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 .
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.
Claims 1, 2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sano et al. (US 2011/0147782).
Regarding claim 1, Sano discloses an imaging device (figs. 1, 2A, 4 and Abstract and paragraph 0003), comprising:
a first substrate (4, figs.2A, 4, 6A-C and paragraph 0047); and
a second substrate (1, figs. 2A, 4, 6A-C and paragraph 0047) adjacent to the first substrate,
wherein a first side wall of the second substrate (right side of 1, figs. 2A, 4) comprises a blade diced portion and is devoid of any stealth diced portion (top right side of 1 has only blade diced portion, figs. 2A, 4, 6B and paragraph 0088) and a second side wall of the second substrate (left side of 1, figs. 2A, 4) comprises a stealth diced portion and is devoid of any blade diced portion (bottom left side of 1 has only stealth diced portion, figs. 2A, 4, 6B-C and paragraphs 0089-0090), wherein the first and second walls are different side walls of the second substrate (right side and left side of 1, figs. 2A, 4).
Regarding claim 2, Sano further discloses wherein the first substrate (4, fig. 4) is disposed between a transparent layer (lens on top of 4, fig. 4) and the second substrate (1, fig. 4 and paragraphs 0067-0071).
Regarding claim 10, Sano further discloses a solder resist disposed on a bottom surface of the second substrate (15, figs. 2A, 5G, 6C and paragraph 0083).
Response to Arguments
First, Examiner thanks Applicant for amending the withdrawn claims in the same fashion as the pending rejected claims. Such practice will help facilitate a quick rejoinder should allowable subject matter be found.
Applicant's arguments filed 6/18/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has amended the independent claim to include the limitations that a first side wall of the second substrate comprises a blade diced portion and is devoid of any stealth diced portion and a second side wall of the second substrate comprises a stealth diced portion and is devoid of any blade diced portion, and argues that Sano does not disclose such features. Examiner disagrees, as mentioned in the above rejection, Sano discloses a blade diced portion of substrate 1 (fig. 6A) and a stealth diced portion of substrate 1 (fig. 6B), the blade diced portion affects only the top side wall of substrate 1, and the stealth diced portion affects only the bottom side wall of substrate 1, meaning the top side wall of substrate 1 is devoid of any stealth diced portion and the bottom side wall of substrate 1 is devoid of any blade diced portion. This is analogous to Applicant’s fig. 23 and paragraph 0266 mentioned in the arguments.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS M MENZ whose telephone number is (571)272-1877. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached at 469-295-9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DOUGLAS M MENZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897 8/8/26
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