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 Amendment
The preliminary amendment filed Feb. 14, 2024 pursuant to 37 CFR 1.115 was entered. Claims 5-18 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on Feb. 14, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
Figures 3-4 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated (e.g. see the Background description). See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraph 41, page 9, line 9: “slightly short” should read --slightly shorter--
Page 17, reference 113: “Fourth transmission line” should read --Fourth via,--
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 5-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor, or a joint inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 5, 11, 15 recite wherein the first line length is longer than the second line length, and the second dielectric constant is lower than the first dielectric constant, or wherein the second line length is longer than the first line length, and the first dielectric constant is lower than the second dielectric constant.
As written, the claims require having a longer line in a dielectric with a higher constant and/or a shorter line in a dielectric with a lower constant. However, the specification describes the invention in exactly the opposite way:
In the transmission line substrate, as described above, the third transmission line 114 having the maximum line length is formed on the third dielectric layer 111 having the low dielectric constant ε4, the second transmission line 109 is formed on the second dielectric layer 106 having the medium dielectric constant ε3, and the first transmission line 104 having the minimum line length is formed on the first dielectric layer 105 having the high dielectric constant ε2. (¶52) (emphasis added).
This contradiction indicates that the claims contain subject matter that was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 6-10, 12-14 and 16-18 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as dependent on the rejected claims.
For examination purposes, these limitations will be understood to mean wherein the first line length is longer than the second line length, and the first (i.e. not the second) dielectric constant is lower than the first dielectric constant, or wherein the second line length is longer than the first line length, and the second (i.e. not the first) dielectric constant is lower than the second dielectric constant, to be consistent with the specification (¶52).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 5-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor, or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Claims 5, 11, 15 recite wherein the first line length is longer than the second line length, and the second dielectric constant is lower than the first dielectric constant, or wherein the second line length is longer than the first line length, and the first dielectric constant is lower than the second dielectric constant.
As set forth above in the 112(a) rejection, the claims are contradicted by the specification. In addition, it was well known in the art that the time delay of a transmission line increases with its length and the dielectric constant of the surrounding dielectric. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0050870 (“Koga”) at ¶¶8-9; U.S. Patent No. 5,777,526 (“Kawasaki”) at col. 6, equation 1.
Thus, it is unclear whether the invention requires a longer line to be in a dielectric with a higher or lower constant and/or a shorter line in a dielectric with a lower or higher constant, thereby rendering these claims as failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the invention.
Claims 6-10, 12-14 and 16-18 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as dependent on the rejected claims.
For examination purposes, these limitations will be understood to mean wherein the first line length is longer than the second line length, and the first (i.e. not the second) dielectric constant is lower than the first dielectric constant, or wherein the second line length is longer than the first line length, and the second (i.e. not the first) dielectric constant is lower than the second dielectric constant, to be consistent with the specification (¶52).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 7, 13, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the disclosed invention is inoperative and therefore lacks utility.
Claims 7, 13, 17 require transmission times of signals in the first transmission line and the second transmission line are equal. However, it would be physically impossible and therefore inoperative to equalize the transmission times by having a longer line in a dielectric with a higher constant and/or the shorter line in a dielectric with a lower constant, as recited in independent claims 1, 11, and 15, on which claims 7, 13 and 17 respectively depend.
As explained above, for examination purposes, the relevant limitations in claims 1, 11, and 15 will be understood to mean wherein the first line length is longer than the second line length, and the first (i.e. not the second) dielectric constant is lower than the first dielectric constant, or wherein the second line length is longer than the first line length, and the second (i.e. not the first) dielectric constant is lower than the second dielectric constant, to be consistent with the specification (¶52). Such an interpretation would render the invention recited in claims 7, 13, 17 operative.
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.
Claims 5-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Koga.
Koga discloses in Figs. 1-5 and the corresponding description:
Claims 5, 9, 10, 11, 15 (as best understood)
A transmission line substrate (Fig. 1, printed board, ¶21) comprising:
a first integrated circuit (CPU 101) and a second integrated circuit (CPU Controller 102) disposed on a front face of a substrate (dielectric layers 107, 109, 110 as shown in related Fig. 2 or dielectric layers 204-210 shown in Fig. 3) made of a dielectric (¶¶12, 21, 31);
a first transmission line (Fig. 2, 103; Fig. 3, 203) of a first line length on the substrate, the first transmission line connecting the first integrated circuit (101) to the second integrated circuit (102);
a first dielectric layer (Fig. 2, 107; Fig. 3, 209/210) covering the first integrated circuit, the second integrated circuit, and the first transmission line, and the first dielectric layer having a first dielectric constant (¶23, Fig. 2, dielectric layer 107 with a dielectric constants εA; Fig. 3, dielectric layers 209/210 with a dielectric constant εG=εH);
a second dielectric layer (Fig. 2, dielectric layer 109; Fig. 3, 206/207) on the first dielectric layer, the second dielectric layer having a second dielectric constant (¶23, dielectric layer 109 with a dielectric constant εB; Fig. 3, dielectric layers 206/207 with a dielectric constant εE=εF);
a columnar first via (¶21, via 106a) connected to the first integrated circuit, the columnar first via penetrating through the first dielectric layer into the second dielectric layer;
a columnar second via (¶21, via 106b) connected to the second integrated circuit, the columnar second via penetrating through the first dielectric layer into the second dielectric layer;
a second transmission line (Fig. 1-2, transmission line 105; Fig. 3, transmission line 202) of a second line length in the second dielectric layer (Fig. 2, dielectric layer 109; Fig. 3, dielectric layers 206/207), the second transmission line is connected to the columnar first via and the columnar second via to connect the first integrated circuit and the second integrated circuit; and
a ground layer (Fig. 2, 111; Fig. 3, 211) on a back face of the substrate, wherein the first line length is longer than the second line length, and the first (i.e. not the second) dielectric constant is lower than the first dielectric constant (claim 9), or wherein the second line length is longer than the first line length, and the second (i.e. not the first) dielectric constant is lower than the second dielectric constant (claim 10). (Fig. 3, ¶¶8-9, 24-25 “a propagation delay can be adjusted by wiring a pair of terminals through dielectric layers having different dielectric constants according to the distance between the terminals.”)
Koga teaches to surround a longer line, for example transmission line 202, with a dielectric layer whose dielectric constant is lower than the dielectric layer surrounding a longer line, for example, transmission line 203, to increase the propagation delay of the shorter line (Fig. 3, ¶¶28-32). Koga also teaches that “transmission lines formed in intermediate wiring layers, such as transmission line 202 and transmission line 203, can be designed to have propagation delays different from each other by controlling the dielectric constants of the dielectric layers surrounding these transmission lines” (¶32).
Claims 6, 12, 16 (as best understood)
a first ground plane (Fig. 2, ground plane 108; Fig. 3, ground plane 208) between the first dielectric layer (107 or 209/210) and the second dielectric layer (109 or 206/207).
Claims 7, 13, 17 (as best understood)
wherein the first dielectric constant and the second dielectric constant are set in a state in which transmission times of signals in the first transmission line and the second transmission line are equal (¶24 “the propagation delays of the transmission lines 103, 104, and 105 can be equal to each other”; ¶¶31-32).
Claims 8, 14, 18 (as best understood)
wherein the first transmission line and the second transmission line are disposed linearly in a plan view (Fig. 1 depicting transmission lines 103-105 disposed linearly in a plan view).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent No. 5,777,526 (“Kawasaki”) discloses a microstrip transmission line wherein a difference between absolute transmission delay times of two strip conductors is adjusted by disposing a dielectric with a different dielectric constant under one of the conductors (Figs. 1-4, cols. 2 and 6).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0326798 (“Ding”) discloses a transmission wiring structure with a primary dielectric having a first dielectric constant and a secondary dielectric having a second dielectric constant different than the first dielectric constant in order to equalize the transmission times (Fig. 1, ¶¶17-19).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VICTOR COLE, telephone number (571) 272-4686. The examiner can be reached Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM ET.
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/VICTOR COLE/
Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843