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 [fig. 4, lower metal coil 455, upper metal coil 444, dielectric stack 461 in between, upper metal coil 444 laterally surrounds filler metal layer 446 and is in electrical contact with 446].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 4 February 2026, with respect to claims 1-5, 9, 10 and 21-23 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claim 1 has been withdrawn.
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, the prior art fails to disclose or suggest the device as claimed. Specifically, the prior art fails to teach a filler metal layer over the dielectric stack, in electrical contact with the upper isolation element and a lower bond pad in electrical contact with the lower isolation element, wherein a portion of the lower bond pad is not covered by the dielectric stack.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN M PARKER whose telephone number is (571)272-8794. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am - 3:30pm.
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/JOHN M PARKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2899
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