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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 16 April 2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 16 April 2026 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner has considered the information disclosure statement; please see attached forms PTO-1449.
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 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication US 2017/0242200 A1 to Beier et al. (“US2”).
Regarding Claim 1, US1 describes a fiber optic connector assembly (1000, see Figs 3-15), the fiber optic connector assembly defining a first end and a second end each separated along a longitudinal direction corresponding to a longitudinal extension of a cable (1), the fiber optic connector assembly comprising:
a first middle body (230) extending along the longitudinal direction, the first middle body forming open ends through which an optical fiber is extendable along the longitudinal direction (see Figs 3, 5B, 13A-15);
a second middle body (120) extending along the longitudinal direction, the second middle body forming open ends through which the optical fiber is extendable along the longitudinal direction (see Figs 3, 7B, 13A-15), the second middle body forming an inner body configured to extend into the first middle body (see Figs 11A-12), wherein a notch (122) extends outward along a radial direction from the inner body at the second middle body, and wherein a channel (231) is formed internal to the first middle body, the channel at the first middle body configured to receive the notch at the second middle body (see Fig 13B, [0071]);
a connector body (110) configured to retain a fiber optic connector (20) along the longitudinal direction, the connector body coupled respectively to the first middle body and the second middle body (see Figs 3, 5B, 7B, 13A-15); and
an outer body (220) extending along the longitudinal direction, the outer body configured to couple to the connector body and respective first middle body and second middle body, the outer body configured to surround a mating interface at which the connector body abuts to respective first middle body and second body (see Figs 2 and 13A-15).
Regarding Claim 8, US1 further describes:
the connector body is a female connector configured to receive a male connector from a fiber optic cable (2; see [0047], Figs 3-4A and 14A-B).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-20 are allowed.
Claims 2-7 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.
Claims 10-20 remain allowed as set forth in the Office Action mailed 27 January 2026.
Claim 2 describes:
each of the first middle body and the second middle body form a stop wall extending outward along a radial direction, and wherein the outer body forms a stop wall extending inward along the radial direction, wherein the first middle body and the second middle body at respective stop walls each abut a respective outer body at the stop wall of the respective outer bodies.
Claim 7 describes:
the outer body and the connector body together form a threaded interface at which the outer body and the connector body are coupled.
These limitations represent subject matter not described or reasonably suggested, in conjunction with the further limitations of the present claims, by the prior art of record.
Claims 3-6 depend from Claim 2 and therefore contain at least the same allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY RAHLL whose telephone number is (571)272-2356. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-5:00pm.
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, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JERRY RAHLL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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