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 .
This communication is in response to the claims dated 4/8/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-4 and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LITTLE et al. U.S. Pub. 2018/0034211 (hereinafter D1) in view of CN210572892 (hereinafter D2).
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Regarding claim 1, D1 teaches an apparatus for cooling an electro-optical (intended use) device, the apparatus comprising:
a housing (housing of 200; figure 4) configured to encapsulate components (280, 282; figure 4) of the EO device, the housing comprising:
a first portion (see above annotated figure 4) comprising a substrate (280; figure 4) for supporting the components; and
a second portion (see above annotated figure 4) configured to connect with (see figure 2) the first portion, the second portion having an opening (see above annotated figure 4) facing the components and a shelf (see above annotated figure 4) surrounding the opening; and
a cooling assembly (250; figure 4), comprising:
a base plate (see above annotated figure 4) configured to be removably fitted (see figures 2-5) in the opening of the second portion;
an array of multiple c-shaped elements (see figure 4) on a first surface (top surface of the baseplate) of the base plate; and
a second surface (lower surface of the base plate) of the base plate opposite the first surface, the second surface configured to face (see figures 4-5) the components when the base plate is fitted (see figures 2-5) in the opening;
wherein the base plate is configured to transfer heat (implicitly taught in figures 2-5) between the components and the c-shaped elements when the OE device operates.
However, D1 does not specifically teach said c-shaped elements are arranged in a face-to-back configuration.
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D2, teaches a cooling device, which suggests heat-transferring c-shaped elements arranged in a face-to-back configuration (see above annotated figure 7).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to substitute the heat-transferring elements of D1, with the heat-transferring c-shaped elements arranged in a face-to-back configuration suggested by D2, for optimizing heat transferring, as desired.
Even though, D1/D2 does not specifically teach that the base plate has a higher thermal conductivity than the second portion of the housing, however, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to provide the thermal conductivity of the base plate to be higher than the thermal conductivity of the second portion of the housing, since such provision would merely conform the common knowledge of thermal dynamic principle for optimizing heat transferring.
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Regarding claim 2, the modification of D1/D2 would result in the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each c- shaped element comprises: (i) a lower section (see above annotated figure 7 of D2) coupled to the first surface of the base plate, (ii) an upper section (see above annotated figure 7 of D2) configured to dissipate heat to a surrounding environment; and (iii) a connecting section (see above annotated figure 7 of D2) joining the lower section and the upper section.
Regarding claim 3, the modification of D1/D2 would result in the apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the array of c-shaped elements comprises first and second adjacent c-shaped elements (see above annotated figure 7 of D2) having first and second lower sections (see above annotated figure 7 of D2) and first and second upper sections (see above annotated figure 7 of D2), respectively, wherein the face-to-back arrangement of the first and second adjacent c-shaped elements comprises a predefined spacing 223; figure 7 of D2) between (i) the first and second lower sections, and (ii) the first and second upper sections.
Regarding claim 4, the modification of D1/D2 would result in the apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising thermal interface material (implicitly taught) disposed between at least one of the components and the second surface of the base plate.
Regarding claim 6, D1/D2 teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is configured to be fitted (see figures 1-5 of D1) in the opening after the first portion and the second portion of the housing are connected.
Regarding claim 7, D1/D2 teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is configured to be attached (see figures 1-5 of D1) to and detached (see figures 1-5 of D1) from the second portion of the housing to allow replacement of components in the EO device.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LITTLE et al. U.S. Pub. 2018/0034211 (hereinafter D1) in view of CN210572892 (hereinafter D2) and in further view of Briant et al. U.S. Patent 9,935,403 (hereinafter D3).
Regarding claim 5, as mentioned above, D1/D2 teaches the apparatus according to claim 1.
However, D1/D2 does not specifically teach wherein the components of the EO device comprise: (i) one or more EO transducers configured to convert between optical signals and electrical signals; and (ii) one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to process the electrical signals.
D3, in the same field of endeavor, teaches a similar structure for cooling an electro-optical device, wherein the components of the EO device comprise: (i) one or more EO transducers (implicitly/explicitly taught in column 5, lines 47-62) configured to convert (implicitly/explicitly taught in column 5, lines 47-62) between optical signals and electrical signals; and (ii) one or more integrated circuits (ICs) (implicitly/explicitly taught in column 5, lines 47-62) configured to process the electrical signals.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to equip the device of D1/D2 with (i) one or more EO transducers configured to convert between optical signals and electrical signals; and (ii) one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to process the electrical signals, as suggested by D3, for converting/processing optical/electrical signals.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)272-3069. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6PM..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Imani N Hayman can be reached at 571-270-5528. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HUNG Q DANG/ Examiner, Art Unit 2841
/ANTHONY M HAUGHTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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