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 .
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because the handwritten reference numerals are unclear for pages 5-18. Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “first, planar, surface” in line 2 and “second, planar, surface” in line 5 do not require the commas since they are cumulative adjectives. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vallance et al. (US 2021/0239920 A1, herein “Vallance”).
Vallance discloses in Fig. 1 a passive alignment coupling (Para [0040]), comprising:
a first body (B1) defining a first base having a first planar surface (S1) on which a first array of alignment features (F1) is defined (Para [0042]-[0043]),
a second body (B2) providing an alignment reference to the first body (B1 and B2 are complementary to each other, Fig. 2A), wherein the second body defines a second base having a second planar surface on which a second array of alignment features (F2) is defined, wherein the first and second array of alignment features are complementary to each other (see alignment in Fig. 2A, Para [0046]);
wherein one of the first array of alignment features and the second array of alignment features comprises a first interstitial two-dimensional planar array of protrusions defining a first array of interstices (longitudinal open groove LG1), and another one of the first array of alignment features and the second array of alignment features comprises a second interstitial two-dimensional planar array of protrusions defining a second array of interstices (longitudinal open groove LG2, Para [0049]),
wherein with the first body pressed against the second body with the first and second arrays of alignment features mating towards each other, the first and second arrays of protrusions intermesh with the protrusions defined on one of the first and second bodies received in corresponding interstices defined on the other one of the first and second bodies (Fig. 2C, Para [0054]), and
wherein protrusion surfaces of each adjacent pair of protrusions of the first and second arrays of protrusions are in point contact (Para [0057]),
whereby the first body is removably attachable to the second body to define a demountable coupling, with the first array of alignment features against the second array of alignment features to define an elastic averaging coupling, thereby passively aligning the first body to the second body (Para [0040]-[0041]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erin D Chiem whose telephone number is (571)272-3102. The examiner can normally be reached 10 am - 6 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas A. Hollweg can be reached at (571) 270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIN D CHIEM/Examiner, Art Unit 2874
/THOMAS A HOLLWEG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2874