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 .
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 1-5, 7 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Harada et al. (US PG Pub 2007/0000684).
For claim 1: Harada et al. teaches a printed circuit board (see paragraph 50, Fig. 1A, Fig. 6, in Fig. 1, the underlying printed circuit board is labeled 1, this label does not appear in other embodiments but the components are still to be mounted on the circuit board accordingly) comprising: a substrate 1; and an electrically conductive pattern arranged on the substrate, the electrically conductive pattern including: an electrode pad on which an electronic component 11 is to be mounted, and a first teaching pattern 7, 7a, 7b that teaches a mountable range of the electronic component 42 and includes a first line and a second line 7a (see Fig. 6, element 7a having an upper section and a lower section, being a first and second line), wherein when viewed from a direction orthogonal to a mounting surface of the printed circuit board, the electronic component includes a first side surface (see Fig. 6, top surface of element 42) extending in a first direction (see Fig. 6, left right direction is the first direction in Fig. 6), which is a direction along the mounting surface, the first line and the second line extend in the first direction (see Fig. 6, the top and bottom sections of element 7a also extend in the left-right direction which is the first direction), in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and a direction of a normal of the mounting surface (see Fig. 6, the section direction being the up-down direction in Fig. 6), the first side surface is between the first line and the second line (see Fig. 6, the appropriate mount position of element 42 has its end being the first side surface between the top and bottom of element 7a in the up-down direction), and in the first direction, a position of the first line is different from a position of the first side surface, and a position of the second line is different from the position of the first side surface (see Fig. 7, the element 7a is offset from the element 42 in the left-right direction).
For claim 2: Harada et al. teaches a printed circuit board of claim 1 wherein the first and second line are each on the same side relative to the first component in the first direction (see Fig. 6, choosing the first and second line as the top and bottom portions of the element 7a on the left side of the Figure, both first and second lines are on the same side, the left side, as compared to the component 42).
For claim 3: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 2, wherein the printed circuit board includes a first side and the first line is a line parallel to a direction orthogonal to the first side (see Fig. 1A, the circuit board has a thickness and surface in the direction extending into the figure, the surface can be considered the first side, the first line is then parallel to a direction extending parallel to the first side, the direction being the vertical direction in figure as viewed).
For claim 4: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 3 wherein the second line is a line parallel to the direction orthogonal to the first side (see Fig. 1A, Fig. 6, the first and second lines are parallel to each other and thus parallel to the direction orthogonal to the first side).
For claim 5: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 1 wherein the first teaching pattern 7a includes a shape that is recessed in a direction from a first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad (see Fig. 6, the pattern 7a is away from the edge of the printed circuit board, constituting the first side of the board, leaning towards the electrode pad 41 and electronic element 42).
For claim 7: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board of claim 1 where in the first teaching pattern includes a shape 7a that protrudes in a direction from the electrode pad 41, 42 toward a first side of the printed circuit board (see Fig. 6, the element 7a begins near the electrode pad element 41, 42 and extends towards an edge of the circuit board).
For claim 9: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the first teaching pattern includes at least two convex shapes 7a, 7b that protrude in a direction from the electrode pad 32 toward a first side of the printed circuit board (see Fig. 5, utilizing this embodiment, at least two shapes 7a, 7b are provided to one side of the electrode 32 which protrude towards a side of the circuit board, both shapes are slightly convex hexagons).
For claim 10: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to Claim 9, wherein the at least two convex shapes include a first convex shape 7a and a second convex shape 7b, the first convex shape indicates an upper limit position in a direction parallel to the first side of the printed circuit board (see Fig. 5, the upper segment of 7a indicates the upper limit position), in the mountable range of the electronic component, and the second convex shape indicates a lower limit position in the direction parallel to the first side of the printed circuit board, in the mountable range of the electronic component (see Fig. 5, the lower segment of 7b indicates the lower limit position).
For claim 11: Harada et al. teaches printed circuit board according to Claim 1, wherein the electronic component includes a second side surface (see Fig. 6, the element 42 is a rectangle, included a second side surface which is orthogonal to the first side surface), a third side surface (see Fig. 6, the surface of element 42 proximate to element 41), and a fourth side surface (see Fig. 6, the other side connecting the first and third side surfaces), the first side surface and the third side surface are parallel (See Fig. 6, being two opposite sides of a rectangle), the second side surface and the fourth side surface are parallel (see Fig. 6, being the other two opposite sides of a rectangle), and the mountable range of the electronic component is a range that the first side surface and the third side surface of the printed circuit board may take, when the printed circuit board is viewed in a plan view (see Fig. 6, the range bounds the first side surface which restricts the third side surface position since the element 42 is rigid).
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.
Claims 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US PG Pub 2007/0000684).
For claims 6 and 8: Harada et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claims 5 and 7 wherein the shape that is recessed includes the first line and second lie, and a third line that connects the first line and second line (see Fig. 6), the first line indicates an upper limit position in a direction parallel to the first side of the printed circuit board in the mountable range of the electronic component 41 and the second line indicates a lower limit position in the direction parallel to the first side of the printed circuit board in the mountable range of the electronic component (see Fig. 6, the lines bounding element 7a indicating the region for which the terminal region of the element 42 should be located; note however that these limitations do not constitute a distinction of the structure since the intention of the structure to indicate information would not differentiate the structure).
Harada et al. does not teach that the third line is parallel to a first side in a single embodiment. However, Fig. 3 shows a first side (see Fig. 3, bottom side) of a mass circuit board 3 which can constitute a circuit board and Fig. 1 shows that the arrangement of the electronic element 11 within a circuit board 1 of the mass circuit board 3 where an arrangement of the element 7a relative to the element 11 would place the third side connecting the first and second sides parallel to the bottom side of the mass circuit board. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to provide the elements as taught by Harada et al. in Fig. 6 within the mass circuit board as taught in Fig. 3 to provide a multitude of circuit boards for increasing processing power.
Claims 12-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US PG Pub 2007/0000684) in view of Wakihara et al. (JP 05-335706).
For claim 12: Harada et al. teaches all of the limitations of claim 12 except that electrically conductive pattern further includes: a second teaching pattern including a predetermined shape for teaching the mountable range of the electronic component relative to the electrode pad, the first teaching pattern teaches the mountable range of the electronic component in a direction parallel to a first side of the printed circuit board, and the second teaching pattern teaches the mountable range of the electronic component in a direction orthogonal to the first side of the printed circuit board. However, Wakihara et al. teaches a second teaching pattern including a predetermined shape for teaching the mountable range of the second component relative to the electrode pad, the first teaching pattern teaches the mountable range of the component in a first direction and the second teaching pattern teaching the mountable range of the electronic component in a second direction orthogonal to the first side of the printed circuit board (see Fig. 1 and Translated Abstract, a first and second element 3 are provided, both first and second element 3 define the position of the mountable range of the component in two orthogonal directions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Harada et al. to provide a plurality of teaching patterns teaching the mounting range of the electronic component in two orthogonal direction as taught by Wakihara et al. for the purpose of having markings to define the precise location of the component in a plane.
For claim 13: The combination of Harada et al. and Wakihara et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to Claim 12, wherein the first teaching pattern includes a shape that protrudes in a direction from the electrode pad toward the first side of the printed circuit board (see Fig. 1, the first teaching pattern 3 has two sides protruding in each orthogonal direction), and the second teaching pattern includes a shape that protrudes in a direction from a second side orthogonal to the first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad (see Fig. 1, a different one of the patterns 3 also has two sides protruding in each of two orthogonal directions).
For claim 14: The combination of Harada et al. and Wakihara et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 12, and in combination the first teaching pattern includes a shape that is recessed in a direction from the first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad (see Figs. 3 and 6 of Harada et al., the element 7a is a recessed from a side of the circuit board in the region of the electrode pad and element 41, 42), and the second teaching pattern includes a shape that protrudes in a direction from a second side orthogonal to the first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad (see Fig. 1 of Wakihara et al., the shapes are corner portions which protrude in both first and second orthogonal directions).
For claim 15: The combination of Harada et al. and Wakihara et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 12, and in combination the first teaching pattern includes a shape that is recessed in a direction from the first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad, and the second teaching pattern includes a shape that is recessed in a direction from a second side orthogonal to the first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad (in combination, there is a provision of patterns 3 as seen in Fig. 1 of Wakihara et al. to position the component 41, 44 as taught in Fig. 6 of Harada et al., these components are recessed from first and second sides of the print circuit board, which can be seen in Fig. 3 of Harada et al.).
For claim 16: The combination of Harada et al. and Wakihara et al. teaches the printed circuit board according to claim 12, and in combination the first teaching pattern includes a shape that protrudes in a direction from the electrode pad toward the first side of the printed circuit board (see Fig. 1 of Wakihara et al., the element 3 protrudes toward the side of the circuit board 1), and the second teaching pattern includes a shape that is recessed in a direction from a second side orthogonal to the first side of the printed circuit board toward the electrode pad (see Fig. 1 of Wakihara et al., the elements 3 are recessed from the side of the circuit board 1).
For claim 17: The combination of Harada et al. and Wakihara et al. teaches printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the electronic component includes a second side surface (see Fig. 6, the element 42 is a rectangle, included a second side surface which is orthogonal to the first side surface), a third side surface (see Fig. 6, the surface of element 42 proximate to element 41), and a fourth side surface (see Fig. 6, the other side connecting the first and third side surfaces), the first side surface and the third side surface are parallel (See Fig. 6, being two opposite sides of a rectangle), the second side surface and the fourth side surface are parallel (see Fig. 6, being the other two opposite sides of a rectangle), and the mountable range of the electronic component is a range that the first side surface and the third side surface of the printed circuit board may take, when the printed circuit board is viewed in a plan view (see Fig. 6, the range bounds the first side surface which restricts the third side surface position since the element 42 is rigid). Harada et al. does not teach that the electrically conductive pattern include a second teaching pattern for indicating the mountable range of the third side surface of the electronic component. However, Wakihara et al. teaches providing a plurality of patterns 3 for location both top and bottom sides of a component 4 (see Fig. 1 and Translated Abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Harada et al. to provide a second teaching pattern for indicating the mountable range in a second orthogonal direction as taught by Wakihara et al. for the purpose of facilitating a user in visualizing additional boundaries for the component.
For claim 18: The combination of Harada et al. and Wakihara et al. teaches printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the electronic component includes a second side surface (see Fig. 6, the element 42 is a rectangle, included a second side surface which is orthogonal to the first side surface), a third side surface (see Fig. 6, the surface of element 42 proximate to element 41), and a fourth side surface (see Fig. 6, the other side connecting the first and third side surfaces), the first side surface and the third side surface are parallel (See Fig. 6, being two opposite sides of a rectangle), the second side surface and the fourth side surface are parallel (see Fig. 6, being the other two opposite sides of a rectangle), and the mountable range of the electronic component is a range that the first side surface and the third side surface of the printed circuit board may take, when the printed circuit board is viewed in a plan view (see Fig. 6, the range bounds the first side surface which restricts the third side surface position since the element 42 is rigid). Harada et al. does not teach that the electrically conductive pattern include a second teaching pattern for indicating the mountable range of the second side surface of the electronic component. However, Wakihara et al. teaches providing a plurality of patterns 3 for locating both the left-right and up-down position of a component 4 (see Fig. 1 and Translated Abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Harada et al. to provide a second teaching pattern for indicating the mountable range in a second orthogonal direction as taught by Wakihara et al. for purpose of facilitating accurately placement of the components in a planar surface.
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al. (US PG Pub 2007/0000684) in view of Naka et al. (US PG Pub 2013/0022363).
For claim 19: Harada et al. teaches a printed circuit board (see paragraph 50, Fig. 1A, Fig. 6, in Fig. 1, the underlying printed circuit board is labeled 1, this label does not appear in other embodiments but the components are still to be mounted on the circuit board accordingly) comprising: a substrate 1; and an electrically conductive pattern arranged on the substrate, the electrically conductive pattern including: an electrode pad on which an electronic component 11 is to be mounted, and a first teaching pattern 7, 7a, 7b that teaches a mountable range of the electronic component 42 and includes a first line and a second line 7a (see Fig. 6, element 7a having an upper section and a lower section, being a first and second line), wherein when viewed from a direction orthogonal to a mounting surface of the printed circuit board, the electronic component includes a first side surface (see Fig. 6, top surface of element 42) extending in a first direction (see Fig. 6, left right direction is the first direction in Fig. 6), which is a direction along the mounting surface, the first line and the second line extend in the first direction (see Fig. 6, the top and bottom sections of element 7a also extend in the left-right direction which is the first direction), in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and a direction of a normal of the mounting surface (see Fig. 6, the section direction being the up-down direction in Fig. 6), the first side surface is between the first line and the second line (see Fig. 6, the appropriate mount position of element 42 has its end being the first side surface between the top and bottom of element 7a in the up-down direction), and in the first direction, a position of the first line is different from a position of the first side surface, and a position of the second line is different from the position of the first side surface (see Fig. 7, the element 7a is offset from the element 42 in the left-right direction). Harada et al. does not teach that the electronic component includes a chip-type light emitting element and a chip-type light receiving element. However, Naka et al. teaches a light emitting and receiving element 31, 32 that can be mounted on a printed circuit board (see paragraph 66). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Harada et al. to provide the component as a light receiver and emitter as taught by Naka et al. for the purpose of producing devices with accurately positioned light emitters and receivers.
For claim 20: The combination of Harada et al. and Naka et al. as applied to claim 19 above teaches an optical sensor, where the optical sensor includes a printed circuit board, the printed circuit board including: a substrate, an electrically conductive pattern arranged on the substrate, the electrically conductive pattern including: an electrode pad on which an electronic component is to be mounted, and a first teaching pattern that teaches a mountable range of the electronic component and includes a first line and a second line, wherein when viewed from a direction orthogonal to a mounting surface of the printed circuit board, the electronic component includes a first side surface extending in a first direction, which is a direction along the mounting surface, the first line and the second line extend in the first direction, in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and a direction of a normal of the mounting surface, the first side surface is between the first line and the second line, and in the first direction, a position of the first line is different from a position of the first side surface, and a position of the second line is different from the position of the first side surface, and the electronic component includes a chip-type light emitting element and a chip-type light receiving element, and Naka et al. further teaches the sensor to be within an image forming (see Fig. 1) comprising: a conveying rotation member 8, 9 configured to convey a sheet along a conveyance path (see Fig. 3, via a blet); an optical sensor 30, 300 (see paragraph 52, 53) configured to detect a timing at which the sheet conveyed by the conveying rotation member passes or detect a type of the sheet; and an image forming unit 1Y, 1C, 1M, 1K configured to form an image on the sheet (see Fig. 2).
Conclusion
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/DAVID H BANH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853