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
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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tepper et al. (US Pub. 2009/0206979).
Regarding claim 1, Tepper teaches a resistor (resistor comprises of an electrically conductive stack 10; see at least paragraph 0019 and figs. 1 and 2) disposed on an insulating layer (insulator plate 3; see paragraph 0026), wherein:
the resistor comprises a more-conductor-containing layer (layer 12 comprising of Al, Cu, steel, Ag or Sn; see paragraph 0027) and a more-insulator-containing layer (layer 14 comprising of mix of conductive materials and ceramic; see paragraphs 0028-0034), the more-conductor-containing layer containing more conductors than insulators (composed of metal layer, thus contain more conductor compared to the more-insulator-containing layer; see paragraph 0027), the more-insulator-containing layer being free of lead and containing more insulators than conductors (may comprise of metal, non-metal, cermet and/or ceramic, thus containing more insulator than the more-conductive-containing layer; see paragraphs 0028-0034); and
the more-conductor-containing layer includes a polished surface (surface where the movable contact 20 slides is “polished” to make it planar; see paragraphs 0052-0053).
Regarding claim 2, Tepper teaches, the resistor according to claim 1, wherein a film thickness of the more-conductor-containing layer (12) in a low-resistance region (resistance is less than 10% of the layer 14; see paragraph 0041) is thicker than a film thickness of the
more-insulator-containing layer in a high-resistance region (the ceramic layer 14 is between 0.1 to 1 times the thickness of layer 12; see paragraph 0047), the low-resistance region being
a low-resistance region in which a resistance value is equal to or lower than a prescribed
value (as a “prescribed value” resistance for layer 12 is less than 10% of the layer 14; see paragraph 0041), the high-resistance region being a high-resistance region in which the resistance value is higher than the prescribed value (as a “prescribed value” resistance for layer 12 is less than 10% of the layer 14; see paragraph 0041).
Regarding claim 3, Tepper teaches a moveable contact 20 moving along the resistor 10 (see fig. 2 and paragraphs 0052-0053).
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 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Louis (US Pat. 3,393,390).
Regarding claim 4, Louis teaches a method of manufacturing a resistor (potentiometer; see the Abstract and figs. 1-5), comprising:
forming a coating film (resistance coating 30) on an insulating layer (insulating substrate 10) by using a resistor ink free of lead (silver paint to form the resistance track 30; see col. 4, lines 25-34); and
polishing a film surface of the coating film to calibrated to desired tolerance for resistance (col. 4, lines 35-37) and to provide proper uniformity of resistance along its length (col. 2, lines 57-66).
Louis teaches the claimed invention except a polishing amount of the coating film being in a range of 0.1% to 10% with respect to a coating film amount of the coating film.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have polished the coating in an amount ranging between 0.1 to 10%, since Louis teaches that polishing allows for reaching a desired resistance and forming a uniform resistance surface along the resistive length for smoother/reduced noise operation.
Regarding claim 5, Louis teaches the method, wherein the polishing amount is determined based on an increased amount in a resistance value of the coating film after the polishing with respect to the resistance value of the coating film before the polishing (polishing is performed on the film surface of the coating film to calibrated to desired tolerance for resistance [col. 4, lines 35-37] and to provide proper uniformity of resistance along its length [col. 2, lines 57-66]).
Conclusion
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/KYUNG S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833