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 § 102
(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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8, 9, 13, 15-17, 19, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sugaya US 10,848,129.
1. Sugaya discloses a packaged acoustic wave component (Figs. 2, 5, etc.; view upside down) comprising:
a base layer (31, 51);
an acoustic wave filter (33, 53; SAW filter 300A, 500A) disposed on an upper side of the base layer;
a cap layer (351, 551) mounted to the upper side of the base layer such that a bottom side of the cap layer faces the upper side of the base layer; and
an electrical shield layer (352, 552) disposed on the bottom side of the cap layer such that the electrical shield layer and the acoustic wave filter are positioned between the base layer and the cap layer.
2. The packaged acoustic wave component of claim 1 wherein the base layer is configured as a base wafer (31; base for the acoustic component, thus read as base wafer).
3. The packaged acoustic wave component of claim 1 wherein the cap layer is configured as a cap wafer (351; cap/cover for the acoustic component, thus read as cap wafer).
4. The packaged acoustic wave component of claim 1 further comprising a seal ring (34) disposed on the bottom side of the cap layer around the electrical shield layer.
8. The packaged acoustic wave component of claim 1 further comprising a seal ring (34) disposed on the upper side of the base layer around the acoustic wave filter.
9. The packaged acoustic wave component of claim 8 wherein the seal ring of the base layer is electrically connected to the acoustic wave filter (note that the seal ring or support 34 has vias for electrical connection as shown in Fig. 2).
13. The packaged acoustic wave component of claim 1 wherein the acoustic wave filter is configured as one of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter (Col. 5 lines 36-37) or a temperature compensated surface acoustic wave (TCSAW) filter.
15. Sugaya discloses a radio frequency module (Fig. 2, etc.; module 300) including a package acoustic wave component (300A; view upside down), the packaged acoustic wave component comprising:
a base layer (31);
an acoustic wave filter (33) disposed on an upper side of the base layer;
a cap layer (351) mounted to the upper side of the base layer such that a bottom side of the cap layer faces the upper side of the base layer; and
an electrical shield layer (352) disposed on the bottom side of the cap layer such that the electrical shield layer and the acoustic wave filter are positioned between the base layer and the cap layer.
16. The radio frequency module of claim 15 wherein the radio frequency module is configured as a front-end module (Col. 1 lines 21-30; Col. 12 lines 10-14).
17. For brevity, Sugaya discloses a radio frequency module as similarly discussed in claim 15 above, and is part of a wireless communication device (Col. 12 lines 10-14).
19. Sugaya discloses a method of making (realized by) a packaged acoustic wave component (Fig. 2, etc.; view upside down), the method comprising:
forming a base layer (31);
forming an acoustic wave filter (33) disposed on an upper side of the base layer;
forming a cap layer (351) for mounting to the upper side of the base layer such that a bottom side of the cap layer faces the upper side of the base layer; and
forming an electrical shield layer (352) disposed on the bottom side of the cap layer such that the electrical shield layer and the acoustic wave filter are positioned between the base layer and the cap layer.
20. The method of making a packaged acoustic wave component of claim 19 further comprising forming a seal ring (34) disposed on the bottom side of the cap layer around the electrical shield layer after forming or providing the electrical shield layer.
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) 5, 6, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugaya US 10,848,129 in view of Pang US 8,836,449.
5, 6, 10. Sugaya discloses the invention as discussed above, including the shield layer is made of conductive metal material such as copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), or gold (Au; Col. 5 lines 60-62), but does not disclose for claim 5: the seal ring of the cap layer and the electrical shield layer are made of the same material; for claim 6: the seal ring of the cap layer is made of copper; for claim 10: a support pillar coupling a seal ring of the base layer with a seal ring of the cap layer.
Pang exemplarily discloses a packaged acoustic wave component (Fig. 1, etc.) comprising: a base layer (120), an acoustic wave element (124), a cap layer (110), a seal column structure (130) having a seal ring on a bottom side of the cap layer (Fig. 2 item 202), a seal ring on an upper side of the base layer (Fig. 2 item 204), and a support pillar coupling the seal ring of the base layer with the seal ring of the cap layer (Fig. 2 items 206, 208); the seal rings are made of metal material such as Cu, Al, Ag, Au (Col. 10 lines 26-29).
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have made the seal ring of Sugaya (34, 54) using the seal column structure of Pang (130). The modification would have been obvious as a substitution of parts for seal ring/structure to provide space/cavity between the base layer and cap layer (Sugaya: Col. 5 lines 50-52; Pang: Col. 8 lines 61-66; MPEP 2143(I)(B)). As a result of the combination, the shield layer and the seal ring can be made of the same material, including copper (Sugaya: Col. 5 lines 60-62, Pang: Col. 10 lines 26-29).
Claim(s) 7, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugaya US 10,848,129 in view of Hamasaki US 12,290,000.
7, 9. Sugaya discloses the invention as discussed above, but does not disclose for claim 7: the seal ring of the cap layer is electrically connected to the electrical shield layer; for claim 9: alternatively the seal ring (as a whole) of the base layer is electrically connected to the acoustic wave filter.
Hamasaki exemplarily discloses a packaged acoustic wave component (Fig. 15) comprising: a base layer (11), an acoustic element (16), a cap layer (21), a shield layer (70) on a bottom side of the cap layer; a seal ring (60a and may include portion of item 70 over item 60a, and 18) of the cap/base layer; the seal ring of the cap layer is electrically connected to the electrical shield layer; the seal ring of base layer is electrically connected to the acoustic wave filter.
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have made the electrical shield layer electrically connected to the seal ring and/or seal ring electrically connected to the acoustic wave filter (and thus also adopt/modify to the seal ring of Hamasaki). The modification would have been obvious to provide electrical connection for the ground potential of the shield layer, further surrounding of the grounding/shielding effect around the acoustic element for enhance electromagnetic effect, and further improve isolation characteristics as shown and taught in Hamasaki (Fig. 15; Col. 14 lines 32-49).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugaya US 10,848,129 in view of Toyota US 10,840,879.
11. Sugaya discloses the invention as discussed above, including the cap layer comprises a material including at least one of polyimide, epoxy, BCB, PBO (Col. 5 lines 56-59), but does not disclose the cap layer comprises at least one of silicon, quartz, glass, spinel, or sapphire.
Toyota exemplarily discloses a packaged acoustic wave component (Fig. 2) comprising: a base layer (10); an acoustic element (13); a cap layer (20), wherein the cap layer comprises at least one of polyimide, epoxy, BCB, PBO, and silicon (Col. 6 lines 15-19).
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have made/replaced the material of the cap layer with silicon. The modification would have been obvious because silicon is an alternate material (to the material used by Sugaya) for the cap layer as taught by Toyota (Col. 6 lines 15-19; MPEP 2143.05(I)(B)).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugaya US 10,848,129 in view of Hatakeyama US 10,250,219.
12. Sugaya discloses the invention as discussed above, but does not disclose the electrical shield layer is formed as a grid pattern.
Hatakeyama exemplarily discloses a packaged acoustic wave component (Fig. 1, etc.) comprising: a base layer (10), an acoustic element (12), a cap layer (20), an electrical shield layer (37) over the acoustic element; the electrical shield layer is formed as a grid pattern (Figs. 4, 11A-C, 13A) or solid pattern (Fig. 13B).
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have made the electrically shield layer in a grid pattern. The modification would have been obvious as alternate pattern structure for electrical shield layer as taught by Hatakeyama (Figs. 4, 11A-C, 13A,B; Col. 7 lines 49-67; MPEP 2143.05(I)(B)).
Claim(s) 14, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugaya US 10,848,129 in view of Ando US 10,778,183.
14. Sugaya discloses the invention as discussed above, including SAW filter (300A, 500A) but does not disclose the acoustic wave filter is configured as a bulk acoustic wave filter.
Ando exemplarily discloses a packaged acoustic wave component (Fig. 3A,B) may be SAW filter or bulk acoustic wave filter (Col. 6 lines 57-65; FBAR).
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have made the acoustic wave filter as bulk acoustic wave filter. The modification would have been obvious because filter using bulk acoustic wave is well-known alternative in packaged component as taught by Ando (Col. 6 lines 57-65).
18. Sugaya discloses the invention as discussed above, but does not explicitly disclose an antenna operatively coupled to the acoustic wave filter, a radio frequency amplifier operatively coupled to the radio frequency module and configured to amplify a radio frequency signal, a transceiver in communication with the radio frequency amplifier, and a baseband processor in communication with the transceiver.
Ando exemplarily discloses a wireless communication device (Fig. 20) comprising an antenna (610) coupled to an acoustic wave filter (500); a radio frequency amplifier (640) coupled to filter to amplify a radio frequency signal; a transceiver (630) in communication with the radio frequency amplifier, and a baseband processor (660) in communication with the transceiver.
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have implemented the wireless device of Sugaya as in Ando. The modification would have been obvious because an exemplarily wireless device is provided by Ando (Fig. 20) useable thereof.
Conclusion
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/A.W/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843