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
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Onodera et al. (US 20240007097 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Onodera et al. (US 20240007097 A1) teaches an electronic device, comprising:
A first terminal [63 as seen attached Fig. 10] having a first center portion [as seen in attached Fig. 10], and a first external end portion [as seen in attached Fig. 10] and a first internal end portion [as seen in attached Fig. 10] that are respectively connected to opposing ends of the first center portion and respectively extend in a same direction or different directions that are opposite to each other [¶0100, attached to substrate and the internal and external portions extend in opposite directions as seen in attached Fig. 10];
A second terminal [62 as seen in attached Fig. 10] having a second center portion [as seen in attached Fig. 10], and a second external end portion [as seen in attached Fig. 10] and a second internal end portion [as seen in attached Fig. 10] that are respectively connected to opposing ends of the second center portion and respectively extend in a same direction or different directions that are opposite to each other [¶0100, attached to substrate and the internal and external portions extend in opposite directions as seen in attached Fig. 10];
An insulating sheet [50 as seen in attached Fig. 10] sandwiched by the first and second center portions [as seen in attached Fig. 10, ¶0100]; and
A casing having a first resin portion [2 Fig. 16, ¶¶0037-0038] in contact with the first and second center portions [the resin covers the switching circuit and is said to cover part of the leads [terminals] which could be the center portions], and a second resin [71 Fig. 9, ¶0066, case made with resin] portion that holds the first resin portion, the first resin portion holding at least a part of the first [63 as seen attached Fig. 10] and second terminals [62 as seen attached Fig. 10] and the insulating sheet [50 as seen in attached Fig. 10], with the first and second internal end portions and the first and second external end portions being exposed to an outside thereof [¶0066, Fig. 11 and as seen in attached Fig. 10].
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With regards to claim 2, an electronic device, comprising:
A first terminal [63 as seen attached Fig. 10] having a first center portion [as seen attached Fig. 10], and a first external end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] and a first internal end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] that are respectively bent at opposing ends of the first center portion to extend in first and second directions that are opposite to each other [¶0100, attached to substrate and the internal and external portions extend in opposite directions as seen in attached Fig. 10];
A second terminal [62 as seen attached Fig. 10] having a second center portion [as seen attached Fig. 10], and a second external end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] and a second internal end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] that are respectively bent at opposing ends of the second center portion to extend in the first and second directions [¶0100, attached to substrate and the internal and external portions extend in opposite directions as seen in attached Fig. 10];
An insulating sheet [50 as seen attached Fig. 10] sandwiched by the first and second center portions [as seen in attached Fig. 10, ¶0100]; and
A casing having a first resin portion [2 Fig. 16, ¶¶0037-0038] in contact with the first and second center portions, and a second resin [71 Fig. 9, ¶0066] portion that holds the first resin portion, the first resin portion holding at least a part of the first [63 as seen attached Fig. 10] and second [62 as seen attached Fig. 10] terminals and the insulating sheet with the first and second external end portions being exposed to an outside thereof [¶0066, Fig. 11 and as seen in attached Fig. 10].
Regarding claim 9, Onodera et al. teaches the electronic device according to claim 2, wherein
The second resin portion [71 Fig. 16] has a frame shape that surrounds a rectangular storage area in a plan view of the electronic device [¶¶0065 and 0114, there is a heat dissipation plate 70 is rectangular in shape and there is a resin surrounding the plate (first resin) and the case (second resin) covers the plate], and
The first resin portion [2 Fig. 16] is included in a longitudinal side portion [¶0065, second resin surrounding the plate, insulating substrate, and resin (first resin) on the plate in a longitudinal sense along the plate and the resin is also seen to be in a longitudinal relationship along the second resin] of the second resin portion, and the first internal end portion and the second internal end portion are exposed from the first resin portion to the storage area [¶¶0037, has leads (terminals) that are exposed from the first resin as they are partially covered, so the first and second internal end portions can be taken to be exposed].
Regarding claim 10, Onodera et al. teaches an electronic device manufacturing method, comprising:
Preparing a case having a first resin [2 Fig. 16] portion and a second resin [71 Fig. 16] portion, and first and second terminals [63 and 62 as seen attached Fig. 10], and an insulating sheet [50 as seen attached Fig. 10], wherein
The first terminal has a first center portion [as seen attached Fig. 10], and a first external end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] and a first internal end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] that are respectively bent in directions that are opposite to each other [¶0100, attached to substrate and the internal and external portions extend in opposite directions as seen in attached Fig. 10], and
The second terminal has a second center portion [as seen attached Fig. 10], and a second external end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] and a second internal end portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] that are respectively bent in directions that are opposite to each other [¶0100, attached to substrate and the internal and external portions extend in opposite directions as seen in attached Fig. 10];
Disposing the first center portion [as seen attached Fig. 10] of the first terminal, the insulating sheet [50 as seen in attached Fig. 10] and the second center portion of the second terminal to overlap one another [¶0100, the first center portion, the insulating sheet, and second center portion are disposed and overlap, the overlapping isn’t specified and the insulating sheet overlaps both center portions];
Bringing the first resin portion into contact with the first center portion and the second center portion [¶0100, the first resin (50) is in contact with both center portions], with at least a part of the first external end portion and at least a part of the second external end portion being exposed to an outside the first resin portion [¶0096, terminals are partially exposed from the second resin (71) which covers the first resin, so it can be understood the external end portions are exposed to an outside the first resin portion]; and
Molding the second resin portion to hold the first resin portion [¶0066 and 0067, shows how the different portions are put together, molded to create the case which is made up of the second resin], thereby molding the case.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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:
Regarding claim 3, the invention as claimed would be allowable as there has been no prior art found that discloses the claimed invention of claim 2 along with the additional limitation of the first internal end portion being connected to one end portion of the second long side so as to be bent away from the first opposing surface, the one end portion of the first long side and the one end portion of the second long side being located diagonally opposite to each other with respect to the rectangular shape of the first center portion in combination with the rest of the limitations in claim 3.
Claims 4-8 are dependent on claim 3 which is allowable.
Relevant Prior Art
Yano et al. (WO 2018207406 A1) also has aspects similar to the claimed invention with having two terminals that have an insulating sheet between the two terminals which could be used with other prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NOOR MOHAMMAD ISMAIL TAHIR whose telephone number is (571)272-6166. The examiner can normally be reached Monday Friday, 8 a.m. 5 p.m. ET..
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/NOOR MOHAMMAD ISMAIL TAHIR/ Examiner, Art Unit 2893
/SUE A PURVIS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2893