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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 2/7/2024 has been fully considered and is attached hereto.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-5, 7, 12-15, 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 2 and 12 recite, “the surface” which lacks antecedent basis. It appears it should be changed to read, “the inner surface”.
Claims 7 and 17 recite, “the surface” which lacks antecedent basis. It appears it should be changed to read, “the outer surface”.
Claims 3-5, 13-15 are objected to since they depend from claim 2.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-3, 7-13, 17-18, 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brey (US 2017/0181264) in view of Cohen et al. (US 2011/0048795 – hereinafter, “Cohen”) and further in view of Ritter (WO 2019/159014).
With respect to claim 1, Brey teaches (In Fig 5) a heatsink assembly comprising; a shield (430) enclosing at least one component (404) attached to a printed circuit board (Substrate), the shield having an inner surface (Bottom surface of 432) and an outer surface (Top surface of 432), the at least one component having an outer surface (Top surface) aligned in parallel with the inner surface of the shield (See Fig 5), the shield including at least one opening (434) extending through the shield from the outer surface to the inner surface and aligned with the at least one component (See Fig 5); and a heatsink (504) positioned adjacent to the outer surface of the shield and aligned with one of the at least one component (See Fig 5), the heatsink thermally coupled to the outer surface of the at least one component using flowable thermally conductive material (502, ¶ 0032, “a layer of thermally-conductive and viscous heat sink grease 502”), such that the flowable thermally conductive material extends through the at least one opening and occupies a space between the outer surface of the shield and a surface of the heatsink (See Fig 5).
Brey fails to specifically teach or suggest that the flowable thermally conductive material extends through the at least one opening and occupies a space between the outer surface of the at least one component and the inner surface of the shield and that the PCB is intended to be enclosed within a casing of an electronic assembly.
Cohen, however, teaches (In Fig 4) a flowable thermally conductive material that extends through the at least one opening in a shield and occupies a space between an outer surface of at least one component and an inner surface of the shield (See Fig 4, see also the abstract, “An electronic package has a cover or lid mounted onto a substrate to enclose an electronic device, and a liquid thermal interface material is subsequently inserted (through dispensing, injection molding or printing through apertures in the cover or lid) between the surface of the electronic device and the cover, and cured to a solid state.”).
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 Cohen with that of Brey, such that, in Brey the flowable thermally conductive material extends through the at least one opening and occupies a space between the outer surface of the at least one component and the inner surface of the shield, as taught by Cohen, since doing so would also provide good thermal contact between the inner surface of the shield and the top surface of the at least one component which would further help to move heat away from the at least one component.
Regarding the limitations that recites that the PCB is intended to be enclosed within a casing of an electronic assembly, Ritter teaches a PCB which is intended to be enclosed within a casing of an electronic assembly (“The electronic device 100 comprises at least one printed circuit board (PCB) 110, a heatsink assembly 130 and a faceplate 120 assembled in a casing (not shown).”).
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 Ritter with that of Brey, such that the PCB of Brey is intended to be enclosed within a casing of an electronic assembly, as taught by Ritter, since doing so would allow for the PCB to be designed in a way where other components on the PCB are unprotected since they will be mechanically protected by a larger casing.
With respect to claims 11 and 21, Brey teaches (In Fig 5) an electronic device comprising: a heatsink assembly, comprising: a shield (430) enclosing at least one component (404) attached to a printed circuit board (Substrate), the shield having an inner surface (Bottom surface of 432) and an outer surface (Top surface of 432), the at least one component having an outer surface (Top surface) aligned in parallel with the inner surface of the shield (See Fig 5), the shield including at least one opening (434) extending through the shield from the outer surface to the inner surface and aligned with the at least one component (See Fig 5); and a heatsink (504) positioned adjacent to the outer surface of the shield and aligned with one of the at least one component (See Fig 5), the heatsink thermally coupled to the outer surface of the at least one component using flowable thermally conductive material (502, ¶ 0032, “a layer of thermally-conductive and viscous heat sink grease 502”), such that the flowable thermally conductive material extends through the at least one opening and occupies a space between the outer surface of the shield and a surface of the heatsink (See Fig 5).
Brey fails to specifically teach or suggest that the flowable thermally conductive material extends through the at least one opening and occupies a space between the outer surface of the at least one component and the inner surface of the shield, that the printed circuit board is enclosed within a casing of the electronic device, and that the electronic device is a set top box (Cl. 21).
Cohen, however, teaches (In Fig 4) a flowable thermally conductive material that extends through the at least one opening in a shield and occupies a space between an outer surface of at least one component and an inner surface of the shield (See Fig 4, see also the abstract, “An electronic package has a cover or lid mounted onto a substrate to enclose an electronic device, and a liquid thermal interface material is subsequently inserted (through dispensing, injection molding or printing through apertures in the cover or lid) between the surface of the electronic device and the cover, and cured to a solid state.”).
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 Cohen with that of Brey, such that, in Brey the flowable thermally conductive material extends through the at least one opening and occupies a space between the outer surface of the at least one component and the inner surface of the shield, as taught by Cohen, since doing so would also provide good thermal contact between the inner surface of the shield and the top surface of the at least one component which would further help to move heat away from the at least one component.
Regarding the limitations that recites that the PCB is enclosed within a casing of an electronic device which is a set top box, Ritter teaches a set top box (“The electronic device may be a set top box.”) with a PCB (110) which is enclosed therein (“The electronic device 100 comprises at least one printed circuit board (PCB) 110, a heatsink assembly 130 and a faceplate 120 assembled in a casing (not shown).”).
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 Ritter with that of Brey, such that the PCB of Brey is enclosed within a casing of a set top box, as taught by Ritter, since doing so would provide functionality and mechanical protection to the PCB.
With respect to claims 2 and 12, Brey further teaches that the at least one opening is a plurality of openings (434) spanning at least a portion the inner surface of the shield and aligned with the at least one component (404, see Fig 5).
With respect to claims 3 and 13, Brey further teaches that each one of the plurality of openings (434) is in the shape of at least one of a square, a circle, and a triangle (See Fig 3).
With respect to claims 7 and 17, Brey as modified by Cohen and Ritter teaches the limitations of claims 1 and 11 as per above and Ritter further teaches a shield (140) further includes at least one indentation region (Region where 150 resides) on the outer surface of the shield and wherein the at least one component is under the indentation region (See Fig 1).
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 Ritter with that of Brey, such that the shield further includes at least one indentation region on the outer surface of the shield and wherein the at least one component is under the indentation region, as taught by Ritter, since doing so would allow for a portion of the height of the apparatus to be reduced. Note that when the indentation is placed in the shield of Brey that then the at least one opening of Brey would be within the at least one indentation region since the indentation region in Brey would similarly be matched with the placement of the component which aligns with the at least one opening.
With respect to claims 8-9, 18, Brey as modified by Cohen and Ritter teaches the limitations of claims 1 and 11 as per above and Ritter further teaches at least one fastener (170) that attaches a shield (140) and a heatsink (160) to a printed circuit board (110, see Fig 1), wherein the at least one fastener is one of a compression spring pin (“In one exemplary embodiment, the fasteners 170 are two compression spring pins”).
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 Ritter with that of Brey, such that Brey includes at least one fastener that attaches the shield and the heatsink to the printed circuit board using a compression spring pin, as taught by Ritter, since doing so would allow for the heat sink and shield to be firmly attached to the printed circuit board thus preventing them from being easily removed from the printed circuit board when bumped or transported.
With respect to claims 10 and 20, Brey further teaches that the shield (430) is mechanically coupled to a shield frame (406) mounted to the printed circuit board (See Fig 5).
Claims 4-5, 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brey in view of Cohen in view of Ritter and further in view of Ruch et al. (US 2006/0148398 – hereinafter, “Ruch”).
With respect to claims 4-5, 14-15, Brey as modified by Cohen and Ritter teaches the limitations of claims 3 and 13 as per above but fails to specifically teach or suggest the limitations of claims 4-5, 14-15.
Ruch, however, teaches a shield (150) with openings where the shape, pattern, and size of the openings can be selected based on EM shielding requirements (IE: the ability to shield from a particular radio frequency signal; see ¶ 0026, “The shape and pattern of the openings can be selected based on…electromagnetic (EM) shielding requirements…it is understood that the size of the openings 203, 204, 205 can be any appropriate dimension given design parameters described herein”).
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 Ruch with that of Brey, such that each one of the plurality of openings is in the shape of a square, the length of each one of the plurality of openings being determined based on at least one radio frequency signal to be attenuated by the shield or wherein each one of the plurality of openings is in the shape of a square, the distance between each one of the plurality of openings being determined based on at least one radio frequency signal to be attenuated by the shield, as taught by Ruch, since doing so would allow for the plurality of openings of Brey to shield out a desired electromagnetic wavelength.
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brey in view of Cohen in view of Ritter and further in view of Neal et al. (US 20200243418 – hereinafter, “Neal”).
With respect to claims 6 and 16, Brey as modified by Cohen and Ritter teaches the limitations of claims 1 and 11 as per above but fails to specifically teach or suggest wherein the flowable thermally conductive material that is present within the space between the shield and the heatsink further electrically isolates the shield from the heatsink.
Neal, however, teaches a thermal interface material (107) which is an electrically insulating grease (¶ 0070, “the TIM 107 may comprise an electrically insulating material, such as a thermal grease”).
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 Neal with that of Brey, such that the flowable thermally conductive material (502) of Brey is an electrically insulating material, as taught by Neal, since doing so would allow for the heat sink to be electrically isolated from the at least one component. Note that when the flowable thermally conductive material of Brey is modified to be the electrically isolating material taught by Neal that then the flowable thermally conductive material that is present within the space between the shield and the heatsink further electrically isolates the shield from the heatsink, as claimed.
Conclusion
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/ZACHARY PAPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835
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