DETAILED ACTION
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 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ahn (US 20180286569 A1).
Regarding Claim 1:
Ahn teaches that an inductor comprising:
a base body (100-1, Fig. 1; para 0040-0046) including a coil (120, Fig. 2)
conductor and a core (130, Fig. 2) in which the coil conductor is embedded, the coil conductor including a wound section (22, Drawing: 1) in which a conductive wire is wound,
wherein
the base body is substantially rectangular-parallelepiped-shaped and includes a pair of principal faces (i.e. upper and lower surface of element 100-1 in Fig. 1) that are opposite to each other, a pair of side faces (i.e. left and right side surface of element 100-1 in Fig. 1) that are opposite to each other and adjacent to the principal faces, and two end faces that are opposite to each other and adjacent to the principal faces and the side faces,
two extended sections extend from respective ones of two extending points (Da, Db; Drawing: 1) on an outer periphery of the wound section, the two extended sections including respective transition portions (24a1, 24b1; Drawing: 1) and respective exposed portions, the transition portions connecting the
extending points to exposed points (Ea, Eb; Drawing: 1) exposed on the two end faces of the base body, the exposed portions being exposed on the end faces,
the two exposed portions are connected to respective outer electrodes (140, Fig. 2), and
at least one of the exposed points faces the wound section with a tangent line (L3, Drawing: 1) disposed therebetween when viewed in a direction normal to the principal faces, the tangent line being a tangent line of an outer periphery (see Drawing: 1) of the wound section at a corresponding one of the extending points.
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Drawing: 1, an annotated version of Fig. 2
Regarding Claim 3:
As applied to claim 1, Ahn teaches that at least one of the exposed portions crosses a bisector (CW, Drawing: 1) of a corresponding one of the end faces, the bisector extending along the corresponding end face and passing through midpoints of sides between the corresponding end face and the principal faces.
Regarding Claim 6:
As applied to claim 1, Ahn teaches that an angle (A3, Drawing: 1) between a straight line connecting the exposed point and the extending point of one of the extended sections and a tangent line of the outer periphery of the wound section at the extending point when viewed in the direction normal to the principal faces differs (i.e. A4 is different than A3; construed from Drawing: 1) from an angle (A4, Drawing: 1) between a straight line (L4, Drawing: 1) connecting the exposed point and the extending point of another one of the extended sections and a tangent line of the outer periphery of the wound section at the extending point when viewed in the direction normal to the principal faces.
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 of this title, 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 2 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over by Ahn
Regarding Claim 2:
As applied to claim 1, Ahn teaches that a length (i.e. length of 24a2 in Drawing: 1) of at least one of the exposed portions along sides except a corresponding one of the end faces and the principal faces is from 1/7 to 1/2 of a distance between the two side faces that are opposite to each other.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have a corresponding one of the end faces and the principal faces is from 1/7 to 1/2 of a distance between the two side faces that are opposite to each other, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. See MPEP 2144.05 (II-A)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have a corresponding one of the end faces and the principal faces is from 1/7 to 1/2 of a distance between the two side faces that are opposite to each other as claimed to meet design requirements for certain application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 4 recites, two straight lines, each of which connects the exposed point and the extending point of a corresponding one of the extended sections, define a first angle of from 75 degrees to less than 180 degrees when viewed in the direction normal to the principal faces, the first angle being greater than a second angle between two tangent lines of the outer periphery of the wound section at the two extending points when viewed in the direction normal to the principal faces.
The references of record do not teach or suggest the aforementioned limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify those references to include such limitations.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. A list of pertinent prior art is attached in form 892.
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/KAZI HOSSAIN/
Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/SHAWKI S ISMAIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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