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 (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.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05 October 2026 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to one or more non-elected inventions/species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 30 January 2024.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In lines 1-2 of claim 21, “The write head of claim 1, wherein the write head is part of a head arm assembly, wherein” should be changed to --A head arm assembly comprising the write head of claim 1, wherein-- for better clarity. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748).
Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748) teach a device (110a, see FIG. 3, for instance) comprising a leading shield (includes adjacent 32b, for instance); a side shield (includes adjacent 32c and 32d, for instance) connected to the leading shield (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 below, for instance),
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wherein sidewall portions of the side shield form a cavity (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 above, for instance); a side gap insulator (30i) disposed only within the cavity and only along the sidewall portions of the side shield (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 above, for instance), wherein the side gap insulator comprises first and second side gap insulator portions that terminate at the leading shield and are spaced apart to expose a top surface of the leading shield (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 above, for instance); and a metallic side gap (includes 20b, for instance, see also FIG. 6B and lines 11-13 in column 8, for instance, where gap 20b is shown as being layer 41P, and “layer 41P includes at least one selected from the group consisting of Ru, Ta, Ir, Rh, Pd, Pt and W,” which includes metallic elements) with at least a portion disposed in the cavity (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 above, for instance), contacting the top surface of the leading shield (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 above, for instance), and interior of the side gap insulator (as shown in annotated FIG. 3 above, for instance), wherein a current is configured to flow between a main pole (31) and the leading shield (see lines 11-13 in column 7, for instance, i.e., “current i2 oriented from the second region [i.e., leading shield] 32b to the first magnetic pole (i.e., main pole) 31 flows through the second region element [i.e., metallic side gap] 20b).
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, 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 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748) in view of Sugiyama et al. (US 2014/0177100).
Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748) teach the device as detailed in paragraph 6, supra. Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748), however, remain silent as to “wherein the side gap insulator comprises an oxide material.”
Sugiyama et al. (US 2014/0177100) teach that an oxide material is a notoriously old and well known side gap insulator material in the art (see paragraph [0073], for instance, i.e., “side gap 42 comprises an insulating body for which, in this case, the use of Al2O3 (or alumina) which is widely employed in magnetic recording heads… may be used”). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have had the side gap insulator of Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748) comprise an oxide material as taught/suggested by Sugiyama et al. (US 2014/0177100). The rationale is as follows:
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to have had the side gap insulator of Nakagawa et al. (US 12,387,748) comprise an oxide material as taught/suggested by Sugiyama et al. (US 2014/0177100) since such is a notoriously old and well known side gap insulator material in the art, and selecting a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use is within the level of ordinary skill in the art, In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes Hsiao et al. (US 2013/0022840), Degawa et al. (US 10,032,470), Wu et al. (US 10,325,618), Nguyen et al. (US 10,839,831), Isokawa (US 11,651,782), and Asif Bashir et al. (US 11,881,237), which each individually teaches a write head gap material configuration.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3 and 21 are allowable over the prior art of record. Claim 15 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any 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 Craig A. Renner whose telephone number is (571) 272-7580. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM - 7:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Lim can be reached at (571) 270-1210. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CRAIG A. RENNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688
