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 . Claims 1-20 are pending in the current application.
Claim Objections
Regarding Claim 20, line 2, perhaps the language “layer, said” should be changed to “layer, and said.”
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.
Claims 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Specifically, there is no antecedent basis for the language “said first groove” recited in line 2 and “said fifth groove” recited in line 7.
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.
Claims 1-3, 11-14, and 20, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colby et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0027821 A1, hereinafter “Colby”) in view of Wang et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 2014/0146432 A1, hereinafter “Wang”).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Colby discloses a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) over-current protection device (Abstract, FIG. 7), comprising: a first PTC component that includes a first electrode (40; FIG. 7), a second electrode (42; FIG. 7), and a first PTC element (30b; FIG. 7) sandwiched between said first electrode (40) and said second electrode (42; FIG. 7), a second PTC component that includes a third electrode (44), a fourth electrode (18), and a second PTC element (30c) sandwiched between said third electrode (44) and said fourth electrode (18), and a first insulation layer (54; FIG. 7) that is disposed between said first PTC component and said second PTC component (FIG. 7).
Colby does not disclose the claimed (i) first conductive via and second conductive via, as recited in Claim 1, (ii) conductive vias, layer, and component, as recited in Claim 3, (iii) via location, as recited in Claim 11, (iv) via location, as recited in Claim 12, (v) layer, as recited in Claim 13, (vi) vias, as recited in Claim 14, and (vii) material, as recited in Claim 20.
However, Wang discloses (i) a first conductive via (12; FIG. 10) that electrically connects said first electrode (131) and said third electrode (13; FIG. 10), and a second conductive via (12’; FIG. 10) that electrically connects said second electrode (131’) and said fourth electrode (13’; FIG. 10), as recited in Claim 1, (ii) that the first conductive via (12) and said second conductive via (12’) extend through said first PTC component (a first one of 10 between 11a and 11b adjacent a lower one of 13; FIG. 10), said first insulation layer (a first one of 15 adjacent a lower one of 131; FIG. 10), and said second PTC component (a second one of 10 between 11a and 11b and adjacent a lower one of 131; FIG. 10), as recited in Claim 3, (iii) that the first conductive via (12) and said second conductive via (12’) are located at opposite edges of said PTC over-current protection device (FIG. 10), as recited in Claim 11, (iv) that the first conductive via (12) and the second conductive via (12’) are located at a same edge of said PTC over-current protection device (e.g., at an edge of 15; FIG. 10), as recited in Claim 12, (v) a second insulation layer (15) disposed on said fourth electrode (13’; FIG. 10), and a fifth electrode (a top one of 131; FIG. 10) disposed on said second insulation layer (a middle one of 15; FIG. 10) opposite to said fourth electrode (13’; FIG. 10) and electrically connected to said first conductive via (12; FIG. 10), as recited in Claim 13, (vi) a first conductive via (12) and said second conductive via (12’) extend through said first PTC component (a first one of 10 between 11a and 11b adjacent a lower one of 13; FIG. 10), said first insulation layer (54), said second PTC component, said second insulation layer, and said fifth electrode, as recited in Claim 14, and (vii) that each of said first insulation layer, said second insulation layer, said third insulation layer is made of epoxy glass fiber (¶ [0009]), as recited in Claim 20.
Regarding Claim 2, Colby discloses that the second electrode (42) and said third electrode (44) are disposed adjacent to said first insulation layer (54) relative to said first electrode (40) and said fourth electrode (18; FIG. 7), as recited in Claim 2.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wang with those of Colby to establish an electrical connection across multiple insulative layers.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Colby and Wang in view of Chen et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2021/0305807 A1, hereinafter “Chen”).
The combination of Colby and Wang discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention but does not disclose the claimed leads. However, Chen does not disclose a first conductive lead (7; FIG. 3) bonded to said first PTC component (41, 42, 43; FIG. 3) and a second conductive lead (5; FIG. 3) bonded to said second PTC component (31, 32, 33; FIG. 3). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Chen with those of Colby and Wang to provide an electrical connection to an external component.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-9, 15, and 17-19, 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 fails to teach, disclose, or suggest, either alone or in combination, a first conductive via electrically isolated from a second electrode and a fourth electrode through the second groove and the fourth groove, respectively, and a second conductive via electrically isolated from a first electrode and a third electrode through the first groove and the third groove, respectively, as recited in each of Claim 4 and 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure. Chen et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 11,404,186 B1) discloses a plurality of grooves but does not disclose a first conductive via electrically isolated from a second electrode and a fourth electrode through the second groove and the fourth groove, respectively, and a second conductive via electrically isolated from a first electrode and a third electrode through the first groove and the third groove, respectively, as recited in Claim 4.
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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
Prosecution Insights