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
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saitou et al (US PGPub No. 2014/0183995) in view of Tanaka et al (US PGPub No. 2011/0292624).
Saitou teaches:
limitations from claim 1, an inverter-integrated electric compressor (1) including: a housing (2A-C) in which a motor (4) is integrated; an inverter (5; paragraph 24) for driving the motor; an inverter accommodating portion (2C) that is formed in the housing and accommodates the inverter (paragraph 23-24); and a cover (6) that blocks the inverter accommodating portion (FIG. 1, FIG. 8), wherein the inverter includes a circuit board (24) having a heating element (14-15), and the inverter-integrated electric compressor comprises: a seat portion that is formed integrally with the cover at a position corresponding to the heating element (the portion of cover 6 in contact with element 29) and protrudes toward the circuit board; and a heat dissipation sheet (29) placed between the seat portion and the circuit board (FIG. 8; paragraph 43-44); wherein the seat portion is located inward of an outer edge portion of the heat dissipation sheet (see FIG. 3A annotated below);
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Saitou does not teach that the seating portion protrudes towards the circuit board;
Tanaka teaches:
limitations from claim 1, a housing (8) and a cover (7) accommodating a heating-element (3) on a circuit board (2); wherein portions of the housing/cover are formed to protrude towards the heating element with heat-dissipation elements (11) between (see FIG. 3A-C; paragraph 23);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of electronic circuits at the time the invention was filed to provide a protrusion in the cover of Saitou, such that the cover protrudes towards the heating-element as taught by Tanaka, in order to provide a close contact between the housing and the circuitry to effectively transfer heat between the two (paragraph 23 of Tanaka).
Saitou does not teach a material for the housing components and cover;
However, Tanaka teaches that the housings 7-8 are formed of metal material (paragraph 20);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of compressors at the time the invention was filed to form the housing and cover of Saitou from a metal, as taught by Tanaka, in order to encourage heat transfer by using a material of high thermal conductivity (paragraph 20 of Tanaka);
Tanaka further teaches:
limitations from claim 3, wherein an outer surface of the cover is formed with a recessed portion corresponding in position to the seat portion (see annotated FIG. 3A below);
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Saitou further teaches:
limitations from claim 4, further comprising another heat dissipation sheet (28) that is placed between a wall of the inverter accommodating portion at a position facing the cover and the circuit board and has the same thickness as the heat dissipation sheet placed between the seat portion and the circuit board (see FIG. 8; paragraph 41-42, 44; while Saitou does not explicitly disclose a thickness of the sheets 28-29; FIG. 8 shows similarly sized sheets, and the examiner maintains that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to choose a sheet thickness in order to provide a particular level of heat transfer through the sheet. See also FIG. 3A-B of Tanaka in which the sheets 11 are generally of the same thickness);
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saitou et al (US PGPub No. 2014/0183995) in view of Tanaka et al (US PGPub No. 2011/0292624) as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of Inoue (US Patent No. 8,379,390).
Tanaka teaches that an edge of the seat portion is inward of the heat dissipation sheet (FIG. 3), but does not explicitly show that the entirety of the seat is inward of the sheet;
However, Inoue teaches a heat dissipating assembly for a circuit board (10), including an electronic part (20) upon which a heat dissipating member (40) is placed, and a seating portion (Z1) of a cover (30) contacting the member (FIG. 2-3); and wherein the seating portion is designed to be inward of the heat dissipation member (FIG. 3; C. 5 Lines 12-50);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of electric compressors at the time the invention was filed to arrange the cover seating portion of Tanaka inward of the dissipating member, as taught by Inoue, in order to reduce unnecessary noise from transferring between components (C. 5 Lines 33-50 of Inoue).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/06/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has amended Claim 1 to include limitations from Claim 2. Applicant argues that the seat portion and the dissipation element of Tanaka have the same width, and has provided a marked-up version of FIG. 3A. The examiner disagrees with this interpretation. The rejection relies on the portion of the cover contacting the component 11 as the seating portion, in the sense that it “seats” the heat-dissipating member” (See FIG. 3A below). Therefore, the examiner maintains the rejection in view of Tanaka.
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Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER S BOBISH whose telephone number is (571)270-5289. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Essama Omgba can be reached at 469-295-9278. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER S BOBISH/Examiner, Art Unit 3746