DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office Action regarding application number 18/694,717, filed on 03/22/2024, which is a 371 of PCT/CN2022/120103, filed on 09/21/2022, and which claims foreign priority to CN 202111106746.7, filed on 09/22/2021.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-15 are pending.
No claim is allowed.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims.
The drawings do not illustrate the following recited elements:
a bottom surface (claim 6)
a plurality of the unidirectional conductive devices connected in series (entirety of claim 8)
a busbar (claim 15)
Therefore, the features must be shown or the features canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as "amended." If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either "Replacement Sheet" or "New Sheet" pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Indefiniteness
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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “unidirectional” but this word is confusing in the context of the assembly described in the applicant’s disclosure, and is also undefined therein. The assembly is a three-dimensional object, and the only aspect that could be construed as “unidirectional” is simply that Fig. 1 illustrates a component generally-speaking having an extensional length much greater than a width or thickness. The applicant writes in its specification that it may be a diode, but must it be? The examiner determines that the term “unidirectional” would be confusing to skilled artisans and producers of comparable conductive devices, and would be unable to determine the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites “sealed…in an insulating manner”, but the examiner finds this phrase unclear. What does this limitation mean? Are the two conductive ends insulated from each other? Or do they share an electrical connection but insulated from some other conductive component?
Claim 1 recites “the conductive sheets”, but only “a conductive sheet” and “another conductive sheet” is recited, and it is not clear if the rejected recitation refers to one or both.
Claim 1 recites “each of the conductive sheets being sandwiched between two insulating films”, but it is not clear if there are two or four insulting films.
Claim 2 recites “the conductive sheet”, but it is not clear which conductive sheet is referred to, since multiple conductive sheets are recited in claim 1.
Claims 6 and 15 recites “photovoltaic glass”, but this term is ambiguous and does not inherently describe exactly what components and materials are captured by the term, or if this is jargon meaning some specific type of structure. Does this mean a transparent photovoltaic device? Or simply any photovoltaic device layers, even non-transparent, sandwiched between any type of glass layers?
Claim 9 recites “the unidirectional conductive device is located entirely within the insulating package body”, but this directly conflicts with claim 1 which recites that at least a portion of the device is “partially located outside the insulating package body”. Thus the scope of the claimed invention is unclear and indefinite.
All other claims are rejected because they incorporate by reference the indefinite recitations of parent claims.
Conclusion
No claim is allowed.
The examiner performed an exhaustive search of prior art references, as best as practicable considering the vagueness of the claimed invention as outlined above, and determines that the prior art references reviewed generally do not teach the invention as best understood by the examiner. The following references mentioned below are highly relevant, and may be applied in a future prior art rejection if required.
Pertinent art:
WAMBACH (US 6,075,201 A) teaches a unidirectional conductive joint assembly, comprising:
a unidirectional conductive device (module connection element 10 containing diode 50, Fig. 6), one conductive end of the unidirectional conductive device being electrically connected with a conductive sheet (14), another conductive end of the unidirectional conductive device being electrically connected with another conductive sheet (there are two connection sheets 14, please see Fig. 7 for a top-down view), insulating films (12) being laminated on two sides of each of the conductive sheets, and each of the conductive sheets being sandwiched between two insulating films (films 20 and 24’ can sandwich the conductive sheets); and
an insulating package body (protective cap 40, Fig. 6), two conductive ends (14) of the unidirectional conductive device being sealed in the insulating package body in an insulating manner (“space 42 underneath the protective cap 40 is filled with sealing compound, for example silicone”),
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WAMBACH does not teach or suggest that a portion of each of the conductive sheets located on a side of the insulating films adjacent to the unidirectional conductive device being a first conductive part, the first conductive part and film edges of the insulating films adjacent to the first conductive part being in the insulating package body in an insulating manner, and wherein the conductive sheet and the insulating films are partially located outside the insulating package body.
WOOTTON (US 20110240089 A1) teaches a unidirectional conductive joint assembly (Fig. 13A), comprising:
a unidirectional conductive device (diode 140), one conductive end of the unidirectional conductive device being electrically connected with a conductive sheet (first link 120), another conductive end of the unidirectional conductive device being electrically connected with another conductive sheet (second link 120), insulating films (12) being laminated on two sides of each of the conductive sheets, and each of the conductive sheets being sandwiched between two insulating films (films 20 and 24’ can sandwich the conductive sheets); and
an insulating package body (housing 165), two conductive ends (14) of the unidirectional conductive device being sealed in the insulating package body in an insulating manner (housing 165 is filling with potting material 170, para. 100),
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WOOTTON does not teach or suggest that a portion of each of the conductive sheets located on a side of the insulating films adjacent to the unidirectional conductive device being a first conductive part, the first conductive part and film edges of the insulating films adjacent to the first conductive part being in the insulating package body in an insulating manner, and wherein the conductive sheet and the insulating films are partially located outside the insulating package body.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELO TRIVISONNO whose telephone number is (571) 272-5201 or by email at <angelo.trivisonno@uspto.gov>. The examiner can normally be reached on MONDAY-FRIDAY, 9:00a-5:00pm EST. The examiner's supervisor, NIKI BAKHTIARI, can be reached at (571) 272-3433.
/ANGELO TRIVISONNO/
Primary Examiner
Prosecution Insights