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 .
This office action is a response to the election of species filed on 5/6/2026.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species B, claims 1-11, 14-16 and 20, in the reply filed on 5/6/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no serious burden for performing a search for Species A-E. This is not found persuasive because Species A-E would require a separate search each, and some of the disclosed limitations are incompatible with each other and clearly each have different mode of operations functions and clearly each have different mode of operations functions and effect.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 12, 13 and 17-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 5/6/2026.
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, 11, 14, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Burger et al. (PGPub 2003/0055528 A1).
Burger et al. teach a transfer device comprising: a substrate (13, Fig. 10, paragraph [0037]); and a plurality of pick-and-place modules (17, Fig. 10, paragraph [0038]), disposed on the substrate to transfer a plurality of electronic components (10) onto the substrate as shown in Figs. 10-11, wherein at least one of the pick-and-place modules comprises: a rotating arm, rotating vertically relative to the substrate.
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Re. claim 2: A gantry structure (15, Fig. 11), disposed corresponding to the substrate, wherein the pick-and-place modules are disposed on the gantry structure.
Re. claim 3: The gantry structure comprises a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion, the second portion is disposed between the first portion and the third portion, and the pick-and-place modules are disposed on the second portion as shown in Fig. 11.
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Re. claim 11: The rotating arm comprises a rotating portion; a plurality of arm portions, connected to the rotating portion; and a plurality of pick up portions, disposed on the arm portions a shown in Fig. 10.
Re. claim 14: The transfer device includes a release film (11, Fig. 3, paragraph [0032]), wherein the electronic components are disposed on a first side of the release film.
Re. claim 16: The transfer device includes at least one pin (5, Fig. 1) located on a second side (such as an opposite side, Figs. 1 and 3) of the release film relative to the first side.
Re. claim 20: A size of the substrate is not limited by a radius of the rotating arm as shown in Fig. 10.
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.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burger et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hogan et al. (US PAT. 5,938,848).
Burger et al. teach all limitations as set forth above, but silent at least one of the tin spraying module and the flux module is disposed on the second portion. Hogan et al. teach a system having a spray gun (20, a flux module, Fig. 1) disposed within coating chamber (16, Fig. 1) to apply a coating material such as solder flux, preferably a low-solid, or no-clean flux and the spray gun is mounted on a gun mounting fixture (not shown, equivalent with the second portion) to vary the distance and to center the gun nozzle with respect to undersurface of circuit board (col. 4,lines 48-67). 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 the transfer device of Burger et al. by the flux module as taught by Hogan et al. in order to apply a coating material at a desired location.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burger et al. as applied to claim 1 above.
Burger et al. teach all limitations as set forth above, but silent a blue film for the release film. At the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the release film as recited in the claimed invention because Applicant has not disclosed that the release film as recited in the claimed invention provides an advantage, is used for a particular purpose, or solves a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected Applicant’s invention to perform equally well with Burger et al. because the release film as recited in the claimed invention would perform equally well such as disposing the electronic components on a first side of the release film in Burger et al. Therefore, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify the release film of Burger et al. to obtain the invention as specified in claim 15.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-9 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.
The Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kawaguchi (US PAT. 10,314,220), Suhara et al. (US PAT. 7,043,824), and Ricketson (US PAT. 7,493,689) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a transfer device for mounting a component to a substrate.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hong can be reached at 571-272-0993. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL D KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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