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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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 (s) 1 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gera et al. (WO 2018172137 A1) hereinafter Gera.
Regarding claim 1, Gera discloses a printed circuit board (10;Fig.1); and an electronic component (20) mounted on the PCB at a mounting portion thereof, the electronic component having a plurality of electrical connection terminals (terminals underneath 20 connect to 25) for soldering to corresponding connection locations of the PCB (terminals under 20 connected to connection spots on upper side 11) and the mounting portion (10) having an aperture (15) facing the electronic component (20) mounted on the PCB (11) ; wherein at least one of the terminals (see 25’) is unconnected and the aperture (15) extends into a region of the PCB that faces the at least one unconnected terminal (see” Accordingly, the relevant connection surface of the one contact connection 25 ' in the projection is completely covered by the surface of the access opening 15”).
Regarding claim 8, Gera discloses the electronic component is a surface mount technology (SMT) component (see 20 surfaces mounted to surface 11 by solder 25; Fig.1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
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 (s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gera as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li et al. (CN 112838743 A) hereinafter Li.
Regarding claim 6, Gera fails to specifically disclose the electronic component is a voltage source for supplying a reference voltage for an electronic measurement sensor.
Li discloses, in Fig.1, the electronic component (133) is a voltage source for supplying a reference voltage (133 supplies a voltage) for an electronic measurement sensor.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Li to modify the electronic component of Gera in order to perform various circuit operational functions.
Regarding claim 7, Gera fails to specifically disclose the measurement sensor is a load sensor.
Li discloses measurement sensor is a load sensor (1200).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Li to modify the electronic component of Gera in order to perform various circuit operational functions.
Claim (s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gera as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Oppermann et al. (DE 19810060 B4) hereinafter Oppermann.
Regarding claim 9, Gera is silent with respect to wherein the aperture is plated.
Opperman disclose an aperture (104; Fig.4) that is plated (see 138; Fig.4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Opperman to modify the aperture of Gera in order to make electrical connections to perform circuit operations.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-11 are allowed over prior art of record.
Claims 2-5 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.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 2-5, The prior art of record neither anticipates norrenders obvious the claimed subject matter of the instant application as a whole eithertaken alone or in combination, in particular, prior art of record does not teach" electrical connection terminals are arranged along the four sides of a rectangle with a first unconnected terminal located on a center line between two opposing sides of the rectangle and second and third unconnected terminals located opposite to each other in a direction that is orthogonal to the center line, and the aperture comprises first, second and third proximally contiguous branches distally facing the first, second and third unconnected terminals, respectively " in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim 1.
Regarding claims 10-11, The prior art of record neither anticipates norrenders obvious the claimed subject matter of the instant application as a whole eithertaken alone or in combination, in particular, prior art of record does not teach" wherein the electrical connection terminals are arranged along the four sides of a rectangle with a first unconnected terminal located on a center line between two opposing sides of the rectangle and second and third unconnected terminals located opposite to each other in a direction that is orthogonal to the center line, and the aperture comprises first, second and third proximally contiguous branches distally facing the first, second and third unconnected terminals, respectively; wherein the second and third unconnected terminals are each located adjacent to a corner of the rectangle; wherein each of the two opposing sides has three terminals equidistantly located there along and each of the remaining sides that extend in the direction orthogonal thereto has one terminal located at mid-length thereof" in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETE LEE whose telephone number is (571) 270-5921. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (2nd & 4th Friday Off). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached at (571) 272-2229 The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/PETE T LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2848