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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDSes filed 4/28/23, 2/18/25, 3/5/25 and 9/16/25 have all been considered and placed of record. The four (4) initialed copies are attached herewith.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Drawings
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 “first coil charging first electronic device being a mobile device and the second coil charging second electronic device being a watch” (claims 8 and 12) must be shown or the features canceled from the claims (discussed in spec (para 55-57 and 113)). 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The limitation “the battery” on line 2 lacks proper antecedent basis.
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, 3, 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chinese document CN111819761 (see machine translation).
Re claim 1, the reference discloses a wireless power transmitting module 100 having, inter alia, a coil unit 110 provided as a flat coil including a coil body 112 in which a conductive member (e.g. wires in circular) having a predetermined length is wound in one direction (fig 1), and a pair of terminal portions 130 extending from the coil body by a predetermined length for electrical connection; a main shielding sheet 120 disposed on one surface of the coil unit to shield a magnetic field generated from the coil unit 110; an accommodating portion 122 formed through the main shielding sheet 120 so as to accommodate the thickness of at least one of the pair of terminal portions (fig 2); and an auxiliary shielding sheet 140 attached to one surface of the main shielding sheet so as to cover the accommodating portion (122 in fig 8) in order to shield a magnetic field leaking through the accommodating portion (figs 7-8), wherein the auxiliary shielding sheet has a thinner thickness than the main shielding sheet (para 86 and 91).
Re claim 3, the reference further discloses the auxiliary shielding sheet 140 is a ribbon sheet of an amorphous alloy or a nanocrystalline grain alloy (para 97).
Re claim 4 the reference further discloses the auxiliary shielding sheet 140 is provided to have a smaller area than the main shielding sheet 120 and to have an area completely covering the accommodating portion 122 [Fig 7 shows aux sheet 140 is smaller than main sheet 120 and that aux sheet 140 completely covered the area 122 in fig 6].
Re claim 6, the reference further discloses the main shielding sheet 120 comprises at least one of a ferrite sheet, a ribbon sheet of an amorphous alloy, and a ribbon sheet of a nanocrystalline grain alloy (para 68).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 2, 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chinese document CN111819761 (see machine translation).
Re claim 2, the reference does not specifically disclose the main shielding sheet 120 is provided to have a thickness of 7.5 times or more than the auxiliary shielding sheet 140. It would have been well within the skill of one versed in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have selected any appropriate thickness range of the main sheet with respect the thickness of the auxiliary sheet since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
Re claim 5, the reference further discloses the wireless power transmitting module 100 is disposed on an upper portion of the battery 20 fig 12). The reference does not explicitly show the aux sheet placed between the main sheet and the battery [in other word, if it were to assume the module 100 in the “upside” position in figures 2 and 6-8, then the missing claimed limitations have the module in the “upside down” position]. It would have been well within the skill of one versed in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have position the module in any appropriate position (i.e. aux sheet is placed between the battery and the main sheet), since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
Re claim 7, the reference further discloses conductive member (wires in circular) constituting the coil body 112, i.e. a coil composed of strand of wires shown in Applicant figure 8 (para 46)). Official notice is taken of the fact that a coil with multiple strands is better than a solid coil because coils with strand of wires have better fatigue resistance (i.e. applications required movement). Therefore, it would have been well within the skill of one versed in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have selected a coil with multiple strands for its high flexibility and better resistance to fatigue, also it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice.
Claims 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chinese document CN111819761 in view of WO document WO2019172595A1 (see machine translation).
Re claim 8, the CN document discloses the coil unit 112 comprises: a first coil for wirelessly charging a battery of a first electronic device 10 (fig 12); figs 4-5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to have modified the device of the CN document with the teaching of the WO document to allow for a second device to be charged wherein the second device might have different electronic, size and/or antenna to be charged on a larger diameter coil (para 36).
Re claim 9, the WO document discloses the first coil 112 is a flat coil formed of a coil body having a first width (112 in fig 5) and having a hollow portion formed in a central portion, the second coil 111 is a flat coil formed of a coil body having a second width (W1+W2 in fig 5) smaller than the first width and having a hollow portion formed in a central portion, and the second coil 111 is stacked on one surface of the first coil 112 such that a portion corresponding to a portion of a width W2 of the coil body is positioned in the hollow portion of the first coil (fig 4-5).
Re claim 10, the WO document further discloses one surface of the coil body of the first coil 112 is in direct contact with one surface of the main shielding sheet 120, and one surface of the coil body of the second coil is spaced apart from one surface of the main shielding sheet by a thickness of the first coil (fig 5).
Re claim 11, the WO document further discloses the first coil is a Qi standard A11 coil (para 39).
Re claim 12, the WO document further discloses the first electronic device is a mobile device and the second electronic device is a smart watch (para 35).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Art made of record listed in PTO-892 shows various wireless power transmitters having wound coils with shielding for either one device or multiple devices.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to the Examiner at the below-listed number. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thu from 7:00am-5:00pm.
The Examiner’s SPE is Taelor Kim and he can be reached at 571.270.7166. The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571.273.8300.
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/EDWARD TSO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 571.272.2087