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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 08/17/2023 has been considered.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Invention I, claims 1-8, without traverse in a response on 06/17/2026 is acknowledged. In this Office Action, claim 9 is withdrawn, and claims 1-8 are examined.
Drawing Objections
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 features “a first coil pin and a second coil pin” of claim 1, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). If the features are shown they require labeling. 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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 5 and similarly claim 8, the word “preferably”, is not well defined, since the word is ambiguous.
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 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen), Chinese Patent CN115132451A.
Regarding Claim 1, Chen teaches, a miniature inductive coil (Fig. 20), comprising:
N layers of unclosed ring-shaped planar conductors (131), the N layers of unclosed ring-shaped planar conductors being distributed vertically and connected through a conductive hole (“electrically connected by drilling through holes in the support layer 113 and depositing conductive metal” [0168]), and beyond the conductive hole (id.),
a physical isolation layer (11, 111) being formed between every two adjacent unclosed ring-shaped planar conductors, wherein N>2; and
coil pins (133, 135), comprising a first coil pin (133) and a second coil pin (135) respectively arranged on the unclosed ring-shaped planar conductor at the bottom and the unclosed ring-shaped planar conductor at the top (id.). (Chen: Figs. 20, 21, 24-27, machine translation, para. [0159], [0162], [0163], [0165], [0167], [0168], [0204]).
Regarding Claim 2 and similarly claim 3, Chen further teaches, wherein a material of the physical isolation layer is an insulating material (“an insulating layer 111” [0167], “polyimide” [0088]). (Chen: Figs. 20, 21, 24-27, machine translation, para. [0167]).
Regarding Claim 4 and similarly claim 5, Chen further teaches, wherein the ring-shaped planar conductors have a thickness of no more than 6 times of a skin depth (“the thickness of each conductive layer 1311 is less than or equal to twice the skin depth of the conductive layer 1311 at the operating frequency of the integrated inductor 100 on the circuit board” [0165]). (Chen: Figs. 20, 21, 24-27, machine translation, para. [0165]).
Regarding Claim 6, Chen further teaches, wherein the skin depth is calculated according to the following formula: ∆=(76.2/√ƒ), wherein f is the frequency in Hz, and ∆ is the skin depth in mm (claim 6 fails to state a value or range for the formula, Chen comprises a skin depth capable of satisfying the formula). (Chen: Figs. 20, 21, 24-27, machine translation, para. [0165]).
Regarding Claim 7, Chen further teaches, wherein a sectional area A1 of an inner ring of the N layers of ring-shaped planar conductors is not more than the sectional area A2 of a periphery of the ring-shaped planar conductor (id.). (Chen: Figs. 20, 21, 24-27, machine translation, para. [0165]).
Regarding Claim 8, Chen further teaches, wherein the conductive hole is arranged in the physical isolation layer, and the conductive holes in each physical isolation layer have a number greater than or equal to 1 (id.), preferably greater than or equal to 2 (“connected by drilling through holes” [0168]). (Chen: Figs. 20, 21, 24-27, machine translation, para. [0165]).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Toujo (US 20210407728) discloses a plurality of via-conductors (56) through a physical isolation layer (3a).
Wang et al. (US 20230307174).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MALCOLM BARNES whose telephone number is (408)918-7512. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:00 pm (PST).
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/MALCOLM BARNES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
8/17/2026
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