Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/103,545

HIGH SPEED DATA MODULE FOR HIGH LIFE CYCLE INTERCONNECT DEVICE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jan 31, 2023
Examiner
NGUYEN, TRUC T
Art Unit
2834
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Virginia Panel Corporation
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
2y 0m
To Grant
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allow Rate
1112 granted / 1274 resolved
+19.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 0m
Avg Prosecution
40 currently pending
Career history
1314
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
33.7%
-6.3% vs TC avg
§102
39.8%
-0.2% vs TC avg
§112
21.7%
-18.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1274 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . The previous non-final office action has been withdrawn. A new non-final office action as follow. 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. Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stowers et al. (US 2015/0087175) in view of Wu (US 8,052,430). Regarding claim 1, Stowers et al. disclose a high-speed data contact set comprising: a housing (100) comprising: a hollow body (110) having a top, a bottom, a front, a rear, and first side and a second side; a plurality of protective arms (120a, 120b, 120c, 120d) extending from the front of said hollow body for protecting contact beams of a termination subassembly inserted into said insert shroud (100); a termination subassembly (200) in said insert shroud, said termination assembly comprising: a plurality of pairs of contact beams (242, 244), the contact beams in each pair being of the same orientation and the pairs of contact beams having alternating orientations; a termination subassembly body (230) molded on and around a central portion of the plurality of pairs of contacts, the termination subassembly body having a support member for supporting one end of each of said plurality of pairs of contacts, said support member having a plurality of alignment bosses (140). Stowers et al. substantially disclosed the claimed invention except the alignment bosses align to holes on a printed circuit board and said one end of each of plurality of pairs of contacts is soldered to said printed circuit board and a plurality of wires each having a stripped end covered by a shield strap and soldered to said printed circuit board. Wu teaches a printed circuit board and said one end of each of plurality of pairs of contacts (13) is soldered to said printed circuit board and a plurality of wires (40) each having a stripped end soldered to said printed circuit board (see Fig. 11). Wu also teaches alignment boss (164) aligning to holes (224) on circuit board (2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to substitute the printed circuit board with holes and wire assembly into Stower’s data contact set, as taught by Wu for reducing human errors when assemble the data contact set. Wu also teach a shielding strap (6) cover strip end of wires (40). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide the shield strap into Stower’s data contact set, as taught by Wu for reducing magnetic interference. Regarding claim 2, in the modified high-speed data contact set, Stowers et al. disclose said termination subassembly body has a latch feature (130) for securing said termination subassembly body to said housing. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRUC T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2011. The examiner can normally be reached monday-friday (7-4). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher M. Koehler can be reached on 5712723560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /TRUC T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 31, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 22, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Sep 29, 2025
Response Filed
Dec 04, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12592523
ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH IMPROVED GROUND SHIELDING EFFECT
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12586952
CONNECTING ASSEMBLY AND RELATED ELECTRONIC APPARATUS
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12580351
CABLE CAP WITH POWER INDICATOR
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Patent 12580342
CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Patent 12580338
CONNECTOR AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+7.2%)
2y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1274 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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