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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 01/06/2023 has been considered.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Species I, Figs. 1-6 and 10-18, claims 1-12 and 14-16, without traverse in the Applicant’s response on 04/24/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 13 and 17-26 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
In this Office Action, claims 13 and 17-26 are withdrawn and claims 1-12 and 14-16 are examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-5, 7, 9-12 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Seo, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2016/0351318.
Regarding Claim 1, Seo teaches, a coil component (Fig. 6b), comprising:
a body (50);
a coil (60)disposed within the body; and
an insulating film (65) covering at least a portion of the coil in the body,
wherein the insulating film comprises a copolymer (“copolymer” [0116]) including a repeating unit ([0116]) derived from a monomer (id.) containing an unsaturated bond and a repeating unit derived from a parylene monomer (id.) (“a second coating layer (20) comprising a parylene-based polymer derived from a parylene precursor; and a third coating layer (30) comprising a copolymer of a parylene-based radical derived from a parylene precursor and another organic monomer” [0116]). (Seo: Figs. 1-5, 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0044], [0045], [0065], [0066], [0115], [0116]).
Regarding Claims 2 and similarly claim 4, Seo further teaches, wherein the monomer containing the unsaturated bond comprises at least one of a vinyl group, an acrylate group (id.). (Seo: Figs. 1-5, 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0116], [0123]).
Regarding Claim 3, Seo further teaches, wherein the monomer containing the unsaturated bond comprises at least one of 2,4,6,8-tetramethyl-2,4,6,8- tetravinylcyclotetrasiloxane, 1,3,5-trimethyl-1,3,5- trivinylcyclotrisiloxane, 1,3-diethenyl-1,1,3,3- tetramethyl-disiloxane, 4-vinylpyridine (“4-vinylpyridine” [0057]), divinylbenzene, diethylene glycol divinyl ether, ethylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, ethylene, styrene, and methyl methacrylate. (Seo: Figs. 1-5, 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0057], [0138]).
Regarding Claim 5, Seo further teaches, wherein the monomer containing the unsaturated bond comprises at least one of ethylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, and methyl methacrylate (“Other organic monomers can be, for example, acrylic monomers” [0116], acrylic monomers comprise at least methyl methacrylate). (Seo: Figs. 1-5, 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0116], [0123]).
Regarding Claim 7, Seo further teaches, wherein the parylene monomer comprises at least one of parylene N dimer and para-xylylene (“[p]arylene N dimer” [0135]). (Seo: Figs. 1-5, 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0135]).
Regarding Claim 9, Seo further teaches, wherein the body comprises a magnetic material (magnetic layer (50)). (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037]).
Regarding Claim 10, Seo further teaches, further comprising:
a substrate (61) disposed within the body,
wherein the coil comprises first and second coil patterns (62, 63) in a planar spiral shape, respectively disposed on one surface and the other surface of the substrate, a via (64) penetrating through the substrate and electrically connecting the first and second coil patterns, and first and second lead-out portions (not labeled) extending from an outermost turn of each of the first and second coil patterns. (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0038]).
Regarding Claim 11, Seo further teaches, wherein the insulating film (65) is configured to cover at least a portion (id.) of an outer surface and a top surface of each of the first and second coil patterns (id.) and the first and second lead-out portions (id.), fill at least a portion of a gap (not labeled) (id.) between patterns of each of the first and second coil patterns, and fill at least a portion of a gap (id.) between each of the first and second coil patterns and each of the first and second lead-out portions. (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0038]).
Regarding Claim 12, Seo further teaches, further comprising:
an electrode (70) disposed on the body,
wherein the electrode comprises first and second external electrodes (71, 72), respectively disposed on one side surface and the other side surface of the body and respectively connected to the first and second lead-out portions (id.). (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0038]).
Regarding Claim 14, Seo teaches, a coil component (Fig. 6b), comprising:
a body (50);
a coil (60) disposed within the body; and
an insulating film (65) covering at least a portion of the coil in the body,
wherein the insulating film comprises a copolymer (“copolymer” [0116]) including a structure represented by the following [Formula 1],
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166
252
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where R1 is a C2-C6 saturated hydrocarbon chain (“[i]n this specification, "alkyl group" refers to a group of a fully saturated branched or unbranched (or straight-chain or linear) hydrocarbon” [0125]) (“Non-limiting examples of alkyls include methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, isopentyl, neopentyl, iso-amyl, n-hexyl, 3-methylhexyl, 2,2-dimethylpentyl, 2,3-dimethylpentyl, n-heptyl, etc.” [0126]), R2 and R3 are each independently hydrogen or a C1-C10 alkyl group (“In the above formulas, R<sub>1</sub> to R<sub>14</sub> are independently selected from non-covalent electrons, hydrogen, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, a vinyl group, an allyl group, or a propargyl group” [0056]), and a and b are each independently an integer of 2 to 2500 (id.). (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0044], [0045], [0056], [0062], [0065], [0066], [0115], [0116], [0125], [0126]).
Regarding Claim 15, Seo further teaches, wherein the structure represented by the [Formula 1] comprises a structure represented by the following [Formula 2] or [Formula 3],
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496
322
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(“[i]n this specification, "alkyl group" refers to a group of a fully saturated branched or unbranched (or straight-chain or linear) hydrocarbon” [0125]), (“Non-limiting examples of alkyls include methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, isopentyl, neopentyl, iso-amyl, n-hexyl, 3-methylhexyl, 2,2-dimethylpentyl, 2,3-dimethylpentyl, n-heptyl, etc.” [0126]), (“In the above formulas, R<sub>1</sub> to R<sub>14</sub> are independently selected from non-covalent electrons, hydrogen, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, a vinyl group, an allyl group, or a propargyl group” [0056]),
where a1, a2, and b are each independently an integer from 2 to 2500 (id.). (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0044], [0045], [0056], [0062], [0065], [0066], [0115], [0116], [0125]).
Regarding Claim 16, Seo further teaches, wherein the insulating film is in a form of a thin film coating layer (65). (Seo: Figs. 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0044], [0065]).
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seo, as applied to claim 1.
Regarding Claim 8, Seo teaches the insulating film is 2 um thick and is silent on the insulating film being a single layer. (Seo: Figs. 1-5, 6a and 6b, machine translation, para. [0037], [0044], [0045], [0065], [0066], [0115], [0116]).
Seo does not explicitly teach, wherein the insulating film is a single layer.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the insulating film of Seo to comprise a single layer, the motivation being to simplify manufacturing. Further, it is obvious and rudimentary to a person of ordinary skill to make multiple parts integral. (MPEP 2144.04). In addition, the single layer limitation appears to be without any criticality. Therefore, the limitations of Claim 8 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zou et al. (20200365320) and Halperin et al. (US 20130073021).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if claims 6 is rewritten in independent form including all of the limitation of the base claims and any intervening claims.
Claim 6 recites, inter alia, “…wherein the copolymer comprises a structure in which at least one of repeating units derived from the parylene monomer is bonded to at least one of each of both ends of at least one of repeating units derived from the monomer containing the unsaturated bond, respectively”. (Emphasis added).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MALCOLM BARNES whose telephone number is (408)918-7512. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:00 pm (PST).
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/MALCOLM BARNES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
5/26/2026
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