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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment of 4 December 2025 has overcome the 35 USC 112 rejections of the previous Office Action.
Applicant’s arguments filed 4 December 2025 regarding the Double Patenting rejection are persuasive and the rejection is withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the 35 USC 103 rejections have been considered, but are not persuasive. Applicant specifically argues that when the smaller diameter intermediate part of Takahira is combined with the intermediate part of Hsu, the modified intermediate part will no longer have the reinforcing member being in contact with a circumference of the intermediate part. However, Takahira teaches that the intermediate part has a smaller dimension in the second and/or third direction, but the base and/or tip part still have the larger dimension. As the claim only requires the reinforcing member to be in contact with a circumference of the intermediate part, that contact can still occur at the unmodified base or tip part of Hsu.
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.
Claims 1, 2, and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu et al. (“Hsu”; US 2017/0187157), in view of Takahira (WO 2016/042625 A1, English translation attached).
Regarding claim 1: Hsu discloses a connector (Fig. 2, 100) configured to be mounted on an external circuit board (Fig. 5, 50) and receive an external module board of an external module inserted along a first direction (“vertical direction”, paragraph 0023), the connector comprising:
when a direction orthogonal to the first direction is defined as a second direction (“transverse direction”, paragraph 0022), and a direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction is defined as a third direction (“longitudinal direction”, paragraph 0022)
a plurality of contact pins (30, Fig. 5) configured to come into contact with the external module board;
a housing (10, Fig. 2) holding the plurality of contact pins; and
a first reinforcing member (40) attached to the housing,
wherein the housing includes a base part (Fig. 3, at 120, extending under the pins), an intermediate part (at 11, Fig. 6), and a tip part (16) from the external circuit board side along the first direction,
wherein the base part includes a bottom face facing the external circuit board (underside of pins at 120),
wherein the tip part includes a slot opening (13, Fig. 6) into which the external module board is to be inserted; and
wherein the first reinforcing member (40, Fig. 2) is an annular plate having four sides surrounding the intermediate part (around 11, as shown in Fig. 2) being in contact with a circumference of the intermediate part (as shown in Fig. 2).
Hsu does not explicitly disclose wherein the intermediate part includes a smaller dimension in the second direction and/or a smaller dimension of the third direction than the base part and the tip part.
However, Takahira discloses the intermediate part (between 14 and 16, Fig. 1) includes a smaller dimension in the second direction and/or a smaller dimension of the third direction than the base part (at 14) and the tip part (at 16, at the exact location of the 16 numeral in Fig. 7, the part has a smaller dimension).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the intermediate part of Hsu to have the smaller dimension of Takahira in order to allow for different sized connectors.
Regarding claim 2: Hsu modified by Takahira disclose intermediate part, the tip part and the base part, Takahira further discloses the tip part and the base part have substantially the same dimension in the second direction (“substantially” is vague, so given the broadest reasonable interpretation, this is true), and
wherein the intermediate part includes at least a smaller dimension in the second direction than the base part and the tip part (shown at the numeral 16 in Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 6: Hsu modified by Takahira disclose the housing, Takahira further discloses the housing is configured such that the base part and the tip part are dividable from each other (10 and 16 can be removed from 14, Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 7: Hsu discloses the plurality of contact pins (33, Fig. 3):
have, from a tip to a base end, a contact part configured to come into contact with the external module board, a press-fit part configured to be press-fitted into the housing, and a mount part configured to be mounted on the external circuit board (as this is the purpose of the contact pin), and
include a signal pin for signal transmission (inherent).
Hsu does not explicitly disclose a ground pin for grounding, wherein in the ground pin, a portion that is closer to the mount part than the press-fit part is branched into two portions.
However, Takahira discloses a ground pin for grounding (20ai, Fig. 14a),
wherein in the ground pin, a portion that is closer to the mount part than the press-fit part is branched into two portions (as 20ai is next to 16, which is shown closer to the mount part in Fig. 13, and there are two brands of 20ai in Fig.14a).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the pins of Hsu to include the ground pins of Takahira in order to ensure the board is grounded.
Regarding claim 8: Hsu discloses the external module is a module having a protection wall (46wf, Fig. 15) for protecting the external module board, the protection wall is provided substantially parallel to the external module board (at shown in Fig. 15),
wherein the tip part includes a recess adapted to a shape of the protection wall (at 44r).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the module of Hsu to include the protection wall of Takahira in order to better insulate the connector.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
The prior art of record, alone or in combination does not explicitly teach, suggest, or render obvious, at least to the skilled artisan the connector of claim 3, specifically comprising:
the first reinforcing member is configured such that at least one side of the four sides and the remaining sides are dividable from each other, in the context of the other components in the claim.
Claims 4-5 is allowable due to its dependency on claim 3.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN GUGGER whose telephone number is (571)272-5343. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9:00am - 5:00pm EST.
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/SEAN GUGGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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