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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE et al (US 2014/0355176) in view of SATO (US 2020/0066455).
Regarding claim 1, LEE teaches a multilayer ceramic electronic component (Fig. 1-5) comprising: a ceramic body (Fig. 1, 110) including: an electrode-stacked portion (Fig. 2) that includes a plurality of ceramic layers (Fig. 2, 111) stacked in a direction of a first axis (Fig. 2, T) and a plurality of internal electrodes (Fig. 2, 121/122) disposed between the plurality of ceramic layers and alternately led out to respective sides along a second axis (Fig. 2, L) orthogonal to the first axis (Fig. 2), first and second cover portions (Fig. 2, top 111 and bottom 111) opposed to each other in the direction of the first axis with the electrode-stacked portion interposed therebetween (Fig. 2), and first and second side margin portions (Fig. 2B, 111 on sides) opposed to each other in a direction of a third axis (Fig. 2, W) orthogonal to the first axis and the second axis with the electrode-stacked portion interposed therebetween (Fig. 2); and first and second external electrodes (Fig. 2, 131/132) connected to the plurality of internal electrodes and opposed to each other in a direction of the second axis across the ceramic body (Fig. 2), , and wherein the plurality of internal electrodes include: a plurality of first peripheral internal electrodes (Fig. 2, 120a) collectively disposed in a peripheral portion at a side of the first cover portion in the direction of the first axis (Fig. 2), a plurality of second peripheral internal electrodes (Fig. 2, 120b) collectively disposed in another peripheral portion at a side of the second cover portion in the direction of the first axis (Fig. 2), and a plurality of central internal electrodes (Fig. 2, 120c) collectively disposed closer to a center in a direction of the first axis than the plurality of first peripheral internal electrodes and the plurality of second peripheral internal electrodes (Fig. 2), wherein each of the plurality of first peripheral internal electrodes and the plurality of second peripheral internal electrodes has a higher content ratio of ceramic particles than each of the plurality of central internal electrodes ([0077]).
However, LEE is silent about wherein a dimension in the direction of the first axis of the ceramic body is larger than a dimension in the direction of the third axis of the ceramic body.
SATO teaches that a dimension in the direction of the first axis of the ceramic body is larger than a dimension in the direction of the third axis of the ceramic body (Fig. 3, [0170]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of SATO to the invention of LEE, in order to make a capacitor with improving electrical characteristics without increasing a mounting area on a circuit board
Regarding claim 2, LEE, as modified by SATO, further teaches that positions of ends of the plurality of internal electrodes in the direction of the third axis are aligned with each other within a range of 0.5 µm in the direction of the third axis (Fig. 2, aligned at the same position and therefore within 0.5 µm).
Regarding claim 3, LEE, as modified by SATO, further teaches that the electrode-stacked portion is divided along the direction of the first axis into a first peripheral section in which the plurality of first peripheral internal electrodes are disposed(Fig. 2), a central section in which the plurality of central internal electrodes are disposed (Fig. 2), and a second peripheral section in which the plurality of second peripheral internal electrodes are disposed (Fig. 2), and wherein a dimension of each of the first and second peripheral sections in the direction of the first axis is 10% or greater and 30% or less of a dimension of the electrode-stacked portion in the direction of the first axis (Fig. 2, when the top section is considered the top 30% and bottom is the lower 30% the middle 40% would still have a higher content ratio overall and therefore teaches this limitation).
Cited Prior Art
Jeong et al (US 2011/0141655) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-2.
ANDO et al (US 2011/0235233) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-4.
LEE et al (US 2014/0355176) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-5.
KOIDE et al (US 2018/0182549) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-3.
KIM et al (US 2019/0304695) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-6.
KIM et al (US 2019/0304696) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-7.
OH et al (US 2023/0071865) teaches relevant art in Fig. 1-5.
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL P MCFADDEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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