DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claims 1-26 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 2, 5, 15, and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The Examiner suggest making the following changes to improve claim language clarity within the claims:
On the penultimate line of claim 1, insert --at least one-- before “first”.
On line 2 of claim 2, insert --at least one-- before “first mark”.
On line 3 of claim 2, insert --two or more-- before “first”.
On line 3 of claim 15, change “is” to --are--.
On lines 5-7 claim 5, the Examiner suggests deleting “, and a first mark conductor pattern in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which one of the coil conductors is configured” as this limitation is repetitive to the previously recited limitation in claim 5.
On lines 5-7 claim 18, the Examiner suggests deleting “, and a second mark conductor pattern in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which one of the coil conductors is configured” as this limitation is repetitive to the previously recited limitation in claim 18.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 9, 14-16, 18-19, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hirukawa US 2019/0304667 in view of JP 2018037516.
As per claims 1-3, 5-6, 9, 14-16, 18-19, and 22, Hirukawa discloses in Figs. 1-5c a multilayer coil component (e.g. multilayer coil component 1) comprising:
as per claim 1, a multilayer body (e.g. multilayer body 10) including a plurality of insulating layers (e.g. insulating layers 31a-31g) that are stacked, and a coil (e.g. coil conductors 32a-32d), a first connection conductor (Fig. 3, left via conductor 33g), and a second connection conductor (Fig. 3, right via conductor 33g) inside the multilayer body; and a first outer electrode (e.g. first outer electrode 21) and a second outer electrode (e.g. second outer electrode 22) that are electrically connected to the coil, wherein the coil is configured by electrically connecting a plurality of coil conductors (e.g. coil conductors 32a-32d), which are stacked together with the insulating layers, to one another, the multilayer body has a first end surface (e.g. end face 11) and a second end surface (e.g. end face 12), which face each other in a length direction (e.g. x-direction), a first main surface (e.g. major face 13) and a second main surface (e.g. major face 14), which face each other in a height direction (e.g. y-direction) perpendicular to the length direction, and a first side surface (e.g. lateral face 16) and a second side surface (e.g. lateral face 15), which face each other in a width direction (e.g. z-direction) perpendicular to the length direction and the height direction, the first outer electrode covers at least part of the first end surface to extend from the first end surface and cover part of the first main surface (Fig. 1; The outer electrode 21 covers a portion of the end face 11 to extend from the end face 11 and cover part of the major face 13.), the second outer electrode covers at least part of the second end surface to extend from the second end surface and cover part of the first main surface (Fig. 1; The outer electrode 22 covers a portion of the end face 12 to extend from end face 12 and cover a part of major face 13.), the first connection conductor is connected between a part of the first outer electrode that covers the first end surface and the coil conductor that faces that part of the first outer electrode (Figs. 1 and 3; The left via conductor 33g is connected between a part of the outer electrode 21 that covers end face 11 and the coil conductor 32a.), the second connection conductor is connected between a part of the second outer electrode that covers the second end surface and the coil conductor that faces that part of the second outer electrode (Figs. 1 and 3; The right via conductor 33g is connected between a part of the outer electrode 22 that covers end face 12 and the coil conductor 32d.), an axial direction of the coil (e.g. x-direction) is parallel to the first main surface (The surface 13 is disposed in a horizontal x-direction, which is parallel to the axial direction of the coil.), a first discrimination mark (Fig. 5c, left discrimination marks 50) is on a surface of the multilayer body, excluding the first end surface and the second end surface, at a location of the first outer electrode (Figs. 5a and 5c; The left discrimination marks 50 are disposed on surface 13 which is not the surface 11 and 12, at a location of the electrode 21.), the first discrimination mark includes at least one first mark conductor pattern (Fig. 4, leftmost marking conductor pattern 34) that is in contact with an inner surface of the first outer electrode (The conductor pattern 34 is in contact with an edge of the insulating layer 31h which is also in contact with the outer electrode 21.) and extends along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the coil (Fig. 3; The conductor pattern 34 extends along a plane disposed in the y-direction is which is perpendicular to the x-direction axial direction.);
as per claim 2, wherein the first discrimination mark includes two or more of the at least one first mark conductor pattern (Fig. 4, conductors 34), the two or more first mark conductor patterns being spaced apart from one another (Fig. 4; Conductors 34 disposed on insulating layer 31h are spaced apart from one another.);
as per claim 3, wherein the first discrimination mark includes the first mark conductor pattern, the first mark conductor pattern is in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which the first connection conductor is configured (The discrimination mark 50 includes conductor patterns 34 which are in a cross section of the body 10 in Fig. 3 that is in the y-direction that is perpendicular to the coil axis which via conductor 33g is configured in the x-direction.);
as per claim 5, wherein the first discrimination mark includes a plurality of the first mark conductor pattern, the first mark conductor patterns including the first mark conductor pattern in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which the first connection conductor is configured (The discrimination mark 50 includes conductor patterns 34 which are in a cross section of the body 10 in Fig. 3 that is in the y-direction that is perpendicular to the coil axis which via conductor 33g is configured in the x-direction.);
as per claim 6, wherein the first discrimination mark includes the first mark conductor pattern, the first mark conductor pattern is in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which one of the coil conductors is configured (The discrimination mark 50 includes conductor patterns 34 which are in a cross section of the body 10 in Fig. 3 that is in the y-direction that is perpendicular to the coil axis which coil conductors 32a-32d are configured in the x-direction.);
as per claim 9, wherein the first discrimination mark includes a plurality of the first mark conductor pattern (e.g. conductors 34), the first mark conductor patterns being symmetrically present at two locations spaced apart from each other with respect to an axis perpendicular to the first main surface when viewed in plan view in the axial direction of the coil (Figs. 3-4; The conductors 34 are symmetrically present at two locations spaced apart from each other with respect to an axis in the x-direction which is perpendicular to the surface 13 in Fig. 5.);
as per claim 14, a second discrimination mark (Fig. 5c, right discrimination marks 50) is on a surface of the multilayer body, excluding the first end surface and the second end surface, at a location of the second outer electrode (Figs. 5a and 5c; The right discrimination marks 50 are disposed on surface 13 which is not the surface 11 and 12, at a location of the electrode 22.), the second discrimination mark includes a second mark conductor pattern (Fig. 4, rightmost marking conductor pattern 34) that is in contact with an inner surface of the second outer electrode (The conductor pattern 34 is in contact with an edge of the insulating layer 31h which is also in contact with the outer electrode 22.) and extends along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the coil (Fig. 3; The conductor pattern 34 extends along a plane disposed in the y-direction is which is perpendicular to the x-direction axial direction.);
as per claim 15, wherein the second discrimination mark includes two or more of the second mark conductor pattern (e.g. conductor patterns 34), the second mark conductor patterns are spaced apart from each other;
as per claim 16, wherein the second discrimination mark includes the second mark conductor pattern, the second mark conductor patterns being in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which the second connection conductor is configured (The discrimination mark 50 includes conductor patterns 34 which are in a cross section of the body 10 in Fig. 3 that is in the y-direction that is perpendicular to the coil axis which coil conductors 32a-34d are configured in the x-direction.)
as per claim 18, wherein the second discrimination mark includes a plurality of the second mark conductor pattern, the second mark conductor patterns including the second mark conductor pattern in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which the second connection conductor is configured (The discrimination mark 50 includes conductor patterns 34 which are in a cross section of the body 10 in Fig. 3 that is in the y-direction that is perpendicular to the coil axis which via conductor 33g is configured in the x-direction.);
as per claim 19, wherein the second discrimination mark includes the second mark conductor pattern, the second mark conductor pattern is in a cross section of the multilayer body that is perpendicular to the coil axis and in which one of the coil conductors is configured (The discrimination mark 50 includes conductor patterns 34 which are in a cross section of the body 10 in Fig. 3 that is in the y-direction that is perpendicular to the coil axis which coil conductors 32a-32d are configured in the x-direction.); and
as per claim 22, wherein the second discrimination mark includes a plurality of the second mark conductor pattern, the second mark conductor patterns being symmetrically present at two locations spaced apart from each other with respect to an axis perpendicular to the first main surface when viewed in plan view in the axial direction of the coil (Figs. 3-4; The conductors 34 are symmetrically present at two locations spaced apart from each other with respect to an axis in the x-direction which is perpendicular to the surface 13 in Fig. 5.).
However, Hirukawa does not disclose as per claim 1, the first mark conductor pattern includes a cutout part at a location opposite a coil axis of the coil.
Hirukawa further discloses in Paragraph 93 that the marking conductor patterns are rectangular in shape, but the shape of the marking conductor patterns can be changed as desired. JP 2018037516 exemplarily discloses in Fig. 10 a laminated circuit including a marker 22 having a triangle shape. Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have alternatively changed the shape of the marking conductor patterns of Hirukawa to any desired shape, such as for example a triangular shape as exemplarily taught by JP 2018037516 as being an obvious design consideration of yielding expected results based on the exemplary teachings of Hirukawa. As an obvious consequence of the modification, the combination would have necessarily included: as per claim 1, the first mark conductor pattern includes a cutout part at a location opposite a coil axis of the coil; and as per claim 14, the second mark conductor pattern includes a cutout part at a location opposite the coil axis (In the resultant circuit, the conductor patterns 34 of Hirukawa each include two “cutout” parts which form a triangular shape from the original rectangular shape.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7-8, 10-13, 17, 20-21, and 23-26 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.
Conclusion
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/RAKESH B PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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