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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 5/12/2026 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/31/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori et al. US 2018/0182679 and Aoki et al. US 2019/0103329.
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Re claim 1, Mori teaches an insert-molded article (100, fig1 and 2 or 7, [18]), comprising:
a resin portion (7 and 5, fig1, [19]); and
Mori does not explicitly show the material of case 5 in fig1.
Aoki teaches case made of resin (5, fig2, [21]) around terminal with concave bottom portion (8b, fig2, [24]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Mori and Aoki to use resin as the case material and adjust the contact bottom surface between terminal 6a and 5a. The motivation to do so is to suppress movement and vibration of the terminal (Aoki, [24]).
Mori in view of Aoki teaches a terminal (Mori, 6, fig1 and 2, [19]) having a first portion (Mori, 6c and 6d, fig2, [25]) extending in a first direction (Y, see figure above) from the resin portion to be adjacent to the resin portion at a first side of the resin portion (Mori, side with 5a in fig2),
a second portion (see figure above) extending in a second direction (Z, see figure above) different from the first direction (Y, see figure above) from the resin portion to be adjacent to the resin portion at a second side of the resin portion (see figure above) that is different from the first side (see figure above ), and a tip portion (Mori, 6d, fig2, [25]) connected to one of the first and second portions, wherein the first and second portions have rigidities that are higher than a rigidity of the tip portion (Mori, 6c and 6b wider than 6d, fig2).
Re claim 2, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the insert-molded article according to claim 1, wherein the first (Mori, 6c and 6d, fig2, [25]) and second portions (see figure above) of the terminal respectively have first (cross section of 6c in XZ, see figure above) and second cross-sectional areas (cross section of second portion in XY, see figure above) in first and second planes respectively orthogonal to the first (Y, see figure above) and second directions (Z, see figure above), that are greater than a cross-sectional area (square cross section in the XY plane of 6d, see figure above) of the tip portion in a plane (XY plane, see figure above) orthogonal to an extending direction (Z, see figure above) of the tip portion.
Re claim 4, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the insert-molded article according to claim 1, wherein the first portion also extends inside the resin portion (Mori, part of 6c in 5a, fig1 and 2).
Re claim 7, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the insert-molded article according to claim 1, wherein the first portion includes a cut- away part (Mori, 6f with center hole, fig7, [49]) or a protrusion that is located outside the resin portion.
Claim(s) 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori et al. US 2018/0182679 and Aoki et al. US 2019/0103329 and Sugiyama US 2019/0348349.
Re claim 3, Mori does not explicitly show the insert-molded article according to claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of the terminal include, inside the resin portion, an easily-deformable portion that is deformed with less power than power required to deform the rest of first and second portions of the terminal.
Sugiyama teaches an easily-deformable portion that is deformed with less power (fig6A/D).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Mori in view of Aoki and Sugiyama to generate unevenness in the two bending region of 6. The motivation to do so is to prevent crack from being generated in the terminal bending region (Sugiyama, [7]).
Re claim 6, Mori does not explicitly show the insert-molded article according to claim 4, wherein the first portion has a cut-away part or a protrusion that is located inside the resin portion.
Sugiyama teaches wherein the first portion has a cut-away part (81, fig7A, [46]) or a protrusion (84, fig7B, [46]) that is located inside the resin portion.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Mori in view of Aoki and Sugiyama to generate unevenness in 6c side and 6a side with cut away or protrusion formed on each side of the bend. The motivation to do so is to prevent crack from being generated in the terminal bending region (Sugiyama, [7, 46]) or secure the plate thickness without increasing the electrical resistance in the bending region (Sugiyama, [47]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 and 8-11 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.
Specifically, the limitations are material to the inventive concept of the application in hand to improve positional accuracy of the terminal after molding of the resin even when molding is performed only once .
Conclusion
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/XIAOMING LIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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