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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/24/2026 has been entered.
Non-Compliant Amendment - 37 CFR 1.121
The amendment filed 2/24/2026 fails to show all changes from the previous 9/18/2025 version with appropriate markings of terms and with appropriate claim status identifiers as required by 37 CFR 1.121. For instance, the dependency of claim 35 has been changed without showing the previous dependency in strike-through to denote deletion and showing the new dependency in underline to denote addition. Nor is the claim 35 status indicator shown as “(Currently Amended)” as would be necessary to alert the public to changes in scope.
Since this is the first occurrence of non-compliance with 37 CFR 1.121 in this application, the examiner has entered the amendment in the interest of compact prosecution rather than issuing a notice of non-responsive reply. However, any subsequent reply going forward that does not fully comply with 37 CFR 1.121 will not be entered and will not serve to restart the time period for reply.
For purposes of examination, the examiner will presume the claims to be in accordance with the claim status identifiers provided by applicant. Claims 31-33 and 35-45 are listed as “previously presented” such that they must be considered as being unchanged from the previous 9/18/2025 version, despite the improperly shown changes therein. For instance, claim 35 is taken to be “previously presented” such that the 35 USC 112 clarity rejection of claim 35 for improper dependency is maintained.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the Group I Invention and Species 1 (figs.1-9) in the reply filed on 9/6/2024 remains acknowledged.
Claims 30-33 and 35-45 are drawn to the elected invention/species.
The remaining claims 1-29, 34 and 46-68 have been canceled by applicant.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 30-33 and 35-45 are is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The newly added claim 30 phraseology “corresponding radial latch alignment guides guide” (5th paragraph of claim 30) is unclear as to whether plural “guides” or a single “guide” is being set forth. Further it is unclear as to whether this recitation is to include the previously recited “a preselected number of radial latch alignment guides” (2nd paragraph of claim 30) or be in addition thereto. Note the following MPEP sections:
See MPEP 2173.05(o) which states "where a claim directed to a device can be read to include the same element twice, the claim may be indefinite. Ix parte Kristensen, 10 USPQ2d 1701 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1989)".
See MPEP 2173.05(e) which states "A claim which refers to "said aluminum lever," but recites only "a lever" earlier in the claim, is indefinite because it is uncertain as to the lever to which reference is made… even though indefiniteness in claim language is of semantic origin, it is not rendered unobjectionable simply because it could have been corrected. In re Hammack, 427 F.2d 1384, 1388 n.5, 166 USPQ 209, 213 n.5 (CCPA 1970).
Claim 43 sets forth four recitations of “said coupling flange” which do not map to the previously recited claim 30 phraseology of “passive face coupling interface flange” and “active face coupling interface flange” thereby rendering it unclear as to whether claim 43 is setting forth additional elements or referring back to the previously recited claim 30 elements.
As detailed in the “Non-Compliant Amendment” section elsewhere above, applicant has given claim 35 the claim status identifier of “Previously Presented” in the most recent 2/24/2026 filing and does not properly show any changes in underline, strikethrough, and/or double brackets as is required by 37 CFR 1.121. Accordingly, the clarity rejection set forth in the previous 9/26/2025 Office Action for claim 35 improperly/unclearly depending from canceled claim 34 is maintained. For purposes of applying the prior art, claim 35 will again be treated as if it depends directly from independent claim 30.
The remaining claims depend from the above and are thus similarly unclear/rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 30-33 and 35-45 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action.
The reasons for allowability over the prior art are clear from the record of the prosecution, as a whole, and especially applicant’s remarks/arguments filed 2/24/2026, such that no further discussion is needed nor proper in accordance with the Stephen G. Kunin Memorandum dated 8/8/2003, which cites 37 CFR 1.104(e) and MPEP 1302.14.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments that the amendments overcome the prior art rejections are persuasive. However, the claims are rejected under 35 USC 112b for clarity issues, as is detailed in the reworded rejections above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VICTOR L MACARTHUR whose telephone number is (571)272-7085.
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/VICTOR L MACARTHUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618