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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-8 in the reply filed on 03/27/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (CN 113809193).
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses a curved photovoltaic module and a processing method therefor. The method comprises: sequentially stacking a cover plate 1 (equivalent to a first protective layer), a rear encapsulation adhesive film 2, a battery string 3 (equivalent to a solar cell sheet), and a front encapsulation adhesive film 4 (equivalent to a first adhesive film layer); laminating the cover plate 1, the rear encapsulation adhesive film 2, the battery string 3 and the front encapsulation adhesive film 4 once to form a planar flexible photovoltaic panel 6 (equivalent to a planar laminate assembly); sequentially stacking a rigid curved front plate 5 (equivalent to a second protective layer) and the flexible photovoltaic panel 6; and performing secondary lamination on the curved front plate 5 and the flexible photovoltaic panel 6 to form the curved photovoltaic module.
Chen does not disclose that a second adhesive film layer is further provided between the second protective layer and the first adhesive film layer. However, it is the examiner’s position that employing such an additional adhesive film layer is within the purview of one having ordinary skill in the art and would have been obvious to employ in order to provide the predictable result of facilitating bonding between the layers in the lamination process. See description, paragraphs [0041]-[0048], and figures 1-3.
Regarding claims 2-3 and 6-8, Chen discloses that the curved photovoltaic module includes: a battery string 3, configured to convert light energy into electric energy, where the battery string 3 has a backlight side and a light receiving side that face away from each other; a cover plate 1, where the cover plate 1 is located on a backlight side of the battery string 3; a front encapsulation adhesive film 4, located on a light receiving side of the battery string 3; and a curved front plate 5, where the curved front plate 5 is located on a side of the front encapsulation adhesive film 4 away from the battery string 3.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (CN 113809193) as described above in view of Li et al (CN 117012849).
Li discloses in a heating and vacuum environment, lamination is performed in a multi-stage pressurization manner. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to employ lamination in a multi-stage pressurization manner, as taught by Li, in the manufacture of the photovoltaic module of Chen in order to improve the quality of a photovoltaic module of a solar cell. See paragraphs [0033]-[0057] and figures 1-2.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (CN 113809193) as described above in view of Cheng et al (CN 110289330)
Cheng discloses in a heating and vacuum environment, lamination is performed in a multi-stage heating mode. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to employ lamination in a multi-stage heating manner, as taught by Cheng, in the manufacture of the photovoltaic module of Chen in order to improve the quality of a photovoltaic module of a solar cell. See paragraphs [0063]-[0085] and figures 1-2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES D SELLS whose telephone number is (571)272-1237. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8:30-5.
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JAMES D. SELLS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1745
/JAMES D SELLS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745
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