row in the second direction (see annotated Figure 18, where the arrow representing the second direction intersects the contact portions and spaced-apart portions, thus are aligned in a row in the second direction),
the first direction is along a longitudinal direction of the fin base (see annotated Figure 18, since the first direction has a longitudinal component, it is considered as being along a longitudinal direction of the fin base), and the second direction (see annotated Figure 18) is along the fin base (surface of 1) and orthogonal to the first direction (see annotated Figure 18, the second direction and the first direction are both on the same plane as the fin base surface, see Figures 18 and 19, and are orthogonal to each other),
the first surface (lower surface of fin base 1) includes a first end (left end in Figures 18 and 19) and a second end (right end in Figures 18 and 19) in the first direction (the first end is extending vertically in Figure 18, thus is considered as being in the first direction which has a vertical component), the second end being an end opposite to the first end (left and right ends are opposite one another),
the plurality of frame patterns (7) include a first frame pattern (7 shown in Figure 19) and a second frame (farthest frame pattern 7 shown in Figure 17) pattern extending along the first direction (they extend primarily laterally in Figures 17, 19, thus also extend along the first direction which has a lateral component) and being spaced apart from each other in the second direction (spaced apart into the page in Figure 17, the arrow representing the second direction would intersect the plurality of frame patterns 7 in Figure 17 with space therebetween, see annotated Figure 18 below and Figure 17) on a central portion of the first surface (central portion is a center line of the fin base 1 on the first surface, upon which the plurality of frame patterns 7 are located, see Figure 19),
both ends of each of the first frame pattern and the second frame pattern (left and right ends) are located outside a first fin (leftmost fin in Figures 17, 19) of the plurality of fins located closest to the first end (left end in Figures 17, 19) and a second fin (rightmost fin in Figures 17, 19) of the plurality of fins located closest to the second end (right end, see Figures 17, 19), and
the spaced-apart portion (flat portion of the grooves 2) is arranged at a position that overlaps with a space between the first frame pattern (7 in Figure 19) and the second frame pattern (farthest frame pattern in second direction in Figure 17), when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the first surface (when viewed from the top in Figure 18, spaced apart portions would overlap both the first and second frame patterns, thus would also overlap a space in between the first and second frame patterns).
The Examiner notes that elements that are 3D objects are considered as extending in all directions, since the object has a thickness or dimension in every direction by virtue of it being a 3D object. Additionally, an element extends along or in a given direction if
Regarding claim 3, Yoshihara discloses wherein
a first swaging portion and a second swaging portion (leftmost and rightmost swaging portions, shown in Figure 18 and labeled in annotated Figure 18) of the plurality of swaging portions (2) are adjacent to the first fin and the second fin (leftmost and rightmost fins 4), respectively, and include only the contact portion (only the contact portion is provided on the outside of the fin base 1 as seen in Figures 18, 19, and in contact with outer surfaces of the first and second fins).
Regarding claim 4, Yoshihara further discloses a wire (8), wherein
the first frame pattern (7 in Figure 19) is divided into a first divided frame pattern (left portion) and a second divided frame pattern (right portion) in the first direction (see Figures 18 and 19, the frame patterns have a division along the first direction labeled in annotated Figure 18), and
the first divided frame pattern (left portion of 7) and the second divided frame pattern (right portion of 7) are connected by the wire (8, see Figure 19).
Regarding claim 5, Yoshihara discloses wherein
the first frame pattern (7) includes a first portion (flat portion connected to insulating sheet 10), a second portion (downward extending portion outside of the molding compound 6), and a step portion (diagonally extending portion in between) connecting the first portion and the second portion (see Figure 19) and protruding toward an opposite side of the first surface (step portion protrudes toward the right side of the first surface, opposite the left side).
Regarding claim 6, Yoshihara discloses wherein
a first length is longer than a second length, the first length being a length of the contact portion in the second direction (see annotated Figure 18 below), the second length being a length of the spaced-apart portion in the second direction (see annotated Figure 18 below, the length of the contact portion, which is the tilted portion of the swaging portion and the lateral walls of the swaging portions on the left and right ends of the fin base 1, is greater than the length of the spaced apart portions which is the flat portion between the tilted walls of the contact portion in the second direction, since the lateral thickness of the contact portion in the horizontal direction of Figure 18 is greater than that of the spaced-apart portion, the first length would then be greater than the second length in the second direction, see annotated Figure 18 below).
Regarding claim 8, Yoshihara discloses a power conversion device comprising:
a main conversion circuit (diode of converter part, para. [0032]) including the semiconductor module as recited in claim 1, to convert input electric power and output the input electric power (para. [0032]); and
a control circuit (IGBT, MOSFET, or a GTO switching element, switching element is interpreted to be a control circuit element because the switching controls the power conversion) to output, to the main conversion circuit, a control signal for controlling the main conversion circuit (para. [0032]).
PNG
media_image1.png
417
711
media_image1.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image2.png
604
724
media_image2.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image3.png
482
741
media_image3.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image4.png
192
369
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshihara.
Regarding claim 7, Yoshihara shows in Figure 18 (and see annotated close-up of Figure 18 below) that the second length is less than the first length, but does not explicitly show that the second length is 30-60% of the first length. Rather, Figure 18 implicitly shows that the second length is closer to about 80-90% of the first length.
Thus, Yoshihara does not explicitly disclose:
The semiconductor module according to claim 6, wherein a value obtained by dividing the second length by the first length is not less than 0.3 and not more than 0.6.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art under routine optimization and experimentation that a value obtained by dividing the second length by the first length is not less than 0.3 and not more than 0.6 because “[t]he normal desire of scientists or artisans to improve upon what is already generally known provides the motivation to determine where in a disclosed set of percentage ranges is the optimum combination of percentages” See MPEP 2144.05(II).
Specifically, one having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to optimize the ratio of the second length to the first length under routine experimentation/optimization because a certain amount of a swaging portion spaced apart from the fin compared to a certain amount of a swaging portion that contacts the fin can be altered based on criteria such as, but not limited to, suitable anchoring of the fin to the fin base and manufacturing demands according to the characteristics of the swaging blade (swaging force, blade fabrication, disposition of the swaging blade, etc.). For example, one having ordinary skill in the art would be able to determine during experimentation sufficient anchoring of the fin by varying the length of the spaced-apart portion compared to the length of the contact portion. Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to determine the optimal ratio of the second length to the first length based on these criteria under routine optimization.
PNG
media_image4.png
192
369
media_image4.png
Greyscale
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the same interpretation of the reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Genevieve G Bullard-Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-0609. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm.
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, Dale Page can be reached at 571-270-7877. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GENEVIEVE G BULLARD CONNOR/Examiner, Art Unit 2899 /DALE E PAGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2899
Prosecution Insights