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 Status
Claims 1-12 are pending. Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s amendments to claims 1 and 4-9.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 3-5, filed 11/13/25, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-5 and 10 under 35 USC 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, and as set forth below, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Fukunaga Patent No. 10,405,458.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 11/13/25. These drawings are acceptable to Examiner.
Specification
The substitute specification was received on 11/13/25. The substitute specification has been entered by Examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fukunaga U.S. Patent No. 10,405,458.
With regard to claim 1, and as shown in Figures 1-2, Fukunaga discloses a connector comprising:
a housing (at 60);
a pipe (at 66) at least partially disposed in the housing (as shown in Fig 2); and
a base (at 80, 86) mounted to a first item (at 10) and attached to the housing (as shown in Fig 2) to allow the housing to float between a first longitudinal position and a second longitudinal position (column 5, lines 1-4 and column 6, lines 43-45 and 55-58) relative to the base (at 80, 86), such that the pipe (at 66) is connected to a second item (at 40) in a floating manner along a longitudinal direction.
With regard to claim 2, Fukunaga discloses further comprising an indicator (at 90) provided on the base and configured to send an indication signal when the housing is disengaged from the second longitudinal position (where the indicator at 90 is visible when in the first position and not visible in the second position indicating that the pipe is connected).
With regard to claim 5, Fukunaga discloses further comprising a first floating spring (at 94) disposed between the base and the housing, the first floating spring configured to bias the housing towards the second longitudinal position relative to the base (column 6, lines 52-58).
With regard to claim 10, Fukunaga discloses wherein the housing (at 60) comprises an accommodation space (space of 60 in Fig 3), extending along the longitudinal direction, and the pipe is accommodated in the accommodation space (as shown in Fig 3) and is floatable relative to the housing along a lateral direction and a vertical direction (wherein the pipe 66 is capable of being floatable relative to the housing within the accommodation space).
With regard to claim 12, Fukunaga discloses wherein the base (at 80, 86) is provided outside the accommodation space (as shown in Fig 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 6-9 and 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FANNIE KEE whose telephone number is (571)272-1820. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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/F.K./Examiner, Art Unit 3679
/Matthew Troutman/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3679