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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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 of this title, 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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujiwara (US2020/0382096) in view of Ikeda (US20070247032).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Fujiwara discloses a piezoelectric resonator plate (100) comprising: a vibrating part (11); an external frame part (12) surrounding an outer periphery of the vibrating part; and a support part (13) connecting the vibrating part to the external frame part.
However, Fujiwara fails to disclose a plurality of crystal faces formed on a side surface of the external frame part and on a side surface of the support part, both the side surfaces are connected to a first connecting part of the external frame part and the support part, and a plurality of ridge lines is formed by the plurality of crystal faces, and a first intersection blocking part is provided on the first connecting part, on at least one side of a first main surface side and a second main surface side thereof, so as to block intersection of two or more of the plurality of ridge lines on the first connecting part. Fujiwara discloses that when two ridge lines generated on a wall surface of a through hole reach the main surfaces of the crystal plate and intersect with each other on the outer periphery of the through hole, the stress concentrates at that point and a crack can generate.
Ikeda discloses forming an intersection blocking part (protruding portion 110) in areas of high stress comprising a ridge line parallel to the main surfaces of the vibrator to improve the vibration characteristics by reducing unwanted vibrations. Therefore, by providing multiple crystal faces on a surface, the stress concentration and cracks can be minimized and improved vibration characteristics can be obtained. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to provide multiple crystal faces by forming an intersection blocking part in the shape of a protruding portion on areas of stress concentration, as disclosed by Ikeda, to improve the vibration characteristics of the resonating structure.
Regarding claims 2-5, the specific location of the intersection blocking part, as disclosed by Ikeda, can be applied to any area where stress concentration occurs without departing from the teachings of Ikeda.
Regarding claims 7 and 10, the blocking part (110) is a projection part.
Regarding claims 8 and 11, Fujiwara discloses the AT-cut crystal plane and the resonator plate having only one support portion (abstract, Fig. 5).
Regarding claims 9 and 12, Fujiwara discloses the piezoelectric resonator device (100).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jaydi San Martin whose telephone number is (571)272-2018. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 7:45-6:00pm.
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/J. San Martin/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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