DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-14 have been considered for patentability.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7 and 10-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 212849207 (CN 207), Chin (US Publication 2023/0125019) and further in view of Frydendal (US Publication 2023/0253806).
In re Claim 1, CN 207 discloses a multifunctional charging and data adapter suitable for an electronic device, the multifunctional charging and data adapter comprising: a housing 10 (Figure 3); a plurality of data transmission connection holes 50, disposed at the housing; a first circuit board 21 (Figure 1), disposed in the housing, the first circuit board provided with at least one of the plurality of data transmission connection holes (Figures 1 and 3); a second circuit board 22 (Figure 1), disposed in the housing and adjacent to the first circuit board 21; a charging plug 31 (Figure 1), disposed at the housing; a charging module (at 22, See Figure 1 and associated description), electrically connected to the charging plug and electrically connected to the second circuit board 22, the charging module configured to receive external electrical power via the charging plug and transmitting the electrical power to at least one of the plurality of data transmission connection holes (51 USB-C Type, 53 USB-A Type, or 54 USB-C Type) via the first circuit board 21.
CN 207 does not explicitly disclose wherein the second circuit board is provided with at least another of the plurality of data transmission connection holes. However, providing such was not new in the art before the effective filing date. For example, Chin discloses a first printed circuit board 409 (Figure 13) and a second printed circuit board 408 (Figure 13), wherein the second printed circuit board comprises a charging plug 212 (paragraph 0036) and a plurality of data transmission connection holes (i.e. ports 106, Figure 5, paragraph 0010). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art of modular electronics at a time before the effective filing date to have provided a second printed circuit board with data ports/holes as disclosed in Chin with the second printed circuit board as otherwise disclosed in CN 207. The addition of data ports on the second printed circuit board would improve internal layout flexibility and accommodate compact form factors.
CN 207 also does not explicitly disclose a first flexible circuit board, configured to be electrically connected between the first circuit board and the second circuit board, to provide an electrical signal transmission path between the first circuit board and the second circuit board. However, providing such was not new before the effective filing date. For example, Frydendal discloses a first circuit board 20 and a second circuit board 60, wherein the first and second circuit is electrically connected with a flexible printed circuit board 50. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art of modular electronics at a time before the effective filing date to have provided a flexible circuit board connection between the first and second circuit boards to allow for the circuit boards to be positioned in different orientations (such as stacked as disclosed in Frydendal) and generally to accommodate spatial arrangement constraints within the housing.
In re Claim 2, CN 207 in Figure 1 discloses wherein the first circuit board 21 and the second circuit board 22 are arranged at an offset angle to each other. Frydendal also discloses a first circuit board 20 and a second circuit board 60 arranged offset to each other and also connected with the flexibility of a flexible printed circuit 50. Though neither reference explicitly discloses the first and second boards being perpendicular to each other, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in modular electronics to have rearranged the location of the circuit boards as needed given that CN 207 as modified by Frydendal teaches connecting the boards with a flexible circuit to allow for such arrangement flexibility. See MPEP §2144.04 VI (C).
In re Claim 3, CN 207 discloses wherein the first circuit board 21 and the second circuit board 22 are parallel. See CN 207 Figure 1.
In re Claim 4, Frydendal discloses wherein the first circuit board 20 comprises a first flexible circuit connection hole (See Figure 9 where the flexible circuit board 50 is connected to the first circuit board 20), the second circuit board 60 comprises a second flexible circuit connection hole (See Figure 9 where the flexible circuit board 50 is connected to the second circuit board 60), the first flexible circuit board 50 is configured to be connected between the first flexible circuit connection hole and the second flexible circuit connection hole, and the first flexible circuit connection hole and the second flexible circuit connection hole are arranged adjacent to each other (See Figure 9). See also Frydendal, paragraph 0078.
In re Claim 7, CN 207 as modified by Chin and Frydendal discloses wherein the first circuit board (21 in CN 207) further comprises at least one memory card slot 40 (Figure 3), the second circuit board (22 in CN 207) and the charging module (on second circuit board 22 in CN 207) are disposed on a first surface of the first circuit board (22 in CN 207, Figure 1), and the at least one memory card slot (40 in CN 207) is disposed on a second surface opposite to the first surface of the first circuit board.
In re Claim 10, CN 207 as modified by Chin and Frydendal discloses the limitations as noted above but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first flexible circuit board and/or the second flexible circuit board are/is a double-layer board structure. However, the office takes official notice of facts outside the record that providing a double layered printed circuit board was very common before applicant’s effective filing date and providing a double layered printed circuit board as the circuit boards as otherwise disclosed in CN 207 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art of modular electronics to improve the rigidity of the boards as well as protect the inner electrical traces within the boards.
In re Claim 11, CN 207 as modified by Chin and Frydendal discloses the limitations as noted above but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first flexible circuit board and/or the second flexible circuit board comprise(s) a shielding structure. However, the office takes official notice of facts outside the record that providing a shielding structure for a printed circuit board was very common before applicant’s effective filing date and providing a shielding structure on the printed circuit board as the circuit boards as otherwise disclosed in CN 207 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art of modular electronics to help protect the components on the board from electromagnetic interference.
In re Claim 12, CN 207 discloses wherein the plurality of data transmission connection holes are compliant with a specification selected from a group consisting of USB type-C (51, 54), USB type-A (53), HDMI (52), RJ45, SD card (40) and micro SD card (40). See CN 207, Figure 3.
In re Claim 13, CN 207 discloses wherein the charging module (on second circuit board 22) is configured to be suitable for Power Delivery (PD). CN 207 discloses wherein ports 51, 54 are USB Type-C ports which is disclosed as supporting “up to 20V, 3A.”
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 212849207 (CN 207), Chin (US Publication 2023/0125019), Frydendal (US Publication 2023/0253806) and further in view of NPL titled “MINIX NEO S1 & S2 Combine SSD and USB-C Hub into a Single Device” published on June 19, 2019 (hereinafter “NPL”).
In re Claim 8, CN 207 as modified by Chin and Frydendal disclose the limitations as noted above, but do not explicitly disclose a solid state drive (SSD) module, disposed at the first circuit board, the SSD module configured to be suitably electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of data transmission connection holes. However, providing such was not new at a time before applicant’s effective filing date. For example, NPL discloses a SSD module disposed on a printed circuit board within a housing for electrical connection with at least one data transmission hole/port. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art of modular electronics at a time before applicant’s effective filing date to have provided an SSD module, as disclosed in NPL, with the electrical device as otherwise disclosed in CN 207 as modified by Chin and Frydendal to provide onboard memory within the device that allows portable electronic devices connected to the device to offload data thereon.
In re Claim 9, CN 207 as modified by NPL discloses wherein the second circuit board (22 in CN 207) and the charging module (located on 22 in CN 207, Figure 1) are disposed on a first surface of the first circuit board 21 (See Figure 1 in CN 207), and the SSD module (disclosed in NPL) is disposed on a second surface opposite to the first surface of the first circuit board (21 in CN 207 as modified by NPL to comprise an SSD module).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 and 14 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.
Conclusion
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/ADRIAN S WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841