Ex Parte DeGRAAFF et alDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardJun 24, 201914747836 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Jun. 24, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR 14/747,836 06/23/2015 David DeGRAAFF 74254 7590 06/25/2019 Okamoto & Benedicto LLP P.O. Box 641330 San Jose, CA 95164-1330 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. 10031.006710 3248 EXAMINER BAKHTIARI, NIKI ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1726 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 06/25/2019 PAPER 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. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte DAVID DEGRAAFF and ADAM DETRICK Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 Technology Center 1700 Before BRADLEY R. GARRIS, ROMULO H. DELMENDO, and GRACE KARAFFA OBERMANN, Administrative Patent Judges. DELMENDO, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL The Applicant 1 ("Appellant") appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Primary Examiner's final decision to reject claims 1-9.2 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm. 1 The Applicant is "SunPower Corporation" (Application Data Sheet filed June 23, 2015, 4--5), which is also identified as the real party in interest (Appeal Brief filed March 2, 2018 ("Appeal Br."), 1). 2 Appeal Br. 3-7; Reply Brief filed July 24, 2018 ("Reply Br."), 2--4; Final Office Action entered November 3, 2017 ("Final Act."), 3-9; Examiner's Answer entered June 8, 2018 ("Ans."), 3-10. Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 I. BACKGROUND The subject matter on appeal relates to a photovoltaic laminate including a string of photovoltaic cells and three electrical conductors (Specification filed June 23, 2015 ("Spec."), 2, 11. 11-13). Figure 2 ( annotated), which is reproduced from the Drawings filed June 23, 2015 below, is illustrative: Figure 2 above shows a photovoltaic laminate 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, wherein the photovoltaic laminate 200 includes, inter alia, a string of photovoltaic (solar) cells 202 connected in 2 Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 series, a first electrical conductor 208-1 that is electrically connected to a first (negative polarity) end and second and third electrical conductors 208-2 and 208-3, respectively, that are electrically connected to a second (positive polarity) end (Spec. 9, 1. 1-10, 1. 4). Representative claim 1 is reproduced from the Claims Appendix to the Appeal Brief, as follows: 1. A photovoltaic laminate comprising: a string of photovoltaic cells of the photovoltaic laminate, the string of photovoltaic cells having a first end and a second end· ' a first connector of the photovoltaic laminate; a first electrical conductor that is electrically connected to the first end of the string of photovoltaic cells and ends at the first connector; a second connector of the photovoltaic laminate; a second electrical conductor that is electrically connected to the second end of the string of photovoltaic cells and ends at the second connector; and a third electrical conductor that is electrically connected to the second end of the string of photovoltaic cells and ends at the first connector, wherein the first electrical conductor is electrically connected to the first end of the string of photovoltaic cells from within the photovoltaic laminate, and the second and third electrical conductors are electrically connected to the second end of the string of photovoltaic cells from within the photovoltaic laminate. (Appeal Br. 9 (emphasis added)). II. REJECTIONS ON APPEAL Claims 1-9 stand rejected as follows: A. Claims 1, 2, and 7-9 under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as 3 Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 anticipated by Wattman et al. 3 ("Wattman"); and B. Claims 3---6 under 35 U.S.C. § I02(b) as anticipated by Wattman or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § I03(a) as unpatentable over Wattman in view of Adriani et al. 4 (" Adriani "). (Ans. 3-10; Final Act. 3-9). III. DISCUSSION The Appellant's arguments against both rejections focus only on claim 1 (Appeal Br. 3-7). Therefore, all claims stand or fall with claim 1. See 37 C.F.R. § 4I.37(c)(l)(iv). The Examiner finds that Wattman's Figures 5 and 7 (reproduced below) disclose photovoltaic laminates including every limitation recited in claim 1 (Ans. 3--4, 9-10). With respect to the disputed limitations highlighted in reproduced claim 1 above, the Examiner finds that W attman' s second electrical terminus 514 and fourth electrical terminus 524, as shown in Figure 5, correspond to the "second and third electrical conductors" recited in claim 1, respectively, and that these termini are electrically connected to a second end of the string of photovoltaic elements 510 via second electrical connector 564 when a terminator connector 776 is connected to photovoltaic laminate 764, as shown in Figure 7 (id. at 9-10). The Appellant disputes the Examiner's finding (Appeal Br. 5---6). Specifically, the Appellant argues that Wattman "does not disclose that the electrical terminus 522/524 ('third electrical conductor') is electrically 3 US 2009/0242015 Al, published October 1, 2009. 4 US 2008/0041434 Al, published February 21, 2008. 4 Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 connected to the photovoltaic cells 51 O" (id.). According to the Appellant, "[t ]he electrical terminus 522 and the electrical terminus 514 are electrically isolated from each other in the connector 564" and "both the electrical terminus 522 and electrical terminus 514 simply extend out of the connector 564" (id. at 6). Regarding the Examiner's reliance on Wattman's Figure 7, the Appellant argues that the Examiner's position is based on a "claim construction [that] impermissibly removes the claim limitation 'from within the photovoltaic laminate,' as the electrical connection to the photovoltaic cells 510 of the photovoltaic laminate 560 can only be made from outside of the photovoltaic laminate 560" (Reply Br. 2). The Appellant's arguments are insufficient to identify reversible error in the Examiner's rejection of claim 1. In re Jung, 637 F.3d 1356, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2011). Wattman's Figure 5 (annotated) is reproduced as follows: first fourth electrical elec!rical return eiectrica! _path connector 530 526 terminus 562 byp~ss did/de 564 _ 524 - ...... : ________ ,__ _______ --! 512___... .. first electrical ~===~ ~=~~~ terminus 510 photovoitaic e!ements 5 560 photovoltaic laminate / "'lt third electrical eiectricai terminus / 562 51.2 ·510 565) l.563 top iaminate !ayer bottom Fl G. 5 !aminate !ayer Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 Wattman's Figure 5 above shows a top schematic view and a cross-sectional view of a photovoltaic laminate 560 in which two photovoltaic elements 510 are connected in series between a first electrical terminus 512 [ corresponding to the "first electrical conductor" recited in claim 1] and a second electrical terminus 514 [ corresponding to the "second electrical conductor" recited in claim 1] (Wattman, ,r 51 ). Wattman further teaches that "[a] return electrical path 526 connects a third electrical terminus 522 and a fourth electrical terminus 524 [ corresponding to the "third electrical conductor" recited in claim 1 ]" (id.). Wattman further teaches that "the photovoltaic laminates ... can include connectors for series interconnection" (id. ,r 58 (emphasis added)), which is illustrated in Figure 7 (annotated) reproduced as follows: 770 &tarter c,ormector T16 tet-r,,in;itor connector electn.~-;~; fead·----.... ~~~~~~~~~.............-~~---' ----.. ---- 762 760 serie'S--in(en;onnedeci !,m;in,lte;e; Wattman's Figure 7 above depicts a top schematic view of a set of three photovoltaic laminates 760, 762, and 764 interconnected in series using connectors, including a terminator connector 77 6 connected to a rear end photovoltaic laminate 764 connecting its second electrical terminus 514 to its third electrical terminus 522, thereby connecting all the photovoltaic elements 510 to their return electrical paths 526 (id.). 6 Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 Thus, for example, Wattman's photovoltaic laminate 764, which includes terminator connector 776 as shown in Figure 7, meets every limitation in claim 1. Specifically, in Wattman's photovoltaic laminate 764 including terminator connector 776, the third and fourth electrical termini 522/524 and return electrical path 526, which, according to the Appellant, correspond to the "third electrical conductor" recited in claim 1 (Appeal Br. 6), would be electrically connected to the second electrical terminus 514, which corresponds to the "second electrical conductor" and is connected to the right-side (i.e., second end) of the photovoltaic cell 510, as shown in Figure 5. Hence, we discern no error in the Examiner's finding that the disputed limitations are disclosed in Wattman. We discern no persuasive merit in the Appellant's argument that the Examiner engaged in an unreasonable claim construction that, in effect, ignores the claim limitation "from within the photovoltaic laminate" in the "wherein" clause recited in claim 1. Claim 1 recites the open transitory term "comprising" to define the claimed "photovoltaic laminate" (Appeal Br. 9). Therefore, unrecited components, such as Wattman' s terminator connector 776, are not excluded. Cf In re Baxter, 656 F.2d 679, 686 (CCPA 1981) ("As long as one of the monomers in the reaction is propylene, any other monomer may be present, because the term 'compris[ing]' permits the inclusion of other steps, elements, or materials."). Furthermore, the Appellant does not direct us to any description in the Inventors' Specification and Drawings that would have indicated to one skilled in the relevant art that unrecited components, such as Wattman's terminator connector 776, would be excluded from the claimed "photovoltaic laminate." To the contrary, the Inventors' own Specification 7 Appeal2018-007818 Application 14/747,836 and Drawings describe connectors 214-1 and 214-2 as part of the "photovoltaic laminate" (Spec. 10, 11. 5-17; Fig. 2) as well as interconnected photovoltaic laminates using diode connectors (Fig. 3). Therefore, we do not find the Examiner's proffered claim construction to be unreasonable. 5 For these reasons and those well-stated by the Examiner, we uphold the Examiner's rejection of claim 1. IV. SUMMARY Rejections A and Bare sustained. Therefore, the Examiner's final decision to reject claims 1-9 is affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). AFFIRMED 5 Wattman' s usage of the term "photovoltaic laminate" is also consistent with the broadest reasonable claim interpretation because Wattman states that "the photovoltaic laminates ... can include connectors for series interconnection" (id. ,r 58 (emphasis added)). Cf In re Smith Int'!, Inc., 871 F.3d 1375, 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (a broad claim construction was erroneous where "the ... specification consistently describe[d] and refer[red] to the body as a component distinct from others, such as the mandrel, piston, and drive ring."). 8 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation