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 § 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.
Claim(s) 2, 8, 9, 11 and 12, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakamoto (US2011/0006870A1) in view of Klesyk (US2008/0036566A1) and Wu (2010/0219924A1).
Sakamoto discloses the claimed invention as follows (refer to Figs. 2 and 5):
Claim 11. A coil device comprising:
a coil (2);
a
an exterior body (3) covering the coil and the columnar portion and made of an exterior material including magnetic particles and a resin (see [0061]); wherein
the core is provided with a recess (8) including a first recess (on columnar portion 1a; see Fig. 5(a)) and a second recess (on flange 1c);
the first recess extends between the first end and a second end of the columnar portion in the axial direction (see Fig. 5(a)); and
the second recess extends from an inner side towards an outer side of the flange (see Fig. 5(a);
Claim 2. The coil device according to claim 11, wherein the second recess is interconnected with the first recess at the first end of the columnar portion.
Claim 8. The coil device according to claim 11, wherein the coil comprises an air core coil. See Fig. 3(b).
Claim 9. The coil device according to claim 11,
Claim 12. The coil device according to claim 11, wherein
Sakamoto discloses the claimed invention, except the coil 2 is shown in cross-section only symbolically, without the particular shape if the individual conductor turns being visible. Sakamoto therefore does not disclose the newly-added limitations pertaining to the space between the wire and core, and also does not disclose the average size of the magnetic particles relative to a width of the space.
However, when winding wire onto a core, it is known that gaps are created between the wire outer surface and the core. Wu, for example, discloses (see Fig. 5) an inductor comprising a core member 110, with wire 120 wound around the columnar portion 112 of the core member. See [0056]. An exterior member 130, containing resin and magnetic powder particles (see [0063]) with an average diameter approximately less than 20 µm covers the coil and the columnar portion. In table one (page 5), Wu discloses several coils, with diameters of 0.09 mm, 0.1 mm, 0.11 mm and 0.12 mm, respectively. See [0070]-[0072].
As can be seen in the figure below, a space G1 a first space surrounded by an outer peripheral surface of the wire 120 constituting the coil and an outer peripheral surface of the columnar portion 112 is provided at a contact part between the outer peripheral surface of the columnar portion and an inner peripheral surface of the coil. The first space has a width which varies, depending on where the width is measured. For example, for a wire 120 of 0.1 mm, i.e. 100 µm in diameter, the maximum width of the space G1 is about 50 µm, if measured along the dotted line. The largest particle (P) that can fit is 25 µm in diameter. If measured, however, at the dashed line, or even further up, closer to the contact point C between the columnar portion 112 and the wire 120, it can be seen that the width is much less, and even smaller particles would not fit. Since Wu teaches an average particle size less than 20 µm, it can be seen that the space G1 has a width (such as close to point C) smaller than an average particle diameter of the magnetic particles even if the particles have an average diameter small enough to fit within the gap G1, particularly as “average diameter” means some particles are smaller than average. A space G2 is also defined, surrounded by the outer peripheral surface of the wire and an surface of a flange 116 is provided at a contact part between the surface of the flange and the bottom surface of the coil. The second space has a height between the surface of the flange and the bottom surface of the coil smaller than an average size of the magnetic particles (following similar reasoning as for space G1).
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Whereas Sakamoto does not recite a specific wire diameter, and average magnetic particle diameter, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to form the coil 2 of Sakamoto using 0.09 to 0-.12 mm diameter wire, and to form the exterior body with magnetic particles having an average diameter less than 20 µm, as taught by Wu, as a simple matter of selecting among conventional wire sizes and conventional magnetic material particle sizes, with predictable results, i.e. to obtain an inductor having particular parameters and performance, based on design requirements. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious that, at least for some particle diameters smaller than 20 µm average diameter range, the average particle diameter is larger than a width of the space G1, while the space is still filled with the material 130. Similarly for space G2 and claim 12.
Sakamoto also discloses the core is a drum type core, not a T type core.
Klesyk discloses a coil device comprising a coil (22), a T-shaped core (20) including a columnar portion (20a) around which the coil is disposed and a flange (20b) formed at a first end of the columnar portion in an axial direction thereof, and an exterior body (28) covering the coil and the columnar portion and made of an exterior material including magnetic particles and a resin (see [0043]). Klesyk also mentions other suitable core shapes, including drum type (see [0036]).
In view of the combined teachings of Sakamoto and Klesyk, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to modify the process of Sakamoto, using a T shaped core instead of a drum type core, as a matter of selecting among conventional core shapes, with predictable results. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious that T-shaped core would be obtained by modifying the manufacturing process of Fig. 4 of Sakamoto to form a core having only one flange and a columnar portion.
Regarding claim 9, Sakamoto discloses:
[0051] At that time, it is also allowed for the compound material to be adjusted such that line expansion coefficient of the compound material constituting the filling member 3 and line expansion coefficient of the compound material constituting the core 1 will become equal. Thus, the line expansion coefficients of the compound material of the filling member 3 and the compound material of the core 1 are made to be approached each other in which it is possible to approximate deformation ratio of the filling member 3 with respect to disturbance of heat or the like and deformation ratio of the core 1, and it is possible to prevent the flange portions 1b, 1c of the core 1 from being damaged based on a phenomenon that the filling member 3 filled in the receiving portion 7 is deformed.
From this disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art understands the thermal expansion coefficient of the core and exterior body should be as close as possible, and one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious that suitable properties can be obtained even if the thermal expansion coefficient of the exterior body is slightly larger than that of the core.
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.
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/LIVIUS R. CAZAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729