Obviousness

To assess the obviousness of US Patent 9629265 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, we will analyze the independent claims (Claims 1 and 4) in light of the prior art explicitly referenced and discussed within the patent itself.

Independent Claims of US9629265:

The core inventive features of US9629265, as defined by its independent claims, revolve around the spatial arrangement of electronic components (specifically CPUs and memory devices) and power source units (PSUs) within an electronic device housing to optimize cooling.

• Claim 1 describes an electronic device comprising:

  • A housing with front and rear faces.
  • Fans arranged near the front, causing cooling air to flow longitudinally (front to rear).
  • A Central Processing Unit (CPU) downstream of the fans, directly cooled by this air.
  • Memory devices adjacent to the CPU in the width direction.
  • A plurality of power source units (PSUs) positioned opposite each other and spaced out in the width direction of the housing.
  • Crucially: The PSUs are positioned further downstream of the cooling air from the memory devices such that air passing through a memory device enters a PSU.
  • And: The PSUs are not aligned linearly with the CPU in the longitudinal direction.

• Claim 4 is directed to a cooling structure for such an electronic device, reiterating the essential arrangement: fans, CPU downstream of fans (allowing direct airflow), memory devices adjacent to CPU, and PSUs positioned further downstream from memory devices. It emphasizes that the PSUs are positioned opposite and spaced out in the width direction, and not linearly aligned with the CPU in the longitudinal direction.

Prior Art Analysis (as described in US9629265):

The patent explicitly discusses and aims to overcome shortcomings of existing cooling structures, including two specific patent literature references and a general conventional server configuration.

1. Patent Literature 1 (JP2000-174465A): This reference discloses a mounting structure for an electronic device with logic units (e.g., CPUs), PSUs, and fan units. It teaches partitioning the housing into separate air passages for logic units and PSUs to improve cooling efficiency and prevent non-uniform power supply. However, the patent states this approach is "disadvantageous because of its complex structure" and potential increase in weight.
2. Patent Literature 2 (US7,839,624B2): This patent describes an industrial computer chassis where a power source section (a pair of vertically combined PSUs) is centrally located between two motherboards. While it aims to optimize power supply, US9629265 criticizes it for potentially poor cooling, as "one power source additionally applies its heat to the other power source, thus totally increasing heat produced by a pair of power sources vertically combined together." This highlights the problem of mutual heating between PSUs.
3. Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6 of US9629265): This is presented as a representative example of prior art. It includes fans 104, CPUs 102, and PSUs 105. In this arrangement:
   • The PSUs 105 are positioned further downstream of the cooling air flow compared to the CPUs 102.
   • Problem 1: "one CPU 102 and one power source unit 105 are positioned linearly along a cooling air flow; hence, a cooling air flow caused by the fan 104 is temporarily warmed by heat caused by the CPU 102 and subsequently flows into the power source unit 105. This may degrade a cooling effect for the power source unit 105 in the server 100." This directly describes the issue of warm air from a CPU impacting a linearly aligned, downstream PSU.
   • Problem 2: "Due to the adjacent arrangement of the power source units 105, one power source unit 105 additionally applies its heat to the other power source unit 105. This may further degrade a cooling effect for the power source units 105." This clearly identifies the problem of mutual heating between closely placed PSUs.
   • The conventional solutions involve increasing fan speed/airflow or using more/higher-performance fans, which increase cost and limit design.

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103:

A combination of the Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6) with common knowledge in thermal management (or teachings from Patent Literature 1 and 2 regarding cooling goals) would render the independent claims of US9629265 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA).

Motivation to Combine: The patent itself provides a strong motivation for a PHOSITA to modify the Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6) in the manner claimed. The description of FIG. 6 explicitly identifies two critical problems with the conventional layout:

1. Warm Air from CPU to PSU: The linear alignment of a CPU and a downstream PSU causes the PSU to receive pre-heated air, degrading its cooling efficiency.
2. Mutual Heating of PSUs: The adjacent arrangement of PSUs leads to one PSU transferring heat to the other, further degrading cooling.

A PHOSITA, faced with these clearly articulated problems, would be motivated to seek solutions to improve the cooling of the power source units and the overall thermal performance of the electronic device.

Combination and Rationale:

A PHOSITA would combine the teachings of the Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6) with fundamental principles of thermal management or insights from other prior art to arrive at the claimed invention:

• Solving Mutual Heating (PSUs spaced out in width direction): The Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6) explicitly highlights the problem of adjacent PSUs causing mutual heating. Patent Literature 2, although describing a vertical arrangement, also acknowledges the issue of one power source applying heat to another. A straightforward and well-known solution for preventing heat transfer between adjacent heat-generating components is to physically separate them. Thus, a PHOSITA would be motivated to space out the power source units in the width direction of the housing, away from each other, to mitigate this mutual heating effect. This directly addresses the limitation in Claims 1 and 4 that "the plurality of power source units are positioned opposite to each other and spaced out from each other in the width direction of the housing."
• Solving Pre-heated Air (PSUs not linearly aligned with CPU): The Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6) also clearly states that the linear alignment of a CPU and a downstream PSU leads to the PSU receiving pre-warmed air. To address this, a PHOSITA would naturally consider repositioning the PSUs to avoid this direct linear path, allowing cooler air to reach them. Lateral displacement (moving the PSUs to the sides in the width direction) is an obvious modification. This directly addresses the limitation in Claims 1 and 4 that "the plurality of power source units are each positioned not to be aligned linearly with the CPU in the longitudinal direction of the housing."
• Resulting Airflow and Memory Interaction: Once the PSUs are moved laterally (in the width direction) to avoid direct linear alignment with the CPUs, it becomes a natural consequence that cooling air, after passing the CPUs and often surrounding components like memory devices (which are typically adjacent to CPUs), would then flow into these laterally placed PSUs. The claim's specificity that "the cooling air passing through one of the memory devices passes into one of the power source units" is a foreseeable outcome of laterally offsetting the PSUs from the CPU's direct airflow path, given that memories are commonly located adjacent to CPUs as depicted in the patent's own figures (e.g., FIG. 1, where memories 5 are next to CPUs 4).

Therefore, the claimed solution in US9629265 represents a direct and obvious modification of the Conventional Server 100 (FIG. 6) to solve problems explicitly identified within the patent's own description of that prior art. The motivation to implement these changes is strong and evident from the known disadvantages of the prior art. Patent Literature 1 further reinforces the general motivation to separate airflows for different heat sources, albeit with a different, more complex, and criticized implementation.