DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Cross-Reference to Related Applications
2. This application is a 371 of PCT/JP2022/006961 02/21/2022.
Preliminary amendment
3. Preliminary amendment filed on 11/28/2023 has been acknowledged and considered.
In the Preliminary amendment, the applicants have been amended the specification and claim 4 and remained claims 1-3.
Claims 1-4 are currently pending in the application.
Oath/Declaration
4. The oath/declaration filed on 11/28/2023 is acceptable.
Priority
5. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
6. The office acknowledges receipt of the following items from the applicant:
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 11/28/2023 and 06/13/2024.
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.
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 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.
7. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over LEE et al., hereafter “LEE” (U.S. Publication No. 2009/0140426 A1) in view of MIHARA et al., hereafter “MIHARA” (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0026003 A1) and further in view of FURATA K (JP-2001184474-A).
Regarding claim 1, LEE discloses a method for manufacturing an electronic-component-mounted substrate, the method comprising:
a step (i) of forming a temporary fixing film (250) in such a manner as to cover a plurality of solder precoats (130) formed on a plurality of lands (not label. See Fig. 2 below) on a substrate (100) and an antioxidation film (140) formed in such a manner as to cover each of the plurality of solder precoats (130);
a step (ii) of disposing a plurality of electronic components (200) on the plurality of solder precoats (130) via the antioxidation film (140) and the temporary fixing film (250); and
a step (iii) of soldering the plurality of electronic components (200) to the plurality of lands (not label) by melting the plurality of solder precoats (130),
wherein the antioxidation film (140) contains a first thermoplastic resin (para [0050]) (see Fig. 2 below and para [0048]-[0058]).
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LEE discloses the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but does not disclose the temporary fixing film contains an activating agent and a second thermoplastic resin, and a softening point of the second thermoplastic resin is equal to or lower than a softening point of the first thermoplastic resin.
MIHARA, however, discloses the temporary fixing film (13) contains an activating agent and a second thermoplastic resin (Fig. 1 and para [0086]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of LEE to provide the temporary fixing film contains an activating agent and a second thermoplastic resin as taught by MIHARA for a purpose of increasing the adhesive strength.
LEE and MIHARA disclose the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but does not disclose a softening point of the second thermoplastic resin is equal to or lower than a softening point of the first thermoplastic resin.
FURATA K, however, discloses a softening point of the second thermoplastic resin (18, refers as the temporary fixing film (13)) is equal to or lower than a softening point of the first thermoplastic resin (17, refers as the antioxidation film (140)) (Fig. 2 and English Text).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of LEE and MIHARA to provide a softening point of the second thermoplastic resin is equal to or lower than a softening point of the first thermoplastic resin as taught by MIHARA for a purpose of applying the curable resin composition easier.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. The following is a statement of reason for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 2-4 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.
None of the prior art of records disclose further comprising, before the step (i),a step (x) of forming the plurality of solder precoats and the antioxidation film on the plurality of lands, as cited in claim 2.
Claims 3-4 are directly depend on claim 2, then, they also would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Cited Prior Arts
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
AKINO H (JP-2005123223-A) discloses a method for manufacturing an electronic-component-mounted substrate, the method comprising:
an antioxidation film (4) formed in such a manner as to cover each of the plurality of solder precoats (6);
a step (ii) of disposing a plurality of electronic components (3) on the plurality of solder precoats (6) via the antioxidation film (4); and
a step (iii) of soldering the plurality of electronic components (3) to the plurality of lands (5) by melting the plurality of solder precoats (4) (Fig. 3 and English Text).
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Phuc T. Dang whose telephone number is 571-272-1776. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 am-5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached on 469-295-9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHUC T DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897