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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species A in the reply filed on 04/22/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no search burden placed on the Examiner. This is not found persuasive because the Species require a different field of search (for example, searching different classes/subclasses, electronic resources, and/or employing different search queries). Furthermore, Examiner notes that although the restriction requirement was between 11 embodiments, there appear to be more than 30 embodiments in the disclosure where each embodiment includes unique and/or alternative feature and such would require Examiner to employ numerous different search queries.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 6, 8-15, 18, and 20-33 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 04/22/2026.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by CHEN (US20220018609A1: cited by Applicant).
Regarding claim 1, CHEN teaches a heat pipe assembly (see Figures 1, 2, and 6A-B) comprising:
a first heat pipe (100) having an inner wall surface (112 and 121), an outer wall surface (111 and 122), and at least one opening (131), wherein the inner wall surface (112 and 121) surrounds a first cavity (140), the outer wall surface (111 and 122) faces away from the inner wall surface (112 and 121: see Figures 1 and 2), and the at least one opening (131) is disposed on a longitudinal side of the first heat pipe (see Figure 1); and at least one second heat pipe (200 and/or inner pipes of 200A and 200B that are adjacent to 450 as shown in Figure 6A) having a second cavity (211) and a connecting port (port of 210) that is coupled to the second cavity (211), the at least one second heat pipe (200) is disposed on the first heat pipe (100) so that the second cavity (211) of the at least one second heat pipe (200) is connected to the first cavity (140) of the first heat pipe (100) via the connecting port (port of 210) and the at least one opening (131: see Figure 2).
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Regarding claim 2, CHEN further teaches wherein the first heat pipe (100) further comprises a first heat conducting section and two second heat conducting sections (see CHEN’s Figure 6B annotated by Examiner), the two second heat conducting sections are connected to opposite ends of the first heat conducting section respectively and protrude in the same direction (see CHEN’s Figure 6B annotated by Examiner), and the at least one opening is located in the first heat conducting section of the first heat pipe (see in CHEN’s Figure 6B annotated by Examiner where the at least one second heat pipe is located in the first heat conducting section of 100, therefore, the at least one opening is located thereto) .
CHEN’s Figure 6B annotated by Examiner
Regarding claim 4, CHEN further teaches wherein at least a portion of the first heat conducting section of the first heat pipe is a flat pipe (see CHEN’s Figure 6B annotated by Examiner).
Regarding claim 5, CHEN further teaches wherein the at least one second heat pipe (200) has a flanged structure (280) at the connecting port (port of 210: see Figure 2), and the flanged structure (280) is stacked on the outer wall surface of the first heat conducting section of the first heat pipe (see Figure 2 and cf. CHEN’s Figure 6B annotated by Examiner).
Regarding claim 7, CHEN further teaches wherein a portion of the at least one second heat pipe is inserted into the at least one opening of the first heat pipe (see in Figure 2 where a portion of 200, capillary structure portion 310, is inserted into 131 of 100).
Regarding claim 16, CHEN further teaches further comprising a first wick structure (150) and at least one second wick structure (300), wherein the first wick structure (150) is disposed in the first cavity (140) of the first heat pipe (100), and the at least one second wick structure (300) is disposed in the second cavity (211) of the at least one second heat pipe and connected to the first wick structure (see Figure 2).
Regarding claim 19, CHEN further teaches wherein the at least one second heat pipe (200) is welded to the first heat pipe (see Figure 2 where 200 is welded to 100 via S).
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN (US20220018609A1: cited by Applicant) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view Torresin (US20210125898A1).
Regarding claim 3, CHEN does not teach wherein each of the two second heat conducting sections is connected to the opposite ends of the first heat conducting section via a bent section.
However, Torresin teaches a heat pipe assembly (see Figure 7) comprising a first heat pipe (horizontal part of 16) having each of two second heat conducting sections (the left and right outermost branches of 16) is connected to the opposite ends of a first heat conducting section (flat portion above heat source 32) via a bent section (see Figure 7).
It would, therefore, have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the first heat pipe of CHEN with each of the two second heat conducting sections is connected to the opposite ends of the first heat conducting section via a bent section, as taught by Torresin, such modification would provide the benefit of increasing the heat transfer rate by elevating the two second heat conducting sections.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN (US20220018609A1: cited by Applicant) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view LIU (US20190049190A1).
Regarding claim 17, CHEN does not teach wherein the at least one second wick structure includes two crescent-shaped portions extending out of the connecting port.
However, LIU teaches a heat pipe (200f/200e: see Figures 16 and 17) having a wick structure (220f/220e) that includes two crescent-shaped portions (223) extending out of a connecting port (212a).
It would, therefore, have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the second heat pipe of CHEN with the at least one second wick structure includes two crescent-shaped portions extending out of the connecting port, as taught by LIU, such modification would provide the benefit of increasing the heat transfer rate by increasing the capillary structure while having a vapor passage between the two crescent-shaped portions extending out of the connecting port.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHALED AL SAMIRI whose telephone number is (571)272-8685. The examiner can normally be reached 10:30AM~3:30PM, M-F (E.S.T.).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jianying Atkisson can be reached at (571) 270-7740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KHALED AHMED ALI AL SAMIRI/ Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/JIANYING C ATKISSON/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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