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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restriction
Claim 18 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/4/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of claim 1-17 in the reply filed on 6/4/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding Claim 14, the limitation of “the heating the cell” appears it should be “the heating of the cell” or language similar.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Jiang (CN111785804, Machine translation)
Regarding Claim 1, Jiang et al. teaches an interconnecting method for solar cell (2, fig. 4, top of page 4/24), comprising: pre-fixing a welding wire (soldering ribbon 11, Fig. 4, top of page 4/24) to a surface of a grid line (busbars 21, 22, Fig. 4, top of page 4/24) of a cell configured to be connected to the welding wire (11, Fig. 4, top of page 4/24), by a thermosetting adhesive ("the material of the thermosetting adhesive is selected from: acrylic resin, etc", of page 2/24) wherein each grid line (21, 22, Fig. 4, top of page 4/24) configured to be connected to the welding wire (11, Fig. 4, top of page 4/24) is partially covered with the thermosetting adhesive ("the adhesive is set on each bonding point of the first bus grid of the back-contact solar cell, and each bonding point of the second bus grid of the adjacent back-contact solar cell", middle of page 6/24]; "the number of bonding points on each first busbar is 2-10; the number of bonding points on each second bus bar is 2-10", middle of page 6/24]); and
heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon, to cure the thermosetting adhesive ("when the adhesive is a thermosetting adhesive, referring to FIG. 4, the back-contact battery assembly production system may further include: a curing mechanism 4 for curing the battery string precursor; The curing temperature is less than or equal to 150°C", see par. [top of page 9/24]) and form an alloyed connection between the welding wire and the grid line ("applying solder paste on each pad of the second busbar; the melting point of the solder paste is less than or equal to 150°C" [top of page 3/24], "Optionally, the ribbon is composed of a substrate and a low melting point conductive coating coated on the surface of the substrate; the material of the low melting point conductive coating is selected from: low melting point metals and/or low melting point alloys, top of page 3/24]; hence, during the heating for curing, an alloyed connection is formed), wherein a curing temperature of the thermosetting adhesive and a melting point of a surface coating of the welding wire are lower than a temperature at which the cell is heated (since curing of the thermosetting adhesive and melting of the solder paste occur, the curing temperature and the melting point of the solder coating are lower than the temperature at which the cell is heated in the curing mechanism 4, Fig. 4, top of page 9/24).
Regarding Claim 5, Jiang et al. is relied upon for the reasons given above, Jiang et al. teaches wherein the thermosetting adhesive comprises at least one of an epoxy resin adhesive, a phenolic resin adhesive, a polyurethane adhesive, an acrylic adhesive, and an organic silicone adhesive [middle of page 2/24].
Regarding Claim 15, Jiang et al. is relied upon for the reasons given above, Jiang et al. teaches wherein each grid line configured to be connected to the welding wire is covered with the thermosetting adhesive in a spaced manner [bottom of page 2/24].
Regarding Claim 16, Jiang et al. is relied upon for the reasons given above, Jiang et al. teaches wherein 2 to 5 spots on each grid line configured to be connected to the welding wire are covered with the thermosetting adhesive [bottom of page 2/24].
Regarding Claim 17, Jiang et al. is relied upon for the reasons given above, Jiang et al. teaches wherein the thermosetting adhesive covers spots where the grid line configured to be connected to the welding wire intersects with other grid lines on the cell [Fig. 4, bottom of page 2/24].
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang (CN111785804, Machine translation) in view of Voit (US Pub No. 2023/0248272)
Regarding Claim 6, Jiang et al. is relied upon for the reasons given above, Jiang et al. is silent on wherein the surface coating of the welding wire is made of a tin-containing alloy.
Voit et al. teaches the use of a Sn43Pb43Bi14 alloy [table 3, 0321-0322].
Since Jiang et al. teaches the use of a alloy, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to utilize the alloy of Voit et al. in place of the alloy of Jiang et al. as it is merely the selection of a conventional alloy material in the art and one of ordinary skill would have a reasonable expectation of success in doing so.
The combination of familiar elements is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results. See KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395 – 97 (2007) (see MPEP § 2143, A.).
Regarding Claim 7, within the combination above, modified Jiang et al. teaches wherein the tin-
containing alloy comprises at least one of a tin-lead-bismuth alloy, a tin-bismuth alloy, a tin-
bismuth-silver alloy, a tin-bismuth-copper alloy, and a tin-indium alloy [see rejection of claim 6].
Regarding Claim 8, within the combination above, modified Jiang et al. teaches wherein the tin-containing alloy is Sn43Pb43Bi14 [see rejection of claim 6].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 9-14 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Jiang (CN111785804, Machine translation) and Voit (US Pub No. 2023/0248272) are the closest prior art.
Modified Jian et al. teaches all limitations of the claim but does not disclose the limitations of “further comprising: stacking and then laminating a plurality of the cells after the heating of the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon, wherein a temperature of the laminating is lower than the melting point of the surface coating of the welding wire.” in claim 2, “wherein the solar cell is a heterojunction cell; the temperature at which the cell is heated is in a range of 150°C to 200°C; the curing temperature of the thermosetting adhesive is in a range of 150°C to 180°C; the melting point of the surface coating of the welding wire is in a range of 150°C to 180°C; and a temperature for laminating is in a range of 130°C to 150°C.” in claim 3, “wherein a curing time of the thermosetting adhesive is in a range of 20 S to 30 S.” in claim 4, “further comprising: coating a welding flux to a surface of the welding wire before the pre-fixing the welding wire to the surface of the grid line of the cell by the thermosetting adhesive.” in claim 9, “wherein the heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon further comprises: applying pressure to a surface of the welding wire away from the cell.” in claim 10, “wherein a magnitude of pressure is in a range from 10 kpa to 100 kpa. ” in claim 11, “wherein the pre-fixing the welding wire to the surface of the grid line of the cell by the thermosetting adhesive comprises: coating the thermosetting adhesive on the surface of the grid line of the cell, and then placing the welding wire on the corresponding grid line, so that the welding wire is in contact with the thermosetting adhesive.” in claim 12, “wherein the pre-fixing the welding wire to the surface of the grid line of the cell by the thermosetting adhesive comprises: coating the thermosetting adhesive to a surface of the welding wire, and then placing the welding wire on the corresponding grid line, so that the grid line is in contact with the thermosetting adhesive.” in claim 13, and “wherein the heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon comprises: heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon by a multi-stage gradual heating method.” in claim 14.
These references, nor any other reference or combination of references in the prior art suggest or render obvious the limitations of “further comprising: stacking and then laminating a plurality of the cells after the heating of the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon, wherein a temperature of the laminating is lower than the melting point of the surface coating of the welding wire.” in claim 2, “wherein the solar cell is a heterojunction cell; the temperature at which the cell is heated is in a range of 150°C to 200°C; the curing temperature of the thermosetting adhesive is in a range of 150°C to 180°C; the melting point of the surface coating of the welding wire is in a range of 150°C to 180°C; and a temperature for laminating is in a range of 130°C to 150°C.” in claim 3, “wherein a curing time of the thermosetting adhesive is in a range of 20 S to 30 S.” in claim 4, “further comprising: coating a welding flux to a surface of the welding wire before the pre-fixing the welding wire to the surface of the grid line of the cell by the thermosetting adhesive.” in claim 9, “wherein the heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon further comprises: applying pressure to a surface of the welding wire away from the cell.” in claim 10, “wherein a magnitude of pressure is in a range from 10 kpa to 100 kpa. ” in claim 11, “wherein the pre-fixing the welding wire to the surface of the grid line of the cell by the thermosetting adhesive comprises: coating the thermosetting adhesive on the surface of the grid line of the cell, and then placing the welding wire on the corresponding grid line, so that the welding wire is in contact with the thermosetting adhesive.” in claim 12, “wherein the pre-fixing the welding wire to the surface of the grid line of the cell by the thermosetting adhesive comprises: coating the thermosetting adhesive to a surface of the welding wire, and then placing the welding wire on the corresponding grid line, so that the grid line is in contact with the thermosetting adhesive.” in claim 13, and “wherein the heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon comprises: heating the cell having the welding wire pre-fixed thereon by a multi-stage gradual heating method.” in claim 14.
Therefore; claim 1 is allowed once the limitations of claims 2-4 and 9-14 are incorporated into claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL Y SUN whose telephone number is (571)270-0557. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-7PM.
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/MICHAEL Y SUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1728
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