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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites, “a water cooling head assembly with a heat pipe combined with a multi-layer heat-conducting structure” in preamble, lines 1-2. The body of the claim 1 further recites “at least one heat pipe” and “a multi-layer heat-conducting structure”. It is unclear if the two recitations of “heat pipe” and “multi-layer heat-conducting structure” are two separate structures or “at least one heat pipe” refers to “a heat pipe” in the preamble; and “a multi-layer heat-conducting structure” in the body refers to the same recitation in the preamble.
For examination purposes, “a water cooling head assembly with a heat pipe combined with a multi-layer heat-conducting structure” in claim 1 and dependent claims 2-9 are construed as -- a water cooling head assembly--.
Further, claim 1 recites two occasions of “at least one heat pipe”, It is unclear if the latter recitation of the heat pipe is new or referring to the former recitation of the heat pipe.
For examination purposes, latter recitation of “at least one heat pipe” is construed as –the at least one heat pipe--; and
“the heat pipe” in claim 2 is construed as –the at least one heat pipe--.
Claims 3-9 are also rejected due to their dependency to claim 1.
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(s) 1-7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaggers (US PGPub No. 2024/0111269, a prior art having an earlier filing date) in view of Fan (US PGPub No. 2019/0174653).
Regarding claim 1, Jaggers discloses a water cooling head assembly (Figs. 1 and 2), comprising a water pump (a fluid pump, paragraph 0037, and water may be the circulating heat transfer medium, paragraph 0020), a housing (third cold plate 112C); a multi-layer heat-conducting structure (cold plates 112A and 112B) is arranged below the housing (below the third cold plate 112C); a heat-conducting bottom housing (substrate 102) is arranged below the multi-layer heat-conducting structure (below the cold plates 112A and 112B); at least one heat pipe (114C and 114D) is arranged above the multi-layer heat-conducting structure (top part of the heat pipes is arranged above the cold plates 112A and 112B); the at least one heat pipe is arranged below the multi-layer heat-conducting structure (bottom part of the heat pipes is arranged below the cold plates 112A and 112B); the multi-layer heat-conducting structure comprises a multi-layer heat-conducting structure top layer (a layer with a TEC 110B of the cold plate 112B, see also annotated figure below), a multi-layer heat-conducting structure main body (a layer below a fin of the cold plate 112B, see also annotated figure below), a multi-layer heat-conducting structure interlayer (a layer above a fin of the cold plate 112A, see also annotated figure below) and a multi-layer heat-conducting structure bottom layer (a layer with a TEC 110A of the cold plate 112A, see also annotated figure below) from top to bottom (from top to bottom of Figs. 1 or 2); and multi-layer heat sink fins are arranged inside the multi-layer heat-conducting structure (the fins in the cold plates 112A and 112B; and springs 122C and 112D, and they may be coil springs in paragraph 0041. The coil spring bear a pin/plate fin structure. The rigid coupling to the manifold 116A and a force exertion to the plates 112A and 112B of the spring 122C in paragraph 0042 indicate that the springs 122C and 122D have a conduction heat transfer between the manifold 116A/116B and the plates 112A/112B and, is at least a heat sink to ambient air).
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Jaggers fails to disclose wherein a water pump bottom housing is arranged below the water pump, and a multi-layer heat-conducting structure is arranged below the water pump bottom housing.
Fan discloses a water pump (23, Fig. 2) and wherein a water pump bottom housing (cooling head 22) is arranged below the water pump (below the pump 23).
Therefore, the fluid pump in Jaggers may be relocated and placed on top of the third cold plate 112C. As a result, the third cold plate 112C becomes “a water pump bottom housing” as claimed, and a multi-layer heat-conducting structure (cold plates 112A and 112B) is arranged below the water pump bottom housing (below the third cold plate 112C).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have provided wherein a water pump bottom housing is arranged below the water pump, and a multi-layer heat-conducting structure is arranged below the water pump bottom housing in Jagger as taught by Fan since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. It is further expected that the modification results a more compact system and less clutter for fluid pipes/hoses.
Regarding claim 2, Jaggers in claim 1 further discloses wherein the heat pipe is U-shaped (see Fig. 2, the heat pipes 114C and 114D are U-shaped).
Regarding claim 3, Jaggers in claim 1 further discloses wherein the multi-layer heat sink fin comprises top layer heat sink fins (the fins in the cold plate 112B), interlayer heat sink fins (the springs 122C and 112D) and bottom layer heat sink fins (the fins in the cold plate 112A), the top layer heat sink fins being arranged between the multi-layer heat-conducting structure top layer and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure main body (the top layer fins are between the TEC 110B and bottom side of the cold plate 112B), the interlayer heat sink fins being arranged between the multi-layer heat-conducting structure main body and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure interlayer (the coil springs 122C and 122D are between the cold plates 112B and 112A), and the bottom layer heat sink fins being arranged between the multi-layer heat-conducting structure interlayer and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure bottom layer (the bottom layer fins are between the TEC 110A and top side of the cold plate 112B).
Regarding claim 4, Jaggers in claim 3 further discloses wherein two groups of top layer heat sink fins are arranged (see two groups of the fins left-right arranged in annotated figure above), the two groups of top layer heat sink fins being fixed on two sides of a lower portion of the multi-layer heat-conducting structure top layer (the fin groups are fixed onto left and right sides of a lower portion of the top layer), two groups of interlayer heat sink fins are arranged (coil spring 112C as a group and the spring 122D as another group), the two groups of interlayer heat sink fins (21) being fixed on two sides of an upper portion of the multi-layer heat-conducting structure interlayer (fixed on left and right sides on top side of the interlayer, see Fig. 1), and the bottom layer heat sink fins (the fins in the cold plate 112A) are fixed in a middle of an upper portion of the multi-layer heat-conducting structure bottom layer (the fins in the cold plate 112A are fixed on a middle of an upper portion of the bottom layer see annotated figure above).
Regarding claim 5, Jaggers in claim 1 further discloses wherein the multi-layer heat-conducting structure top layer (the layer with a TEC 110B of the cold plate 112B) and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure main body (the layer with a fin of the cold plate 112B) form a second chamber (a second fluid passage 120B), and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure main body (the layer with a fin of the cold plate 112B), the multi-layer heat-conducting structure interlayer (a layer with a fin of the cold plate 112A) and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure bottom layer (a layer with a TEC 110A of the cold plate 112A) form a first chamber (a first fluid passage 120A).
Regarding claim 6, Jaggers in claim 5 further discloses wherein the water pump (the fluid pump placed on the third cold plate 112C) is disposed with a water pump inlet (an inlet of the pump) and a water pump outlet (an outlet of the pump), the water pump bottom housing (third cold plate 112C) is disposed with a water pump bottom housing inlet (an inlet of the fluid flowing into the third cold plate 112C) and a water pump bottom housing outlet (an outlet of the fluid flowing out from the third cold plate 112C), and the multi-layer heat-conducting structure (cold plates 112A and 112B) is disposed with a multi-layer heat-conducting structure inlet (an inlet of the fluid flowing into the cold plates 112A and 112B) and a multi-layer heat-conducting structure outlet (an outlet of the fluid flowing out from the cold plates 112A and 112B), a water flow flowing into the multi-layer heat-conducting structure inlet through the water pump bottom housing inlet (fluid flowing into the cold plates 112A and 112B has gone through or via the an inlet of the third cold plate 112C), flowing out through the multi-layer heat-conducting structure outlet after flowing into the second chamber through the first chamber (fluid flowing out from the cold plates 112A and 112B is after the second fluid passage 120B and has gone through the first fluid passage 120A), and flowing out through the water pump outlet after flowing into the water pump inlet through the water pump bottom housing outlet (fluid flowing out from the pump outlet after the pump inlet and has gone through the outlet of the third cold plate 112C).
Regarding claim 7, Jaggers in claim 1 further discloses wherein water pump bottom housing heat sink fins (fins in the third cold plate 112C) are arranged on an outer side of the water pump bottom housing (the fins are arranged on an outer side with respected to the material of the third cold plate 112C).
Regarding claim 9, Jaggers in claim 1 further discloses wherein a bracket I (left side of a mounting plate 107) and a bracket II (right side of a mounting plate 107) are arranged between the water pump bottom housing and the heat-conducting bottom housing (both sides of the mounting plate 107 is vertically between the third cold plate 112C and the substrate 102).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaggers (US PGPub No. 2024/0111269) in view of Fan (US PGPub No. 2019/0174653) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mounioloux (US PGPub No. 2009/0159244).
Regarding claim 8, Jagger as modified fails to disclose wherein the water pump is arranged with water pump fixed columns, and the water pump bottom housing is arranged with water pump bottom housing fixed columns, the water pump fixed columns being matched with the water pump bottom housing fixed columns.
Mounioloux (Fig. 1) discloses wherein the water pump (1) is arranged with water pump fixed columns (opening columns at corners of the pump 1 for fasteners shown in Fig. 8), and the water pump bottom housing (15) is arranged with water pump bottom housing fixed columns (projection columns at corners of the pump housing 15), the water pump fixed columns being matched with the water pump bottom housing fixed columns (the opening and projection columns matched as shown in Fig. 8).
Therefore, the fluid pump may be provided with the opening columns at four corners and the third cold plate 112C may be provided with the projection columns to match with the opening columns.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have provided wherein the water pump is arranged with water pump fixed columns, and the water pump bottom housing is arranged with water pump bottom housing fixed columns, the water pump fixed columns being matched with the water pump bottom housing fixed columns in Jagger in view of Mounioloux in order to provide a fixture of the pump onto the third cold plate 112C.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FOR K LING whose telephone number is (571)272-8752. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5 pm.
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/JIANYING C ATKISSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763