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
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Applicant’s election with traverse of Groups I and III and species E (claims 1-5, 18, 23-24, 26 and 29-32), in response on 7/29/25 and 10/14/25 is acknowledged.
The traverse is on the grounds that all figures of the application define a single species and that all claims should be examined without a burden. The examiner responds that first the applicant has defined various embodiments as stated in the summary. Secondly, not necessarily the species have to defined with drawings, rather than the embodiments reflected in the specification in which as defined under Under ¶ 8.01, the species are independent or distinct because under ¶ 8.01 the specification disclosed the different species having mutually exclusive characteristics for each identified species and thus requiring different search strings,
with significant burden. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
The prior art documents submitted by Applicant(s) in the information Disclosure Statement(s) have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copy of form(s) PTO-1449).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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 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.
Claims 1-3, 18-19, 23-24, 26, and 29-32 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over “Barnette” et al., US 20140241670 A1 (analogously to US 20250264671 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Barnet teaches a hardened fiber optic adapter that is configured to couple a hardened fiber optic connector with a fiber cable lead of a drop terminal (see figs. 1 and 13-14; also all figs. pe1-42; and at least col, 4, 3rd parag.),
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comprising: a body portion having a first end portion configured to receive a hardened fiber optic connector and a second end portion opposite to the first end portion (see at least fgis.3-6, parag. 0030, 0032-0033);
a flexible fiber cable lead portion (see at least parag. 0052) including an optical fiber cable (i.e., 40) and a protection tube portion (i.e., ferrule 52b or tube 67) configured to surround at least a portion of the optical fiber cable 40 (shown in at least figs. 2-4, 5, 14-15; parag. 0028, 0042); an adapter subassembly portion (i.e. 52,55,136) configured to be coupled with a preterminated end of the optical fiber cable at a first end portion of the flexible fiber cable lead (shown in at least figs. 5-6); a crimp member (i.e., 54) configured to couple the protection tube portion of the flexible fiber cable lead portion with the body portion at the second end portion of the body portion (shown in at least figs. 2, 5-6 and 14; parag. parag. 0028, 0049, 0033, 0042);
a biasing member 52c configured to urge the adapter subassembly portion in axial direction toward the first end portion of the body portion (see at least figs. 2-5, parag. 0028, 0033); wherein the first end portion of the body portion is configured to include an internal threaded portion that is configured to be threadedly coupled with an external threaded portion of a hardened fiber optic connector (shown in at least fig. 6);
wherein the adapter subassembly portion includes a first inner body portion and a second inner body portion that are configured to be fixedly coupled together and to receive a sleeve 136 configured to extend through coaxial openings in the first inner body portion and the second inner body portion (shown in at least fig. 6-7 and 16; parag.0035-0038; 0045 , with at least two inner body portion such as 52, 55a, 136 are coupled to each other).;
wherein the first inner body portion is configured to be coupled with a ferrule 52bholder portion (i.e., 55a) of the preterminated end of the optical fiber cable to axially fix the ferrule holder portion with the first inner body portion (see at least figs. 2, 5-6…). ; wherein the adapter subassembly portion is configured to provide an interface that is configured to mechanically and optically couple the preterminated end of the optical fiber cable with a hardened fiber optic connector that is threadedly coupled with the internal threaded portion at the first end portion of the body portion (see at least fig. 6); \ wherein the sleeve is configured to receive and align a ferrule of the preterminated end of the optical fiber cable with a ferrule of a hardened fiber optic connector that is threadedly coupled with the internal threaded portion at the first end portion of the body portion (see figs. 6-7 and parag. 0036);
\wherein the body portion includes a keyed receptable portion that is configured to receive a keyed plug portion of a hardened fiber optic connector so as to provide a first predetermined connection orientation so as to allow the hardened fiber optic connector to be connected with the body portion at the predetermined connection orientation (see at least figs. 11-14 and parag.0040-0041); and
wherein a second end portion of the flexible fiber cable lead portion is configured to be coupled with a drop terminal such that the adapter is permitted to be moved relative to the drop terminal to a second predetermined connection orientation that is configured to allow the adapter to be connected to a hardened fiber optic connector (see at least figs. 3-7, 15-16 and parag. 0037-0040, 0044, 0045, summary).
However, Barnet does not explicitly teach that the above sleeve is a “split sleeve”. Nonetheless, the “split” is not germane to the invention and does not have a novelty to the invention and is an extremely conventional (i.e., US 20110211326 A1) in the art and one of ordinary skill in the art could easily replace the sleeve member of Barnet with a conventional split sleeve so as if necessary at the time design to enlarge the sleeve for fitting/coupling purpose with a robust fiber optic cable assembly for optical coupling (see summary).
The arguments presented in in rejection of claim 1, including the obviousness and motivation are incorporated in rejection of the following claims as follows:
2. The adapter of claim 1, further comprising a heat shrink that is configured to be applied to an outside of the flexible fiber cable lead portion and the second end portion of the body portion to provide a weathertight seal at the connection there between (shown in at least figs. 2-5, 14-15; shrinkable tube 67; at least para. 0028, 0033,0042).
3. The adapter of claim 1, wherein the biasing member comprises a spring (see at least figs. 2-5, parag. 0028, 0033).
Regarding claim 18, Barnet teaches a hardened fiber optic adapter that is designed to couple a hardened fiber optic connector with a fiber cable lead of a drop terminal (see figs. 1 and 13-14; also all figs. 1-42; and at least col, 4, 3rd parag.), comprising:
a body portion having a first end portion that is configured to receive a “hardened” fiber optic connector and a second end portion (see at least fgis.3-6, parag. 0030, 0032-0033);
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a flexible fiber cable (see at least parag. 0052) lead portion including an optical fiber cable (i.e., 40) and a protection tube portion (i.e., ferrule 52b or tube 67) that is configured to surround at least a portion of the optical fiber cable 40 (shown in at least figs. 2-4, 5, 14-15; parag. 0028, 0042); an adapter subassembly portion (i.e. 52,55,136) configured to be coupled with a preterminated end of the optical fiber cable (shown in at least figs. 5-6); and wherein a second end portion of the flexible fiber cable lead portion is configured to be coupled with a drop terminal such that the adapter is permitted to be moved relative to the drop terminal to a predetermined connection orientation that is configured to allow the adapter to be connected to a hardened fiber optic connector (see at least fig . 3 and parag. 0031).
However, Barnet does not explicitly teach all limitations, specifically the adapter, in a single embodiment. Nonetheless, all embodiments of Barnet are closely interrelated and thus it would have been obvious to an ordinary artisan skilled in the art when the invention was made to modify an embodiment of Barnet by incorporating that of the Barnet’s teaching of another embodiment so as to produce an optical adapter with robust fiber optic cable assembly for optical coupling (see summary).
19. The adapter of claim 18, further comprising a heat shrink that is configured to be applied to an outside of the flexible fiber cable lead portion and the second end portion of the body portion so to provide a weathertight seal at a connection portion there between (shown in at least figs. 2-5, 14-15; shrinkable tube 67; at least para. 0028, 0033,0042).
23. The adapter of claim 18, further comprising a biasing member 52c/d that is configured to urge the adapter subassembly portion in an axial direction toward the first end portion of the body portion (see at least figs. 2-5, parag. 0028, 0033).
24. The adapter of claim 23, wherein the biasing member comprises a spring (see at least figs. 2-5, parag. 0028, 0033).
26. The adapter of claim 18, wherein the adapter subassembly includes a first inner body portion and a second inner body portion that are configured to be fixedly coupled together(shown in at least fig. 6, with at least two inner body portion such as 52, 55a, 136 are coupled to each other).
29. The adapter of claim 18, wherein the adapter subassembly portion is configured to be coupled with a ferrule 52b holder portion (i.e., 55a) of the preterminated end of the optical fiber cable to axially fix the ferrule holder portion with the adapter subassembly portion (see at least figs. 2, 5-6…).
30. The adapter of claim 18, wherein the adapter subassembly portion is configured to provide an interface that is configured to mechanically and optically couple the preterminated end of the optical fiber cable with a hardened fiber optic connector that is coupled with the first end portion of the body portion (shown in at least figs. 3 and 15).
31. The adapter of claim 18, wherein the second end portion is opposite to the first end portion (shown in at least figs. 3 and 15).
32. The adapter of claim 18, wherein the adapter subassembly portion is configured to be coupled with the preterminated end of the optical fiber cable at a first end portion of the flexible fiber cable lead (shown in at least figs. 3 and 15).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over “Barnette” et al., US 20140241670 A1, as applied in rejection of claims 1-3. and further in view of “Petrersen” et al., US 10054753 B2.
With regard to claims 4-5, however, Barnette does not explicitly teach wherein the optical fiber cable comprises a cable having annular grooves spaced apart from one another along a length of the cable; and/or wherein the protection tube portion comprises a duct having annular grooves spaced apart from one another along a length of the “duct”. Such conventional limitation is taught by Peterson as shown as shown in at least fig. 12-13.. Thus it would have been obvious to an ordinary artisan skilled in the art when the invention was made to modify Barnet’s protection tube with that of by incorporating Petersen so as to provide an optical adapter with robust fiber optic cable assembly for optical coupling (see summary).
Citation of Relevant Prior Art
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Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thomas A Hollweg whose telephone number is (571)270-1739. The examiner can normally be reached on 9-19.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hollweg can be reached on571-270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KAVEH C KIANNI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874