Ex Parte Sander et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardMay 25, 201812957417 (P.T.A.B. May. 25, 2018) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 12/957,417 12/01/2010 69316 7590 05/30/2018 MICROSOFT CORPORATION ONE MICROSOFT WAY REDMOND, WA 98052 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Avner Sander UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 330903.01 1064 EXAMINER LUONG, HENRY T ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2844 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/30/2018 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): usdocket@microsoft.com chriochs@microsoft.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte AVNER SANDER, GIORA Y AHA V, ASAP PELLMAN, SHLOMO FELZENSHTEIN, ELI LARRY, and DAVID MANDELBOUM Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 Technology Center 2800 Before TERRY J. OWENS, MARK NAGUMO, and MERRELL C. CASHION, JR., Administrative Patent Judges. OWENS, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's rejection of claims 1-17 and 21-23. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). The Invention The Appellants claim an apparatus for providing light pulses. Claim 1 is illustrative: 1. An apparatus for providing light pulses, the apparatus compnsmg: Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 a configuration of coplanar electrodes comprising at least one first electrode configured to form a recess and a second electrode that is a heat sink at least a portion of which seats in the recess; and a light source mounted to and electrically connected to the at least a portion of the second electrode that seats in the recess and electrically connected to the at least one first electrode so that current that powers the light source flows parallel to a same first direction in each of the at least one first electrode and flows in a second direction substantially anti- parallel to the first direction in the second electrode. [lJ Roberts Oshio (Oshio '746) Chang Nishihara Takeuchi Oshio (Oshio '699) Kumar The References US 6,335,548 Bl US 2006/0249746 Al US 2008/0073738 Al US 2009/0236622 Al US 2010/0123161 Al US 7,888,699 B2 Jan. 1,2002 Nov. 9, 2006 Mar. 27, 2008 Sept. 24, 2009 May 20, 2010 Feb. 15, 2011 US 8,362,703 B2 Jan.29,2013 (filed Dec. 22, 2008) The Rejections The claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as follows: claims 1, 15, 16, 21, and 23 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts, claims 2--4 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts and Kumar, claims 5 and 6 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts and Nishihara, claims 7-14 and 22 over Oshio '746 in 1 The Appellants' Specification states that the first and second electrodes (30, 40) advantageously are parallel and that their current flows are in opposite directions (Spec. ,r 17; Fig. 1 ), and the Appellants' original claim 1 recites that "current that powers the light source flows into and out from the light source in respectively opposite directions along adjacent conducting elements." The Appellants' disclosure, therefore, indicates that the claim term "anti-parallel" means "opposite." 2 Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 view of Roberts, Takeuchi and Oshio '699 and claim 17 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts and Chang. OPINION We reverse the rejections. We need address only the sole independent claim, i.e., claim 1. Oshio '746 shows in Figure 14A a plan view of a conventional light emitting device (i-f 5). 805 -- 809 ( \ FIG.14A 803 j The semiconductor light emitting element 802 is mounted on the lead 806. An electrode (not shown) of the semiconductor light emitting element 802 and the lead 805 are connected to each other by a wire 809. When en [sic] electric power is supplied to the semiconductor light emitting element 802 through those two leads 805, 806, the semiconductor light emitting element 802 emits light [(i-f 8)]. Roberts shows in Figure 3 a semiconductor optical radiation device's leadframe (201) comprising a heat extraction member (204) with a depression or cup (301) containing two semiconductor optical radiation emitters (202) each having its top bond pad electrically connected by a wire 3 Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 bond (211) to an electrical lead (210) which is electrically isolated from the heat extraction member (204) and is of opposite polarity to an electrical lead (209) which is electrically connected to the base of each semiconductor optical radiation emitter (202) and is an integral extension of the heat extraction member (204) (col. 9, 11. 3-16; col. 12, 11. 47---61; col. 13, 1. 52- col. 14, 1. 16).2 Roberts likewise shows in Figures 7 a and 7b a leadframe in which both electrical leads (209,210) are on the same side of the heat extraction member (204). 2 Tie bars (303) mechanically connect the heat extraction member (204) and the electrical leads (209, 210) to retain their relative positions during device assembly and then are removed to electrically isolate the electrical leads (209, 210) ( col. 13, 11. 52-53, 57-58; col. 25, 1. 66 - col. 26, 1. 3; col. 26, 11. 52-55; Fig. 4). 4 Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 Establishing a prima facie case of obviousness requires an apparent reason to modify the prior art as proposed by the Examiner. See KSR Int 'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398,418 (2007). The Examiner concludes (Final Act. 5): It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the device of Oshio ['746] as taught by Roberts to configured electrodes having anti-parallel currents spaced in such a way since this maintains standardization with many common electrical device configurations and the heat sink transfers heat out of the encapsulation to the ambient environment via a path having a 5 Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 location separate from the points of entry into the encapsulation of the electrical leads. Thus the heat extraction forms a conduit that is substantially independent of the electrical conduits to and from the device (col9 ln40-45)_[3J The Examiner does not establish that Roberts' electrode configuration maintains standardization with many common electrical device configurations. 4 Nor does the Examiner explain how Oshio '746's device would be modified in view of Roberts to arrive at the Appellants' claim 1 's electrode configuration. The modification apparently would require maintaining the U-shaped configuration of Oshio '746's lead 805 to meet the Appellants' claim 1 's recess requirement, placing Roberts' heat extraction member (204) inside the recess and making Roberts' lead 806 integral with the heat extraction member (204) to meet the Appellants' claim requirement of a second electrode that is a heat sink at least a portion of which seats in the recess, and extending lead 806 widthwise past lead 805 and orienting it in the opposite direction such that current passes through it and lead 805 in opposite (anti-parallel) directions. The Examiner does not establish that the applied references would have provided one of ordinary skill in the art with an apparent reason to make such a modification. 3 Roberts discloses that "the heat extraction member 204 forms the dominant thermal conduit to and from the semiconductor optical emitter 202 within the device 200, a conduit that is substantially independent of the electrical conduits to and from the device" ( col. 9, 11. 3 7--45). 4 Roberts discloses that the heat extraction member (204)' s "dimensions ensure compatibility with standard auto-insertion equipment and standard mounting and heat-sink components" (col. 9, 11. 46-57), but this disclosure pertains to the heat extraction member (204), not the electrode configuration. 6 Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 The Examiner concludes that "it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Oshio '746 as taught by Robert[s] to orient the leads as shown in Fig. 7a, 7b where all the electrodes are on one side ( col2 ln20-25) and additionally having an electrode/leadframe that has a(n) integral extension/function of a heat sink since the configuration of leads were formed from a single piece of copper (fig3, col27 ln30-35) for efficiency in automated high speed mass production, soldering and automated insertion" (Ans. 3). Roberts exemplifies forming the three Figure 3 leads (209,210) from a single piece of copper such that the middle lead (209) is integral with the heat extraction member (204) and the outer leads (210) are electrically isolated (col. 27, 11. 7-11, 25-28). Roberts' disclosures relied upon by the Examiner in support of the finding that Roberts' Figure 7 a/7b 's structure having all electrical leads (209,210) on one side of the heat extraction member (204), one of the electrical leads (209) being integral with the heat extraction member (204), provides "efficiency in automated high speed mass production, soldering and automated insertion, " are that in prior art devices "[ a ]utomated processing via mainstream equipment and procedures contributes to low capital cost, low defect rates, low labor cost, high throughput, high precision, high repeatability and flexible manufacturing practices" ( col. 2, 11. 13-17), "[ t ]wo of the most important steps in modem electronic assembly processes are high-speed automated insertion and mass automated soldering" (col. 2, 11. 21-23), and "electrically and thermally conductive metal leads must extract a majority of the heat to ambient by the mechanism of conduction" (col. 5, 11. 12-15), and in Roberts' device "[b]y varying the number of electrical leads [209, 21 OJ, the orientation of the 7 Appeal2017-008190 Application 12/957,417 electrical leads, employing different lead bend configurations, varying the size, shape, and orientation of the heat extraction member 204, using multiple emitters 202 of various types, and varying the encapsulant configuration 203 it is possible to configure the present invention for use in side-looker configuration, end-looker configuration and as a through-hole device or surface-mount device" (col. 29, 11. 2-10) (Ans. 3). The Examiner does not establish that the prior art features are characteristics of Roberts' device or that the prior art features and Roberts' device variations would have provided one of ordinary skill in the art with an apparent reason to modify Oshio '746's device to arrive at the electrode configuration required by the Appellants' claim 1. The Examiner, therefore, has not established a prima facie case of obviousness of the Appellants' claimed apparatus. DECISION The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 of claims 1, 15, 16, 21, and 23 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts, claims 2--4 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts and Kumar, claims 5 and 6 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts and Nishihara, claims 7-14 and 22 over Oshio '7 46 in view of Roberts, Takeuchi and Oshio '699 and claim 17 over Oshio '746 in view of Roberts and Chang are reversed. The Examiner's decision is reversed. REVERSED 8 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation