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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07 January 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5-9, 11-14, and 18-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2003/0189815 A1) in view of Macias et al. (US 2021/02086947 A1)
Re. claims 1, 9, and 14: Lee discloses:
An apparatus comprising a printed circuit board (14) having a first side (top side) that includes an integrated circuit (C) and a first set of one or more power delivery components (capacitors) and a second side (bottom side) that is opposite the first side (see fig. 1, 2; para. 0054-0061)
a first cooling system (18, 60) positioned over the integrated circuit and the first set of one or more power delivery components (capacitors); and (see fig. 1, 2, 12)
a rigid heat transfer path formed by a second cooling system (20, 76) being reversibly coupled (using 26 and 34) at a coupling (see fig. 5) located along the rigid heat transfer path to the first cooling system and positioned on the second side (see fig. 2, 4, 5, 12; para. 0066-0074)
wherein the front side cooling system and the back side cooling element are removably coupled (via screws 26, 34) at a coupling location to form a rigid heat transfer path (22). (see fig. 4, 5; para. 0066-0074)
Lee fails to disclose:
The second side includes a second set of one or more power delivery components
Macias discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a printed circuit board (108) having a first side (top of 108) that includes an integrated circuit (104) and a second side (bottom of 108) that is opposite the first side and that includes a second set of one or more power delivery components (112, 116); (see fig. 1; para. 0014-0017)
a first cooling system (120, 146, 133, 144 combined) positioned over the integrated circuit and the first set of one or more power delivery components; and (see fig. 1; para. 0016)
a second cooling system (136, 124, 134, 132, 140 combined) coupled to the first cooling system and positioned to cool the second set of one or more power delivery components. (see fig. 1; para. 0016)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the second set of power delivery components to Lee as taught by Macias. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to do this in order to remove spacing constraints on the circuit board by using both sides of the circuit board. (Macias para. 0014)
Re. claim 2: Lee discloses wherein the first cooling system (18) and the second cooling system (20) are directly coupled to one another at a coupling location ( 27, 28, 30, 54) to form a heat transfer path (22, 26, 34) for transferring thermal energy from the second cooling system to the first cooling system. (see fig. 4, 5; para. 0062-0066)
Re. claim 5, 11, and 18: Lee discloses wherein the heat transfer path (22, 26, 34) is configured to transfer the thermal energy through a thermal interface material (22) at the coupling location (27, 28, 84, 62). (see figs. 4, 5, 9-11; para. 0093-0098)
Re. claims 6 and 19: Lee discloses wherein the printed circuit board (14) has one or more cutouts (36) therein configured to:
accommodate passage therethrough of the rigid heat transfer path (26, 34); and (see fig. 5; para. 0072-0075)
facilitate direct coupling of the first cooling system and the second cooling system at a location at or above the first side (top side) of the printed circuit board (at least a portion of 26 is above the PCB). (see fig. 5)
Re. claims 7, 12, and 20: Lee discloses, wherein at least one of the first cooling system (18) and the second cooling system (20) are reversibly coupled together using one or more fasteners (plural 26 and 34) at the coupling location. (see fig. 2, 5)
Re. claim 8: Lee discloses wherein the first cooling system (18) includes an air-cooled heat sink including a plurality of conductive fins. (see fig. 1, 2; para. 0054-0060)
Re. claim 13: Macias discloses wherein the back side cooling element (236) includes at least one copper plate (copper slug), heat pipes, vapor chambers, three- dimensional vapor chambers, or combinations thereof, and (see fig. 2; para. 0029)
the heat transfer path (248) includes one or more copper pillars, copper blocks, heat pipes (heat pipe), vapor chambers, three-dimensional vapor chambers, or combinations thereof. (see fig. 2; para. 0027)
Re. claims 21 and 24: Lee discloses wherein the second cooling system (20) comprises:
a horizontal conductive plate (base plate of heat sink 20) extending parallel to the printed circuit board (14); and
one or more heat transfer path elements (26, 34) extending perpendicularly from the horizontal conductive plate and through one or more cut outs (36) in the printed circuit board. (see fig. 1, 2, 5; para. 0061-0068)
Re. claims 22 and 25: Lee discloses the first cooling system (18) includes a plurality of conductive fins; and (see fig. 2, 4, 5)
the one or more heat transfer path elements (34, 26) are configured to transfer thermal energy from the horizontal conductive plate (baseplate of 20) to the plurality of conductive fins. (see fig. 4, 5; para. 0087-0090)
Re. claims 23 and 26: Lee discloses wherein the one or more heat transfer path elements (26, 34) are reversibly coupled (threaded) to the first cooling system (18). (see fig. 4, 5; para. 0087-0090)
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, filed 07 January 2026, see pages 7-8, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues on pages 7-8, regarding claims 1, 9, and 14, that Lee does not disclose “a heat transfer path formed by a second cooling system being reversibly coupled at a coupling location located along the heat transfer path to the first cooling system and the second cooling system positioned to cool the second set of one or more power delivery components.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The screws (26, 34) are the coupling components along the heat transfer path. Looking to Lee’s Fig. 5, the screws (26, 34) directly connect the top and bottom heat sinks (18, 20) and coupled to each other through the printed circuit board (14). This is the same connection structure and the same rigid heat transfer path as claimed as illustrated in Fig. 9-10 of the immediate application. Therefore, the teachings of Lee and Macias render the claims unpatentable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Damaraju et al. (US 2022/0264741 A1) discloses a two sided PCB with heat dissipating covers on both sides thereof. Sankman et al. (US 2020/0357721 A1) discloses a top and bottom package with combined cooling structure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM B DRAVININKAS whose telephone number is (571)270-1353. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9a-6p MT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JAYPRAKASH (JP) N GANDHI can be reached at 571-272-3740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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June 20, 2026
/ADAM B DRAVININKAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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