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 Objections
Claims 1-3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Re. claim 1: The phrase “a head through a negative pressure” as recited in lines 2-3 appears to be --a head through the negative pressure--.
The phrase “to supply a negative pressure” as recited in line 4 appears to be --to supply the negative pressure --.
The phrase “to generate a negative pressure” as recited in line 7 appears to be --to generate the negative pressure --.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Imura (WO 2017203626 A1) in view of Tanaka (US PAT. 11,231,142).
Imura teaches a component mounting device for picking up a nozzle configured to pick up a component through a negative pressure, at a holding section of a head through a negative pressure, the component mounting device comprising: a nozzle flow path configured to supply a negative pressure (68b) generated by an operation of a vacuum pump to the nozzle (28, Fig. 3); and a positive pressure flow path configured to supply a positive pressure (68a, Fig. 3).
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However, Imura silent an ejector configured to generate a negative pressure using the positive pressure of the positive pressure flow path. Tanaka teaches an electrical device including a first and second vacuum ejectors (14, 16) to generate a negative pressure by using a positive pressure (col. 3, line 65 to col. 4, line 17). 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 component mounting device of Imura by an ejector to generate a negative pressure by using a positive pressure as taught by Tanaka in order to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Imura, modified by Tanaka, also teaches that a holding section flow path configured to supply the negative pressure generated by an operation of the ejector to the holding section.
Re. claim 3: Imura, modified by Tanaka, also teaches that at least a part of the nozzle flow path and the positive pressure flow path, the ejector, and the holding section flow path are provided in the head (18, Fig. 3), wherein the component mounting device further comprises a moving section (22, 24, Fig. 1) configured to move the head in a horizontal direction, and the component picked up by the nozzle (28) is mounted on a substrate (S) as shown in Fig. 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
The Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CAO et al. (PGPub 2020/0277971 A1), and OMURA et al. (WO 2009005058 A1) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a component mounting device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-4565. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM.
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/PAUL D KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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