DETAILED ACTION
Examiner’s Notes
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112:
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites multiple “the diffusion barrier”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of this office action, the recitation will be treated as if it recites “the tunnel diffusion barrier”. All claims which depend on clam 1 are rejected by virtue of dependency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 recites “the through hole (111)” in line 20. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of this office action, the recitation will be treated as if it recites “the through holes (111)”. All claims which depend on clam 1 are rejected by virtue of dependency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 recites “a thermoelectric module” in lines 21-22. It is unclear whether the claimed “a thermoelectric module” is identical to or a different feature from the claimed “a low-cost and high-strength thermoelectric module” in lines 1-2. All claims which depend on clam 1 are rejected by virtue of dependency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 2 recites “the through hole (111)” in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of this office action, the recitation will be treated as if it recites “the through holes (111)”. All claims which depend on clam 2 are rejected by virtue of dependency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 2 recites “a predetermined pressure” in line 17. It is unclear whether the claimed “a predetermined pressure” is identical to or a different feature from the claimed “a predetermined pressure” in claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 3 recites “a predetermined pressure” in line 18. It is unclear whether the claimed “a predetermined pressure” is identical to or a different feature from the claimed “a predetermined pressure” in claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art taken alone or in combination fails to anticipate or fairly suggest the limitations of the claims, in such a manner that a rejection under 35 USC 102 or 103 would be proper. The prior art fails to teach a combination of all the claimed features as presented in independent claim 1.
Regarding claim 1, A closest prior art, WATANABE (JP 2003174202 A, see English Machine Translation) teaches a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device, the method comprising: a support (see the substrate 60), a plurality of through holes (see the pores 62a) are formed which can fill thermoelectric powder with a p-type thermoelectric powder and an n-type thermoelectric powder (see Fig. 2; [0038] the pores 62a on one side are filled with n-type (or p-type) thermoelectric material 64a, and the pores 62b on the opposite side are filled with p-type (or n-type) thermoelectric material 64b (a)), sintering a p-type thermoelectric powder and an n-type thermoelectric powder the p-type thermoelectric powder and the n-type thermoelectric powder ([0028] By sintering the thermoelectric materials 64a and 64b filled in the mold 60a together with the mold 60a, n-type and p-type thermoelectric elements are formed in the pores 62a and 62b), mounting ceramic substrates ([0036] ceramic substrates such as SiC and Si3N4, metallic materials such as AlFe8, Fe, and FeNi, and quartz or quartz-based glass can also be used, and these can also be selectively etched).
But, the prior art fails to explicitly teach a combination of all the claimed features including
“a lower metal thin film punching operation (S110) of covering an upper surface of a support (110), in which a plurality of through holes (111) are formed to form a tunnel diffusion barrier, with a metal thin film (130) for the diffusion barrier and punching and inserting the metal thin film (130) for the diffusion barrier to match a size of each of the through holes (111); an upper metal thin film punching operation (S130) of covering the upper surface of the support (110) with the metal thin film (130) for the diffusion barrier and punching and inserting the metal thin film (130) for the diffusion barrier to match the size of each of the through holes (111)”, as claimed.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAE-SIK KANG whose telephone number is 571-272-3190. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00am – 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew T. Martin can be reached on 571-270-7871. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAE-SIK KANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1728
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