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 .
Email Communication
Applicant is encouraged to authorize the Examiner to communicate via email by filing form PTO/SB/439 either via USPS, Central Fax, or EFS-Web. See MPEP 502.01, 502, 502.05.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 7/26/2024, 2/6/2025, 7/29/2025 have been fully considered and are attached hereto.
Claim Objections
Claims 4, 19-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4 recites, “the support” which lacks antecedent basis. It appears it should be changed to read, “a support”.
Claim 19, Line 11 “\disposed” is incorrect and the \ should be removed from before the word disposed.
Claim 20 is objected to since it depends from claim 19 and thus inherits the deficiency therein.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6-13, 15-17, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung (US 2021/0068244) in view of Inagaki et al. (US 2022/0046825 – hereinafter, “Inagaki”).
With respect to claim 1, Jung teaches (In Figs 4 and 8) an electronic device (101) comprising: a housing (310) forming an exterior of the electronic device; a printed circuit board (340) on which at least one component (510) is disposed; and a heat dissipation member (332) contacting the at least one component or contacting the at least one component through a thermally conductive material (540 + 581).
Jung fails to specifically teach or suggest that the heat dissipation member including a first plate, a second plate and a wick, wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion.
Inagaki, however, teaches a heat dissipation member (1) including a first plate (12), a second plate (11) and a wick (15), wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member (See Fig 1) and includes a first portion (Portion of 15 above 100) and a second portion (Portion of 15 remote from 100), and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion (¶ 0091, “Instead, in the heat receiving portion of the one plate-shaped body 11 to which the heating element 100 is thermally connected, an aspect that a plurality of pieces of mesh members are stacked to be layered as the wick structure 15 is acceptable, In that case, in the portion other than the heat receiving portion, the wick structure 15 may be a piece of mesh member. That is, an aspect that the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the heat receiving portion is larger than the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the portion other than the heat receiving portion is acceptable”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung the heat dissipation member including a first plate, a second plate and a wick, wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion, since doing so would provide for a heat dissipation member which is capable of moving relatively large amounts of heat.
With respect to claim 2, Jung further teaches a support (540) accommodated in the housing, wherein the heat dissipation member (332) is disposed on one surface of the support (See Fig 8).
With respect to claim 3, Jung further teaches that the thermally conductive material (540 + 581) includes a thermal interface material (¶ 0096, “540 may be disposed between the bracket 332 and the electrical element 510 and may be formed, for example, of a carbon fiber thermal interface material (TIM)) and a thermally conductive block (581 is shown as a thermally conductive block).
With respect to claim 6, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above and Inagaki further teaches wherein the first portion contacts at least one component (100, ¶ 0091), or contacts the at least one component through the thermally conductive material, and wherein the second portion does not contact the at least one component and does not contact the at least one component through the thermally conductive material (See Fig 5, see also ¶ 0091).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the first portion contacts the at least one component, or contacts the at least one component through the thermally conductive material, and wherein the second portion does not contact the at least one component and does not contact the at least one component through the thermally conductive material, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would allow for the first portion which has increased wick thickness to accept heat from the component helping to prevent dry-out (Inagaki: ¶ 0091).
With respect to claim 7, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above and Inagaki further teaches wherein the first portion includes a reinforced portion (¶ 0091, “Instead, in the heat receiving portion of the one plate-shaped body 11 to which the heating element 100 is thermally connected, an aspect that a plurality of pieces of mesh members are stacked to be layered as the wick structure 15 is acceptable” where, here, the second layer of wicking stacked upon the first layer provides for a reinforced portion as claimed).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the first portion includes a reinforced portion, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would prevent dry-out of the heat receiving portion (Inagaki: ¶ 0091).
With respect to claim 8, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above and Inagaki further teaches wherein the first portion (Portion of 15 above 100) is disposed on a narrower one of a heat receiving portion (Portion of 11 above 100) of the heat dissipation member having a first width, and a heat dissipation portion (Portion of 11 remote from 100) of the heat dissipation member having a second width (See Fig 5 of Inagaki where the width of 10 above 100 is narrower than the width of 10 adjacent 12 and the thicker part of the wick resides in the portion of 15 above 100 in the narrower portion of 10).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the first portion is disposed on a narrower one of a heat receiving portion of the heat dissipation member having a first width, and a heat dissipation portion of the heat dissipation member having a second width, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would allow a working fluid in a liquid phase to receive the heat from the heat receiving portion more reliably (Inagaki: ¶ 0096).
With respect to claim 9, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above and Inagaki further teaches that the first portion includes a bottleneck portion in which a width of the heat dissipation member is narrowed (See Fig A below).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the first portion includes a bottleneck portion in which a width of the heat dissipation member is narrowed, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would allow a working fluid in a liquid phase to receive the heat from the heat receiving portion more reliably (Inagaki: ¶ 0096).
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With respect to claim 10, Jung further teaches further comprising a battery (350) having at least a portion disposed on a same plane as the printed circuit board (¶ 0083, “At least a portion of the battery 350 may be disposed on, for example, substantially the same plane as the printed circuit board 340.”), and wherein a heat receiving portion of the heat dissipation member (332) is disposed at a position corresponding to the at least one component (See Fig 8), and a heat radiating portion of the heat dissipation member is disposed at a position corresponding to the battery (See Fig 4, a remote, heat dissipating part of 332 is at an area corresponding with the battery 350).
With respect to claim 11, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 2 as per above and Jung further teaches a shield can (570) disposed on the printed circuit board to at least partially surround the at least one component (510, see Fig 8); and a shielding sheet (520) stacked on at least a portion of the shield can (See Fig 8).
With respect to claim 12, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 11 as per above and Jung further teaches wherein the shielding sheet (520) includes a conductive shielding sheet (¶ 0095, “the heat conductive member 520”).
With respect to claim 13, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 11 as per above and Jung further teaches that the shielding sheet (520) includes a compressible foam, a shielding film disposed on two opposite surfaces of the compressible foam, and/or a conductive double-sided tape (520 is disclosed to include 521 and 525 which are disclosed as adhesive films and thus Jung further teaches that the shielding sheet includes a conductive double-sided tape, as claimed).
With respect to claim 15, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above and Inagaki further teaches wherein the heat dissipation member comprises at least one of copper, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, or magnesium (¶ 0067, “As materials of the container 10, for example, copper, aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, copper alloy, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, and the like can be given.”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the heat dissipation member comprises at least one of copper, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, or magnesium, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would allow for the heat dissipation member to be made of a highly thermally conductive material that is low in cost and easy to manufacture.
With respect to claim 16, Jung teaches (In Figs 3-4, 5B) an electronic device, comprising: a housing (310) including a first surface and a second surface facing in a direction opposite to the first surface (See Fig 3); a support (332) accommodated in the housing between the first surface and the second surface (See Fig 4); and a heat dissipation member (540) supported by the support (330).
Jung fails to specifically teach or suggest the heat dissipation member comprising a chamber supported by the support, and including a heat receiving portion configured to vaporize a working fluid based on heat being absorbed from a heat source disposed in the electronic device, a heat dissipation portion configured to liquify the working fluid based on the heat being discharged, and a wick disposed on the heat receiving portion and the heat dissipation portion, wherein the wick includes a first portion disposed on the heat receiving portion and a second portion disposed on the heat dissipation portion, and wherein either the first portion or the second portion includes a reinforced portion.
Inagaki, however, teaches (In Fig 5) a heat dissipation member (4) comprising a chamber including a heat receiving portion (Portion of 4 above 100) configured to vaporize a working fluid based on heat being absorbed from a heat source (100), a heat dissipation portion (Portion of 4 remote from 100) configured to liquify the working fluid based on the heat being discharged, and a wick (15) disposed on the heat receiving portion and the heat dissipation portion (See Fig 5), wherein the wick includes a first portion disposed on the heat receiving portion and a second portion disposed on the heat dissipation portion (See Fig 5), and wherein either the first portion or the second portion includes a reinforced portion (¶ 0091, “Instead, in the heat receiving portion of the one plate-shaped body 11 to which the heating element 100 is thermally connected, an aspect that a plurality of pieces of mesh members are stacked to be layered as the wick structure 15 is acceptable, In that case, in the portion other than the heat receiving portion, the wick structure 15 may be a piece of mesh member. That is, an aspect that the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the heat receiving portion is larger than the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the portion other than the heat receiving portion is acceptable”, where stacked layers of the wick adjacent 100 is considered to create a reinforced portion, as claimed).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the heat dissipation member comprising a chamber supported by the support, and including a heat receiving portion configured to vaporize a working fluid based on heat being absorbed from a heat source disposed in the electronic device, a heat dissipation portion configured to liquify the working fluid based on the heat being discharged, and a wick disposed on the heat receiving portion and the heat dissipation portion, wherein the wick includes a first portion disposed on the heat receiving portion and a second portion disposed on the heat dissipation portion, and wherein either the first portion or the second portion includes a reinforced portion, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would provide for a heat dissipation member which is capable of moving relatively large amounts of heat.
With respect to claim 17, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 16 as per above and Inagaki further teaches wherein the heat dissipation portion has a first width, and the heat receiving portion has a second width, and wherein the reinforced portion is disposed on a portion having a narrower width of the first width of the heat dissipation portion or the second width of the heat receiving portion (See Fig B below).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the heat dissipation portion has a first width, and the heat receiving portion has a second width, and wherein the reinforced portion is disposed on a portion having a narrower width of the first width of the heat dissipation portion or the second width of the heat receiving portion, as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would allow a working fluid in a liquid phase to receive the heat from the heat receiving portion more reliably (Inagaki: ¶ 0096).
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With respect to claims 19-20, Jung teaches (In Figs 2-4, 6) an electronic device comprising: a housing (310) including a first surface and a second surface facing in a direction opposite to the first surface (See Fig 3); a support (332) accommodated in the housing between the first surface and the second surface; a heat dissipation member (540) disposed on one surface of the support; a printed circuit board (340) accommodated in the housing between the first surface and the second surface, and having at least one component (510) disposed thereon; and a thermally conductive block (550) disposed between the at least one component and the heat dissipation member (See Fig 6).
Jung fails to specifically teach or suggest that the heat dissipation member includes a wick wherein the wick includes a first portion disposed on a heat receiving portion and a second portion disposed on a heat dissipation portion, and wherein either the first portion or the second portion further includes a reinforced portion (Cl. 19) wherein the reinforced wick comprises a third portion different from the first portion and/or the second portion, or the reinforced wick comprises a portion formed to extend integrally from the first portion or the second portion (Cl. 20).
Inagaki, however, teaches a heat dissipation member (4) which includes a wick (15) wherein the wick includes a first portion (Center portion of 15 above 100) disposed on a heat receiving portion (Center portion of 11 above 100) and a second portion (Right portion of 15 remote from 100) disposed on a heat dissipation portion (Right portion of 11 remote from 100), and wherein either the first portion or the second portion further includes a reinforced portion (¶ 0091, “Instead, in the heat receiving portion of the one plate-shaped body 11 to which the heating element 100 is thermally connected, an aspect that a plurality of pieces of mesh members are stacked to be layered as the wick structure 15 is acceptable” where, here, the second layer of wicking stacked upon the first layer provides for a reinforced portion as claimed.), wherein the reinforced wick comprises a third portion different from the first portion and/or the second portion, or the reinforced wick comprises a portion (Left portion of 15) formed to extend integrally from the first portion or the second portion (See Fig 5, the left most portion of 15 extends from the center portion of 15 and/or the right portion of 15).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung, the heat dissipation member includes a wick wherein the wick includes a first portion disposed on a heat receiving portion and a second portion disposed on a heat dissipation portion, and wherein either the first portion or the second portion further includes a reinforced portion (Cl. 19) wherein the reinforced wick comprises a third portion different from the first portion and/or the second portion, or the reinforced wick comprises a portion formed to extend integrally from the first portion or the second portion (Cl. 20), as taught by Inagaki, since doing so would provide for a heat dissipation member which is capable of moving relatively large amounts of heat.
Claims 1, 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Inagaki.
With respect to claims 1, 3, 4 Jung teaches (In Figs 4 and 6) an electronic device (101) comprising: a housing (310) forming an exterior of the electronic device; a printed circuit board (340) on which at least one component (510) is disposed; and a heat dissipation member (332) contacting the at least one component or contacting the at least one component through a thermally conductive material (540 + 550), wherein the thermally conductive material (540 + 550) includes a thermal interface material (550) and a thermally conductive block (540), wherein the thermally conductive block (540) is disposed on an opening formed in a support (530, see Fig 6).
Jung fails to specifically teach or suggest that the heat dissipation member including a first plate, a second plate and a wick, wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion.
Inagaki, however, teaches a heat dissipation member (1) including a first plate (12), a second plate (11) and a wick (15), wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member (See Fig 1) and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion (¶ 0091, “Instead, in the heat receiving portion of the one plate-shaped body 11 to which the heating element 100 is thermally connected, an aspect that a plurality of pieces of mesh members are stacked to be layered as the wick structure 15 is acceptable, In that case, in the portion other than the heat receiving portion, the wick structure 15 may be a piece of mesh member. That is, an aspect that the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the heat receiving portion is larger than the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the portion other than the heat receiving portion is acceptable”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung the heat dissipation member including a first plate, a second plate and a wick, wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion, since doing so would provide for a heat dissipation member which is capable of moving relatively large amounts of heat.
With respect to claim 5, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 1 as per above and the combination further teaches wherein the at least one component contacts the second plate, or contacts the second plate through the thermally conductive material (See Fig C below).
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Claims 1, 2, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Inagaki.
With respect to claim 1, Jung teaches (In Figs 4 and 8) an electronic device (101) comprising: a housing (310) forming an exterior of the electronic device; a printed circuit board (340) on which at least one component (510) is disposed; and a heat dissipation member (540) contacting the at least one component or contacting the at least one component through a thermally conductive material (520).
Jung fails to specifically teach or suggest that the heat dissipation member including a first plate, a second plate and a wick, wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion.
Inagaki, however, teaches a heat dissipation member (1) including a first plate (12), a second plate (11) and a wick (15), wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member (See Fig 1) and includes a first portion (Portion of 15 above 100) and a second portion (Portion of 15 remote from 100), and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion (¶ 0091, “Instead, in the heat receiving portion of the one plate-shaped body 11 to which the heating element 100 is thermally connected, an aspect that a plurality of pieces of mesh members are stacked to be layered as the wick structure 15 is acceptable, In that case, in the portion other than the heat receiving portion, the wick structure 15 may be a piece of mesh member. That is, an aspect that the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the heat receiving portion is larger than the thickness of the wick structure 15 in the portion other than the heat receiving portion is acceptable”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Inagaki with that of Jung such that, in Jung the heat dissipation member including a first plate, a second plate and a wick, wherein the wick is disposed on the second plate inside the heat dissipation member and includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is thicker than the second portion, since doing so would provide for a heat dissipation member which is capable of moving relatively large amounts of heat.
With respect to claim 2, Jung further teaches a support (332) accommodated in the housing, wherein the heat dissipation member (540) is disposed on one surface of the support (See Fig 8).
With respect to claim 14, Jung further teaches a conductive double-sided tape (585, ¶ 0124, “The conductive adhesive member 585 may be a structure configured by a conductive tape or soldering so as to fix the cooling member 581 or 583 to the bracket 332 and prevent and/or reduce an increase of heat resistance.”) disposed between the support (332) and the heat dissipation member (540, see Fig 8).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Inagaki and further in view of Xu et al. (US 2022/0167526 – hereinafter, “Xu”).
With respect to claim 18, Jung as modified by Inagaki teaches the limitations of claim 16 as per above and Jung further teaches (In Figs 4, 5B) a printed circuit board (340) accommodated in the housing between the first surface and the second surface (See Fig 4), and having at least one component (510) at least partially surrounded by a shield can (570) disposed thereon; a thermally conductive material (520) disposed in contact with the at least one component (510, see Fig 5B)
Jung fails to specifically teach or suggest a thermally conductive block disposed between the thermally conductive material and the heat dissipation member.
Xu, however, teaches (In Fig 1) a thermally conductive block (50) disposed between a thermally conductive material (30) and a heat dissipation member (20).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Xu with that of Jung as modified by Inagaki, such that modified Jung includes a thermally conductive block disposed between the thermally conductive material and the heat dissipation member, as taught by Xu, since doing so would provide some mechanical cushion between the component (510), the thermally conductive material (520) and the heat dissipation member (540) of Jung thus providing a manner of mechanical protection between the three elements.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0107867 to Yang et al. which teaches a vapor chamber and electronic device;
US 2020/0045847 to Wakaoka et al. which teaches a vapor chamber with variable size wick;
US 2020/0003501 to Wakaoka which teaches a vapor chamber with multiple wicks (7, 8);
US 2018/0270993 to Kulkarni et al. which teaches cooling using a wick with varied thickness;
US 2013/0092354 to Semenov et al. which teaches a heat pipe having a wick with a hybrid profile;
US 2010/0307003 to Hoffman et al. which teaches a vapor chamber with improved wick; and;
US 2007/0193722 to Hou et al. which teaches a heat pipe with a capillary wick with a variable thickness.
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/ZACHARY PAPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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