Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/269,949

MOUNTING HEAD

Non-Final OA §103§112
Filed
Jun 27, 2023
Examiner
KIM, PAUL D
Art Unit
3729
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
Shinkawa Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
1346 granted / 1537 resolved
+17.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+6.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
52 currently pending
Career history
1589
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
35.2%
-4.8% vs TC avg
§102
29.4%
-10.6% vs TC avg
§112
30.9%
-9.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1537 resolved cases

Office Action

§103 §112
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 § 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 appl icant regards as his invention. Claims 3, 6, 8 and 10 are 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. Re. claim 3: The phrase “the cooling channel ” as recited in line 2 lacks antecedent basis. Re. claim 6: The phrase “the cooling channel ” as recited in line 2 lacks antecedent basis. 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. Claims 1, 4 , 5 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al. (US PAT. 9,398,736) in view of Kawai ( US PAT. 4,926,903 ) . Nagai et al. teach a mounting head for bonding a chip to a bonding target, the mounting head comprising: a mounting tool (28, Figs. 1-2) having a bottom surface which functions as a suction surface (28a) for sucking and holding the chip (31) ; a heater (27, Figs. 1-2) arranged on a surface of the mounting tool opposite to the suction surface and heating the mounting tool (col. 5, lines 1-44); a cooling mechanism having a plurality of cooling channels (81, 82, 86, 87, 91, 92, Fig. 2) , which guide a refrigerant (such as air) respectively to a plurality of cooling areas set in the heater, and being capable of cooling the plurality of cooling areas (col. 6, lines 7-57) ; and a controller (50, Fig. 1) controlling driving of the heater and the cooling mechanism, wherein the controller controls a flow rate of the refrigerant flowing through the plurality of cooling channels so as to obtain a desired temperature distribution during heating of the heater (col. 7, lines 27-61) . However, Nagai et al. silent whether the cooling mechanism is capable of cooling the plurality of cooling areas independently of one another . Kawai teaches an electrical device having a butterfly valve (or a flowmeter) for measuring a flowrate of a fluid independently in order to control a flow rate (col. 1, lines 13-19 and col. 2, lines 1-19). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a mounting head of Nagai et al. et al. by a flowmeter (or a butterfly valve) as taught by Kawai in order to control a flow rate of a fluid. Re. claim 4: Nagai et al. also teach that the controller causes the refrigerant to flow through the plurality of cooling channels in both a heating process of the chip and a cooling process of the chip performed after the heating process (col. 6, lines 7-13 and col. 7, lines 27-61) . Re. claim s 5 and 11 : Nagai et al., modified by Kawai, also teach that the heater is a single ceramic heater (27, col. 5, lines 14-15 of Nagai et al.) in which a heat generating resistor (inherently) is embedded inside ceramics having the same shape as the suction surface, and the controller independently controls the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing through the plurality of cooling channels so that a temperature distribution is uniform during heating of the heater (see also col. 5, line 22 to col. 7,line 61) . Claims 1, 3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (PGPub 2015/0129135 A1) in view of Kawai ( US PAT. 4,926,903 ) . Lee et al. teach a mounting head for bonding a chip to a bonding target, the mounting head (10, Fig. 1) comprising: a mounting tool (100, Fig. 1) having a bottom surface which functions as a suction surface for sucking and holding the chip (30, Fig. 1, paragraphs [0042]-[0044]) ; a heater (140, Figs. 1 and 5-7, paragraph [0054]) arranged on a surface of the mounting tool opposite to the suction surface and heating the mounting tool; a cooling mechanism having a plurality of cooling channels (122,124,128, 132, Figs. 5-7), which guide a refrigerant (such as air) respectively to a plurality of cooling areas set in the heater, and being capable of cooling the plurality of cooling areas ( paragraphs [0056]-[0060] ); and a controller ( not shown ) controlling driving of the heater and the cooling mechanism, wherein the controller controls a flow rate of the refrigerant flowing through the plurality of cooling channels so as to obtain a desired temperature distribution during heating of the heater ( paragraph [0061] ) . However, Lee et al. silent whether the cooling mechanism is capable of cooling the plurality of cooling areas independently of one another . Kawai teaches an electrical device having a butterfly valve (or a flowmeter) for measuring a flowrate of a fluid independently in order to control a flow rate (col. 1, lines 13-19 and col. 2, lines 1-19). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a mounting head of Lee et al. et al. by a flowmeter (or a butterfly valve) as taught by Kawai in order to control a flow rate of a fluid. Re. claim 3: Lee et al. also teach that a channel cross-sectional area of the cooling channel s (122, 124) gradually increases as the cooling channel approaches the heater as shown I Fig. 7 . Re. claim 8: Lee et al. also teach that the controller causes the dry air to flow through the plurality of cooling channels in both a heating process of the chip and a cooling process of the chip performed after the heating process (paragraphs [0056]-[0061]) . Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. in view of Kawai , and further in view of Nagai et al. (US PAT. 9,398,736) . Lee et al., modified by Kawai, teach all limitations as set forth above, but silent the heater is a single ceramic heater in which a heat generating resistor is embedded inside ceramics having the same shape as the suction surface, and the controller independently controls the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing through the plurality of cooling channels so that a temperature distribution is uniform during heating of the heater. Nagai et al. teach a mounting head for bonding a chip to a bonding target comprising: a mounting tool (28, Figs. 1-2) having a bottom surface which functions as a suction surface (28a) for sucking and holding the chip (31) ; a heater (27, Figs. 1-2) arranged on a surface of the mounting tool opposite to the suction surface and heating the mounting tool (col. 5, lines 1-44); and a cooling mechanism having a plurality of cooling channels (81, 82, 86, 87, 91, 92, Fig. 2), wherein the heater is a single ceramic heater (27, col. 5, lines 14-15) in which a heat generating resistor (inherently) is embedded inside ceramics having the same shape as the suction surface, and the controller independently controls the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing through the plurality of cooling channels so that a temperature distribution is uniform during heating of the heater (see also col. 5, line 22 to col. 7,line 61) . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a mounting head of Lee et al., modified by Kawai, by the heater and the controller as taught by Kawai in order to provide obtaining desirable mounting head . Since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable rangers involves only routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.04 (il-A). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2 , 7, 9 are 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. Claim 6 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The Prior Art The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. NOGUCHI et al. (PGPub 2023/0274951 A1 ) and Koike et al. (US PAT. 6,739,036 ) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a mounting head for bonding a chip to a bonding target . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-4565 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Thomas Hong can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-0993 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /PAUL D KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 27, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 24, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103, §112 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+6.6%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1537 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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