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 § 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 Tamura et al. (9,013,889).
Regarding claim 1, Ogawa discloses a connector device comprising:
a housing (31, Fig. 1);
a casing (11 and 12, Fig. 1) that holds the housing (Fig. 5); and
an elastic seal member (13 and 45, Fig. 1) that is fitted to the housing (fit by 45, Fig. 1),
wherein the housing has, on an outer peripheral surface (that is not including 32, Fig. 1) of the housing, a holding groove (49, Fig. 1) that receives the elastic seal member,
the casing includes a first casing (11) 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 (Fig. 5), and
the elastic seal member is annular (by 45) and encloses the entire outer periphery of the housing while being arranged in the holding groove, the elastic seal member being in contact with the first casing and the second casing (by 13, Fig. 5).
Ogawa discloses the claimed invention as described above except for the connector device further comprises a filling seal part provided to fill up any gap between the first casing and the second casing.
Tumura et al., Fig. 1 shows 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 Tumura et al. disclose the housing is not in contact with the filling seal part.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Ogawa and Tumura et al. 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, Ogawa discloses the elastic seal member (45) has a projection (47, Fig. 3) that projects in a seal width direction, which intersects with a peripheral direction of the elastic seal member, and the housing has a recess (50, Fig. 3) that is recessed in the seal width direction and receives the projection in a fitted state (Fig. 5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-3 and 5 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant also argues that Ogawa’s seal packing (45) is not in contact with both the first and second casings.
The Examiner disagrees. In this rejection, the Examiner has used the elastic seal member (13 and 45) of Ogawa. Therefore, the Ogawa’s seal packing (13) is in contact with both the first and second casings (Fig. 5).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdul 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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/THANH TAM T LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831 05/03/26
thanh-tam.le@uspto.gov
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