This is a Non-Final Office Action for serial number 18/416,058.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8, 9, and 20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species I, II, and IV, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on July 29, 2026.
The traversal is based on the grounds that the embodiments are directed to a unitary concept and based on various policy arguments. These arguments are unpersuasive. The arguments set forth by the applicant (i.e., a want of a serious burden on the examiner, or inventions having the same classification, or have considerable overlapping subject matter) are arguments commonly set forth when traversing a restriction of the invention. (See MPEP 803). Although there maybe overlapping subject matter, the non-overlapping subject matter would require a distinct search thereby making the search burdensome. While there is a policy of compact prosecution, the plain language of the rules set forth that an examiner may require restriction there is no policy to reduce the number of patents; in fact, an argument could be made that it is less confusing to have a separate patent for each invention. The applicant’s argument that the various inventions do not result in a serious examination and a search burden to the examiner is a general allegation without specifically pointing out how searching each invention is not a burdensome search. The examination of the multiple inventions will result in a search burden since the inventions require a different field of search including different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, and/or employing different search queries using varying search terms, and/or the prior art applicable to one invention would not likely be applicable to another invention and/or the inventions. The examination of multiple inventions will raise different non-prior art issues under 35 U.S.C. 101 and/or 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph therefore resulting in a serious examination. Since the applicant has not submitted persuasive arguments that the embodiments are not distinct from one another, the requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed April 19, 2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 10, 12-14, and 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by Emir WO2014062144A1. The applicant is reminded that the first circuit card assembly and second circuit assembly are not positively claimed therefore the prior art only need to be capable of performing the functions related to the first circuit card assembly and second circuit assembly.
Emir discloses claims:
1. A fastener for fastening circuit card assemblies, the fastener comprising: a head having a first radius; a first pin having a second radius smaller than the first radius, the first pin extends from the head along a longitudinal axis, the first pin comprising an outer surface circumferentially surrounding the longitudinal axis and a surface feature extending on the outer surface between the head and a tip of the pin, the surface feature is configured to engage a first circuit card assembly; and a second pin extending from the head along the longitudinal axis in a direction opposite the first pin, the second pin comprising a stopper wall and a plurality of deflectable arms configured to deflect toward the longitudinal axis when inserted into a second circuit card assembly to couple the second pin to the second circuit card assembly, and the stopper wall extends from at least one of the plurality of deflectable arms away from the longitudinal axis, the stopper wall is configured to contact the second circuit card assembly when the plurality of deflectable arms are coupled to the second circuit card assembly.
3. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the plurality of deflectable arms each include a chamfer at the tip on an internal edge of the deflectable arms closest to the longitudinal axis.
4. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the plurality of deflectable arms comprises four deflectable arms.
5. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the stopper wall extends from each of the plurality of deflectable arms to radially circumscribe the longitudinal axis.
6. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the second pin further comprises a pedestal that the plurality of deflectable arms extend from.
10. A fastener for fastening circuit card assemblies, the fastener comprising: a head having a first radius; a first pin having a second radius smaller than the first radius, the first pin extends from the head along a longitudinal axis, the first pin comprising an outer surface circumferentially surrounding the longitudinal axis and a surface feature extending on the outer surface from the head toward a tip of the pin, the surface feature comprises at least one of: a plurality of barbs, a helical knurl, and a plurality of threads, and the surface feature is configured to engage a first circuit card assembly; and a second pin extending from the head along the longitudinal axis in a direction opposite the first pin, the second pin comprising a plurality of deflectable arms configured to deflect toward the longitudinal axis when inserted into a second circuit card assembly to couple the second pin to the second circuit card assembly.
12. The fastener of claim 10, wherein the plurality of deflectable arms comprises four deflectable arms.
13. The fastener of claim 10, wherein the stopper wall extends from each of the plurality of deflectable arms to radially circumscribe the longitudinal axis.
14. The fastener of claim 10, wherein the second pin further comprises a pedestal that the plurality of deflectable arms extend from.
16. The fastener of claim 10, wherein the plurality of barbs are arranged sequentially along the longitudinal axis.
17. The fastener of claim 10, further comprising a chamfer at a tip of the pin that has an angle between 25° and 40° relative to the longitudinal axis.
18. The fastener of claim 10, further comprising a length of the pin that does not include the surface feature positioned between the surface feature and a tip of the pin.
19. The fastener of claim 10, wherein the surface feature is the plurality of barbs, and each of the plurality of barbs circumferentially surrounds the longitudinal axis, and the plurality of barbs are spaced apart along the longitudinal axis.
[AltContent: textbox (4 Deflectable arms (21)
Chamfer
Stopper wall (22)
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Pedestal (23)
Head (30)
First pin
Surface feature/barbs (42)
Tip (41))][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow]
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[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (2nd pin
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Length of pin that does not include surface feature positioned between the surface feature and a tip of the pin)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (1st pin
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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.
Claim(s) 2 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Emir WO2014062144A1 in view of Petri EP1017261.
Emir discloses all of the limitations of the claimed invention except for each deflectable arms each include an outer surface with an outwardly tapered section that increases in distance from the longitudinal axis and an inwardly tapered section that decreases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the outwardly tapered section toward the tip.
Petri teaches that it is known to have
2. The fastener of claim 1, wherein the plurality of deflectable arms each include an outer surface with an outwardly tapered section that increases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the stopper wall toward the tip, and an inwardly tapered section that decreases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the outwardly tapered section toward the tip.
11. The fastener of claim 10, wherein the plurality of deflectable arms each include an outer surface with an outwardly tapered section that increases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the stopper wall toward the tip, and an inwardly tapered section that decreases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the outwardly tapered section toward the tip.
[AltContent: textbox (Stopper wall)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Inwardly tapered section
Outwardly tapered section)]
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with reasonable expectation of success to have modified Emir to have the plurality of deflectable arms each include an outer surface with an outwardly tapered section that increases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the stopper wall toward the tip, and an inwardly tapered section that decreases in distance from the longitudinal axis as the outer surface moves from the outwardly tapered section toward the tip as taught by Petri for the purpose of providing a latching interference fit between the outwardly tapered section and the inner surfaces of the insertion opening as an obvious mechanical stability modification.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art discloses standoff type fasteners.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY T WOOD whose telephone number is (571)272-6826. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 9:00am-5:30pm flexible schedule.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Liu can be reached at (571) 272-8227. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIMBERLY T WOOD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631
