DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1 and 5, the limitations of “at least one inserted portion each configured to be insertable with a bus bar; at least one conductive portion that is each brought into pressure contact with the bus bar and is electrically connected to the bus bar when the bus bar is inserted . . . .” is ambiguous. The bus bar is not positively claimed and is not part of the connector as disclosed in the disclosure. The claim is ambiguous as to whether the claimed invention positively requires that the conductive portion is positively in pressure contact with the bus bar or whether the claim requires the connector as described, not including the busbar, the connector being capable of being used with a busbar in the described manner. For purposes of analysis, the claims are treated as requiring a connector capable of being used with a busbar as described, but the claimed connector does not include a busbar. Correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the anticipatory rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sabo US 7390208. Regarding claim 1, Sabo discloses a connector 100 comprising:
at least one inserted portion 11 each configured to be insertable with a bus bar (referred to below as the insertable object or “IO”, labeled IO in annotated figure 5 below);
at least one conductive portion 2 that is capable of each brought into pressure contact with the IO and capable of being electrically connected to the IO when the IO is inserted into a corresponding one inserted portion of the at least one inserted portion;
and at least one pressing portion (3 or portions of 3, labeled PP below) each configured to be displaceable to a first position (figure 4) and a second position (figure 5),
the at least one pressing portion each configured to receive a force acting from the IO when the IO is inserted into a corresponding one inserted portion of the at least one inserted portion, to be displaced from the first position to the second position, and
to press a corresponding one conductive portion (col. 4, lines 15-35) of the at least one conductive portion at a time of the displacement to elastically deform at least a part of the corresponding one conductive portion, wherein
the at least one conductive portion is each configured to cause, when a conductive portion of the at least one conductive portion being pressed by a corresponding one pressing portion of the at least one pressing portion and elastically deformed, an elastic force generated with the elastic deformation to act on the bus bar to increase a contact pressure with respect to the bus bar.
the at least one conductive portion each includes a contact portion (labeled CP below) that is capable of being brought into contact with the bus bar,
a lever portion (221, LP below) that is pressed by a corresponding one pressing portion of the at least one pressing portion when the corresponding one pressing portion is displaced from the first position (figure 4) to the second position (figure 5), and
a support portion (labeled SP above, the portion of the terminal abutting step 134) that supports the contact portion, and when the lever portion is pressed by the corresponding one pressing portion upon the displacement of the corresponding one pressing portion from the first position to the second position, the lever portion and the contact portion swing relative to the support portion while at least a part of a corresponding one conductive portion of the at least one conductive portion is elastically deformed, and the contact pressure between the contact portion and the bus bar increases.
See col. 4, line20-35. “[W]hen the carriage component 3 moves downwardly to contact with the resilient beams 22 of the terminals 2, the depressible portions 221 are depressed outwardly by the angled side faces 311 of the carriage component 3. The contact portions 21 rotate inwardly around the stepped portion 134 to permit the contact ends 211 of the terminals 2 to come to contact with the conductive pads 51 of the electronic card 5. Along with a further insertion of the electronic card 5, the angled side faces 311 continue to depress the depressible portions 221 more outwardly, to thereby force the contact ends 211 to rotate more inwardly to clamp the conductive pads 51 tightly.
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Per claim 3, the at least one conductive portion each further includes a first metal member (terminals on one side of the insertion slot 11) configured to be brought into pressure contact with the first surface, and a second metal member (terminals on the opposite side of the insertion slot 11) configured to be brought into pressure contact with a second surface, of the first surface and the second surface on both sides in a plate thickness direction of the bus bar.
Per claim 6, Sabo discloses a base portion (housing 1), wherein the support portion and the pressing portion are fixed to the base portion.
Claim Rejections - and 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sabo. Sabo does not disclose a second inserted portion as the at least one inserted portion, wherein a conductive portion of the at least one conductive portion provided in the first inserted portion and a conductive portion of the at least one conductive portion provided in the second inserted portion are electrically connected.
It would have been obvious to duplicate the insertion portion of the Sabo connector in the opposite direction as shown below. Such a modification would have been a mere duplication of parts without patentable significance given that no new or unexpected results would have been produced. In re Harza, 274 F.2d 669 (CCPA 1960). The reason would have been to connect to planar objects such as board 5 to each other as was well known in the art.
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Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered.
Regarding the 35 USC 112 rejection, the issue is whether the bus bar is or is not part of the claimed connector. It is unclear whether the bus bar is or is not part of the claimed connector, therefore, the scope of the claim is indefinite.
Regarding the rejection over Sabo, Sabo clearly meets the limitation that the lever and contact portion “swing” as claimed. See col. 4, line20-35. “[W]hen the carriage component 3 moves downwardly to contact with the resilient beams 22 of the terminals 2, the depressible portions 221 are depressed outwardly by the angled side faces 311 of the carriage component 3. The contact portions 21 rotate inwardly around the stepped portion 134 to permit the contact ends 211 of the terminals 2 to come to contact with the conductive pads 51 of the electronic card 5. Along with a further insertion of the electronic card 5, the angled side faces 311 continue to depress the depressible portions 221 more outwardly, to thereby force the contact ends 211 to rotate more inwardly to clamp the conductive pads 51 tightly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 may be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 7 and 8 may be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ROSS N GUSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834