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 Amendment/Request for Reconsideration filed on 05/21/2026.
Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-8, 11-16 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN115377231 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865).
Addressing claims 1, 3 and 16, Huang discloses in fig. 10 a photovoltaic module, comprising:
one or more solar cells 20, wherein a solar cell comprises:
a solar cell substrate 100;
collector electrodes 120 and bus electrode sections (144 and 134, fig. 3) arranged on a target surface of the solar cell substrate, wherein the target surface is a light receiving surface or a back surface of the solar cell substrate (fig. 2), wherein the collector electrodes 120 extend along a first direction (X-direction, fig. 1) and distributed at intervals along a second direction (Y-direction, fig. 1) different from the first direction, wherein the bus electrode sections (144 and 134) extend along the second direction and are located in edge regions at two ends of the target surface opposite to each other along the second direction (upper and lower ends in fig. 1), wherein the bus electrode sections are electrically coupled to a portion of the collector electrodes having a same conductivity type as the bus electrode sections (fig. 1), wherein among all the bus electrode sections at a same end of the target surface along the second direction, two bus electrode sections 134 located outermost along the first direction are first-type bus electrode sections 134, and the other bus electrode sections are second-type bus electrode sections 146, wherein different bus electrode sections at the same end of the target surface along the second direction are distributed at intervals along the first direction (fig. 3); and
first connection portions 131 and 141 (fig. 3) arranged on a side of the bus electrode sections, the side facing away from an edge of the solar cell substrate along the second direction (fig. 3), wherein the first connection portions 131 and 141 are electrically coupled to corresponding bus electrode sections 134 and 144, respectively; and
interconnectors (fig. 10, the electrical structures interconnecting adjacent solar cells 20, paragraphs [n0024 and n0038] disclose solder ribbons as the claimed interconnectors) configured to connect adjacent solar cells 20 in series [n0071], wherein the interconnectors are soldered to the first connection portions [n0024, n0038], wherein terminals of the interconnectors exceed the first connection portions (the terminals of the interconnectors exceed the first connection portions in order to extend beyond the connection portions of one solar to form electrical contact with the connection portions of the adjacent solar cell).
Huang is silent regarding two of the second-type bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected because sections of the second-type bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are connected by segments 146.
Steckmemetz discloses in fig. 6 the bus electrode sections are connected to the collector electrodes (contact fingers, [0032]) wherein the two of the bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are connected similarly to the configuration of Huang. Alternatively, fig. 8 the bus electrode sections are subdivided into discrete segments along the second direction (x-direction) so that two of the bus electrode segments arranged opposite at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the bus electrode sections of Huang, which includes the first-type bus electrode sections and the second-type bus electrode sections, into discrete segments that are not connected as disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz in order to reduce material consumption and improve passivation of the cell surface in the non-metallized regions (Steckmemetz, [0034]). In the modified solar cell of Huang, the discrete non-connected segments of the first-type bus electrode sections 134 and second-type bus electrode sections 144 result in the claimed configuration wherein two of the first-type bus electrode sections 134 and two of the second-type bus electrode sections 144 arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected.
Addressing claim 2, in the modified solar cell of Huang in view of Steckmemetz, the sub-connecting pads 141 of Huang are disconnected from one another in the manner disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz which results in the sides of the first connection portions 141 facing away from the bus electrode sections 144 (fig. 6 of Huang) are not connected to collector electrodes 120 that are adjacent to the first connection portions 141 (fig. 8 of Steckmemetz shows the first connection portions, i.e. the contact surfaces of the bus bar [0034], are not connected to the collector electrode, i.e. the contact fingers, adjacent to the first connection portions along the second direction, i.e. x-direction) along the second direction and have a same conductivity type as the first connection portions as claimed.
Addressing claim 4, Huang implicitly discloses a length of at least one of the bus electrode sections 144 along the second direction is less than or equal to 10 mm because fig. 3 and paragraph [n0046] discloses the distance S between the connecting pad 113 and the edge 102 is 3mm, 5.8mm or 9.4 mm, which is less than 10 mm. Fig. 3 shows the length of the bus electrode sections 144 is less than the spacing S between the connecting pad 113 and the edge 102; therefore, the length of the bus electrode is less than 10 mm as claimed. Furthermore, fig. 3 shows the length of the bus electrode sections 144 is approximately the spacing of four secondary electrodes 120 along the second Y-direction and there are sixty secondary electrodes 120 along the second Y-direction; therefore, the length of the bus electrode sections 144 is less than 12% of the width of the solar cell substrate in the second Y-direction.
Addressing claim 5, fig. 3 of Huang shows five collector electrodes 120 at each edge region 102, which results in the ratio of the quantity of the collector electrodes in the edge region to a total quantity of the collector electrodes located on the target surface being less than 12% based on the total number of collector electrodes 120 on the target surface.
Addressing claim 7, figs 8-10 of Huang show back-contact solar cell where the collector electrodes comprise first-type collector electrodes 121 that are connected to the bus electrode sections and second-type collector electrodes 122 electrically coupled to the second connection portions (see annotated fig. 8 below).
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Addressing claim 8, fig. 8 shows at least a portion of the second connection portions (the connection portions electrically coupled to the second type collector electrodes 122) are arranged in parallel along the second Y-direction and the center lines of the at least a portion of the second connection portions along the second direction are colinear with a center line of at least one of the bus electrode sections along the second direction.
Addressing claim 9, fig. 8 shows at least a portion of the second connection portions are arranged in parallel along the second Y-direction, wherein a second connection portion is separated from an adjacent second connection portion by a gap along the second direction (fig. 8 shows multiple connection portions that are the second connection portions being arranged long the same line along the second Y-direction and are separated from each other), wherein at least one of the collector electrodes 146 is continuous at the gap.
Addressing claim 11, fig. 8 of Huang shows the back-contact solar cell a bus electrode section (the bus electrode section electrically connected to the collector electrode 121) is spaced from an edge 102 by a first distance, and an adjacent bus electrode section (the bus electrode section electrically connected to the collector electrode 122) adjacent to the bus electrode section and having an opposite conductivity type (fig. 9) is spaced from the edge 102 of the solar cell substrate by a second distance that is not equal to the first distance as claimed.
Addressing claim 12, fig. 3 of Huang shows edge bus electrode 151 arranged at an end of the solar cell substrate along the first direction and extending along the second direction, wherein a maximum width of the edge bus electrode 151 being less than a maximum width of the bus electrode sections 134 and 144.
Addressing claim 13, the bus electrode sections of Huang are made of conductive material; therefore, any point on the bus electrode section corresponds to the claimed voltage test point. The recitation of the claimed voltage test point does not structurally differentiate the claimed solar cell from that of the prior art because the claim does not recite any particulars associated with the voltage test point to structurally differentiate the claimed voltage test point from that of the prior art.
Addressing claim 14, figs. 8-9 of Huang disclose the target surface is the back surface,
wherein the first-type bus electrode sections are located on an outer side of an end of corresponding ones of the collector electrodes close to an edge of the solar cell substrate along the first direction (fig. 8),
wherein the solar cell further comprises connection electrode sections (136 or 137, fig. 4), wherein the first type bus electrode sections are electrically coupled to corresponding ones of the first connection portions (the sub-connection pads along the length of the first type bus electrode 130) by the connection electrode sections (136 or 137).
Addressing claim 15, fig. 8 of Huang shows the solar cell is a back contact solar cell, wherein at least a portion of the collector electrodes (121 or 122) located at the edge regions are non-continuous collector electrodes, wherein the non-continuous collector electrodes have a discontinuity to be spaced apart the second-type bus electrode sections having a conductivity type opposite to that of the non-continuous collector electrodes (the non-continuous collector electrodes 121 have discontinuity to be spaced apart the bus electrode sections connected to the collector electrode 122 that has a conductivity type opposite to that of the non-continuous collector electrodes 121; the reverse is true for the non-continuous collector electrodes 122 with respect to the bus electrode sections connected to the collector electrodes 121), wherein two ends of the non-continuous collector electrodes along the first direction are spaced apparat by the first-type bus electrode sections 130 having a conductivity type opposite to that of the non-continuous collector electrodes (fig. 8).
Addressing claim 19, Huang discloses wherein the second-type bus electrode sections 144 are in contact with corresponding first connection portion 141, and the second-type bus electrode sections 144 do not extend through the corresponding first connections portion along the second direction due to the elimination of the section 146 as suggested by Steckmemetz.
Claim(s) 6 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN115377231 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865) as applied to claims 1-5, 7-8, 11-16 and 19 above, and further in view of Xu et al. (US 2023/0139905).
Addressing claim 6, Huang is silent regarding the limitation of current claim.
Xu discloses in fig. 3 the length of the first connection portions 3 along the first direction is I1, which is between 1.2 mm to 1.8 mm [0046] that falls within the claimed range. Paragraph [0047] discloses the connection portions 3 are in contact with the sub-busbars 4 and the length of the contact region, which corresponds to the claimed width along the second direction, is between 0.5 mm to 5 mm that falls within the claimed range.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the connection portions of Huang by perform routine experimentation with the width of the second connection portion in the range disclosed by Xu in order to optimize soldering area and reduce excessive shielding (Xu, [0048]).
Addressing claim 10, Huang is silent regarding the limitation of current claim.
Xu discloses in fig. 3 the length of the first connection portions 3 along the first direction is I1, which is between 1.2 mm to 1.8 mm [0046] that falls within the claimed range. Paragraph [0047] discloses the connection portions 3 are in contact with the sub-busbars 4 and the length of the contact region, which corresponds to the claimed width along the second direction, is between 0.5 mm to 5 mm that falls within the claimed range.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the first and second connection portions of Huang by perform routine experimentation with the width of the second connection portion in the range disclosed by Xu in order to optimize soldering area and reduce excessive shielding (Xu, [0048]). The resulting solar cell of Huang in view of Xu has the width of the first connection portion is equal to a width of the second connection portions and a length of the first connection portions is equal to a length of the second connection portions. The solar cell of Huang further comprises the interconnector, as the structural equivalence to the claimed second conductive material, arranged on the second connection portions.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN115377231 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2017/0018672).
Addressing claim 17, Huang is silent regarding the limitation of current claim.
Wang discloses the width of the interconnector is the same as the width of the bus electrode [0040]; therefore, at the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the module of Xu in view of Wang to have the interconnectors with the same width as that of the connection portions as disclosed by Wang, which results in a length by which the bus electrode sections exceed the first connection portions being zero that falls within the claimed range of less than or equal to 2 mm.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN115377231 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865) and Ding et al. (CN106229381 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claim 18, Huang discloses a method for manufacturing a photovoltaic module, comprising forming solar cells (fig. 10), wherein a solar cell comprises:
a solar cell substrate 100;
collector electrodes 120 and bus electrode sections (144 and 134, fig. 3) arranged on a target surface of the solar cell substrate, wherein the target surface is a light receiving surface or a back surface of the solar cell substrate (fig. 2), wherein the collector electrodes 120 extend along a first direction (X-direction, fig. 1) and distributed at intervals along a second direction (Y-direction, fig. 1) different from the first direction, wherein the bus electrode sections (144 and 134) extend along the second direction and are located in edge regions at two ends of the target surface opposite to each other along the second direction (upper and lower ends in fig. 1), wherein the bus electrode sections are electrically coupled to a portion of the collector electrodes having a same conductivity type as the bus electrode sections (fig. 1), wherein among all the bus electrode sections at a same end of the target surface along the second direction, two bus electrode sections 134 located outermost along the first direction are first-type bus electrode sections 134, and the other bus electrode sections are second-type bus electrode sections 146, wherein different bus electrode sections at the same end of the target surface along the second direction are distributed at intervals along the first direction (fig. 3); and
first connection portions 131 and 141 (fig. 3) arranged on a side of the bus electrode sections, the side facing away from an edge of the solar cell substrate along the second direction (fig. 3), wherein the first connection portions 131 and 141 are electrically coupled to corresponding bus electrode sections 134 and 144, respectively; and
connecting adjacent solar cells in series by interconnectors (fig. 10, the electrical structures interconnecting adjacent solar cells 20, paragraphs [n0024 and n0038] disclose solder ribbons as the claimed interconnectors) configured to connect adjacent solar cells 20 in series [n0071], wherein the interconnectors are soldered to the first connection portions [n0024, n0038].
Huang is silent regarding two of the second-type bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected because sections of the second-type bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are connected by segments 146 and adjacent solar cells are connected by the interconnectors using an infrared soldering process.
Steckmemetz discloses in fig. 6 the bus electrode sections are connected to the collector electrodes (contact fingers, [0032]) wherein the two of the bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are connected similarly to the configuration of Huang. Alternatively, fig. 8 the bus electrode sections are subdivided into discrete segments along the second direction (x-direction) so that two of the bus electrode segments arranged opposite at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the bus electrode sections of Huang, which includes the first-type bus electrode sections and the second-type bus electrode sections, into discrete segments that are not connected as disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz in order to reduce material consumption and improve passivation of the cell surface in the non-metallized regions (Steckmemetz, [0034]). In the modified solar cell of Huang, the discrete non-connected segments of the first-type bus electrode sections 134 and second-type bus electrode sections 144 result in the claimed configuration wherein two of the first-type bus electrode sections 134 and two of the second-type bus electrode sections 144 arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected.
Ding discloses the interconnection strip is coupled to the corresponding solar cell via infrared soldering [0059].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the method of Huang in view of Steckmemetz with the known infrared soldering process disclosed by Ding in order to obtain the predictable result of soldering the interconnectors to the desired spots on the solar cells (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN115377231 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865) as applied to claims 1-5, 7-8, 11-16 and 19 above, and further in view of Xu et al. (US 2023/0139905).
Addressing claim 20, fig. 3 of Huang shows a quantity of the bus electrode sections located at the same end of the target surface is 6.
Huang is silent regarding a width of at least one of the bus electrode sections along the first direction is greater than or equal to 10 µm and less than or equal to 500 µm and a width of at least one of the bus electrode sections increases along a direction toward the first connection portion.
Xu discloses in paragraph [0037] the widths of the sides of the connection end portions 7 away from the electrode pads 3 are greater than or equal to 0.1 mm or 100 µm that falls within the claimed range; a width of the bus electrode sections 7 increases along a direction toward the first connection portions 3 (fig. 3); and a quantity of the bus electrode sections located at a same end of the target surface is 9, which falls within the claimed range.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the bus electrode sections of Huang to have the shape and dimension disclosed by Xu in order to collect currents at the edges of the electrode structure, improves conductivity efficiency, and alleviating blackening at the edges of the electrode structure (Xu, [0032]).
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-9, 13 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (CN112420853 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865).
Addressing claims 1, 3 and 16, Li discloses a solar cell module [0029], comprising:
one or more solar cells [0029], wherein a solar cell comprises:
a solar cell substrate (cell body, [0039]);
collector electrodes 12 and bus electrode sections (annotated fig. 2 below) arranged on a target surface of the solar cell substrate (light receiving surface, [0039]), wherein the target surface is a light receiving surface or a back surface of the solar cell substrate, wherein the collector electrodes 12 extend along a first direction (horizontal direction in fig. 2) and distributed at intervals along a second direction (vertical direction in fig. 2) different from the first direction, wherein the bus electrode sections extend along the second direction (fig. 3) and are located in edge regions at two ends of the target surface opposite to each other along the second direction (fig. 2), wherein the bus electrode sections are electrically coupled to a portion of the collector electrodes having a same conductivity type as the bus electrode sections (figs. 2-3), wherein among all the bus electrode sections at a same end of the target surface along the second direction, two bus electrode sections located outermost along the first direction are first-type bus electrode sections (annotated fig. 2), and the other bus electrode sections are second-type bus electrode sections (annotated fig. 2), wherein different bus electrode sections at the same end of the targe surface along the second direction are distributed at intervals along the first direction (annotated fig. 2); and
first connection portions 211 (fig. 3) arranged on a side of the bus electrode sections, the side facing away from an edge of the solar cell substrate along the second direction, wherein the first connection portions are electrically coupled to corresponding bus electrode sections (figs. 2-3); and
interconnectors (solder strips, [0029]) configured to connect adjacent solar cells in series [0004], wherein the interconnectors are soldered [0029] to the first connection portions, wherein terminals of the interconnectors exceed the first connection portions (Li implicitly discloses the terminals of the interconnectors exceed the first connection portions in order to traverse from one solar cell to the adjacent solar cell).
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Li is silent regarding two of the second-type bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected due to the presence of the main gate line 11 shown in fig. 3.
Steckmemetz discloses in fig. 6 the bus electrode sections are connected to the collector electrodes (contact fingers, [0032]) wherein the two of the bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are connected similarly to the configuration of Li. Alternatively, fig. 8 the bus electrode sections are subdivided into discrete segments along the second direction (x-direction) so that two of the bus electrode segments arranged opposite at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the bus electrode sections of Li, which includes the first-type bus electrode sections and the second-type bus electrode sections, into discrete segments that are not connected as disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz in order to reduce material consumption and improve passivation of the cell surface in the non-metallized regions (Steckmemetz, [0034]).
Addressing claim 2, in the modified solar cell of Li in view of Steckmemetz, the main grid lines 11 of Li are removed the manner disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz which results in the sides of the first connection portions 211 facing away from the bus electrode sections (fig. 3 of Huang) are not connected to collector electrodes 12 that are adjacent to the first connection portions 211 (fig. 8 of Steckmemetz shows the first connection portions, i.e. the contact surfaces of the bus bar [0034], are not connected to the collector electrode, i.e. the contact fingers, adjacent to the first connection portions along the second direction, i.e. x-direction) along the second direction and have a same conductivity type as the first connection portions as claimed.
Addressing claim 5, fig. 2 of Li shows the quantity of the collector electrodes 12 located in an edge region of the edge regions to a total quantity of the collector electrodes located on the target surface is less than or equal to 12%.
Addressing claim 6, paragraph [0047] of Li discloses a length of the first connection portions 211 along the first direction is 1 mm to 3 mm or 0.5 mm to 2 mm that fall within the claimed range. Paragraph [0047] further discloses the distance between the inner and outer sides that corresponds to the claimed width in the second direction is between 0.5 to 1.5 mm that falls within the claimed range.
Addressing claim 7, Li discloses the claimed first-type collector electrodes, second-type collector electrodes and second connection portions in the claimed configuration as shown in the annotated fig. 3 below.
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Addressing claim 8, fig. 3 of Li shows at least a portion of the second connection portions are arranged in parallel along the second direction (the entirety of the second connection portions are arranged in parallel along the vertical direction or the claimed second direction),
wherein center lines of the at least a portion of the second connection portions along the second direction are colinear with a center line of at least one of the bus electrode sections along the second direction (fig. 4).
Addressing claim 9, in the modified solar cell of Li in view of Steckmemetz, the main grid lines 11 of Li are removed the manner disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz which results in a second connection portion is separated from an adjacent second connection portion by a gap along the second direction, wherein at least one of the collector electrodes is disconnected at the gap (similarly to the configuration in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz).
Addressing claim 13, the bus electrode sections of Li are made of conductive material; therefore, any point on the bus electrode section corresponds to the claimed voltage test point. The recitation of the claimed voltage test point does not structurally differentiate the claimed solar cell from that of the prior art because the claim does not recite any particulars associated with the voltage test point to structurally differentiate the claimed voltage test point from that of the prior art.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (CN112420853 with provided machine English translation) in view of Steckmemetz et al. (US 2015/0007865) and Ding et al. (CN106229381 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claim 18, Li discloses method for manufacturing a photovoltaic module [0029], comprising:
forming solar cells [0029], wherein a solar cell comprises:
a solar cell substrate (cell body, [0039]);
collector electrodes 12 and bus electrode sections (annotated fig. 2 below) arranged on a target surface of the solar cell substrate (light receiving surface, [0039]), wherein the target surface is a light receiving surface or a back surface of the solar cell substrate, wherein the collector electrodes 12 extend along a first direction (horizontal direction in fig. 2) and distributed at intervals along a second direction (vertical direction in fig. 2) different from the first direction, wherein the bus electrode sections extend along the second direction (fig. 3) and are located in edge regions at two ends of the target surface opposite to each other along the second direction (fig. 2), wherein the bus electrode sections are electrically coupled to a portion of the collector electrodes having a same conductivity type as the bus electrode sections (figs. 2-3), wherein among all the bus electrode sections at a same end of the target surface along the second direction, two bus electrode sections located outermost along the first direction are first-type bus electrode sections (annotated fig. 2), and the other bus electrode sections are second-type bus electrode sections (annotated fig. 2), wherein different bus electrode sections at the same end of the targe surface along the second direction are distributed at intervals along the first direction (annotated fig. 2); and
first connection portions 211 (fig. 3) arranged on a side of the bus electrode sections, the side facing away from an edge of the solar cell substrate along the second direction, wherein the first connection portions are electrically coupled to corresponding bus electrode sections (figs. 2-3); and
interconnectors (solder strips, [0029]) configured to connect adjacent solar cells in series [0004], wherein the interconnectors are soldered [0029] to the first connection portions, wherein terminals of the interconnectors exceed the first connection portions (Li implicitly discloses the terminals of the interconnectors exceed the first connection portions in order to traverse from one solar cell to the adjacent solar cell).
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Li is silent regarding two of the second-type bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected due to the presence of the main gate line 11 shown in fig. 3 and the step of connecting adjacent solar cells in series by interconnectors using an infrared soldering process.
Steckmemetz discloses in fig. 6 the bus electrode sections are connected to the collector electrodes (contact fingers, [0032]) wherein the two of the bus electrode sections arranged oppositely at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are connected similarly to the configuration of Li. Alternatively, fig. 8 the bus electrode sections are subdivided into discrete segments along the second direction (x-direction) so that two of the bus electrode segments arranged opposite at different ends of the target surface along the second direction are not connected.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the bus electrode sections of Li, which includes the first-type bus electrode sections and the second-type bus electrode sections, into discrete segments that are not connected as disclosed in fig. 8 of Steckmemetz in order to reduce material consumption and improve passivation of the cell surface in the non-metallized regions (Steckmemetz, [0034]).
Ding discloses the interconnection strip is coupled to the corresponding solar cell via infrared soldering [0059].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the method of Li in view of Steckmemetz with the known infrared soldering process disclosed by Ding in order to obtain the predictable result of soldering the interconnectors to the desired spots on the solar cells (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 06/05/2026
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