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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “a second connecting region (19)” in claim 6 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Re. claim 1: The phase “an electrical conductor track (3),” as recited in line 2 appears to be --an electrical conductor track (3);--.
The phase “an insulating structure (4) and” as recited in line 3 appears to be --an insulating structure (4); and--.
The phase “the contact region (6)” as recited in line 9 appears to be --the first contact region (6)--.
The phase “which lug extends” as recited in line 14 appears to be --which the lug extends--.
Re. claim 2: The phase “with the contact region (6)” as recited in line 2 appears to be --with the first contact region (6)--.
Re. claim 6: The phase “which second edge extends in a flush manner” as recited in line 7 appears to be --which the second edge extends in a flush manner--.
Re. claim 10: The phase “onto the power substrate (2),” as recited in line 3 appears to be --onto the power substrate (2);--.
The phase “from planar sheet metal,” as recited in line 4 appears to be --from the planar sheet metal;--.
The phase “into a recess in the insulating structure (4) and” as recited in line 5 appears to be --into the recess in the insulating structure (4); and--.
The phase “with a material bond” as recited in line 8 appears to be --with the material bond;--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-4 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Besshi et al. (US PAT. 10,553,559).
Besshi et al. teach an electrical arrangement (101, Fig. 1) comprising; a power substrate (10) with an electrical conductor track (1, Fig. 2); an insulating structure (8, Fig. 1); and a sheet metal conducting structure (7, Fig. 1) having a first contact region (7a, Fig. 1), a connection region (7d, Fig. 1) and a first connecting region (a curved section, Fig. 1) between the first contact region (6) and the connection region (11), wherein the first contact region (7a) is connected to the electrical conductor track (1) electrically, in particular with a material bond, in a recess in the insulating structure as shown in Figs. 1-2, merges into the connecting region at an angle along an edge running in an X direction and has a lug (6, Figs. 1-2) for positioning the conducting structure, which the lug extends in a Y direction over an imaginary extension of the edge as shown in Figs. 1-2 (see also col. 3, line 54 to col. 5, line 52).
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Re. claim 2: The lug is situated in a common plane with the contact region (7a).
Re. claim 3: The contact region merges with a finite radius into the connecting region as shown in Fig. 2.
Re. claim 4: The lug comprises a distal region which protrudes in the Y direction at least in sections beyond the connecting region as shown in Figs. 1-2.
Re. claim 7: The first contact region is positioned on the power substrate by means of the lug in the recess in the insulating structure, in particular enclosed on multiple sides as shown in Figs. 1-2.
Re. claim 8: There is a predefined distance (d), in particular measuring 2 mm or more, between the first connecting region and the insulating structure as shown in Figs 1-2.
Re. claim 9: An indentation is provided between the lug and the edge as shown in Fig. 1.
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Re. claim 10: Besshi et al. also teach a process for producing an electrical arrangement according to claim 1 as set forth above, comprising steps: applying an insulating structure onto the power substrate as shown in Fig. 1, producing the conducting structure from planar sheet metal, inserting the first contact region into a recess in the insulating structure as shown in Fig. 1 and connecting the first contact region to the electrical conductor track of the power substrate with a material bond as shown in Figs. 1-2.
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Besshi et al.
Besshi et al. teach all limitations as set forth above, but silent how to make the conducting structure. Since the conducting structure (7) of Besshi et al. shows a complicate shape in Fig. 1, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide manufacturing process for the conducting structure as recited in the claimed invention because Applicant has not disclosed that the manufacturing process for the conducting structure as recited in the claimed invention provides an advantage, is used for a particular purpose, or solves a stated problem. Since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable rangers involves only routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.04 (il-A). Therefore, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify the manufacturing process for the conducting structure of Besshi et al. to obtain the invention as specified in claim 5.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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 Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ando et al. (PGPub 2014/0191399 A1) is cited to further show the state of the art with respect to an electrical arrangement.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-4565. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hong can be reached at 571-272-0993. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL D KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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