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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 10, 14-16, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Smith et al. (US 2016/0161343 A1, hereinafter Smith)
As to claim 1, Smith discloses an integrated heater and temperature measurement (IHM) device (Abstract; ¶0004; ¶0074; Fig. 12, disclosing a droplet actuator with integrated heater-sensor functionality), comprising:
a first heating-sensing element coupled to first set of pins and configured to:
generate heat (¶0074, heat generation phase via power control); and
determine a first temperature of the first heating-sensing element (¶0074; ¶0085, sensing phase measures resistance via voltage to determine temperature; ¶0091, R = R0 (1 + α(T - T0))); and
a second heating-sensing element coupled to second set of pins configured to:
generate heat (¶0012; ¶0065, plurality of temperature sensor-heater pairs in array; Fig. 8, multiple traces; ¶0004, each with own terminals as pins; ¶0074, heat generation for each); and
determine a second temperature of the second heating-sensing element (¶0074; ¶0085, independent temperature determination for each).
As to claim 2, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element and the second heating-sensing element are formed on the same layer of the IHM device (¶0074, combination sensor/heater on same wiring trace, thus same layer; ¶0063; Fig. 7, integrated on PCB layer).
As to claim 3, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element and the second heating-sensing element are formed on different layers of the IHM device (¶0063; Fig. 7, temperature sensor layer and heater layer as separate layers in stackup, with elements on different layers).
As to claim 4, Smith discloses wherein a number of sets of pins is the same as a number of heating-sensing elements (¶0012; ¶0065; Fig. 8, each sensor-heater pair has its own set of terminals/pins, independent control).
As to claim 5, Smith discloses comprising pins arranged around a perimeter of a surface of the IHM device (¶0053; ¶0058; Figs. 2-6A, terminals at ends of traces, arranged at PCB edges/perimeter).
As to claim 6, Smith discloses comprising an inner region of a surface, wherein the inner region is configured to make contact with an adapter (¶0063; Fig. 7, inner electrode layer/surface for droplet contact, configured for integration/adaptation in microfluidics system; ¶0078; Fig. 12, droplet actuator 1210 interfaces with external components).
As to claim 7, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element and the second heating-sensing element determine temperatures for different zones of the IHM device (¶0012; ¶0076; Fig. 11, multi-zone control, each pair for different zones).
As to claim 8, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element or the second heating-sensing element comprises a resistor or a resistive trace (¶0004; ¶0043, resistor R1 as resistive wiring trace).
As to claim 10, Smith discloses comprising a stackup, wherein the stackup comprises a plurality of insulating materials (¶0063; Fig. 7, PCB layer stack with multiple insulating layers).
As to claim 14, Smith discloses wherein the plurality of insulating materials comprises a second layer of insulating material, and the first heating-sensing element or the second heating-sensing element is disposed on the second layer of insulating material (¶0063; Fig. 7, heating-sensing traces on temperature sensor layer as second insulating layer).
As to claim 15, Smith discloses wherein the plurality of insulating materials comprises a third layer of insulating material disposed on the first heating-sensing element or the second heating-sensing element (¶0063; Fig. 7, additional insulating layer over sensor/heater layers in stackup).
As to claim 16, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element is a high-power heating sensing element configured to heat and determine a temperature of a high-power zone, and the second heating-sensing element is a low-power heating sensing element configured to heat and determine a temperature of a low-power zone (¶0075; ¶0076; Fig. 11, independent PWM power control per element, allowing high-power and low-power zones).
As to claim 19, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element is coupled to a first heating-sensing circuit and the second heating-sensing element is coupled to a second heating-sensing circuit (¶0084; ¶0085; Fig. 12, each element coupled to independent control circuits via controller and boards).
As to claim 20, Smith discloses wherein the first heating-sensing element is coupled to the first heating-sensing circuit using a 2-wire or 4-wire connection, or the second heating-sensing element is coupled to the second heating-sensing circuit using a 2-wire or 4-wire connection (¶0004; ¶0042; Fig. 1, 4-terminal Kelvin connection as 4-wire).
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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al. (US 2016/0161343 A1, hereinafter Smith), in view of Yoshida et al. (US 6,080,970, hereinafter "Yoshida")
As to claim 9, Smith discloses the IHM device of claim 1, wherein the first heating-sensing element or the second heating-sensing element comprises resistive materials (¶0061; ¶0066-¶0067; Fig. 9, e.g., NiCr alloys), but does not explicitly disclose tungsten, iron, kovar, moly, palladium, platinum, or a combination thereof.
Yoshida teaches an integrated heating-sensing device with elements comprising platinum (Pt) or tungsten (W) for resistance-based heating and temperature sensing (col. 6, ll. 45-55; col. 7, ll. 10-20; Figs. 6-7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith's heating-sensing elements to comprise platinum or tungsten as taught by Yoshida, because such materials provide high temperature coefficients of resistance and durability for accurate sensing and efficient heating in integrated resistive systems (Yoshida, col. 6, ll. 45-55).
Claim(s) 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al. (US 2016/0161343 A1, hereinafter Smith), in view of Willwerth et al. (US 9,362,148 B2, hereinafter "Willwerth")
As to claim 11, Smith discloses the IHM device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of insulating materials comprises a first layer of insulating material (¶0063; Fig. 7, multi-layer insulators), and the stackup comprises conductive layers (¶0029; ¶0063; Fig. 7, e.g., electrodes), but does not explicitly disclose a conductive shield disposed on the first layer of insulating material.
Willwerth teaches a multi-layer heater stackup comprising a conductive shield (RF shield 206, e.g., aluminum) disposed on a first layer of insulating material (electrical insulator 210, e.g., ceramic/dielectric) (col. 5, ll. 40-65; col. 3, ll. 45-60; col. 4, ll. 10-25; Figs. 2A, 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith's stackup to include a conductive shield disposed on the first insulating layer as taught by Willwerth, to provide electromagnetic interference protection and enhance measurement accuracy in sensitive heater-sensor environments (Willwerth, col. 5, ll. 40-65).
As to claim 12, the combination of Smith and Willwerth discloses wherein the first layer of insulating material is located at a surface of the IHM device (Riker, col. 5, ll. 5-20; Figs. 2A, 5, surface placement), wherein the plurality of insulating materials comprises a second layer of insulating material disposed on the conductive shield (Willwerth, col. 6, ll. 1-20; Figs. 2A, 5, thermal insulator 208 disposed on RF shield 206).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al. (US 2016/0161343 A1, hereinafter Smith), in view of Natsuhara et al. (US 6,084,221, hereinafter "Natsuhara")
As to claim 13, Smith discloses the IHM device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of insulating materials comprises a first layer of insulating material (¶0063; Fig. 7), but does not explicitly disclose that it comprises aluminum nitride (AlN).
Natsuhara teaches a heater stackup wherein an insulating material comprises aluminum nitride (AlN) as a substrate/layer for thermal homogeneity (col. 3, ll. 20-40; col. 4, ll. 5-25; Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith's insulating material to comprise AlN as taught by Natsuhara, to achieve high thermal conductivity and uniform heat distribution in the multi-layer device (Natsuhara, col. 3, ll. 20-40).
Claim(s) 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al. (US 2016/0161343 A1, hereinafter Smith), in view of Chen et al. (US 6,423,949 B1, hereinafter "Chen")
As to claim 17, Smith discloses the IHM device of claim 1, with thermal isolation between elements through spatial separation (¶0065; ¶0076; Figs. 8, 11), but does not explicitly disclose an insulating mechanism configured to thermally insulate the first heating-sensing element and the second heating-sensing element from each other.
Chen teaches a multi-zone heater comprising an insulating mechanism (plane separation of 5-8 mm between elements, matched material properties) configured to thermally insulate heating elements from each other (col. 5, ll. 11-40; col. 8, ll. 50-90; Figs. 4, 6-7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith's device to include an insulating mechanism as taught by Chen, to minimize inter-element heat conduction and ensure thermal independence in multi-zone systems (Chen, col. 5, ll. 11-40).
As to claim 18, Smith discloses the IHM device of claim 1, wherein the first heating-sensing element is configured to generate heat and determine a temperature of a first zone, and the second heating-sensing element is configured to generate heat and determine a temperature of a second zone (¶0076; Fig. 11, zones with independent control), but does not explicitly disclose a thermally insulating mechanism configured to insulate the first zone and the second zone from each other.
Chen teaches a thermally insulating mechanism (nested structures, plane/material separation) configured to insulate zones from each other (col. 6, ll. 41-70; col. 4, ll. 45-80; Figs. 5, 8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith's device to include a thermally insulating mechanism as taught by Chen, to reduce thermal crosstalk and enhance zone uniformity (Chen, col. 6, ll. 41-70).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUNG X NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1967. The examiner can normally be reached 10:30am-6:30pm M-F.
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/TUNG X NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858 12/6/25