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 § 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 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yan (JP 2015-186196).
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ariji et al. (US 2013/0106249).
With respect to claim 1, both Yan and Ariji et al. disclose a resonator device (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Fig s 1-2 of Ariji et al.) comprising: a resonator element (item 130 of Yan / item 130 of Ariji et al.); a container (items 110/120 of Yan / items 110/120 of Ariji et al.) configured to house the resonator element (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Fig 1-2 of Ariji et al.); and a bonding member (item 141 of Yan / item 141 of Ariji et al.) configured to bond the resonator element and the container to each other (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Figs 1-2 of Ariji et al.), wherein the resonator element has a vibrating part (item 131 of Yan / item 131 of Ariji et al.) which has a first principal surface provided with a first excitation electrode (item 134, upper electrode of Yan / item 134, upper electrode of Ariji et al.), a second principal surface provided with a second excitation electrode (item 134, lower electrode of Yan / item 134, lower electrode of Ariji et al.) and having an obverse-reverse relationship with the first principal surface (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Figs 1-2 of Ariji et al.), and a side surface extending in a first direction along a displacement direction of a thickness-shear vibration excited by the first excitation electrode and the second excitation electrode (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Figs 1-2 of Ariji et al.), and which has a longitudinal direction in a second direction as a direction crossing the first direction (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Figs 1-2 of Ariji et al.), a coupling arm (item 133 of Yan / item 133 of Ariji et al.) extending in the second direction from the side surface of the vibrating part, and a support part (item 132 of Yan / item 132 of Ariji et al.) which includes a first support arm extending in the first direction from the coupling arm, which extends in the first direction, and which is bonded to the container via the bonding member (Figs 1-3 of Yan / Figs 1-2 of Ariji et al.).
With respect to claim 3, Yan discloses the resonator device according to Claim 1, wherein the coupling arm extends from a corner part at an opposite direction side to the first direction on the side surface (Figs 1-3).
With respect to claim 4, Yan discloses the resonator device according to Claim 3, wherein in a plan view, the bonding member is located at the first direction side of the coupling arm (Figs 1-3).
With respect to claim 5, Ariji et al. discloses the resonator device according to Claim 1, wherein the support part includes a second support arm extending from the coupling arm in a third direction as an opposite direction to the first direction (Figs 1-2).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ariji et al.
With respect to claim 2, both Yan and Ariji et al. disclose the resonator device according to Claim 1.
Both Yan and Ariji et al. are silent with respect to the dimensional details of their respective bonding members and therefore do not disclose that in a plan view, a bonding area of a region where the bonding member is bonded to the support part is no lower than 20 % as large as an area of the support part.
However, it has been held that a mere change in relative dimensions or proportions is obvious (Gardner v. TEC Systems Inc., 220 USPQ 777). Therefore, at the time of effective filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the bonding members of either Yan or Ariji et al. to be any suitable size, including sizes that include bonding areas of 20% or more of the area of the support part for the benefit of achieving the desired bond strength between the resonator and the container.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-11 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.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest “the bonding member includes a first adhesive, and a second adhesive arranged at a distance from the first adhesive, the first adhesive and the second adhesive are each an electrically-conductive adhesive, the first support electrode is bonded to the container via the first adhesive, and the second support electrode is bonded to the container via the second adhesive” in combination with the remaining elements of claim 6.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest “a first support electrode electrically coupled to the first excitation electrode, and a second support electrode which is electrically coupled to the second excitation electrode to be located at the first direction side of the first support electrode, the first support electrode and the second support electrode are disposed on the first supporting principal surface, and the first support electrode and the second support electrode are electrically coupled to the container via bonding wires” in combination with the remaining elements of claim 7.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest “the first support electrode is disposed on the first supporting principal surface, the second support electrode is disposed on the second supporting principal surface, the bonding member is an electrically-conductive adhesive, the first support electrode is electrically coupled to the container via the bonding member, and the second support electrode is electrically coupled to the container via a bonding wire” in combination with the remaining elements of claim 9.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest “wherein the bonding member includes a first adhesive, a second adhesive arranged at a distance from the first adhesive, and a third adhesive arranged at distances from the first adhesive and the second adhesive” in combination with the remaining elements of claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Derek John Rosenau whose telephone number is (571)272-8932. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7 am to 5:30 pm Central Time.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached at (571) 270-7938. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DEREK J ROSENAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
Prosecution Insights