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 .
35 USC 103 Rejections
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, 4-5, 9, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2019/155237 in view of Aksu 3757219.
Regarding claim 1, WO '237 (Figures 1 and 2) substantially discloses the claimed invention, including a connector 20 configured to be mounted on a mounting object 10 and fitted to a counter connector 80, the mounting object having a wiring portion 15 disposed thereon, the connector comprising: a sheet member 20 having flexibility and insulating property; a flexible conductor 40 disposed at least on a top surface of the sheet member; a contact member 42 having conductivity that is attached to the sheet member and configured to be electrically connected to a counter contact 88 of the counter connector; and a positioning member 56 configured to position the sheet member with respect to the counter connector, wherein the sheet member includes a fitting portion 26 to be fitted to the counter connector, and a mounting portion 24 to be mounted on the mounting object, the contact member and the positioning member are disposed in the fitting portion of the sheet member, and the flexible conductor includes a first connection portion 40 disposed in the fitting portion of the sheet member and electrically connected to the contact member, a second connection portion 40 disposed in the mounting portion of the sheet member and to be electrically connected to the wiring portion of the mounting object, and a joint portion 40 joining the first connection portion and the second connection portion to each other. Aksu discloses the counter contact 28 of the counter connector includes a
plunger 30 disposed to be movable forward and backward, and a contact spring member 31 for
elastically moving the plunger forward and backward, and to provide the counter contact 88 of WO '237 with such structure thus would have been obvious, for good electrical contact.
Regarding claim 4, WO '237 discloses the sheet member 20 is formed of cloth or knitted fabric,
and the flexible conductor 40 is formed of a conductive thread embroidered on or woven into the sheet
member.
Regarding claim 5, WO '237 discloses the contact member 42,40 is formed of a conductive
thread embroidered on or woven into the sheet member 20.
Regarding claim 9, WO '237 discloses the connector 20 is to be mounted on a garment as the
mounting object. Note that the garment is not positively recited and thus WO '237 is deemed to
disclose the positively recited structure.
Regarding claim 12, Aksu discloses the counter connector includes a connector body 26 in which
the counter contact 28 is disposed, and a lid body 37 that is attached to the connector body to be
openable and closable, and the fitting portion of the sheet member 12 of the connector disposed on the
counter contact is pressed toward the connector body by the lid body, whereby the contact member of
the connector is electrically connected to the counter contact of the counter connector, and to provide
WO '237 with such structure thus would have been obvious, for good electrical contact.
Regarding claim 13, it would have been an obvious matter of design to close the lid body with a spring member that presses the lid body toward the connector body, since this would have been an obvious substitute of equivalents.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO
2019/155237 in view of Aksu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of lida et al 8465328.
Regarding claim 2, lida et al (front page and Figure 6) discloses the contact member 23 is
composed of a ring-shaped conductive member attached to a peripheral portion of a contact through-
hole 24 formed in the fitting portion of the sheet member, and to provide WO '237 with same thus
would have been obvious, for ease of manufacture.
Regarding claim 3, lida et al (Figure 6) discloses the contact member includes a conductive
portion 22a of flat plate shape attached to the fitting portion of the sheet member 29, and to provide
WO '237 with same thus would have been obvious, for ease of manufacture.
Regarding claim 6, lida et al (column 3, lines 18-19) discloses the sheet member 11 is formed of
an insulating resin film, and to form the sheet member of WO '237 of same thus would have been
obvious, since this material has known good insulating properties.
Regarding claim 7, lida et al discloses the positioning member is composed of a ring- shaped
member 25 attached to a periphery of a positioning through-hole 25c formed in the fitting portion of
the sheet member, and the positioning through-hole and the positioning member are to be fitted with a
positioning pin 15 formed in the counter connector, whereby the sheet member is positioned with
respect to the counter connector, and to provide WO '237 with such structure thus would have been
obvious, for good alignment.
Claim Defining Over Prior Art
Claim 8 is 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 11, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the applied WO reference does not disclose the counter contact with the plunger and spring member. However, Aksu has been applied to teach this structure. With this structure, the data collection/transmission module 80 of WO would reliably electrically connect to the textile connector 20 mounted on the sock 10.
Finality
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/GARY F PAUMEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834