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 .
Note: A voltage regulator board almost always has a ground terminal or pin. Therefore, the ground terminal of the VR board (401) connected to the ground terminal of the second board (422).
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.
Claim(s) 31-36, 38, and 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wong et al. (U.S. 2021/0385942) cited by the applicant in view of Mori et al. (U.S. Patent 8,208,270).
As to claim 31, Wong discloses a power supply module (400a, 400b) as shown in figures 4A-4B comprising:
a first substrate (422, para-0032);
a control IC (424 or 423), a capacitor (412), an inductor (415), a ground terminal (the left connection receptacle connected to the ground pin 419 of the VR board 401), a voltage input terminal (the right connection receptacle 418 connected to a voltage input 419), [[and a signal transmission substrate]] on a principal surface (top surface of the first substrate 422) of the first substrate; and
a submodule (400a) including:
a second substrate (VR board/substrate 401) above the inductor (415), the ground and voltage input terminals (418), [[and the signal transmission substrate]]; and
fifth to seventh electronic components (102, 103, 105) on a first principal surface (top surface of the second substrate 401) of the second substrate opposite to the first substrate; wherein
at least one of the ground terminal (the left 418) and the voltage input terminal (the right 418) extends from the principal surface of the first substrate (422) to a second principal surface of the second substrate (401) facing the first substrate.
Wong does not disclose the first substrate including a signal transmission substrate.
Mori teaches substrate joining member and three-dimensional structure (40) as shown in figures 1-2 comprising the first substrate (28) including a signal transmission substrate (10).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to have a teaching of Mori employed in the power supply module of Wong in order to transmit signal in between the first and second substrates.
Regarding claim 32, Wong as modified by Mori discloses the inductor (415, figure 4B) is mounted between the first and second substrates (422, 401) and extends from the principal surface of the first substrate to the second principal surface of the second substrate.
Regarding claim 33, Wong as modified by Mori discloses the ground terminal (the ground terminal from the connection receptacle connected to the ground pin 419 of the VR board 401) extends from the principal surface of the first substrate to the second principal surface of the second substrate.
Regarding claim 34, Wong as modified by Mori discloses the voltage input terminal (the right connection receptacle 419) extends from the principal surface of the first substrate to the second principal surface of the second substrate (401).
Regarding claim 35, Wong as modified by Mori teaches the signal transmission
Substrate (10) extends from the principal surface of the first substrate (28) to the second principal surface of the second substrate (37).
Regarding claim 36, Wong as modified by Mori discloses the fifth electronic component is a power element (104).
Regarding claim 38, Wong as modified by Mori discloses the sixth electronic component is a capacitor (102 or 106).
Regarding claim 40, Wong as modified by Mori in figure 5 further comprising one or more additional submodules (500a), and the submodule (500b) and the one or more additional submodules are electrically connected to each other.
Claim(s) 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wong in view of Mori as applied to claims above, and further in view of Lu et al. (U.S. 2019/0150285).
Regarding claim 37, Wong as modified by Mori discloses all the limitations of claimed invention except for a heat sink above the power element.
Ganesan teaches input/output package architecture (100) as shown in figure 1a comprising a heat sink (690) above the power element (310, 320) mounted on a substrate (350).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to have a teaching of Lu employed in the power supply module of Wong and Mori in order to heat dissipation structure for the power module.
Claim(s) 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wong in view of Mori as applied to claims above, and further in view of Wang et al. (U.S. Patent 10,129,979).
Regarding claim 39, Wong as modified by Mori discloses all of the limitations of claimed invention except for the seventh electronic component is a resistor.
Wang teaches a PCB assembly (100) as shown in figure 7 comprising the electronic component is a resistor mounted on the substrate or board.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to have a teaching of Wang employed in the power supply module of Wong and Mori in order to limit the flow of electric current and drops voltage level and protect sensitive parts.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 41-60 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Neither the references cited nor the cited references teach, suggest, or in combination of a power supply module having the ground terminal is spaced away from and adjacent to the signal transmission substrate; and the ground terminal is adjacent to the voltage input terminal (claim 41), and first and second submodules, each of the first and second submodules includes: a second substrate; a signal transmission substrate connected between the first substrate and the second substrate; a ground terminal connected between the first substrate and the second substrate; a voltage input terminal connected between the first substrate and the second substrate; a power element on a first principal surface of the second substrate opposite to the first substrate; and an inductor mounted between the first substrate and the second substrate and electrically connected with the power element; wherein each of the ground terminal and the voltage input terminal is provided separately and spaced away from the signal transmission substrate (claim 51).
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/TUAN T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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