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 Species 1, Figures 1-3, Claims 1-13, 15 and 17 in the reply filed on 7/24/2026 is acknowledged.
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) 1-3, 6-7, 9, 12-13, 15 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamauchi et al. [US 2021/0104353 A1] in view of Jung et al. [US 2021/0225578 A1].
Regarding claims 1-3, Yamauchi et al. disclose an inductor component [1, figures 1-19B] comprising:
an element body [20] having a principal/main surface;
a plurality of inductor wires [30, 40, 50] extending parallel to the principal surface within the element body;
a plurality of columnar wires [or conductors 61, 62, 63] connected to ends of the inductor wires and extending in direction intersecting the principal surface; and
a plurality of outer electrodes [71, 72, 73] connected to the columnar wires and exposed from the principal surface [figure 1], wherein the plurality of inductor wires include a first inductor wire [30] extending parallel to the principal surface and a second inductor wire [50] extending in a same plane as the first inductor wire, the plurality of columnar wires include a plurality of first columnar wires [61] connected to an end [32] of the first inductor wire and a plurality of second columnar wires [62] connected to an end [52] of the second inductor wire [figure 1], the plurality of outer electrodes include a plurality of first outer electrodes [71] connected to the plurality of first columnar wires and a plurality of second outer electrodes [72] connected to the plurality of second columnar wires.
Yamauchi et al. further discloses the plurality of second outer electrodes include a first end electrode [73] connected to a first end of the second inductor wire with a corresponding one of the second columnar wires [63] interposed therebetween, and a second end electrode [73] connected to a second end of the second inductor wire with a corresponding one of the second columnar wires [63] interposed therebetween. Yamauchi et al. discloses the plurality of inductor wires include a third inductor wire [50, 40] extending in the same plane as the first inductor wire, the plurality of columnar wires include a third columnar wire [64, 62] connected to an end of the third inductor wire, the plurality of outer electrodes include a third outer electrode [74, 72] connected to the third columnar wire
Yamauchi et al. disclose the instant claimed invention except for the specific of the second outer electrodes relative to the first inductor wire.
Jung et al. discloses a coil component [1000, figures 1-2] comprising:
- a body [100] formed of magnetic and resin;
- first and second coils [300/311/312, 400/411/412] arranged inside the body, wherein the first and second coils arranged on the same plane [figure 2]; and
- a plurality of external electrodes [510, 520, 530, 540] arranged on the body and connected to the first and second coils, wherein when view in a direction orthogonal to the principle/main surface, the first coil has a portion overlapping at least one of the plurality of external electrodes [figure 2].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the external/outer electrodes arrangement of Jung et al. for the coil component of Yamauchi et al., for the purpose of facilitating and/or improving internal/external connections.
Regarding claims 6-7, Jung et al. discloses when viewed in the direction orthogonal to the principal surface, the plurality of outer electrodes have an identical shape and an identical area [figure 2].
Regarding claim 9, Yamauchi et al. discloses each inductor wire has a wire body [31, 51, 41] and a pad [32, 52, 42] that is connected to an end of the wire body and that has a large wire width relative to the wire body, and when viewed transparently in the direction orthogonal to the principal surface, at least one selected from a size and a shape of the pad of the first inductor wire is different from the pad of the second inductor wire [figure 1].
Regarding claims 12 and 17, Yamauchi et al. discloses a reduction in size and height of the device [papa 0005].
The specific distance of the inductor wire relative to principle surface and the specific height dimension of the device would have been an obvious design consideration based on the intended applications and/or environments.
Regarding claim 13, Yamauchi et al. discloses, when viewed transparently in the direction orthogonal to the principal surface, at least two inductor wires of the plurality of inductor wires extend spirally, and the two inductor wires of the inductor wires extending spirally extend spirally in an identical direction [figure 19A].
Regarding claim 15, Yamauchi et al. discloses, when viewed transparently in the direction orthogonal to the principal surface, at least two inductor wires of the plurality of inductor wires extend spirally, and one inductor wire of the inductor wires extending spirally has an inner diameter different from an inner diameter of another one of the inductor wires extending spirally [figure 19A].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 8, 10-11, 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.
Conclusion
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/TUYEN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
