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 § 102
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.
Claims 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Urano (CN 103378460 A)(English Translated).
In Regards to Claim 1:
Urano teaches a lockable connector assembly (Fig. 1), comprising:
a wire-end connector (4), comprising a first body (8) and a locking member (17), the first body (8) having a flexible positioning member (21) and a side guide groove (See Reproduced Drawing 1), the locking member (17) being movably disposed in the side guide groove (See Reproduced Drawing 1) and being movable between an initial position where the locking member (17) is distal from the flexible positioning member (21) and an insertion position where the locking member (17) is abutted against the flexible positioning member (21); a plurality of wires (2), one end of each wire (2) being disposed in the first body (8);
a board-end connector (6), comprising a second body (10), the second body (10) having an accommodating space (34) for reception of the first body (8); and a plurality of contacts (9), being partially extended and disposed in the second body (10); wherein when the locking member (17) is in the initial position, the wire-end connector (4) is capable of being engaged with the board-end connector (6) so that the first body (8) is partially disposed in the accommodating space (34) and that the flexible positioning member (21) is located in a locked position of the accommodating space (34), and the contacts (9) are electrically connected to the wires (2), and wherein when the locking member (17) is moved from the initial position to the insertion position, the locking member (17) is abutted against the flexible positioning member (21) so that the flexible positioning member (21) is retained in the locked position.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 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.
The prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest these limitation as substantially described in claims 2-11, these limitations, in combination with remaining limitations of claims 2-11, are neither taught nor suggested by the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NADER J ALHAWAMDEH whose telephone number is (571)270-0571. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9Am - 6Pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah A Riyami can be reached at (571)270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NADER J ALHAWAMDEH/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831 /ABDULLAH A RIYAMI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831