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 .
DETAILED ACTION
WITHDRAWAL OF ALLOWABLE SUBJECT MATTER
In the Non-Final Rejection dated 02/03/2026 it was indicated that claim 17 had allowable subject matter. That is hereby withdrawn in light of the following rejection below.
Claim Cancellation
The cancellation of claims 3 and 15 have been made of record.
Claim Objections
Claims 19, 22 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 19, line 2 “a fluid inlet” was mentioned in claim 17, line 8, therefore the limitation should be changed to - - the fluid inlet - -.
Claim 22, line 5 “the receptacle connector part” should be changed to - - a receptacle connector par - -.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baudelocque et al. US 20140030902 A1.
In reference to claim 17, Baudelocque teaches a method of assembling a subsea connector part, the method comprising: feeding conductors of a subsea hose, cable (the cable is seen to be 10A-C) or jumper into a housing (viewing the assembled 42, 40, 34, 36 of figure 2 as a housing), terminating the conductors to terminations (20A-C is soldered to the conductor of the wires 10A-C. See [0026], lines 1-3) of a removable connector body (10; fig. 2 can be screwed onto 36. See [0037], lines 11-15 ) , of the housing; sealing (sealing by using 19 and 38; fig. 2) the removable connector body to the housing at one end of a chamber (i.e. the interior of assembled 42, 40, 34, 36) in the housing; sealing (sealing by using 22; fig. 2) the hose, cable or jumper to the housing at the other end of the chamber; and filling the chamber with a pressure balancing fluid through a fluid inlet (43; fig. 3) and closing the fluid inlet.
In reference to claim 19, Baudelocque teaches wherein the chamber is filled through a fluid inlet in the chamber and after filling and allowing trapped air to escape, the fluid inlet is closed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18, 20-22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
(Claim 1) The allowable subject matter of Claim 3 has been added to independent Claim 1.
(Claim 12) Claim 12 has been amended into independent form including the limitations of base claim 1 and intervening claim 2.
(Claim 26) Claim 26 has been amended into independent form including the limitations of base claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRAVIS SLOAN CHAMBERS whose telephone number is (571)272-6813. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30a.m.-5:00p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah A Riyami can be reached at 571-270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TRAVIS S CHAMBERS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831 05/15/2026
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