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 § 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) 1-3,5,6,8-11,15-189 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moore (20250224785) in view of Lan (12046530).
Regarding claim 1, Moore shows a mobile phone [0010] that includes a display and a battery (abstract). The phone includes a front and rear housing (110 and 103). Moore has a chassis assembly 112, circuit board 104 and thermal layer 112c bridging the circuit board and the chassis and cover areas. Moore doesn’t teach through holes in the thermal layer where the holes interrupt heat flow.
Lan teaches holes in the thermal bridge of a circuit board. The through holes interrupt the thermal path to use Copper Bumps for mitigation. See col 3 lines 5-15. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have holes in the thermal bridge of Moore as taught by Lan to improve handling of heat.
Regarding claim 2, Moore shows a circuit board with a processor 106 mounted on a first surface. The battery is part of the chassis assembly with creates a thermal bridge and is connected to the circuit board 104.
Regarding claim 3, Moore’s chassis creates a thermal bridge that couples regions of the chassis.
Regarding claim 5, the circuit board and the battery are on the same side of the chassis which acts as the claimed thermal bridge.
Regarding claim 6, the thermal diffuser layer of Mooer is graphite. Paragraph [0018]
Regarding claim 8, Moore shows an enclosure for a portable electronic device that has a front and rear housing (110 and 103). Moore has a chassis assembly 112, circuit board 104 and thermal layer 112c bridging the circuit board and the chassis and cover areas. Moore doesn’t teach through holes in the thermal layer where the holes interrupt heat flow.
Lan teaches holes in the thermal bridge of a circuit board. The through holes interrupt the thermal path to use Copper Bumps for mitigation. See col 3 lines 5-15. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have holes in the thermal bridge of Moore as taught by Lan to improve handling of heat.
Regarding claim 9, Moore includes a battery as claimed (108).
Regarding claim 10, Moore multiple exterior surfaces since the housing is a three-dimensional box. The examiner takes official notice that since the device 100 is a phone, it inherently includes a circuit that includes a wireless communication circuit. Additionally, the phone housing would inherently include an antenna to communicate as a mobile phone.
Regarding claim 11, Moore further includes a display as discussed in paragraph [0010]. Inherently there would be a frame support for such a display to exist inside the phone housing.
Lan teaches holes in the thermal bridge of a circuit board. The through holes interrupt the thermal path to use Copper Bumps for mitigation. See col 3 lines 5-15. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have holes in the thermal bridge of Moore as taught by Lan to improve handling of heat.
Regarding claim 15, Moore shows a thermal chassis for an electronic device. Moore teaches a housing that includes a front cover (110, that includes a display [0015]) and a rear cover (103). Moore includes a circuit board that is connected to the chassis assembly. Moore also includes a battery (108) connected to the chassis. Moore shows a Thermal diffuser 112 to transfer heat.
Regarding claim 16, the thermal diffuser is for spreading heat.
Regarding claim 17, the thermal diffuser is made of graphite. See paragraph [0018].
Regarding claim 18, Lan teaches holes in the thermal bridge of a circuit board. The through holes interrupt the thermal path to use Copper Bumps for mitigation. See col 3 lines 5-15. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have holes in the thermal bridge of Moore as taught by Lan to improve handling of heat.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4,7,12-14,19 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN A ZIMMERMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3059. The examiner can normally be reached m,t,tr 6-4; w,f 6-noon.
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/BRIAN A ZIMMERMAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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