DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Elections/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I and Species 1 (Claims 1-5, 11-13 and 15-16) in the reply filed on 12/11/2025 is acknowledged. However, since applicant did not distinctly indicate whether election is with or without traverse and did not point out any supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a) and 818.03(c)).
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the second insulating film has an outer shape of a rectangle composed of sides in a second direction parallel to the first main surface and sides in a third direction perpendicular to the second direction in the plan view, and wherein the at least one first groove has a straight part extending parallel to at least one of the second direction and the third direction as claimed in claim 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121 (d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as "amended." If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either "Replacement Sheet" or "New Sheet" pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kudo (US 20070199734 A1).
Regarding Claim 1:
Kudo teaches that a coil device comprising:
a substrate (2, Fig. 2A; para 0035-0072) having a first main surface (not
labeled; i.e. upper surface of the 2 in Fig. 2A) and a second main surface (not labeled; i.e. lower surface of the 2 in Fig. 2A) opposed to the first main surface;
a first insulating film (3, Fig. 2A) provided in contact with a first direction (not labeled; i.e. horizontal direction of element 2 in Fig. 2A) side of the substrate, with the first direction being a direction (i.e. vertical direction of lower surface to upper surface of element 2 in Fig. 2A) from the second main surface to the first main surface;
a first coil part (4, Fig. 2A) provided in contact with a first direction side (i.e. horizontal direction of element 3 in Fig. 2A) of the first insulating film and being a spiral-shaped conductive film (construed from Fig. 2A) in a plan view seen from a direction opposite to the first direction;
a second insulating film (10) provided to cover a first direction side of the first coil
part (i.e. horizontal direction of coil 4 in Fig. 2A) and the first direction side of the first insulating film where the first coil part is not provided;
a second coil part (5) being a spiral-shaped conductive film in the plan view and
provided in contact with a first direction side of the second insulating film i.e. horizontal direction of element 10 in Fig. 2A); and at least one first groove (20, Fig. 2A; para 0043) provided on the second insulating film in a region inside an outer peripheral edge of the second coil part in the plan view and having a width (i.e. width of the groove 20 in horizontal direction) in the first direction on a surface on the first direction side of the second insulating film (construed from Fig. 2A).
Regarding Claim 2:
As applied to claim 1, Kudo teaches that wherein the at least one first groove (i.e. middle grove 20 in Fig. 2A) is arranged between the adjacent conductive film of the second coil part (construed from Fig. 2A) in a cross-sectional view of the substrate
Regarding Claim 3:
As applied to claim 1, Kudo teaches that wherein the at least one first groove and the second coil part are provided in positions not overlapping with each other in the plan view (construed from Fig. 2A).
Regarding Claim 4:
As applied to claim 1, Kudo teaches that the second insulating film has an outer shape of a rectangle (i.e. lower part of 10 in Fig. 2A) composed of sides in a second direction parallel to the first main surface and sides in a third direction (vertical direction of groove 20) perpendicular to the second direction in the plan view, and wherein the at least one first groove has a straight part extending parallel to at least one of the second direction and the third direction (construed in Fig. 2A).
Regarding Claim 5:
As applied to claim 1, Kudo teaches that wherein each first groove of the at least one first groove has a part extending parallel to a part of the outer peripheral edge of the second insulating film closest to the first groove in the plan view (construed in Fig. 2A).
.
Regarding Claim 16 :
As applied to claim 1, Kudo teaches that the second insulating film includes polyimide (see para 0041).
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.
Claim 15 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over by Kudo.
Regarding Claim 15:
As applied to claim 1, Kudo teaches the first groove and second insulating film except
the width in the first direction of the at least one first groove is less than or equal to 50% of a width in the first direction of the second insulating film. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the width in the first direction of the at least one first groove is less than or equal to 50% of a width in the first direction of the second insulating film as claimed to meet design requirements for certain applications, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable range involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. MPEP 2144.05 (II-A).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the width in the first direction of the at least one first groove is less than or equal to 50% of a width in the first direction of the second insulating film as claimed to meet design requirements for certain applications for successful device operation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-13 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:
Claim 11 recites, at least one second groove provided on the surface on the first direction side of the second insulating film and having a width in the first direction in a region outside the outer peripheral edge of the second coil part in the plan view.
The references of record do not teach or suggest the aforementioned limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify those references to include such limitations.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. A list of pertinent prior art is attached in form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kazi Hossain whose telephone number is 571-272-8182. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from Monday to Thursday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM (EST).
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/KAZI HOSSAIN/
Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/SHAWKI S ISMAIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837