DETAILED ACTION
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
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.
Claims 1, 3, 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Goida et al. (US 8,779,535, hereinafter "Goida").
Regarding Claim 1, Goida discloses A high-frequency system, comprising an inner housing and an outer housing (Goida discloses a packaged integrated device system comprising an internal housing [internal lid 40] and an outer housing [external lid 42 and package substrate 12]. See Abstract, Fig. 2A, and Col. 6, lines 39–49);
wherein the outer housing surrounds the inner housing so that a circumferential air gap runs in at least one plane between the inner housing and the outer housing (Goida discloses that an external cavity [15], which functions as an air cavity/gap, is formed between the external housing [3] and the internal housing [5], running continuously as an annular cavity surrounding the internal housing. See Fig. 1A, Fig. 2A, and Col. 3, lines 38–44);
and the inner housing is spaced apart from the outer housing in the plane in which the air gap runs (Goida discloses that the internal housing [inner lid 40] is positioned inside the external housing [outer lid 42] and is physically separated/spaced apart from it by the intervening space of the external air cavity [15]. See Fig. 1A, Fig. 2A, and Col. 4, lines 45–49);
wherein at least one electrical module configured to process high-frequency signals, is arranged in a cavity of the inner housing (Goida discloses internal cavities [13, 24] and an internal lid [40] housing components, but specifically shows an integrated circuit die [ASIC 21] mounted within the package housing and electrically connected via wire bonds [36, 38] to handle electronic signals, which inherently encompasses signal-processing modules mapping to this space. See Fig. 2A and Col. 8, line 54 to Col. 9, line 19);
wherein a high-frequency connection is arranged on the outer housing; and (Goida discloses electrical connections on the outer housing, specifically external leads and traces located on the package substrate [12] which forms the bottom portion of the external housing structure to permit communication with external circuitry. See Fig. 2A and Col. 6, lines 51–56);
wherein a signal to be transmitted via the high-frequency connection is transmitted via the air gap between the inner housing and the outer housing (Goida discloses that electrical signaling paths travel from the integrated dies via wire bonds [36, 38] which cross through the external cavity/air gap [15] spanning between the internal housing structure and the outer package substrate boundaries. See Fig. 2A and Col. 9, lines 8–19).
Per claim 3, Goida explicitly discloses that The high-frequency system according to claim 1, further comprising a carrier unit, on which the outer housing and the inner housing are arranged (a carrier unit in the form of a package substrate [12], upon which both the outer housing [external package lid 42] and the inner housing [internal lid 40] are physically mounted and arranged. See Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, Fig. 3, and Col. 6, lines 39–49)
and wherein the outer housing and the inner housing are separated from one another by the air gap in the plane of the carrier unit (Goida explicitly illustrates that the lower mounting walls of the inner housing [internal lid 40] and the outer housing [external lid 42] terminate at laterally spaced locations along the top surface of the substrate [12]. They are physically separated from each other by the intervening space of the air cavity [15] right at the interface plane of the carrier unit. See Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, and Fig. 3).
Further per claim 5, Goida also teaches that the high-frequency system according to claim 1, wherein the electrical module in the inner housing is electrically connected to the inner housing by a wire bond (Goida explicitly teaches the implementation of wire bond connections for routing electrical paths to housing components. As illustrated in Figure 2A, the electrical module components [such as integrated circuit die 21] are electrically interconnected to the structural ground planes and adjacent housing components via wire bonds [36, 38]. See Fig. 2A and Col. 9, lines 1–19).
Finally, per claim 6, Goida further teaches that an inner housing for a high-frequency system according to claim 1, wherein the inner housing has a cavity, in which an electrical component is arranged (Goida discloses an inner housing component [internal lid 40] defining an internal cavity [13, 24] that accommodates or directly overlies electrical components such as the MEMS die [19]. See Fig. 2A and Col. 7, lines 53–56);
wherein the electrical component is electrically coupled to the inner housing (Goida discloses that the electrical component is physically and electrically coupled to the inner housing structure [internal lid 40] using a die adhesive [20] configured to electrically connect portions of the die to the housing structure for grounding. See Col. 8, line 54 to Col. 9, line 4);
wherein the inner housing is configured to transmit high-frequency signals via an air gap to an outer housing, which surrounds the inner housing (Goida discloses that the inner housing structure interfaces with wire bonds [36, 38] that traverse across the air gap/external cavity [15] to route electrical signals to the surrounding outer housing boundaries. See Fig. 2A and Col. 9, lines 8–19);
and wherein the inner housing is configured to be inserted into a high-frequency system in a modular manner (Goida discloses a modular method for packaging an integrated device where the internal housing component is provided as a pre-formed sub-assembly block that is positioned and mechanically coupled inside the external housing structure during mass assembly. See Fig. 4A [Blocks 52–58] and Col. 11, line 50 to Col. 12, line 11).
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goida.
Regarding claim 2, Goida further teaches that the high-frequency system according to claim 1, wherein the inner housing has an end face with a toothed structure (Goida discloses an internal lid structure [40] providing an alternating, multi-tiered structural configuration along its mating interface boundaries. Specifically, Figure 3 discloses an inwardly bent first annular section [46] cooperating with an outwardly bent second annular section [47] to create a stepped or interlocking mating engagement interface. See Fig. 3 and Col. 10, lines 63–67.)
Goida, however, is not explicit about the toothed structure of the end face is located opposite the high-frequency connection on the outer housing but Goida discloses that this alternating structural engagement zone [annular sections 46, 47] is positioned directly opposite the lower substrate boundary [12] containing the electrical connection pathways. See Fig. 3.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the current invention to modify Goida’s mating structure to use an interlocking or tiered geometric mating interface to align structural components or ports within an integrated device.
Further per claim 4, Goida discloses that the high-frequency system according to claim 1, wherein the inner housing is coupled to the carrier unit (80) in a reversible manner (the inner housing [internal lid 40] is attached to the package substrate using an internal lid adhesive [43], which can specifically comprise solder or a reworkable conductive/nonconductive epoxy. See Col. 8, lines 4–7. In microelectronics packaging, attaching a component using reflowable solder or a thermal-release adhesive inherently provides a reversible/reworkable coupling configuration that can be decoupled via targeted heating. Adopting to this standard manufacturing technique for Goida would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the current invention as a well-known manufacturing practice.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAFIZUR RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0659. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 10-6.
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/HAFIZUR RAHMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843.
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