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 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(s) 1-4, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2003/0066627 to Lin et al. in view of WO 2022/249878 to Yosho et al.
As to claim 1, Lin discloses an electronic device, comprising: a heat sink (see Fig. 4), having a drainage portion (100/120) and an electronic component accommodating portion (500), wherein the drainage portion has a fan accommodating portion (largely U-shaped portion of 100); a retaining wall (outside portion of 100 adjacent too and rising perpendicular to 500, generally pointed to by 140), isolating the drainage portion and the electronic component accommodating portion; at least one electronic component (para [0033] “The heat source, such as a CPU, is disposed on the heat-conduction plate 500…such that heat-conduction plate 500 can absorb the heat from the heat source.”), disposed over the electronic component accommodating portion; and a fan (200), disposed over the fan accommodating portion.
Lin fails to disclose and an upper cover, covering the heat sink, the retaining wall, the at least one electronic component and the fan, and having a plurality of through holes and at least one first drain outlet, wherein the through holes are aligned with the drainage portion, and the at least one first drain outlet is adjacent to an edge portion of the drainage portion and away from the fan. Yosho teaches (see Figs. 2 and 7 below with examiner’s annotation) an upper cover (3b), the cover covering a plurality of elements including a heat sink (see e.g. Fig. 4) (11/20/48), electrical component (11), fan (40), and having a plurality of through holes (annotated Fig. 2 below), and at least one first drain outlet (annotated Fig. 7 below), wherein the through holes are aligned with the drainage portion (20/48), and the at least one first drain outlet is adjacent to an edge portion (25) (see Fig. 5) of the drain portion (20/48) away from the fan.
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the device of Lin with a housing as taught by Yosho in order to prevent debris and moisture from reaching the components of the electrical device.
As to claim 2, modified Lin discloses the device of claim 1, wherein the retaining wall (approximate 140) and the heat sink are integrally formed.
As to claim 3, modified Lin discloses the device of claim 1. Lin fails to disclose wherein the drainage portion further has a fin portion adjacent to the fan accommodating portion, and the fin portion has a plurality of fins to define a plurality of drainage channels, and two ends of each of the fins are respectively close to the fan and the at least one first drain outlet. Yosho teaches a drainage portion (20/48) that further has a fin portion (20) adjacent to the fan accommodating portion (generally 40), and the fin portion (20) has a plurality of fins (21) to define a plurality of drainage channels (i.e. the space between adjacent fins), and two ends of each of the fins (24/25) are respectively close to the fan and the at least one first drain outlet (see fig. 7 above with examiner annotation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the device of Lin with the configuration as taught by Yosho in order to facilitate exhaust of heated air through the electronic housing.
As to claim 4, modified Lin teaches the device of claim 3. Lin further discloses a cover plate (100b). Lin does not disclose the cover plate disposed between the fin portion of the drainage portion and the upper cover, and covering the fin portion of the drainage portion, wherein the through holes are aligned with the cover plate and the fan accommodating portion. Yosho teaches an upper cover (3b) covering a fin portion (20) of a drainage portion (20/48). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the device of Lin with a cover portion as taught by Yosho in order to protect the electrical components of the device from damage and contamination. Yosho further teaches through holes (see e.g. fig. 2, plurality of elongated openings in 3b). Yosho does not specifically teach through holes are aligned with the cover plate and the fan accommodating portion. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the upper cover (3b) of Yosho to have through holes aligned with the cover plate and the fan accommodating portion in order to allow ambient air to further cool any electronic deemed necessary.
As to claim 8, modified Lin teaches the device of claim 1. Modified Lin fails to disclose wherein the upper cover further has at least one first ventilation opening disposed over the at least one first drain outlet. Yosho teaches wherein the upper cover (3b) further has at least one first ventilation opening (fig. 7, element 8 in vertical portion of 3 of Yosho) disposed over the at least one first drain outlet (see annotated fig. 7, above). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify Lin with a ventilation opening as taught by Yosho to provide a means for heated air blown through the fin heat exchanger to escape the housing.
Claim(s) 5 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2003/0066627 to Lin et al. in view of WO 2022/249878 to Yosho et al. and further in view of US 2020/0159296 to Zhu et al.
As to claims 5 and 6, Modified Lin teaches all of the limitations of claim 4. Lin fails to disclose wherein the drainage portion further has a connection portion adjacent to the fin portion, and the connection portion has a slope portion and a pivot portion, and the slope portion is connected between the fin portion and the pivot portion, and the slope portion and the upper cover jointly define a second drain outlet (claim 5) or wherein the cover plate further covers a portion of the slope portion close to the fin portion (claim 6). Zhu teaches (see Fig. 2 with examiner’s annotations below) a connection portion (130) adjacent to a fin portion (112), and the connection portion has a slope portion (see annotated fig. 2 below) and a pivot portion (see annotated fig. 2 below), and the slope portion is connected between the fin portion and the pivot portion, and the slope portion and the upper cover (200) jointly define a second drain outlet (Fig. 3, 116) (claim 5) and the cover plate (200) further covers (Fig. 3) a portion of the slope portion (claim 6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the fin structure of Lin with that of Zhu in order to provide a second drain outlet with the purposes of cooling the upper housing, i.e. the chassis while also cooling heat generating components as taught by Zhu (para [0034] “In this way, cooling the chassis of the electronic device 10 and the heat dissipation performance enhancement of the heat dissipation module 100 can be achieved at the same time.”)
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Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2003/0066627 to Lin et al. in view of WO 2022/249878 to Yosho et al. and further in view of US 7,051,791 to Hashimoto et al.
As to claim 7, Lin in view of Yosho teaches all of the limitations of claim 1. Lin further discloses wherein the drainage portion further has a groove portion (130) adjacent to the fan accommodating portion (largely U-shaped portion of 100), and wherein the groove portion is lower than the fan accommodating portion. Further Lin discloses that while the embodiment in Fig. 4 is a centrifugal fan, an axial fan is also a considered embodiment (para [0031], “…the blade structure 200 does not have a limited configuration, and can be an axial blade structure or a centrifugal blade structure.”) While modified Lin discloses an aperture in (130), modified Lin fails to disclose wherein the groove portion has a third drain outlet penetrating the groove portion. Hashimoto in e.g. Fig. 10 teaches a similar device which has multiple drain outlets (fig. 10, left [42e] and bottom outlets), including an outlet (fig. 10, bottom outlet) in the axial direction. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to substitute the fan blade of Lin with that of Hashimoto in order to facilitate cooling of the electronic housing in addition to the fins.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0384844 to Higashino et al. in view of US 2003/0066627 to Lin et al..
As to claim 1, Higashino discloses an electronic device (see e.g. Fig. 7 and 8), comprising: a fan (15), and an upper cover (14) having a plurality of through holes (19) disposed over the fan (15) and at least one first drain outlet (24). Higashino fails to disclose a heat sink, having a drainage portion and an electronic component accommodating portion, wherein the drainage portion has a fan accommodating portion; a retaining wall, isolating the drainage portion and the electronic component accommodating portion; at least one electronic component, disposed over the electronic component accommodating portion; a fan, disposed over the fan accommodating portion; and an upper cover, covering the heat sink, the retaining wall, the at least one electronic component and the fan; and wherein the through holes (of the upper cover) are aligned with the drainage portion, and the at least one first drain outlet is adjacent to an edge portion of the drainage portion and away from the fan.
Lin discloses an electrical device, comprising: a heat sink (see Fig. 4), having a drainage portion (100/120) and an electronic component accommodating portion (500), wherein the drainage portion has a fan accommodating portion (largely U-shaped wall of 100); a retaining wall (outside portion of 100 adjacent too and rising perpendicular to 500, generally pointed to by 140), isolating the drainage portion and the electronic component accommodating portion; at least one electronic component (para [0033] “The heat source, such as a CPU, is disposed on the heat-conduction plate 500…such that heat-conduction plate 500 can absorb the heat from the heat source.”), disposed over the electronic component accommodating portion; and a fan (200), disposed over the fan accommodating portion. Modifying Higashino with Lin would also teach having the plurality of openings (19) in the cover (14) of Higashino being located in a position such that the upper cover would be covering the heat sink (see Fig. 4 of Lin), the retaining wall (generally 140 of Lin), the at least one electronic component (of Lin) and the fan (of Lin), wherein the through holes (19 of Higashino) are aligned with the drainage portion (of Lin), and the at least one first drain outlet (24 of Higashino) is adjacent to an edge portion of the drainage portion (120 of Lin) and away from the fan of Lin. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify Higashino with the heat sink of Lin in order to thermally connect the fins, fan housing, and electrical components thus increasing heat transfer and reducing the space and complexity of the arrangement as the heat sink can be manufactured from one piece of material.
As to claim 3, modified Higashino teaches all of the limitations of claim 1. Modified Higashino fails to disclose wherein the drainage portion further has a fin portion adjacent to the fan accommodating portion, and the fin portion has a plurality of fins to define a plurality of drainage channels, and two ends of each of the fins are respectively close to the fan and the at least one first drain outlet. Lin teaches wherein the drainage portion (100/120) further has a fin portion (180) adjacent to the fan accommodating portion (largely U-shaped wall of 100), and the fin portion has a plurality of fins (para [0033] “…the heat dissipation module is disposed with a plurality of fins 180.”) to define a plurality of drainage channels (i.e. the space in-between adjacent fins), and two ends of each of the fins are respectively close to the fan (200) and the at least one first drain outlet (120). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the device of Higashino with an arrangement as taught by Lin in order to allow a fan to blow cool air across heat exchanging fins to cool electronic elements in thermal contact with said fins.
As to claim 9, modified Higashino teaches all of the limitations of claim 3. Modified Higashino further discloses an antenna bracket (27) (see HIgshino Fig. 7), disposed between a portion of the fin portion (16) close to the at least one first drain outlet (24) and a portion of the upper cover (21) close to the at least one first drain outlet, wherein the antenna bracket has at least one fourth drain outlet (23) facing (in an axial direction) the at least one first drain outlet (24).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 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 failing to disclose a buffer member, covering the portion of the fin portion close to the at least one first drain outlet and a portion of the antenna bracket.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2008/0101041 to Chang et al. disclosing an electrical housing with a draining structure. US 2007/0066207 to Smith et al. disclosing a fan housing with draining device. US 2024/0081018 to Yosho is the US family member of WO 2022/249878.
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/JAMIL ALEXANDER DECKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2835
/ROBERT J HOFFBERG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835