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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 6-7 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 6-7 recites the limitation "the length" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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, 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Little et al. (US 2022/0115818) in view of Chen et al. (US 2021/0075164).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Little et al. disclose an electrical connector comprising:
an insulative housing (110); and
a contact assembly received in the insulative housing, the contact assembly including:
a signal contact module (140) including a first insulator (144a or 144b or 144c) and plural pairs of signal contacts (142) insert-molded with the first insulator;
a plurality of ground contacts (132) mounted on a second insulator (also 144a or144b or 144c).
Little et al. substantially disclosed the claimed invention except the ground contacts are insert-molded in the second insulator. However, Little et al. disclosed the signal contact are insert-molded with the first insulator.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to insert-mold the ground contact to the second insulator for securely holding the ground contact with the second insulator.
Little et al. substantially disclosed the claimed invention except the conductive plastic member.
Chen et al. teach a lossy conductive plastic member (33).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide the conductive plastic member into Little’s connector assembly, as taught by Chen et al. for absorbing electromagnetic wave.
Regarding claim 6, in the modified contact assembly, Little et al. disclose the first insulator of the signal contact module includes three discrete portions (144a, 144b, 144c) along the length of each pair of signal contacts.
Regarding claim 7, in the modified contact assembly, Little et al. disclose the second insulators of the ground contact module includes two discrete parts (also 144a, 144b) arranged along the length of the ground contacts, and each discrete part extends in a transverse direction.
Regarding claim 8, in the modified contact assembly, Chen et al. disclose the conductive plastic member is a one-piece component extending in a transverse direction.
Regarding claim 9, in method claim is deemed inherence by Little et al. in view of Chen et al.
Little et al. in view of Chen et al. disclose a method of making a contact assembly, comprising the steps of:
molding a first insulator with plural pairs of signal contacts to form a signal contact module;
molding a second insulator with a plurality of ground contacts to form a ground contact module;
assembling the first insulator to the second insulator; and
molding an electrically lossy member to connect the plurality of ground contacts.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 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
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/TRUC T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834