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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species 2, 11, C and g in the reply filed on 12/19/25 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3-14 and 18-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Any claims not specifically addressed are rejected because of the indefinite language of the independent claim.
Claim 22 recites a list of ports, but seems to be missing a portion or a comma. The claims states “a plurality of indexing terminals each including a terminal housing including a first HMFOC port, a second HMFOC port a hardened single fiber drop port, the hardened single fiber drop ports being configured”. It seems like a comma should be after the second HMFOC port. Then it is unclear as to how many single fiber drop ports there are because the claim first says a singular port and the next limitations has plural ports. All of this makes the scope of the claims unclear.
Claim 18 recites “the reaminder of the plurality of optical fibers”. Even with the spelling error, it would be unclear as to what fiber are the remainder fibers be referred to.
Claims 19-21 recites the limitation "multi-fiber connection locations" (multiple instances). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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.
Claims 3-14 and 18-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al (US 2009/0317047 A1) and Conner et al (US 2010/0092169 A1).
Smith teaches:
22. A fiber optic indexing arrangement (Figs. 1-8):
a rapid spool arrangement (220) including a spool (44) and a multi-fiber cable (30) wrapped about the spool (44), the multi-fiber optical cable (30) having a first end terminated by a first hardened multi-fiber connector (HMFOC) (32) and a second end terminated by a second HMFOC (at 36a, see Fig. 8, P0051 – the another distribution cable plugged into the outer port of the adapters of 36a);
a plurality of indexing terminals (36) each including a terminal housing (42, Figs. 13-31) including a first HMFOC port (one of 518), a second HMFOC port (one of 516), a hardened single fiber drop port (another of 516), the hardened single fiber drop ports (other 516s) being configured for receiving hardened single fiber connectors (ends of the cable) that terminate ends of drop cables (50, 55), and
wherein the indexing terminals (36) are linked together in the field by plugging the first HMFOC (one end of a cable) into the second HMFOC port of one of the indexing terminals (36a) and plugging the second HMFOC (one end of another cable) into the first HMFOC port of another of the indexing terminals (36b) (P0051-0052).
5. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 22, wherein one or more indexing terminals (36) of the plurality of indexing terminals is coupled to a mounting bracket (1000).
6. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 5, wherein the mounting bracket (1000) is coupled to a first flange (1050), the first flange (1050) included in a slack storage spool (1052).
7. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 6, the slack storage spool (1052) coupled to a second flange (1054) of a payout spool (904) so that the payout spool (904) and the slack storage spool (1052) have a common axis (see Fig. 31).
8. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 7, wherein the payout spool (904) extends between the second flange (1054) and a third flange (bottom flange of 904, see Fig. 31).
9. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 8, wherein the first flange (1050) is spaced from the second flange (1054) in an opposite direction from the third flange (bottom of 904) (see Fig. 31).
10. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 7, wherein the mounting bracket (1000) and the indexing terminal (36) rotate in unison with the payout spool during deployment of a fiber optic cable (P0047).
11. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 7, wherein the payout spool (904) is removable (the arrangement can be mounted and removed from a pole as discussed).
12. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 7, further comprising a multi-service terminal (the notch in 904, see Figs. 30-31) coupled to the third flange (bottom of 904) and configured to rotate in unison with the payout spool (904) during deployment of the fiber optic cable (P0047).
13. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 5, wherein the mounting bracket (1000) is configured to secure the indexing terminal to a pole (40) (P0080).
14. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 5, wherein the mounting bracket (1000) includes a sleeve (1056) having latches (1062) configured to secure the indexing terminal (36) to the mounting bracket (1000) (P0106).
19. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 22, wherein the first and second hardened multi-fiber connection locations (46) define twelve fiber positions (see Fig. 13, twelve connector locations).
20. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 22, further comprising a housing (42) carrying the first and second hardened multi-fiber connection locations (46).
23. The fiber optic indexing arrangement of claim 22, wherein the first and second HMFOC's each accommodate at least 12 optical fibers (P0059).
24. The fiber optic indexing arrangement of claim 23, wherein the first and second HMFOC's each accommodate more than 12 optical fibers (P0059, up to 48).
Smith does not teach expressly each indexing terminal including internal optical indexing optical fibers that optically connect the first HMFOC port to the second HMFOC port, the indexing optical fibers being arranged in an indexed configuration, each indexing terminal including a drop optical fiber that optically connects the first HMFOC port to the hardened single fiber drop port.
Conner teaches indexing terminals (18/318; Figs. 1, 5) wherein each indexing terminal (318) including internal optical indexing optical fibers (Fs) that optically connect a first HMFOC port (at 26; the cable port can have a connector; P0080) to a second HMFOC port (22), the indexing optical fibers (Fs) being arranged in an indexed configuration (see Fig. 5), each indexing terminal including a drop optical fiber (F1 1-4) that optically connects the first HMFOC port (26) to the hardened single fiber drop port (28).
Conner further teaches:
3. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 22, further comprising a splitter (40) positioned within an indexing terminal (318) of the plurality of indexing terminals for splitting a signal conveyed from a fiber position (F1) of the first multi-fiber connection location (26) to the drop output (28).
4. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 3, wherein the splitter (40) is a passive optical power splitter (P0062).
18. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 22, wherein the remainder of the plurality of optical fibers (F1) are bidirectionally indexed (P0045).
21. The fiber optic arrangement of claim 20, wherein a housing (318) carries a splitter (40) and a third hardened multi-fiber connection location (22 or one of the 28s).
25. The fiber optic indexing arrangement of claim 22, wherein the hardened single fiber drop port (28) of each indexing terminal (318) is one of a plurality of hardened single fiber drop ports (four shown, see Fig. 5).
Smith and Conner are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, fiber optic arrangements.
At the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the arrangement taught by Smith to include the indexing taught by Conner.
The motivation for doing so would have been to allow drop cables extending from a subscriber premises to be optically coupled to the fiber optic network at an optical connection terminal more closely located to the subscriber premises as opposed to an optical connection terminal located more distantly or at the actual mid-span access location provided on the distribution cable. Thus, the overall length of the drop cables may be substantially reduced (Conner, P0046).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following references teach fiber optic arrangements with spools and multi-fiber connectors and/or indexing schemes: US 7400814, US 7546018, US 7715679, US 2011/0103761, US 2011/0158598, US 2011/0311226, US 2012/0093473, US 8422847, US 8515234, US 8961035, US 2015/0301301, US 9547145, US 9547144.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN A LEPISTO whose telephone number is (571)272-1946. The examiner can normally be reached on 8AM-5PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hollweg can be reached on 571-270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RYAN A LEPISTO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874