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 .
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.
Claims 1-3, 6-7, 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buck (US 2020/0176905).
Regarding claim 1, Buck discloses a tongue plate (36), configured to be inserted into a slot of a mating connector (22), comprising:
a plurality of first conductive pads comprising a first signal terminal group (43a, 43b),
a first ground terminal (45a, 45b located on the right side of the first signal terminal group) located on one side of the first signal terminal group along a first direction (A-direction, Fig. 5A), and
a second ground terminal (45a, 45b located on the left side of the first signal terminal group) located on another side of the first signal terminal group along the first direction; and
a conductive shielding assembly comprising:
a first conductive shielding (66) in contact with the first ground terminal,
a second conductive shielding (another 66) in contact with the second ground terminal, and
a connecting plate (53) connecting the first conductive shielding plate and the second conductive shielding plate;
the first conductive shielding plate and the second conductive shielding plate respectively extending along a second direction (T-direction, Fig. 5A);
the first conductive shielding plate, the second conductive shielding plate and the connecting plate jointly forming a U-shaped first conductive shielding cavity;
the first signal terminal group being located at a first opening of the first conductive shielding cavity along a third direction (T-direction, Fig. 3A); wherein each two of the first direction, the second direction and the third direction are perpendicular to each other.
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Buck substantially disclosed the claimed invention except the conductive shielding is a plate shaped.
It would have been obvious matter of design choice to change the conductive shielding structure to a plate shaped, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the shape of a component. A change in shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 2, Buck discloses a plurality of second conductive pads which comprise a second signal terminal group, a third ground terminal located on one side of the second signal terminal group along the first direction, and a fourth ground terminal located on another side of the second signal terminal group along the first direction; wherein the conductive shielding assembly comprises a third conductive shielding plate in contact with the third ground terminal and a fourth conductive shielding plate in contact with the fourth ground terminal; the connecting plate connects the third conductive shielding plate and the fourth conductive shielding plate; the third conductive shielding plate and the fourth conductive shielding plate respectively extend along the second direction; the third conductive shielding plate, the fourth conductive shielding plate and the connecting plate jointly form a U-shaped second conductive shielding cavity; the second signal terminal group is located at a second opening of the second conductive shielding cavity along the third direction (see Fig. 5A).
Regarding claim 3, Buck discloses the plurality of first conductive pads, the first conductive shielding plate and the second conductive shielding plate are located on one side of the connecting plate along the third direction; the plurality of second conductive pads, the third conductive shielding plate and the fourth conductive shielding plate are located on another side of the connecting plate along the third direction (see Fig. 5B).
Regarding claim 6, Buck discloses the connecting plate is an integral plate.
Regarding claim 7, Buck discloses the first signal terminal group comprises a first signal terminal (43a) and a second signal terminal (43b); the first signal terminal and the second signal terminal group form a first differential pair: the first signal terminal, the second signal terminal, the first ground terminal and the second ground terminal are located in a same plane.
Regarding claim 12, Buck discloses a material of the conductive shielding assembly is metal.
Regarding claim 13, Buck discloses the tongue plate is a printed circuit board.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 8-11 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 14-20 are allowed.
The prior art of record failed to teach the second conductive shielding plate extending substantially all the way along the second ground terminal so as to be overlapped with a majority length of the second ground terminal along the second direction; the first conductive shielding plate, the second conductive shielding plate and the connecting plate jointly forming a first conductive shielding cavity; the first signal terminal group being located at a first opening of the first conductive shielding cavity along a third direction; wherein each two of the first direction, the second direction and the third direction are perpendicular to each other.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRUC T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2011. The examiner can normally be reached monday-friday (7-4).
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/TRUC T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834