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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 10/30/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the limitation recites “a first electrical signal connector of the plurality of electrical signal connectors comprising: an IC chip signal pad contact portion extending above the base plate; and a board contact portion extending below the base plate” in claim 1, and the limitation recites “a first electrical signal connector and a second electrical signal connector of the plurality of electrical signal connectors each comprising: an IC chip signal pad contact portion extending above the base plate; a board signal pad contact portion extending below the base plate” recites in claim 15 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-13 and 18-20 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 1 recites the limitation "the IC chip contact portion comprised of a polymer" in lines 8-9. There is a lack of antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Regarding claim 10, lines 3-4, the limitation recites “the first and second electrical signal connectors configured to transmit a differential pair of signals” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does the first and second electrical signal connectors configured to transmit a differential pair of signals?
Regarding claim 17, lines 2-3, the limitation recites “the two electrical signal connectors configured to transmit a differential pair of signals” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does the two electrical signal connectors configured to transmit a differential pair of signals?
Regarding claim 18, lines 3-4, the limitation recites “transmitting data signals between circuitry of the PCB and functional circuitry of the IC die through signal connectors of the socket” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does it transmit data signals between circuitry of the PCB and functional circuitry of the IC die through signal connectors of the socket?
Regarding claim 19, lines 4-5, the limitation recites “transmitting a differential pair of data signals through a common aperture formed in the ground connector” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does it transmit a differential pair of data signals through a common aperture formed in the ground connector?
Regarding claim 20, lines 3-4, the limitation recites “contacting multiple ground connections exposed on a bottom surface of the IC with the ground connector” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does it contact multiple ground connections exposed on a bottom surface of the IC with the ground connector?
The claims above fail to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or acts for achieving the functional result recited in the claim to reasonably apprise one of ordinary skill in the art of the scope of the claim.
Claims 2-13 and 19-20 are depending on claims 1 and 18, and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph as the same reason as stated above.
Note: for compact prosecution purposes, the examiner interprets the claims above as best understood in the rejection below.
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 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milbrand et al. (U.S Publication No. 20060141667 A1) in view of Morgan (U.S Publication No. 20230208058 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Milbrand discloses an electronic device comprising:
a printed circuity board (PCB), (which is a circuit board 130, see fig. 1);
a socket (which is a socket 120) mounted to the PCB (130), (see fig. 1); and
an integrated circuity (IC) die (which is a chip 110) electrically connected to the PCB (130) through the socket (120), (see fig. 1),
the conductive material providing a ground path connecting functional circuitry of the IC die with ground circuitry of the PCB (see abstract, fig. 1-3, paragraph [0032]-[0033] and [0045]).
Milbrand does not explicitly discloses wherein an IC chip ground pad contact portion of a ground connector of the socket is formed from a conductive polymer or a polymer at least partially coated with a conductive material.
Morgan, on the other hand, discloses an electronic assembly 10 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment showing the socket connector 100 connected between the first and second electrical components 12, 14. The socket connector includes a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface. The substrate has a ground plane between the upper surface and the lower surface (see abstract and paragraph [0026]). In an exemplary embodiment, the substrate 102 is a layered structure having the ground plane 120 between an upper dielectric layer 122 and a lower dielectric layer 124. Optionally, the upper dielectric layer 122 may have a height approximately equal to a height of the lower dielectric layer 124 such that the ground plane 120 is centered between the upper surface 106 and the lower surface 108. In an exemplary embodiment, the layered structure of the substrate 102 is a sandwich of one stamped piece and two molded pieces, which may be laminated together or secured together using epoxy or adhesive. In an exemplary embodiment, the dielectric layers 122, 124 are molded layers, such as from a molded polymer material. The dielectric layers 122, 124 may be nylon, LCP, PBT, and the like (see paragraph [0030]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the electronic device as taught by Milbrand with the electronic assembly as taught by Morgan having an IC chip ground pad contact portion of a ground connector of the socket is formed from a conductive polymer or a polymer at least partially coated with a conductive material as claimed, which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 16, Milbrand in view of Morgan discloses the electronic device of claim 14, wherein the IC chip ground pad contact portion of the ground connector further comprises: a polymeric base having an electrically conductive exterior layer.
Morgan further discloses in an exemplary embodiment, the layered structure of the substrate 102 is a sandwich of one stamped piece and two molded pieces, which may be laminated together or secured together using epoxy or adhesive. In an exemplary embodiment, the dielectric layers 122, 124 are molded layers, such as from a molded polymer material (see paragraph [0030]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the electronic device as taught by Milbrand in view of Morgan having the IC chip ground pad contact portion of the ground connector further comprises: a polymeric base having an electrically conductive exterior layer, which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15 and 17 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. Also, the objections and 112 issues above should be fixed in order to place application in allowance condition.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI N PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
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/Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 06/23/2026
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