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) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 102255193 in view of JP 2017-126512.
Regarding claim 1, CN '193 (Figure 8) substantially discloses the claimed invention, including a
connection device, comprising: two boards 5,6 facing each other; a board-side first connector 10 to be
provided on one of the boards; a board-side second connector 3 to be provided on the other board; a
first connector (upper 20), the first connector being connectable to the board-side first connector; a
second connector (identical to the upper 20 but unnumbered), the second connector being connectable
to the board-side second connector; an adapter 2,27 extending from the first connector toward a side
where the board-side second connector is located; and a movement allowing portion provided between
the adapter and the board-side second connector, the movement allowing portion 23 allowing the
adapter to relatively move in parallel to the boards with respect to the board-side second connector when one of the boards is positionally deviated in a direction parallel to a surface of the other board (as shown in Figure 9 of CN ‘193). JP '512 discloses a wire (cable 40) to be routed between boards B1,B2, and to use a cable instead of elements 25,26 of CN '193 thus would have been obvious, for ease of manufacture.
Regarding claim 2, CN '193 discloses the board-side first connector 10 includes a guide portion 1
expanded toward the adapter 2,27.
Claim(s) 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 102255193 in view of
JP 2017-126512 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yamaguchi et al 8585421.
Regarding claim 3, Yamaguchi et al (front page) discloses the wire 23 is arranged in a twisted
state, and to form the wire of CN '193 (as modified by JP '512) in a twisted state thus would have been
obvious, to allow floating movement.
Claims Defining Over Prior Art
Claims 4-6 are allowed.
Response To Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 16, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Figure 9 of applied art CN 102255193 discloses the subject matter added to the end of claim 1.
Finality
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY F PAUMEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2013. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th.
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/GARY F PAUMEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834