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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-5, 7 and 11 in the reply filed on 5/11/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 6 and 8-17 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5/11/26.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 2/06/24, 4/12/24, and 7/03/24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamaoka et al. (US PGPub 2019/0302350, hereinafter referred to as “Yamaoka”, IDS reference).
Yamaoka discloses the semiconductor device as claimed. See figures 1-8C and corresponding text, where Yamaoka teaches, in claim 1, a light emitting device comprising:
a substrate (10);
a light emitting element (1) arranged on the top surface of the substrate (10);
a frame body (5) arranged on the top surface of the substrate (10) so as to surround the light emitting element (1) and reflecting light from the light emitting element (1) (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]); and
a sealing material (3) arranged inside the frame body (5) and sealing the light emitting element (1), wherein the frame body (5) at least has a first frame portion having a first inner circumferential curved surface (9b) protruding to the side of the light emitting element (1) and a second frame portion having a second inner circumferential curved surface (9a) protruding to the side of the light emitting element (1), the first inner circumferential curved surface and the second inner circumferential curved surface each have the shape of a cross section convex upward, and a connection portion of the first frame portion and the second frame portion is arranged so as to have the same height as that of the top surface of the light emitting element (1) (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]).
Yamaoka teaches, in claim 2, wherein an inclination angle of the first inner circumferential curved surface in the connection portion is smaller than an inclination angle of the second inner circumferential curved surface in the connection portion (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]).
Yamaoka teaches, in claim 3, wherein a difference between the height of the connection portion from the surface of the substrate and the height of the top surface of the light emitting element from the surface of the substate is less than or equal to
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0% of the height of the top surface of the light emitting element from the surface of the substrate (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]).
Yamaoka teaches, in claim 4, wherein a distance from the light emitting element to the connection portion is less than or equal to 300µm ([0065]).
Yamaoka teaches, in claim 5, wherein a ratio of the height of the second frame portion to the distance from the light emitting element to the connection portion is not less than 0.2 and not more than 1.5 (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]).
Yamaoka teaches, in claim 7, wherein the first frame portion and the second frame portion include resin and titanium oxide and in the first frame portion and the second frame portion, the content of the titanium oxide with the resin taken as a reference is not less than 30 phr and not more than 130 phr (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]).
Yamaoka teaches, in claim 11, wherein in the short-side direction, a length obtained by adding a separation distance between the front end of one of the pair of the first frame portions facing each other and the end portion of the substrate and a separation distance between the front end of the other of the pair and the end portion of the substrate is longer than a length obtained by adding a separation distance between the front end of one of the pair of the first frame portions facing each other and the light emitting element and a separation distance between the front end of the other of the pair and the light emitting element (figures 1A-3; [0033-0047]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STANETTA D ISAAC whose telephone number is (571)272-1671. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Leonard Chang can be reached at 571-270-3691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STANETTA D ISAAC/ Examiner, Art Unit 2898 May 30, 2026
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