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 .
Email Communication
Applicant is encouraged to authorize the Examiner to communicate via email by filing form PTO/SB/439 either via USPS, Central Fax, or EFS-Web. See MPEP 502.01, 502, 502.05.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 3/22/2024 has been fully considered and is attached hereto.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites, “the heat generating element” which lacks antecedent basis. It appears it should be changed to, “a heat generating element” or “the pluggable optical module”.
Claim 18 recites, “the heat generating element” which lacks antecedent basis. It appears it should be changed to, “a heat generating element” or “the pluggable optical module”.
Claim 2-17, 19-20 are rejected since they depend from claims 1 and 18 and inherit the deficiencies therein.
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.
Claim 1-5, 9-11, 13, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gupta et al. (US 11,300,363 – hereinafter, “Gupta”).
With respect to claim 1, Gupta teaches (In Figs 1-3, 15) a heat management apparatus in network equipment for a pluggable optical module, the heat management apparatus comprising: a socket (18) having an insertion opening (120) configured to allow a pluggable optical module (20, Col. 6, ll. 42-43, “the module 20 is an optical transceiver”) to be at least partially inserted within an interior of the socket (See Fig 1A); a heat sink assembly (31) configured to dissipate heat generated by a heat-generating element (Heat generating component within 20); and a positioning mechanism (172, 174, 290, 300) including active circuitry configured to move the heat sink assembly to a first position with respect to the socket while the pluggable optical module is being inserted into or removed from the insertion opening and further configured to move the heat sink assembly to a second position with respect to the socket after the pluggable optical module has been arranged within the interior of the socket (Col. 15, l. 57 - Col. 16, l. 3, Col. 2, l. 56 – Col. 3, l. 10, see also Fig 7 and the text thereto).
With respect to claim 2, Gupta further teaches that the socket further includes a window (130), wherein the positioning mechanism is configured to move the heat sink assembly out of and/or away from the window to the first position while the pluggable optical module is being inserted into or removed from the insertion opening, and wherein the positioning mechanism is configured to move the heat sink assembly towards and/or into the window to the second position after the pluggable optical module has been arranged within the interior of the socket (See Fig 6D which appears to show the heat sink assembly out of and/or away from any window and see also Fig 7 which shows the heat sink assembly in contact with the module and thus within the window).
With respect to claim 3, Gupta further teaches that in the second position, the heat sink assembly (31) contacts the pluggable optical module (20, see Fig 7).
With respect to claim 4, Gupta further teaches that the heat sink assembly (31) includes a thermal pad having a Thermal Interface Material (35), the thermal pad configured to contact a surface of the pluggable optical module (20) when the positioning mechanism has moved the heat sink assembly to the second position (See Fig 7).
With respect to claim 5, Gupta further teaches that whereby moving the heat sink assembly to the first position while the pluggable optical module is being inserted into or removed from the insertion opening avoids wear and tear on the thermal pad (Col. 11, ll. 34-38, “Regardless, the rotational cams 174 create the gap G between the entire TIM 35 and the module cage 18 (and a computing module 20 installed therein). Thus, a computing module 20 can be inserted into or removed from the module cage 18 without damaging the TIM 35.”).
With respect to claim 9, Gupta further teaches that the positioning mechanism is located adjacent to the heat sink thereby avoiding any surface area of the heat sink (As in the present application, a portion (290) of the positioning mechanism (172, 174, 290, 300) is located adjacent to the heat sink (31) thereby avoiding any surface area of the heat sink, see Fig 15).
With respect to claim 10, Gupta further teaches that the pluggable optical module (20) is Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable (QSFP) or variant thereof (¶ 0002 of the present application appears to disclose that a CFP2 is a “variant” of a QSFP and Gupta teaches that the module (20) is a CFP2 module, Col. 16, ll. 59-60, “computing modules 20 in the form of CFP2 optical transceivers”).
With respect to claim 11, Gupta further teaches that the socket is arranged on a circuit board (16, see Fig 1A).
With respect to claim 13, Gupta further teaches that the positioning mechanism is configured to maintain the heat sink assembly in the first position as a default when power to the socket is off (Col. 15, ll. 60-65, “The actuation motor 290 may be controlled by a processor 300, which may execute non-transitory computer readable instructions to cause actuations of the actuation assembly 170 at predetermined times and/or in response to a user input”, where it is asserted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand “predetermined times” to includes times when there is no power to the socket and that during this time of no power to the socket, there is no need for cooling the module and thus the actuation assembly can be actuated so that the heat sink assembly is not in contact with the module).
With respect to claim 17, Gupta further teaches that the positioning mechanism is configured to move the heat sink assembly to the first position when a low temperature condition is detected (Col. 15, ll. 60-65, “The actuation motor 290 may be controlled by a processor 300, which may execute non-transitory computer readable instructions to cause actuations of the actuation assembly 170 at predetermined times and/or in response to a user input”, where it is asserted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand “predetermined times” to includes times when there is a low temperature condition detected and that during this time of low temperature and so the positioning mechanism of Gupta is configured to move the assembly to the first position during a time of low temperature).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta in view of Gupta et al. (US 11,589,481 – hereinafter, “Gupta-481”).
With respect to claim 12, Gupta teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above but fails to specifically teach or suggest a clip configured to support the heat sink assembly while allowing the heat sink assembly to move in a substantially linear manner between the first position and the second position.
Gupta-481, however, teaches a clip (160) configured to support a heat sink assembly (31) while allowing the heat sink assembly to move in a substantially linear manner between a first position (Fig 14A) and a second position (Fig 14B).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Gupta-481 with that of Gupta, such that Gupta includes a clip configured to support the heat sink assembly while allowing the heat sink assembly to move in a substantially linear manner between the first position and the second position, as taught by Gupta-481, since doing so would prevent the heat sink assembly from moving with respect to the socket during shipment.
Claims 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta in view of Baldwin, JR. et al. (US 2020/0396861 – hereinafter, “Baldwin”).
With respect to claim 18, Gupta teaches a method for managing heat of a pluggable optical module (20) in network equipment, the method comprising the steps of: whereby heat is an inherent byproduct of operation of the pluggable optical module; moving a heat sink assembly (31) into contact with the pluggable optical module via active circuitry (290, 300); and moving the heat sink assembly away from the pluggable optical module via the active circuitry (290, 300).
Gupta further teaches that the actuation motor can be controlled by the processor to cause actuations of the assembly at, “predetermined times” (Col. 15, ll. 63-64) but fails to specifically teach or suggest that those times would include when the pluggable optical module is sensed to be plugged into a socket and when the pluggable optical module is sensed to be unplugged from the socket.
Baldwin, however, teaches a modular card cage which includes a module and a modular card cage accessory where the card cage accessory can conform to the module by touching the module to cool it once the module is plugged in (¶ 0060).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Baldwin with that of Gupta, such that, in Gupta, the heat sink assembly is automatically brought into contact with the module when the module is plugged in and is brought out of contact with the module when the module is unplugged, as taught by Baldwin, since doing so would reduce the steps a user or technician would need to do in order for a mounted module to be thermally attached to the heat sink (IE: automating the thermal connection between the heat sink and the module based on the position of the module means the technician will no longer have to manually activate the heat sink assembly).
With respect to claim 19, Baldwin further teaches that the heat sink assembly includes a thermal pad having a Thermal Interface Material (35), the thermal pad configured to contact a surface of the pluggable optical module (20) when a positioning mechanism (172, 174, 290, 300) has moved the heat sink assembly (31) into contact with the pluggable optical module (20, see Fig 7).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8, 14-16, 20 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.
With respect to claim 6, the allowability resides in the overall structure of the device as recited in dependent claim 6 and at least in part because claim 6 recites, “wherein the heat sink assembly further includes a base, one or more groups of fins extending from the base, a pedestal arranged between the base and the thermal pad, a thread fiber net, and a metal strip configured to hold the thread fiber net to the thermal pad”.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of claim 6 are believed to render said claim 6 patentable over the art of record.
With respect to claims 7-8, the allowability resides in the overall structure of the device as recited in dependent claim 7 and at least in part because claim 7 recites, “wherein the positioning mechanism includes one or more reciprocating arms configured to slide within one or more corresponding channels in the heat sink assembly, and wherein each of the one or more reciprocating arms includes one or more protrusions corresponding to one or more grooves in the respective channel”.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of claim 7 are believed to render said claim 7 and all claims dependent therefrom patentable over the art of record.
With respect to claim 14, the allowability resides in the overall structure of the device as recited in dependent claim 14 and at least in part because claim 14 recites, “one or more super capacitors configured to store at least a predetermined amount of charge, wherein, when power to the socket transitions from on to off, the socket is configured to detect a dying gasp signal and cause the one or more super capacitors to supply the predetermined amount of charge to the positioning mechanism to move the heat sink assembly to the first position”.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of claim 14 are believed to render said claim 14 patentable over the art of record.
With respect to claim 15, the allowability resides in the overall structure of the device as recited in dependent claim 15 and at least in part because claim 15 recites, “wherein the socket further includes a connector configured for engagement with a plug of the heat-generating element, wherein the socket is configured to set a module-absent (MOD_ABS) bit to high when the plug is not engaged with the connector and set the MOD_ABS bit to low when the plug is engaged with the connector, and wherein the positioning mechanism is configured to move the heat sink assembly to the first position when the MOD_ABS bit is high and move the heat sink assembly to the second position when the MOD_ABS bit is low”.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of claim 15 are believed to render said claim 15 patentable over the art of record.
With respect to claim 16, the allowability resides in the overall structure of the device as recited in dependent claim 16 and at least in part because claim 16 recites, “the socket further includes a mechanical element that is triggered when a user starts to remove the pluggable optical module from the socket, and wherein, when the mechanical element is triggered, the socket is configured to send a signal to the positioning mechanism to instruct the positioning mechanism to move the heat sink assembly to the first position”.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of claim 16 are believed to render said claim 16 patentable over the art of record.
With respect to claim 20, the allowability resides in the overall structure of the device as recited in dependent claim 20 and at least in part because claim 20 recites, “wherein each of the steps of moving the heat sink assembly into contact with the component and moving the heat sink assembly away from the pluggable optical module includes operating a motor to slide one or more reciprocating arms within one or more corresponding channels in the heat sink assembly, and wherein each of the one or more reciprocating arms includes one or more protrusions corresponding to one or more grooves in the respective channel”.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of claim 20 are believed to render said claim 20 patentable over the art of record.
None of the cited art, either alone or in combination, teaches or suggest the above-mentioned limitations of claims 6-8, 14-16, and 20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2024/0164060 to Zhang which discloses a pluggable module (300) which includes a heat dissipation block (200) which can be driven by a motor to move toward and away from a socket (100, ¶ 059); and
US 11,462,852 to Chi et al. which discloses a conventional non-motorized heat sink lifting devices as part of optical module cooling schemes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY M PAPE whose telephone number is (571)272-2201. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9am - 6pm EST.
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/ZACHARY PAPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835
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