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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 5/4/26 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-12 objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 3 line 7, the phrase “of the edge connector” should read --of the edge connectors--. Claims 4-12 include all the limitations of claim 3 and are objected to for the same reasons. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bassett et al. (2017/0177537).
With regard to claim 1, Bassett teaches, as shown in figures 1-2B and taught in paragraphs 21-22: “An adapter cable 102, comprising: a receptacle connector 130 including contact pins 136a and 136b as defined for a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) connector (paragraph 22 teaches the connector 130 connecting to a PCIe slot)… connectors 140a and 140b having… pins 146a and 146b… and connections (dotted lines shown in figure 2B) connecting the receptacle connector 130 to the edge connectors, each connection connecting one of the contact pins to one of the edge pins”.
Bassett does not teach the connectors being edge as defined for a PCIe add-in card (AIC)” However, Bassett teaches the use of PCIe edge connectors with PCIe slots (Bassett, paragraph 31). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use PCIe edge connectors as the connectors in order to connect to PCIe receptacle connectors.
With regard to claim 2, Bassett teaches: “The adapter cable of claim 1”, as shown above.
Bassett as modified above also teaches, as shown in figures 1-2B and taught in paragraphs 21-22: “wherein the adapter cable 102 is configured to connect a PCIe AIC to a plurality of PCIe connectors, the receptacle connector 130 is configured to receive the PCIe AIC, and the edge connectors are configured to be mounted to the PCIe connectors (it would be obvious to plug PCIe edge connectors into mating PCIe receptacle connectors)”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-12 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN M KRATT whose telephone number is (571)270-0277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah A Riyami can be reached at (571)270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN M KRATT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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