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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-10 in the reply filed on November 3, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (CN113507804) in view of Zhou et al. (CN106653438). Regarding Claim 1, Liu discloses a junction box, comprising: a box body (21); a connector core (23) integrally with the box body; and a connector housing (213) embedded within the box body.
Liu discloses substantially the claimed invention except for the connector core integrally molded with the box body.
Zhou teaches the use of injection molding in a similar connector box (30) to manufacture a light guide post (320).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the junction box of Liu by using molding, as taught in Zhou, in order to allow production of identical junction boxes in a short time without increasing labor costs.
Regarding Claim 2, Liu discloses a connector terminal (27) being arranged within a terminal hole (Fig. 3) defined in the connector core, the connector housing, the connector core and the connector terminal form a connector (Fig. 2) that is integral to the box body.
Regarding Claims 3-9, Liu discloses a light guide post (281) being embedded (Fig. 5) within the box body, the box body defines a light guide post hole (282), the light guide post is inserted into the light guide post hole.
Regarding Claim 10, Liu discloses a junction box, comprising: a box body (21); a connector core (23) integrally with the box body; a connector housing (213) embedded within the box body; and a light guide post (281) embedded (Fig. 5) within the box body.
Liu discloses substantially the claimed invention except for the connector core integrally molded with the box body.
Zhou teaches the use of injection molding in a similar connector box (30) to manufacture a light guide post (320).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the junction box of Liu by using molding, as taught in Zhou, in order to allow production of identical junction boxes in a short time without increasing labor costs.
Regarding the method limitations (e.g. formed separately or during molding”), Applicant is remined that the claims are directed to the device. The method of forming the device is not germane to the issue of patentability of the device itself.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art discloses junction boxes, similar to Applicant’s claimed invention, having connector cores, housings and light guide posts.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN A LEON whose telephone number is (571)272-2008. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee S Luebke can be reached on 5712722009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EDWIN A. LEON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833