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 Objections
Claims 3, 4 and 8 are objected to because "the group” lacks antecedent basis and should apparently be changed to -a group- in each claim.
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 1-4 and 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujii (JP 03-130630 in IDS with translation) in view of Loose et al., US Pub. 2017/0110225.
Regarding claims 1-4, Fujii teaches a temperature sensor (temperature detecting bridge circuit; see under the heading of “Detailed description of the Invention” and figs. 3 and 4) comprising:
an alumina substrate (alumina base board 1; under the heading of “Overview”);
a first resistive portion (resistor pattern 2); and
at least one second resistive portion (resistors 3) forming a bridge circuit along with the first resistive portion (see figs. 3 and 4).
Fujii teaches the claimed invention except for a planarization film containing alumina as a main component thereof and formed on the alumina substrate.
Loose teaches a temperature sensor element provided with an alumina substrate, an interlayer (planarization film) that is formed on the surface of the substrate and is made of alumina and an electrically-insulating metal oxide such as MgO; and a thin film structure that is formed on a surface of the interlayer and is made of platinum. Loose further teaches that having the intermediate layer on the surface of the alumina substrate optimizes the connection between the ceramic substrate and the platinum thin-film structure (see at least paragraphs 0015, 0040, 0058-0070 and 0079), and thus prevents deformation of the platinum thin-film resistor.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Loose with Fujii, since the planarization film taught by Loose increases the bonding strength between the alumina substrate and the platinum resistive film of the sensor device of Fujii.
Regarding claim 6, Fujii teaches the at least one second resistive portion which includes three second resistive portions (resistors 3; see fig. 3 of Fujii), and the bridge circuit is a full bridge circuit comprised of the first resistive portion and the three second resistive portions (see figs. 3 and 4).
Regarding claim 7, Fujii teaches the temperature sensor of claim 6, further comprising:
a first electrode portion and a second electrode portion (one electrode connects to a power source and another connects to ground (see fig. 4) configured to supply power to the full bridge circuit; and
a third electrode portion and a fourth electrode portion configured to deliver an output signal of the full bridge circuit to an external device (output voltage “vo”; see fig. 4 of Fujii).
Regarding claims 8 and 9, Fujii teaches the temperature sensor of claim 1, wherein
at least one resistive portion selected from the group consisting of the first resistive portion (resistive pattern 2) and the at least one second resistive portion (resistive pattern 3) being a specified resistive portion, and the specified resistive portion has an adjustment portion configured to adjust a resistance value of the specified resistive portion (Fujii teaches “that the platinum temperature sensor and the resistance value of each resistor are adjusted by laser beam”; see under the heading of “Execution Example 1”.), and the adjustment portion being a groove provided for the specified resistive portion.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujii in view of Loose as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Morino et al., JP 2007-027299 (IDS; with translation).
Fujii and Loose teach the claimed invention except for a material for the at least one second resistive portion includes an NiCrAlSi alloy.
Morino teaches a thin film resistor comprising of NiCrAlSi (paragraph 0008). Morino teaches that by controlling the Cr content, the resistor improves heat resistance, and controlling the Si content improves the bonding strength (forms strong oxide film).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Morino with Fujii and Loose, since the resistance material taught by Morino improves heat resistance and overall bonding strength to the temperature sensor device of Fujii and Loose.
Conclusion
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/KYUNG S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833