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 .
35 USC 102 Rejections
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 104538797.
Regarding claim 1, CN ‘797 (see Figure below) discloses a middle clamping piece comprising a middle clamping piece body 16, wherein the middle clamping piece body is provided thereon with a ground contact part 106 for contacting a ground terminal of a connector, the middle clamping piece body is provided with a middle clamping piece ground wall for being arranged on an outer
side of a high-speed signal terminal of the connector, and the middle clamping piece
ground wall protrudes from a surface of the middle clamping piece body and can
serve as a reference ground for the high-speed signal terminal of the connector.
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Regarding claim 2, CN ‘797 discloses the middle clamping piece ground wall is formed by bending a margin portion of one edge of the middle clamping piece body.
Regarding claim 3, CN ‘797 discloses one edge or two edges of the middle clamping piece body is provided with a housing contact part for contacting a metal housing of the connector, and a connecting portion between the housing contact part and a margin of the middle clamping piece body on a same side as the middle clamping piece ground wall is bent and raised.
Claims Defining Over Prior Art
Claims 4 and 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.
Claims 6-19 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of the prior art discloses or teaches the ground contact part is respectively connected to two side edges of the first middle clamping piece body connecting strip and one side edge of the second middle clamping piece body connecting strip facing the second hollowed-out area; nor a middle clamping piece positioning hole is provided on the housing contact part of the middle clamping piece body, and a middle clamping piece limiting hole is provided on a head end margin of the middle clamping piece body; nor the middle clamping piece body is provided with a middle clamping piece ground wall arranged on an outer side of a first pair of high-speed signal terminals of the first terminal set; and the middle clamping piece ground wall protrudes from a surface of the middle clamping piece body towards the first terminal set and is capable of serving as a reference ground for the first pair of high-speed signal terminals of the first terminal set; in combination with the rest of the subject matter of the respective independent claim.
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/GARY F PAUMEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834