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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2026-01-30 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on or before 2026-04-14 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 2026-01-30 has been entered. Claim(s) 1-2, and 5-12 remain pending in this application. Claim(s) 1, and 8 have been amended. Claim(s) 3-4 and 13-14 have been canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 8 and their dependents have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 8-10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pak (KR-102141368-B1 – Refer to attached machine translation for references cited).
Regarding Claim 1, Pak teaches a test probe comprising: a support of an electrically conductive material (Figs 1-3: socket body portion, 11 | para [0065] teaches 11 is made of a conductive material) having a first face and a second face (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak), first contact members provided adjacent to the first face of the support (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak), and second contact members provided adjacent to the second face of the support (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak),
with at least either one of the first contact members or second contact members being provided as a plurality of members, wherein a plurality of the first contact members and at least one of the second contact members, or a plurality of the second contact members and at least one of the first contact members are electrically connected through the support (Figs 1-3 shows a plurality of first contact members connected to a plurality of second contact members, through the support).
wherein the first contact members and second contact members have shoulder portions that are retained inside the support by engaging with contact portions correspondingly provided in the support (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak), and
wherein a coil spring (unlabeled but clearly visible in the Figures) is disposed extending through a through-hole provided in the support (Fig 2: pin hole, 111'), with one end of the coil spring abutting a first contact member and another end abutting a second contact member (can be seen in Fig 2).
Regarding Claim 2, Pak teaches the test probe according to claim 1, wherein the first contact members or the second contact members are provided in a manner permitting resilient expansion and contraction relative to the support (Para [0051-0052] teaches the upper and lower probes of ground pin, 13G, move vertically within the support).
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Annotated Figure 2 of Pak
Regarding Claim 8, Pak teaches a test socket, comprising: a plurality of test probes (Can be seen in Figs 1-3), each of the plurality of test probes comprising:
a support of an electrically conductive material (Figs 1-3: socket body portion, 11 | para [0065] teaches 11 is made of a conductive material) having a first face and a second face (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak), first contact members provided adjacent to the first face of the support (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak), and second contact members provided adjacent to the second face of the support (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak),
with at least either one of the first contact members or second contact members being provided as a plurality of members, wherein a plurality of the first contact members and at least one of the second contact members, or a plurality of the second contact members and at least one of the first contact members are electrically connected through the support (Figs 1-3 shows a plurality of first contact members connected to a plurality of second contact members, through the support);
wherein the plurality of test probes are arranged on the first face or the second face in a mutually parallel (Fig 2 shows the probes parallel to one another) or mutually complementary combination,
wherein the first contact members and second contact members have shoulder portions that are retained inside the support by engaging with contact portions correspondingly provided in the support (see annotated Figure 2 of Pak), and
wherein a coil spring (unlabeled but clearly visible in the Figures) is disposed extending through a through-hole provided in the support (Fig 2: pin hole, 111'), with one end of the coil spring abutting a first contact member and another end abutting a second contact member (can be seen in Fig 2).
Regarding Claim 9, Pak teaches the test socket according to claim 8, wherein at least one first contact member is provided on a side where a unit to be tested is disposed, and a plurality of the second contact members are provided on the side used for mounting to a test apparatus (Para [0033] teaches using the device for testing or for mounting to various devices such as a CPU, GPU or chipset).
Regarding Claim 10, Pak teaches the test socket according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of test probes are disposed around a periphery of a test probe consisting of a single test probe element wherein the plurality of test probes are disposed around the periphery of a test probe consisting of a single test probe element (Fig 1 shows various ground probes, 13G, surrounding a single signal probe, 13S).
Regarding Claim 12, Pak teaches the test probe according to claim 1, wherein the support is formed from an electrically unitary member comprising a plurality of sections in electrical communication with one another (Para [0050] teaches the socket body, 11, is an upper and lower body (11a and 11b) and are made of conductive materials and joined together).
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.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pak in view of Sato et al. (US-20110050263-A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Pak does not explicitly teach a probe manufactured by stamping and folding a metal plate, and wherein the support is manufactured by machining a block of metal. However, Sato teaches a probe manufactured by stamping and folding a metal plate (Para [0069] teaches the punching and bending of a probe), and wherein the support is manufactured by machining a block of metal (Para [0094] with reference to Figure 4 teaches cutting metal to form the probe, which includes the support (Housing, 30), Para [0093] teaches the housing is made of sheet metal). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have manufactured the first and second contact members and support of Pak in the manner described by Sato. A motivation for making probes this way is they can be manufactured with simple equipment, in large amounts and at low cost as taught by Sato in paragraph [0095].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEREMIAH J BARRON whose telephone number is (571)272-0902. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 09:30-17:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lee Rodak can be reached at (571) 270-5628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEREMIAH J BARRON/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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