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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, line 11, “the housing over the entire periphery of the housing” are confusing. How is the housing can be over the periphery of the housing?
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogawa (6,702,593) in view of Uki (12,009,623) and Tamura et al. (9,013,889).
Regarding claim 1, Ogawa discloses a connector device comprising:
a housing (30, Fig. 4);
a casing (11 and 12, Fig. 4) that holds the housing (Fig. 5); and
an elastic seal member (45, Fig. 5) that is fitted to the housing,
wherein the housing has, on an outer peripheral surface of the housing, a
holding groove (49, Fig. 1) that receives the elastic seal member,
the casing includes a first casing (11, Fig. 1) and a second casing (12) that are combined with each other with the housing interposed between the first casing and the second casing at a position corresponding to the holding groove,
the elastic seal member is annular and encloses, when arranged in the holding
groove.
Ogawa discloses the claimed invention as described above except for the elastic seal member being arranged between the first casing and the second casing; and a filling seal part provided to fill up any gap between the first casing and the second casing.
Uki discloses a seal member (51, Fig. 3) is arranged on a hole (Ca1, Fig. 1) of (Ca3). It would have been obvious to provide Owage to have the seal member (the sealing member will be arranged in a hole (18, Fig. 4 of Ogawa) of (11A); and the seal member will be located between the first casing (11, Fig. 5) and the second casing (12)), a taught by Uki for better holding the connector into the case.
Tamura et al., Fig. 1 show a filling seal part (20) provided to fill up any gap between the first casing (4) and the second casing (1). It would have been obvious to modify Ogawa to have a filling seal part provided to fill up any gap between the first casing and the second casing, as taught by Tamura et al., in order to provide a high possibility of air leakage from an area in which a joint is to be established (Tamura et al., column 2, lines 16-24).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Ogawa and Tamura et al. disclose the housing is not in contact with the filling seal part.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Ogawa and Tamura et al. disclose the elastic seal member has an elastic contact region that is in contact with the casing, and the filling seal part has a filling contact region that is in contact with the casing at a position other than a position at which the elastic seal member is in contact with the casing.
Regarding claim 5, it is noted that Tamura et al., Fig. 3 shows the elastic seal member (51) has a projection that projects in a seal width direction, which intersects with a peripheral direction of the elastic seal member, and the housing (24) has a recess that is recessed in the seal width direction and receives the projection in a fitted state.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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.
Claim 4 would be allowable if rewritten or amended 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THANH TAM T LE whose telephone number is (571)272-2094. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM.
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/THANH TAM T LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831 03/10/26.
thanh-tam.le@uspto.gov