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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 10- 18 and 20 have been considered but are moot due to new grounds of rejections cited below.
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.
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 10, 11, 12, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al. (US 20140266280) in view of Lee et al. (WO 2017123010A1).
Regarding clam 10, Yeh et al. teach An electro-conductive contact pin module, (Note Fig. 5) comprising:
a support frame including connecting portions; (22, Fig. 5, par. 0040) and
electro-conductive contact pins (11, par. 0041, Fig. 4B) provided in the support frame through the connecting portions, (Note holding structure 22) wherein each of the electro-conductive contact pins comprises:
a pin body (10, Fig. 3) including first and second end portions and an intermediate portion between the first and second end portions;
Yeh et al. does not teach wherein the pin body is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores.
Lee et al. teach wherein the pin body (Note Fig. 4 below) is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, (Note In addition, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a microneedle probe in which the step of forming an electrode forms an anodized aluminum (AAO) template and electroplats the gold nanorods to protrude to the electrode surface.) (Anodized Aluminum Oxide refers to an aluminum substrate in which nano-sized pores are regularly arranged on an oxidized aluminum surface by anodizing aluminum, and as shown in FIG. Using the aluminum oxide as a template, a plurality of gold nanorods 31 protruding from the surface of the electrode 30 may be manufactured.) (also note the pores are implicit to the anodized aluminum); and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores. (Note Fig. 4 below)
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Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of wherein the pin body is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores to provide enhanced durability and corrosion resistance.
Regarding claim 11, Yeh et al. teach wherein the functional coating is formed on at least a portion of the support frame. (Note probe 11 containing functional coating is connected to the holding structure 22 which is interpreted as being formed on a portion of the support frame.)
Regarding claim 12, Yeh et al. teach An electro-conductive contact pin, (Note 11, Fig. 3 below) comprising:
a pin body including first and second end portions and an intermediate portion between the first and second end portions; (Note annotated Fig. 3 below)
Yeh et al. does not teach teach wherein the pin body is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores.
Lee et al. teach wherein the pin body (Note Fig. 4 below) is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, (Note In addition, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a microneedle probe in which the step of forming an electrode forms an anodized aluminum (AAO) template and electroplats the gold nanorods to protrude to the electrode surface.) (Anodized Aluminum Oxide refers to an aluminum substrate in which nano-sized pores are regularly arranged on an oxidized aluminum surface by anodizing aluminum, and as shown in FIG. Using the aluminum oxide as a template, a plurality of gold nanorods 31 protruding from the surface of the electrode 30 may be manufactured.) (also note the pores are implicit to the anodized aluminum); and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores. (Note Fig. 4 below)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of wherein the pin body is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores to provide enhanced durability and corrosion resistance.
Regarding claim 20, Yeh et al. teach An electro-conductive contact pin, (Note 11, Fig. 3 below) comprising a pin body including first and second end portions and an intermediate portion between the first and second end portions, (Note 11, Fig. 3 below) wherein the first end portion is further provided with a functional coating on a surface thereof in addition to a material constituting the second end portion, (Note 11, Fig. 3 below) and the intermediate portion is further provided with an insulating coating on a surface thereof in addition to a material constituting the first end portion. (Note 11, Fig. 3 below)
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Yeh et al. does not teach wherein the pin body is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores.
Lee et al. teach wherein the pin body (Note Fig. 4 below) is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, (Note In addition, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a microneedle probe in which the step of forming an electrode forms an anodized aluminum (AAO) template and electroplats the gold nanorods to protrude to the electrode surface.) (Anodized Aluminum Oxide refers to an aluminum substrate in which nano-sized pores are regularly arranged on an oxidized aluminum surface by anodizing aluminum, and as shown in FIG. Using the aluminum oxide as a template, a plurality of gold nanorods 31 protruding from the surface of the electrode 30 may be manufactured.) (also note the pores are implicit to the anodized aluminum); and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores. (Note Fig. 4 below)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of wherein the pin body is formed within an opening formed by etching a portion of an anodic aluminum oxide plate including a plurality of pores, and wherein a fine trench is formed on a side surface of the pin body in contact with the pores to provide enhanced durability and corrosion resistance.
Regarding claim 16, Yeh et al. does not teach the fine trench in contact with the pores is formed on a side surface of the second end portion and extends in a thickness direction of the electro-conductive contact pin.
Lee et al. teach the fine trench in contact with the pores is formed on a side surface of the second end portion (Note that all portions of Fig. 4 are in contact with each other therefore the trench is in contact with the side surface and second end portion) and extends in a thickness direction (Note extends left to right which is interpreted as thickness direction)of the electro-conductive contact pin (31, Fig. 4 below) . (In an embodiment of the present invention, the surface area of the electrode 30 is formed through a gold nanorod structure in which a gold nanorod 31 using an anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template is formed on the surface of the electrode 30. It can be adjusted in the range of 10 times to 1000 times to enable accurate electrical conductivity measurement even in the bipolar measurement cell method. ) (Anodized Aluminum Oxide refers to an aluminum substrate in which nano-sized pores are regularly arranged on an oxidized aluminum surface by anodizing aluminum, and as shown in FIG. Using the aluminum oxide as a template, a plurality of gold nanorods 31 protruding from the surface of the electrode 30 may be manufactured.)
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Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of the fine trench in contact with the pores is formed on a side surface of the second end portion and extends in a thickness direction of the electro-conductive contact pin to provide enhanced durability and corrosion resistance.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al. (US 20140266280) in view of Lee et al. (WO 2017123010A1) further in view of Campbell et al. (US 20050134298).
Regarding claim 13, Yeh et al. teach a functional coating formed on a surface of the first end portion of the pin body,
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Yeh et al. does not teach wherein the functional coating is continuously formed on the surfaces of the intermediate portion and the first end portion of the pin body, and is not formed on a surface of the second end portion.
Campbell et al. teach wherein the functional coating is continuously formed on the surfaces of the intermediate portion and the first end portion of the pin body, and is not formed on a surface of the second end portion. (Note annotated Fig. 10 below and par. 0038)
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Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of wherein the functional coating is continuously formed on the surfaces of the intermediate portion and the first end portion of the pin body, and is not formed on a surface of the second end portion to reduce cost by using less material.
Claims 14 and 15 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al. (US 20140266280) in view of Lee et al. (WO 2017123010A1) in view of Tunaboylu et al. (US 20060027747).
Regarding clam 14, Yeh et al. teach a functional coating formed on a surface of the first end portion of the pin body,
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Yeh et al. does not teach wherein the functional coating is formed only on the first end portion.
Tunaboylu et al. teach wherein the functional coating is formed only on the first end portion. (A method of processing a probe element includes (a) providing a probe element comprising a first conductive material, and (b) coating only a tip portion of the probe element with a second conductive material.) Note abstract.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of wherein the functional coating is formed only on the first end portion provide increased hardness and wear protection while minimizing cost. (Note Tunaboylu et al. par. 0017)
Regarding claim 15, Yeh et al. teach a functional coating formed on a surface of the first end portion of the pin body,
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Yeh et al. does not teach wherein the functional coating is made of Au.
Tunaboylu et al. teach wherein the functional coating is made of Au. (Note par. 0003)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of wherein the functional coating is made of Au to increase the hardness and decrease wear of the probe. (Note Tunaboylu et al. par. 0003)
Claims 17 and 18 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al. (US 20140266280) in view of Lee et al. (WO 2017123010A1) in view of Tanioka et al. (US 20060082380).
Regarding claim 17, Yeh et al. teach an insulating coating formed on a surface of the intermediate portion of the pin body; and a functional coating formed on a surface of the first end portion of the pin body
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Yeh et al. does not teach wherein a side surface of the second end portion is different in roughness range from a side surface of the first end portion.
Tanioka et al. teach wherein a side surface of the second end portion is different in roughness range from a side surface of the first end portion. (a roughness pattern comprising fine marks is provided on the surfaces of the probe pins on the side having the electric contacts for contacting the electrodes of the semiconductor device to be inspected.) Note abstract. Examiner’s position is that one side of the probe is rough and the other side is not .
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et a. to include the teaching of wherein a side surface of the second end portion is different in roughness range from a side surface of the first end portion to provide higher friction, which helps the probe maintain consistent contact with the workpiece
Regarding claim 18, Yeh et al. teach an insulating coating formed on a surface of the intermediate portion of the pin body; and a functional coating formed on a surface of the first end portion of the pin body
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Yeh et al. does not wherein a side surface of the second end portion is different in roughness range from a side surface of the intermediate portion.
Tanioka et al. teach wherein a side surface of the second end portion is different in roughness range from a side surface of the intermediate portion. (a roughness pattern comprising fine marks is provided on the surfaces of the probe pins on the side having the electric contacts for contacting the electrodes of the semiconductor device to be inspected.) Note abstract. Examiner’s position is that the probes has intermediate portion and that one side of the probe is rough (contact side) and the opposite side which also has an intermediate portion is not.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh et al. to include the teaching of a side surface of the second end portion is different in roughness range from a side surface of the intermediate portion to provide higher friction, which helps the probe maintain consistent contact with the workpiece.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEMETRIUS R PRETLOW whose telephone number is (571)272-3441. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 5:30-1:30.
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, Lee Rodak can be reached at 571-270-5628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEMETRIUS R PRETLOW/ Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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