DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 13 March 2026 has been entered.
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.
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Claims 8-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to one or more non-elected inventions/species, there being no allowable generic or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.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 16 March 2023 and 07 August 2024. These drawings are accepted.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 14, 15, 17 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Koui (US 2015/0310881) in view of Liu et al. (US 2019/0279662).
With respect to claims 1, 3 and 21, Koui (US 2015/0310881) teaches a write head (see FIG. 15, for instance) comprising a leading shield (204); a side shield (216) connected to the leading shield (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance, i.e., via layer 10), wherein portions of the side shield form a cavity (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance); a side gap insulator (12, see paragraph [0064], for instance, i.e., “insulator layer 12”) disposed within the cavity and along a sidewall adjacent to the portions of the side shield and terminating near the leading shield (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance); a metallic side gap (includes 4, for instance, see paragraph [0054], for instance, i.e., “Gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), a nickel-aluminum (NiAl) alloy, an aluminum-copper (AlCu) alloy, or a non-magnetic alloy made of the materials selected from those listed above can be used as the intermediate layer 4”) with at least a portion disposed in the cavity and interior of the side gap insulator (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance), wherein a thickness of the side gap insulator (12) is less than that of the metallic side gap (4, as shown in FIG. 15, for instance); and a main pole (206) with at least a portion disposed in the cavity and interior of the metallic side gap (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance), wherein a current (supplied by power source 408, see FIG. 2, for instance) is configured to flow (via layers 2, 4 and 10) between the main pole (206) and the leading shield (204, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 15, for instance, see also paragraph [0043], for instance, i.e., “the driving current applied from the power source 408 flows through the portions of the leading shield 204, the main magnetic pole 206, and the trailing shield 208”) [as per claim 1]; wherein the side gap insulator comprises an oxide material (see paragraph [0064], for instance, i.e., “the oxide of aluminum is used as the insulator layer 12”) [as per claim 3]; and wherein the write head is part of (as shown in FIG. 1, for instance) a head arm assembly (includes 400, 406 and 408, for instance), wherein the write head is connected to a slider (400) and a load beam (406), wherein the load beam is connected to a suspension (404) configured to support the write head and the slider (as shown in FIG. 1, for instance) [as per claim 21].
With respect to claims 14, 15 and 17, Koui (US 2015/0310881) teaches a device (see FIG. 15, for instance) comprising a leading shield (204); a side shield (216) connected to the leading shield (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance, i.e., via layer 10), wherein sidewall portions of the side shield form a cavity (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance); a side gap insulator (12, see paragraph [0064], for instance, i.e., “insulator layer 12”) disposed within the cavity and along the sidewall portions of the side shield and terminating near the leading shield (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance); and a metallic side gap (includes 4, for instance, see paragraph [0054], for instance, i.e., “Gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), a nickel-aluminum (NiAl) alloy, an aluminum-copper (AlCu) alloy, or a non-magnetic alloy made of the materials selected from those listed above can be used as the intermediate layer 4”) with at least a portion disposed in the cavity and interior of the side gap insulator (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance), wherein a thickness of the side gap insulator (12) is less than that of the metallic side gap (4, as shown in FIG. 15, for instance), wherein a current (supplied by power source 408, see FIG. 2, for instance) is configured to flow (via layers 2, 4 and 10) between a main pole (206) and the leading shield (204, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 15, for instance, see also paragraph [0043], for instance, i.e., “the driving current applied from the power source 408 flows through the portions of the leading shield 204, the main magnetic pole 206, and the trailing shield 208”) [as per claim 14]; wherein at least a portion the main pole (206) is disposed in the cavity and interior of the metallic side gap (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance) [as per claim 15]; and wherein the side gap insulator comprises an oxide material (see paragraph [0064], for instance, i.e., “the oxide of aluminum is used as the insulator layer 12”) [as per claim 17].
Koui (US 2015/0310881), however, remains silent as the side gap insulator (12) being disposed “only” within the cavity and “only” along the sidewall as it extends outside of the cavity (as shown in FIG. 15, for instance).
Liu et al. (US 2019/0279662) teach that confining a side gap insulator (204) to only within a cavity (203) along a sidewall (as shown in FIG. 4A, for instance) is a notoriously old and well known gap insulator configuration. 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 Koui (US 2015/0310881) be disposed only within the cavity and only along the sidewall as taught/suggested by Liu et al. (US 2019/0279662). The rationale is as follows:
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to have had the side gap insulator of Koui (US 2015/0310881) be disposed only within the cavity and only along the sidewall as taught/suggested by Liu et al. (US 2019/0279662) since such is a notoriously old and well known gap insulator configuration, and selecting a known gap insulator configuration on the basis of its suitability for the intended use is considered to be within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims 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.
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, Steven Lim can be reached on (571) 270-1210. 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.
/CRAIG A. RENNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688
Prosecution Insights