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 .
This application is a 371 of PCT/JP2022/043839 11/22/2022, FOREIGN APPLICATIONS JAPAN 2021-194501 11/30/2021.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-7 remain for examination, wherein claim 1 is an independent claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the da-db and dc should have proper unit. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Konno Norijiro et al (JP 2004027347 A, with on-line translation, thereafter JP’347) in view of Mine et al (WO 2008/062548 A1, listed in IDS filed on 7/19/2024, with on-line English translation, thereafter WO’548).
Regarding claims 1 and 7, JP’734 teaches a metal colloid organo-sol which has high concentration and the nano-order grain size distribution of metal colloid particles of nano-order sizes with a metal salt and the aliphatic amine into the organic solvent and reducing the mixture after stirring the same (Abstract, table 1, par.[0004], claims, and examples of JP’734), which reads on the conductive paste comprising metal nanoparticles with amine and dispersion organic solvent as claimed in the instant claims 1 and 7. JP’734 indicates that the organic solvent having a Hansen Solubility Parameter of 20 MPa1/2 or less (par.[0026] of JP’734) and JP’734 specify include hexane, octane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, and xylene. The organic solvents may be used alone or in combination of two or more (par.[0027] of JP’734), which reads on the claimed different organic solvent and overlap the claimed Hansen solubility parameters as claimed in the instant claim 1. MPEP 2144 05 I. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to apply different organic solvents with proper Hansen solubility parameters as claimed from the disclosure of JP’734 since JP’734 teaches the same conductive paste with organic solvent throughout the whole disclosed range. JP’734 does not specify the boiling temperature as claimed in the instant claim 1. WO’548 teaches a pasty metal particle composition comprising 100 parts by weight of metal particles which have a mean particle diameter of 0.001 to 50 μm and whose surfaces are coated with a water-repellent organic substance and 3 to 30 parts by weight of a volatile dispersion medium for bonding application and the boiling point of the volatile dispersion medium is preferably 60°C. to 300°C (Abstract and par.[0016] of WO’548), which overlap the claimed boiling temperature ranges as claimed in the instant claim 1. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to choose proper organic solvent with proper boiling temperature as demonstrated by WO’548 for the metal paste of JP’734 since WO’548 indicates proper boiling temperature for desired bonding application (par.[0016] of WO’548).
Regarding claims 2-3, WO’548 teaches a pasty metal particle composition comprising 100 parts by weight of metal particles which have a mean particle diameter of 0.001 to 50 μm and whose surfaces are coated with a water-repellent organic substance and 3 to 30 parts by weight of a volatile dispersion medium (Abstract and claims of WO’548) and the shape of the metal particles is spherical, approximately spherical, approximately cubic, flakes, indefinite. From the viewpoint of storage stability, a flake shape is preferable (par.[0014] of WO’548), which overlaps the claimed particle sizes and the total content proportion of the metal particles as claimed in the instant claims. MPEP 2144 05 I. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the particle sizes and the total content proportion of the metal particles as demonstrated by WO’548 for the metal paste of JP’734 since WO’548 indicates proper particles distribution for desired bonding application (par.[0014] of WO’548).
Regarding claim 4, WO’548 teaches metal particle size distribution and prefer of range 0.1-10 mm (par.[0014] of WO’548). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the particle sizes distribution as demonstrated by WO’548 for the metal paste of JP’734 since WO’548 indicates proper particles distribution for desired bonding application (par.[0014] of WO’548).
Regarding claim 5, JP’734 specify applying aliphatic amine in the present invention is each aliphatic amine (table 1 of JP’734), which reads on the claimed amine as claimed in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 7, JP’734 specify include hexane, octane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, and xylene. The organic solvents may be used alone or in combination of two or more (par.[0027] of JP’734), It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to apply different organic solvents as claimed from the disclosure of JP’734 since JP’734 teaches the same conductive paste with organic solvent throughout the whole disclosed range.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIE YANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1884. The examiner can normally be reached on IFP.
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/JIE YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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