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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7-11, filed 12/01/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Miura et al. [US 6338648 B1]
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) 1-2, 7-8, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagae [US 20210175651 A1] in view of Miura et al. [US 6338648 B1].
Regarding Claim 1, Nagae discloses a ribbon conductor connector (100, Fig 1a) comprising: a housing (1) formed with a receiver (11) as a space opened rearward, the receiver (11) being capable of receiving a ribbon conductor (F, Fig 3A) in a ribbon shape, the ribbon conductor (F) being insertably and pullably connected to the ribbon conductor connector (100) in a longitudinal direction (X); a plurality of terminals (2, 2A, Fig 1a-1b) arranged in a width direction of the ribbon conductor (F) as a terminal arrangement direction, the plurality of terminals (2, 2A) being held in the housing (1); a reinforcement metal fitting (7) disposed (in grooves 16) outside a terminal arrangement region in the terminal arrangement direction, the reinforcement metal fitting (7) being held in the housing (1); and a movable member (6) movable with rotation between an opening position (Fig 2A) at which insertion of the ribbon conductor (F) to the receiver (11) is permitted and a closing position (Fig 3A) at which a contact pressure of the terminal (2, 2A) to the ribbon conductor (F) is increased, wherein the housing (1) permits movement of the movable member (6) on a front side of the receiver (11), the movable member (6, Fig 13A-13B) has a main body elongating in the terminal arrangement direction and a cam (61) located corresponding to the terminal (2, 2A) in the terminal arrangement direction, the cam (61) being in collaboration with the terminal (2, 2A), the plurality of terminals (2, 2A, Fig 5-10B) has an upper arm (21) and a lower arm (24) elongating along the longitudinal direction and a coupler (25a) that couples middle parts of the upper arm (21) and the lower arm (24) in the longitudinal direction, the upper arm (21) has, on a front end side, a pressure-receiving portion (22a, Fig 7A-7B) that is capable of elastically deforming upward by receiving force from the cam (61) when the movable member (6) is at the closing position (see Fig 4A-4B), and the upper arm (21) has, on a rear end side, a pressing portion (21a) that is elastically deformed downward corresponding to elastic deformation of the pressure-receiving portion (22a), the pressing portion (21a) pressing the ribbon conductor (F) from above to increase a contact pressure of the ribbon conductor (F) with the terminal (2, 2A), the reinforcement metal fitting (7, Fig 11a-11b) has a held portion (74) that is held on the housing (1) on a front end side of the housing (1), the reinforcement metal fitting (7) has an elongating portion (72, 71) elongating from the held portion (74) to a front side, the elongating portion (see annotated Fig 11A) elongating outside the housing (1), and the reinforcement metal fitting (7) has a fixing portion (75) located below from a regulating portion (see annotated Fig 11A), the fixing portion (75) being fixed to a circuit board (not shown, see [0102]). Nagae does not explicitly disclose the main body has a regulated portion located corresponding to the reinforcement metal fitting in the terminal arrangement direction, and the regulated portion is located so as to be contactable to the regulating portion facing from front when the movable member is at the closing position.
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However, Miura discloses reinforcement metal fitting (10, Fig 12) which has a held portion (12) that is held on the housing (4) on a front end side of the housing (4), the reinforcement metal fitting (10) has an elongating portion (see annotated Figure 12) elongating from the held portion (12) to a front side, the elongating portion (see annotated Fig 12) elongating outside the housing (4), and the reinforcement metal fitting (10) has a fixing portion (15) located below from a regulating portion (50), the fixing portion (15) being fixed to a circuit board (see Column 3, lines 23-26), a movable member (7, Fig 12) comprising main body which has a regulated portion (C) located corresponding to a reinforcement metal fitting (10) in the terminal arrangement direction, and the regulated portion (C) is located so as to be contactable to the regulating portion (50) facing from front when the movable member (7) is at the closing position .
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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 to have modified Nagae as suggested by Miura to provide the main body with a regulated portion located corresponding to the reinforcement metal fitting in the terminal arrangement direction, and the regulated portion located so as to be contactable to the regulating portion facing from front when the movable member is at the closing position. Doing so would provide a mechanism to stop/lock the cover via the reinforcement fitting that will withstand repeated openings and closings of the cover while maintaining contact pressure between the contacts and the conductor (e.g. FPC), as recognized by Miura.
Regarding Claim 2, Nagae and Miura discloses all the limitations of claim 1, Miura further discloses surfaces of the regulating portion (50) and the regulated portion (C) facing each other at a right angle in the longitudinal direction. Although the surface of the regulated portion (C) is not explicitly shown to be a flat surface it still maintains the contacts to be pressed against the FPC to keep them engaged at a closed position.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Miura to provide the regulated portion with a flat surface facing the surface of the regulating portion. Such modifications yield the same predictable result of maintaining the engagement of the contacts with the FPC and would have been an obvious matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 7, , Nagae and Miura discloses all the limitations of claim 1, Nagae further discloses a recess (in grooves 16, see annotated Fig 11A) opened upward and forward is formed at a position corresponding to the reinforcement metal fitting (7) in the terminal arrangement direction in a front part of the housing (1), the movable member (6) has a shaft (62) that is housed in the recess (see annotated Fig 11A) at a position corresponding to the reinforcement metal fitting (7) in the terminal arrangement direction, and the shaft (62) is located below the elongating portion (72, 71) and on a rear side of the regulating portion see annotated Fig 11A).
Regarding Claim 8, Nagae and Miura disclose all the limitations of claim 1, Miura further discloses surface of the regulating portion (50) is flat when the regulating portion (50) and the regulated portion (C) are facing each other. Although the surface of the regulated portion (C) is not explicitly shown to be a flat surface it still maintains the contacts pressed against the FPC to keep them engaged at a closed position.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Miura to provide the regulated portion with a flat surface facing the surface of the regulating portion. Such modifications yield the same predictable result of maintaining the engagement of the contacts with the FPC and would have been an obvious matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 10, Nagae and Miura disclose all the limitations of claim 1, Miura further discloses the housing (4) includes a front wall (see annotated Fig 6) including a front end which faces a rear end of the movable member (7) when the movable member (7) is at the closing position, a first gap (see annotated Fig 6) is formed between the front end of the front wall and the rear end of the movable member (7) in the longitudinal direction when the movable member (7) is at the closing position, a second gap is formed between a front end of the regulating portion (50) of the reinforcement metal fitting and a rear end of the regulated portion (C) of the movable member (7) in the longitudinal direction when the movable member is at the closing position, and the second gap is smaller than the first gap (the second gap is smaller as projection C is engaged with notch 50 to lock and close creating a tighter engagement than the first gap).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 and 9 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.
Regarding Claim 3, Nagae and Miura disclose all the limitations of claim 1, Nagae and Miura do not explicitly disclose the reinforcement metal fitting has an arm elongating from a held portion to a rear side, and the arm is formed such that the arm is elastically vertically deformed to be able to press the ribbon conductor from above. Yoshisuji et al. [US 8678844 B2] discloses lock members (13) including an arm (13a) that is elastically vertically deformed to be able to press into the ribbon conductor (F). However, it would be improper hindsight to modify Nagae in view of Miura as suggested by Yoshisuji as the metal reinforcement fittings of Nagae and Miura do not serve the same function as the lock members of Yoshisuji.
Claim 5 is objected to as it is dependent on claim 3.
Regarding Claim 4, Nagae and Miura disclose all the limitations of claim 2, Nagae and Miura do not explicitly disclose the reinforcement metal fitting has an arm elongating from a held portion to a rear side, and the arm is formed such that the arm is elastically vertically deformed to be able to press the ribbon conductor from above. Yoshisuji et al. [US 8678844 B2] discloses lock members (13) including an arm (13a) that is elastically vertically deformed to be able to press into the ribbon conductor (F). However, it would be improper hindsight to modify Nagae in view of Miura as suggested by Yoshisuji as the metal reinforcement fittings of Nagae and Miura do not serve the same function as the lock members of Yoshisuji.
Claim 6 is objected to as it is dependent on claim 4.
Regarding Claim 9, Nagae and Miura disclose all the limitations of claim 1, Nagae and Miura do not explicitly disclose the reinforcement metal fitting has an arm elongating from the held portion to a rear side, the arm is formed such that the arm is elastically vertically deformed to be able to press a circuit of the ribbon conductor from above, and the arm is electrically connected with the circuit of the ribbon conductor in a state where the arm is elastically vertically deformed toward the circuit of the ribbon conductor. Yoshisuji et al. [US 8678844 B2] discloses lock members (13) including an arm (13a) that is elastically vertically deformed to be able to press into the ribbon conductor (F). However, it would be improper hindsight to modify Nagae in view of Miura as suggested by Yoshisuji as the metal reinforcement fittings of the Nagae and Miura do not serve the same function as the lock members of Yoshisuji.
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.
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/T.R./Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/TULSIDAS C PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834