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 § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon (US 20210296421), in view of Chen (US 20180263109).
Regarding claim 1, Moon discloses a flexible printed circuit board, comprising:
a first region (middle region of the substrate 300, Fig. 4) extending along a first direction (Y direction),
wherein the first region comprises a binding area (area TSA) and a track area (area having GL2, GRL2, GL3) arranged adjacent to each other along the first direction,
at least one side of the binding area is provided with a conductive functional area (the side area having line GL1 extend to the track area) along a second direction (X direction), the conductive functional area is electrically connected to a grounding wire (ground line GRL1) in the track area for grounding, and the second direction is arranged at an angle to the first direction (X direction is perpendicular to the Y direction); and
the flexible printed circuit board comprises a substrate layer (substrate 300).
Moon does not explicitly disclose the conductive functional area comprises two conductive layers located on at least one side of the substrate layer, and the two conductive layers are electrically connected with each other through a via hole.
Chen teaches multiple conductive layers connected to each other through via holes (paragraph 18).
It would have been obvious to one having skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to include multiple conductive layers interconnected via holes in order to fit all the intended circuitry into the limited space of the circuit substrate.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 15 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.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 2, the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to teach or fairly suggest, in combining with other limitations recited in claim 1, a combination of limitations that the binding area comprises a signal connection pin and a grounding pin located on at least one side of the signal connection pin in the first direction, the track area comprises a signal track connected to the signal connection pin and the grounding wire located on at least one side of the signal track in the first direction, and the grounding wire and the corresponding conductive functional area are located on a same side of the first region. None of the reference art of record discloses or renders obvious such a combination.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Li (US 20220240386) discloses a flexible wiring substrate, Fig. 4.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BINH B TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9289. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy J 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.
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/BINH B TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2848