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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Khanolkar et al. (US Pat. #9,035,422).
Regarding claim 24, Khanolkar teaches an isolation device, comprising a transformer, the transformer including a lower metal coil, an upper metal coil, and a dielectric stack between the lower metal coil and the upper metal coil, wherein the upper metal coil laterally surrounds a filler metal layer and in electrical contact with the filler metal layer and the upper metal coil and the filler metal layer have substantially the same thickness [fig. 4, lower metal coil 455, upper metal coil 444 and 445, dielectric stack 461 in between, upper metal coil 444 and 445 laterally surrounds filler metal layer 446 and is in electrical contact with 446, filler metal layer is present at the level of both portions of upper coil, 445 and 444, with a small via in between, the combined thicknesses of 445 and 444 are substantially the same as the thickness of 446].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 19 May 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Khanolkar fails to teach the upper coil 444 and filler metal 446 have the same thickness. However, re-evaluating the reference, the upper coil is now interpreted as being both 445 and 444. Filler metal 446 has substantially (in that it is similar but not exactly the same) the same thickness as the combination of coils 445 and 444 as described in the rejection above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5, 9, 10 and 21-23 are allowed.
Claims 25-28 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, please see the final rejection mailed 23 February 2026.
Conclusion
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/JOHN M PARKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2899
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