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.
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2016/0293321 A1 to Takeoka et al. (hereinafter Takeoka).
Regarding claims 1-8, Takeoka teaches a coil component comprising a magnetic body (11 to 15), and an internal conductor (21) having a center axis and formed in a spiral shape, embedded in the magnetic body, (See abstract and para 10).
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(See Fig. 1). In a cross sectional view of a plane (Fig.1), the magnetic body is divided into a conductor region (11), core part (12), cover part (13 and 14), side part (15), and internal conductor (21), wherein the conductor region (11), which is positioned between the adjacent windings of the spiral shape. (para 10 and 18). Takeoka also teaches the coil component is used in electronic components such as inductor components and mobile devices, (para 4), which meets claims 7 and 8.
Specifically, a laminated inductor comprising the coil component is obtained by preparing a green sheet of magnetic paste containing magnetic grains of FeSiCr(1) having a composition of 3.5 wt% of Si, 4 wt% of Cr and remaining (92.5 wt%) of Fe (para 65-69), (Example 9), or a 90:10 of FeSiCr(1) grains and Fe grains (FeSiCr(1)/Fe) (Example 11), (para 65-69), the above sheets are further punched as necessary to form through holes in a specific arrangement and using a printing machine to apply a conductive paste containing copper metal grains in a specific pattern (para 70, Table 1, example 9 and 11). The above sheets are then layered in a specific sequence, are thermally bonded and cut to the sizes of coil components to obtain laminated bodies which are then further heat-treated by sintering at 700 deg C in an atmosphere with an oxygen concentration of 0.0050% or 0.0005% (See para 71-74, Examples 9 and 11 in Table 1). The above meets the claimed metal magnetic particles of Fe, Si and Cr, and the copper coil conductor.
Takeoka further teaches the above magnetic grains are bonded by an oxide film formed around them (para 10 and 23), which meets claim 5. Takeoka further teaches metals such as Cr and Si oxidizes more easily than Fe (para 24), and because there are metals that oxidize easier than Fe, Takeoka teaches the oxide film will contain a greater mol ratio amount of the easily oxidizing metals than Fe (para 28), and thus, Example 9 meets the claimed surface oxide film covering the magnetic particles containing a mol ratio of more Si+Cr than Fe,
Takeoka also teaches that prior to being heat-treated, the laminated bodies are first heated and degassed in an ambience of low oxygen concentration of 0.1 to 21% at a temperature of 300 to 500 deg C for 1-2 hours (para 60) and Takeoka further teaches an oxide film is formed in the conductor region (para 77 and Table 2).
In regard to the claimed copper oxide film, copper oxide film thickness, and thickness of the copper oxide film in the axial direction covering the surface of the coil conductor, one skilled in the art would have a reasonable expectation for the sintered copper conductive paste of Takeoka to have the claimed copper oxide film to be formed upon it because Takeoka teaches a substantially identical laminated coil component to the claimed invention obtained by a substantially identical process, specifically by treating the laminated bodies with a first heat treatment in an ambience of low oxygen concentration of 0.1 to 21% at a temperature of 300 to 500 deg C for 1-2 hours (para 60) and giving a second heat-treatment by sintering at 700 deg C in an atmosphere with an oxygen concentration of 0.0050% or 0.0005% (See para 71-74, Examples 9 and 11 in Table 1), and similarly, the Applicant gives a first heat treatment at 300 deg C in an atmosphere of oxygen 1000 ppm and above (0.1% or above), with a second heat treatment at 800 deg C at an atmosphere of 3ppm oxygen (See Applicant’s examples), and the Applicant states that a copper oxide film is formed when a first heat treatment is done at an oxygen concentration of 1000 ppm (i.e. 0.1%) or above (See para 84-85 of the Applicant’s US publication), and this is further evidenced by Takeoka teaching an oxide film is formed in the conductor regions (para 77 and Table 2). See MPEP 2112.01. (Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977)).
Conclusion
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/HA S NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766