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 .
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 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3, 7-9 and 11-17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection includes does not include Nakano (JP 2002-299700).
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, 7, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakano (JP 2002-299700).
With respect to Claim 1, Nakano teaches a heat dissipation housing (fig. 8) for an AC power adapter (“for an AC power adapter” is intended use and is not positively claimed), comprising: a housing (30); and a heat sink (10) disposed on an inner surface (fig. 8, inner side of 30) of the housing, and integrally (¶[0013], “integral molding”) formed with the housing, wherein the heat sink comprises an upper surface (fig. 8, surface of 10 against 30 with 10a) which is in contact with the housing, and a lower surface (fig. 8, surface of 10 against 4) which is exposed to an inside (fig. 8, inside of 30) of the heat dissipation housing, wherein the heat sink comprises at least one securing structure (10a) which is formed by the upper surface of the heat sink, wherein the heat sink is embedded (see fig. 8) into at least a portion of the inner surface of the housing, wherein the entire heat sink is disposed inside (see fig. 3) the housing, wherein the housing is made of plastic ¶[0021], “resin”)and wherein the heat sink is integrally formed (see fig. 8) with the housing by injection molding (note that injection molding is a product-by-process limitation, where the determination of patentability is based on the product itself, not the defined by the process that makes the product. See MPEP 2113). housing.
With respect to Claims 7 and 9, Nakano further teaches the heat sink is disposed on part (see fig. 8) of the inner surface of the housing (claim 7) and the heat sink is made of copper (¶[0024]) or aluminum (¶[0024]) (claim 9).
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.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakano (JP 2002-299700), Chen (US 2018/0338386) and AT 40016.
Nakano and Chen disclose the claimed invention except for the at least one securing structure is formed in a barb structure. AT 40016 teaches the at least one securing structure (“w”) is formed in a barb structure (“w”) (claim 2) and the barb structure comprises at least one of a T-shaped structure (“T”-shaped “w”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the housing of Nakano and Chang with the barbs of AT 400016 for the purpose of using barbs to insure a particularly good connection to the body.
Claims 1, 7-9, 11, 12, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2018/0338386) and Nakano (JP 2002-299700).
With respect to Claim 1, Chen teaches a housing (fig. 4, 10,30) for an AC power adapter (¶[0001], l. 2), comprising: a housing (12) and a heat sink (30) disposed on an inner surface (fig., 4, inner surface of 12) of the housing, and integrally (¶[0007], l. 10) formed with the housing, wherein the heat sink comprises an upper surface which is in contact with the housing, and a lower surface (outer surface of 30) which is exposed to an inside (fig. 4, inside of 30) of the heat dissipation housing, wherein the heat sink comprises at least one securing structure which is formed by the upper surface of the heat sink, wherein the heat sink is embedded into at least a portion of the inner surface of the housing, wherein the entire heat sink is disposed inside (see fig. 4) the housing, wherein the housing is made of plastic (¶[0026], l. 1), and wherein the heat sink is integrally formed with the housing by injection molding (¶[0026], l. 1). Chen fails to disclose the heat sink comprises at least one securing structure which is formed by the upper surface of the heat sink, wherein the heat sink is embedded into at least a portion of the inner surface of the housing. Nakano teaches the heat sink comprises at least one securing structure (10a) which is formed by the upper surface of the heat sink, wherein the heat sink is embedded (see fig. 8) into at least a portion of the inner surface of the housing. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the housing of Chang with the securing structure of Nakano for the purpose of using securing structure to increase the area for heat transfer between the heat sink and the housing for greater heat transfer of AC power adapter.
With respect to Claim 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, and 16, Chen further teaches the heat sink is disposed on (see fig. 4) all of the inner surface of the housing (claim 7), the heat sink has a tubular shape (see fig. 4) (claim 8), an AC power adapter (see fig. 4, ¶[0001], l. 2), and comprising the heat dissipation housing for the AC power adapter according to claim 1 (see rejection to claim 1, above) (claim 11), a power supply assembly (20) disposed inside a cavity (fig. 5, inside of 30) formed by the heat dissipation housing, and comprising a circuit board (21) and an electronic element (23) arranged on the circuit board; and an inner heat sink (24) disposed on a periphery (fig. 4, on bottom of 20) of the power supply assembly and secured (see fig. 5) to the power supply assembly (claim 12), the inner heat sink comprises one or more heat sinks (24), each being disposed corresponding to a surface (fig. 5, bottom of 23) of the power supply assembly (claim 14), one or more surfaces (fig, 5, bottom of 24) of the inner heat sink is in direct contact (see fig. 5) with the lower surface (fig. 5, top of 30) of the heat sink of the heat dissipation housing (claim 16).
With respect to Claim 9, Chen discloses the claimed invention including the heat sink is made of metal. Chen fails to disclose the heat sink is made of copper or aluminum. Nagano further teaches the heat sink is made of copper (¶[0024]) or aluminum (¶[0024]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the heat sink of Chen with the aluminum/copper heat sink of Nakano for the purpose of using an economical good thermal conducting material for manufacture of the heat sink for greater heat dissipation of the AC power adapter..
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2018/0338386), Nakano (JP 2002-299700) and AT 40016.
Chen and Nakano disclose the claimed invention except for the at least one securing structure is formed in a barb structure. AT 40016 teaches the at least one securing structure (“w”) is formed in a barb structure (“w”) (claim 2) and the barb structure comprises at least one of a T-shaped structure (“T”-shaped “w”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the housing of Chen and Nakano with the barbs of AT 400016 for the purpose of using barbs to insure a particularly good connection to the body.
Claims 12, 13, 14, and 17 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2018/0338386), Nakano (JP 2002-299700) and I (US 2012/0147565).
Chen and Nakano disclose the claimed invention except for a power supply assembly disposed inside a cavity formed by the heat dissipation housing, and comprising a circuit board and an electronic element arranged on the circuit board; and an inner heat sink disposed on a periphery of the power supply assembly and secured to the power supply assembly. I teaches a power supply assembly disposed inside a cavity (fig. 2, 40) formed by the heat dissipation housing (100), and comprising a circuit board (10) and an electronic element (¶[0029], ll. 3-4) arranged on the circuit board; and an inner heat sink (140) disposed on a periphery (see fig. 2) of the power supply assembly and secured (fig. 2, secured by at least sides of 100) to the power supply assembly (claim 12), the inner heat sink has a tubular shape (see fig. 2), and is integrally formed (see fig. 2) (claim 13), the inner heat sink comprises one or more heat sinks (140), each being disposed corresponding to a surface (fig. 2, for example 140 faces bottom of 10) of the power supply assembly (claim 14), an insulating part (150 and ¶[0036], l. 7) is disposed between (see fig. 2) the inner heat sink and the power supply assembly (claim 17). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the heat sink of Chen and Nakano with the inner heat sink of I for the purpose of providing electromagnetic shielding of the power supply assembly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 is 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 15 is allowable over the art of record because the prior art does not teach or suggest that “one or more surfaces of the inner heat sink is in direct contact with the lower surface of the heat sink of the heat dissipation housing” in combination with “the inner heat sink has a tubular shape, and is integrally formed or formed by buckling two U-shaped heat sinks” of claim 13. The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of the respective claims are believed to render said claim 15 patentable over art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2025/0374491 discloses a tubular heat sink insert molded inside of a housing.
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RJH 1/23/2026
/ROBERT J HOFFBERG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835