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 without traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 08/05/2026 is acknowledged.
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(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 9-10 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the first part " in line 3 and “ the second part” in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the third part. "There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 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.
Claim (s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishihara et al. (JP 2019161104A; see English Translation) hereinafter Ishihara.
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546
1128
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Greyscale
Regarding claim 1, Ishihara discloses a printed circuit board (Fig.5L), comprising: a first insulating layer (see Reproduced Fig.5L above) ; a first wiring layer (see Reproduced Fig.5L above) buried in the first insulating layer; a first solder resist layer (see Reproduced Fig.5L above) located on the first insulating layer; and a cavity (7;Fig.5L) penetrating through the first solder resist layer and a portion of the first insulating layer ( see cavity part that holds 110a) along a height direction ( top down direction ), wherein a depth of a central portion (see 41) of the cavity is less than a depth of an edge portion of the cavity along the height direction (see cavity that holds 110a deeper than the top surface of 41;Fig.5L).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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:
Regarding claims 2-8, The prior art of record neither anticipates norrenders obvious the claimed subject matter of the instant application as a whole eithertaken alone or in combination, in particular, prior art of record does not teach" wherein: the cavity includes a first part in the portion of the first insulating layer, a second part in the edge portion of the cavity, and a third part in the first solder resist layer, and a side wall of the first part and a side wall of the second part are aligned with each other along the height direction " in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim 1.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent toapplicant's disclosure.
Maeda (US2010/0078786 A1) discloses a wiring substrate with reinforcements.
Kim et al. (US 2023/0141270 A1) discloses a printed circuit board device.
Cho et al. (US 2022/0159839 A1) discloses a printed circuit board device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETE LEE whose telephone number is (571) 270-5921. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (2nd & 4th Friday Off). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached at (571) 272-2229 The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/PETE T LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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