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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in present Application No. 18/952,290 filed on 11/19/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 11/19/2024 and 08/06/2025 have been submitted for consideration by the Office. They have been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein have been considered.
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.
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 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoshida et al. (US 6,052,893).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshida discloses (in Fig. 1C and Fig. 1D) an electronic component [18] comprising: a substrate [1] to which a component [3] is bonded by solder (See Column 2, lines 53-56: Electronic Components 2-4 are mounted on a double-side printed circuit board substrate by soldering); a coating [14] that covers the solder (See Column 1, lines 61-66: The solder paste is protected by the coating layer); and a covering portion [17] that covers the substrate [1] and the coating [14] and is made of a thermoplastic resin [12] (See Column 3, lines 34-42) having a melting point higher than a melting point of the solder (See Column 3, lines 9-12: Crystal Polymer may be preferably used for the thermoplastic resin. Crystal Polymer has a higher melting point than a melting point of solder).
Communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHERMAN NG whose telephone number is (571)270-3131. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10AM-6PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Thompson can be reached at 5712722342. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHERMAN NG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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