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 .
Summary
This is the response to the Response to Election/Restriction requirement filed on 03/23/2026.
Claims 2, 4-6, 8-9 and 11-24 remain pending in the application with claims 12-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, claims 2-11 and 21 in the reply filed on 03/23/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2, 4-6, 8, 11 and 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Firstly, current application is filed as a divisional application claiming benefit to parent application 17/912,712; however, current application should not be considered as a divisional application because the pending claims are not the claims that were restricted during the prosecution of the parent application. Secondly, claim 2 recites the limitation “the second contact strip contacting the first contact strip” that is new matter not supported by the originally filed disclosure. Throughout the specification, it is clear that the first contact strip and the second contact strip cannot be in any contact. Paragraph [0055] of the specification states that the contact strips 7 (which includes the claimed first and second contact strips) are spaced apparat from one another transversely to the series connection direction RS. This is clear from figs. 1-14 where it is shown that the contact strip 7a and the contact strip 7b never come into contact with one another. Secondly, if the contact strip 7a and the contact strip 7b, as currently claimed, were to contact each other, such contact would cause the solar device to short and inoperable. Therefore, the limitation “the second contact strip contacting the first contact strip” is new matter not supported by the originally filed disclosure.
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 2, 4-6, 8, 11 and 22-24 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 2 recites “the second contact strip contacting the first contact strip” that renders the claim indefinite because the second contact strip cannot contact the first contact strip because such contact between the first and second contact strips would cause the solar device to short. The first contact strip is recited as contacting the rear contact layer of the first solar cell and the second contact strip is recited as contacting the front contact layer of the first solar cell; therefore, the any contact between the first contact strip and the second contact strip would cause the solar cell to short rendering the solar device inoperable. Therefore, it is unclear as to how the claimed solar device would be operable when the first and second contact strip are required to contact each other.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sawada (JP2014120733 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claim 21, Sawada discloses a monolithic tin-film solar device (fig. 18) comprising:
a first solar cell (the middle solar cell) between a second solar cell (the left most solar cell) and a third solar cell (the right most solar cell), the first solar cell located in a serial connection direction (the horizontal direction) from the second solar cell and the third solar cell located in the serial connection direction from the first solar cell (fig. 18), the first solar cell, the second solar cell and the third solar cell including:
a substrate 42;
a rear contact layer 43 residing over the substrate;
an absorber layer 45 residing over the rear contact layer 43;
a front contact 46 residing over the absorber layer;
a first serial connection for the electrical serial connection of the first solar cell and the second solar cell in a serial connection direction (paragraph [0107] of the translation document disclose the groups 60 and 61, which corresponds to the claimed solar cells, are connected in series along the aforementioned serial connection direction) including:
a first contact strip residing over and contact the first solar cell and the second solar cell (the conductive member 35 along with the conductive adhesive 55 described in paragraph [0100] between the middle solar cell and the left most solar cell corresponds to the claimed first contact strip), and the first contact strip residing parallel or at an angle of less than 90 degrees from the serial connection direction (the first contact strip 35 include segments that reside parallel to the serial connection direction);
a first contact strip length-to-width ration range of 3:1 to 1000:1 (fig. 18 shows the length of width ratio of the contact strip 35 that is greater than 3 and less than 1000 as claimed);
a second serial connection for the electrical serial connection of the first solar cell and the third solar cell in a serial connection direction [0107] including:
a second contact strip residing over and contacting the first solar cell and the third solar cell (the conductive member 35 along with the conductive adhesive 55 described in paragraph [0100] between the middle solar cell and the right most solar cell in fig. 18 as the claimed second contact strip), and the second contact strip residing parallel or at an angle of less than 90 degrees from the serial connection direction (the second contact strip 35 include segments that reside parallel to the serial connection direction);
a second contact strip length-to-width ratio range of 3:1 to 1000:1 (fig. 18 shows the length of width ratio of the contact strip 35 that is greater than 3 and less than 1000 as claimed);
a quasi-punctiform or punctiform opening region (annotated fig. 14 below) including:
a plurality of openings (annotated fig. 13 below) in the front contact layer 46 of the first solar cell and the absorber layer of the first solar cell, wherein the first contact strip contacts the rear contact layer of the first solar cell through the plurality of openings (fig. 13 shows the conductive member 3+55 contacts the rear contact layer 43 via the openings in the layer 46 and 45); and
a first separating strip region (annotated fig. 18 below) including a transparent insulating material 4 residing between the first solar cell and the second solar cell (fig. 5 shows the sealing member 4 made of EVA, which is transparent and insulative, residing between the first and second solar cells) and a second separating strip region (annotated fig. 18 below) between the first solar cell and the third solar cell;
wherein the first contact strip and the second contact strip extend overlapping in a direction (vertical direction as shown in annotated fig. 18 below) transverse to the series connection direction (the horizontal direction, annotated fig. 18 below)
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236
272
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282
860
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468
578
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BACH T DINH whose telephone number is (571)270-5118. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday 8:00 - 4:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Barton can be reached at (571)-272-1307. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 04/23/2026
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