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 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 2/5/2026, with respect to independent claim(s) 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Lee et al. and Brunner, and response to the arguments have been fully incorporated into the claim rejection set forth below in this office action.
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 of this title, 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.
Claim 1-9, 13, and 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee at al. (US publication 2023/0003553 A1), hereinafter referred to as Lee553, in view of Brunner (US patent 7,532,099 B2), hereinafter referred to as Brunner099.
Regarding claim 1, Lee553 teaches an integrated circuit device (fig. 3a-3b and related text), comprising: an inductive component (30, [0079-0087], fig. 3a-3b) formed by one or more integrated metal windings (31c/32c, [0079-0087], fig. 3a-3b).
Lee553 does not explicitly teach wherein each integrated metal winding is at least partially embedded in a coating including at least one ferromagnetic material.
Brunner099 teaches wherein each integrated metal winding (B, examiner markup below, line 57-67 of col. 5) is at least partially embedded in a coating including at least one ferromagnetic material (A, examiner markup below, line 57 of col. 5-line 67 of col. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lee553 with that of Brunner099 so that wherein each integrated metal winding is at least partially embedded in a coating including at least one ferromagnetic material to increase the effective permeabilities and the achievable saturation inductions, as well as to reduce the magnetic reversal losses in the resulting inductive components (line 7-12 of col. 2).
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Regarding claim 2, Brunner099 teaches wherein the coating further includes a non-magnetic material (col. 6).
Regarding claim 3, Brunner099 teaches wherein each integrated metal winding includes at least one flat integrated metal track having a shape suitable for creating an inductor (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, Brunner099 teaches wherein each integrated metal winding includes several flat integrated metal tracks respectively located in parallel planes, electrically connected and mutually separated from each other by the ferromagnetic material (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 5, Brunner099 teaches wherein some flat integrated metal tracks are mutually separated by the non-magnetic material (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 6, Brunner099 teaches wherein each integrated metal winding is totally embedded in said coating (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 7, Brunner099 teaches wherein each integrated metal winding includes two ends (13, fig. 1), wherein the coating includes several faces, and further including two integrated metal contacts respectively connected to the two ends and opening onto at least one of the faces (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 8, Brunner099 teaches wherein said coating forms a supporting substrate having two opposite faces (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 9, Brunner099 teaches wherein one face of the two opposite faces is a mounting face and the other face of the two opposite faces includes an electrically conductive connection (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 13, Brunner099 teaches further comprising a supporting substrate (14, line 57-67, of col. 5) having a mounting face supporting said inductive component (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 27, Brunner099 teaches wherein the coating including at least one ferromagnetic material comprises a polyimide including at least one magnetic material selected from the group consisting of: strontium ferrite, neodymium-iron-boron alloy, a CoZrO alloy, cobalt-nickel-iron alloy, or amorphous iron-cobalt alloy (col. 6).
Regarding claim 28, Brunner099 teaches wherein the coating including at least one ferromagnetic material comprises a plurality of layers and wherein the one or more integrated metal windings are positioned between two layers of said plurality of layers (fig. 1).
Claim 10, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee553 in view of Brunner099, as applied to claim 1 or 8 or 9 above, and further in view of Bai et al. (US publication 2021/0143141 A1), hereinafter referred to as Bai141.
Regarding claim 10, Lee553 and Brunner099 disclose all the limitations of claim 9 as discussed above on which this claim depends.
Lee553 and Brunner099 do not explicitly teach further including an encapsulation body fastened onto the mounting face so as to form an integrated circuit package.
Bai141 teaches further including an encapsulation body fastened onto the mounting face so as to form an integrated circuit package (fig. 4a).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lee553 and Brunner099 with that of Bai141 so that further including an encapsulation body fastened onto the mounting face so as to form an integrated circuit package providing a chip power supply system, a chip, a PCB, and a computer device, so as to provide a larger current for the chip, thereby improving a signal processing capability and/or a computing capability of the computer device that uses the chip ([0005]).
Regarding claim 12, Lee553 and Brunner099 disclose all the limitations of claim 8 as discussed above on which this claim depends.
Lee553 and Brunner099 do not explicitly teach wherein one face of the two opposite faces is a mounting face, wherein the mounting face of the coating also supports at least one electronic integrated circuit chip, and further including an encapsulation body fastened onto the mounting face to cover said at least one electronic integrated circuit chip so as to form an integrated circuit package.
Bai141 teaches wherein one face of the two opposite faces is a mounting face, wherein the mounting face of the coating also supports at least one electronic integrated circuit chip, and further including an encapsulation body fastened onto the mounting face to cover said at least one electronic integrated circuit chip so as to form an integrated circuit package (fig. 4a).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lee553 and Brunner099 with that of Bai141 so that wherein one face of the two opposite faces is a mounting face, wherein the mounting face of the coating also supports at least one electronic integrated circuit chip, and further including an encapsulation body fastened onto the mounting face to cover said at least one electronic integrated circuit chip so as to form an integrated circuit package providing a chip power supply system, a chip, a PCB, and a computer device, so as to provide a larger current for the chip, thereby improving a signal processing capability and/or a computing capability of the computer device that uses the chip ([0005]).
Regarding claim 14, Bai141 discloses including at least one electronic integrated circuit chip, said inductive component supporting said at least one electronic integrated circuit chip (fig. 4a).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 29-31 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 29 is allowable primarily because the prior arts of record, singly or in combination, neither anticipates nor render obvious the following limitations when taken in combinations with all other limitations:
“…a first ferromagnetic resin layer; a first metal layer on the first ferromagnetic resin layer, wherein the first metal layer has a spiral shape forming a first integrated inductor; a second ferromagnetic resin layer covering the first metal layer; a second metal layer on the second ferromagnetic resin layer, wherein the second metal layer has a spiral shape forming a second integrated inductor; a third ferromagnetic resin layer covering the second metal layer; and a conductive via in the second ferromagnetic resin layer to electrically connect the first integrated inductor to the second integrated inductor”.
Lee at al. (US publication 2023/0003553 A1) and Brunner (US patent 7,532,099 B2) in combination disclose some features of the claimed invention (see rejection of claim 1) but do not disclose the claimed invention.
Therefore, the independent claim 29 is allowed. The depended claims are allowed for their dependency to claim 29.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mohammed R Alam whose telephone number is 469-295-9205 and can normally be reached between 8:00am-6:00pm (M-F) or by e-mail via Mohammed.Alam1@uspto.gov.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached on 469-295-9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMED R ALAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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