DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Regarding claim 1: The contact elements are held in the contact carrier at one end of the contact set. Note that as shown in the figures, the free ends of the contact elements are cantilevered and not held.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Correction is required in response to this Office action and corrections may not be held in abeyance. Applicant is required to submit acceptable corrected drawings within the time period set in the Office action. See 37 CFR 1.185(a). Failure to take corrective action within the set (or extended) period will result in ABANDONMENT of the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the limitation of “a housing having at least one insertion opening for a cable plug-connector; a contact carrier, which is arranged in the housing and is realized integrally therewith” is indefinite in view of the specification. The specification give no clear indication what exactly the “contact carrier” (15) is as it relates to the housing (1) or as is it is distinguished from the housing. The specification gives no clear distinction as to what defines the “contact carrier” and what defines the “housing.” As indicated in figures 1 and 4, the contact carrier 15 is simply the housing (1). It is unknown what would be considered to be a “contact carrier” as opposed to what would be considered to be only housing and not “contact carrier.” The limitation is given little weight. The ”contact carrier” is analyzed as being the interior of the housing.
Also, the term “realized integrally” is indefinite and its meaning is unclear. The term is given little weight.
Regarding claim 1, the limitation of “a contact set that has a central portion having parallelly-routed contact elements and, adjoining said central portion on both sides thereof, at least respectively one portion having an insulating body enclosing and fixing the contact elements, wherein individual pairs of contact elements are routed in a crossed manner within the insulating body” is indefinite. It is unclear whether the limitation means that 1) there may be a total of one insulating body on one portion or 2) whether each portion has at least one insulating body, such that there are at least two insulating bodies in total, one on each side of the central portion. The recitation of “the insulating body” implies that there is only one. If there may be more than one insulating body, “the insulating body” is indefinite as to which insulating body it is referring to. Note that the issue is exacerbated by reference to “the insulating bodies” in claims 4 and 8 and reference to “the insulating body” in claim 5. Which “insulating body” is being referred to in claim 5?
In addition the limitation of “individual pairs of contact elements are routed in a crossed manner within the insulating body is indefinite. The specification gives no guidance as to what the limitation means. Figures 4, 8, 10, 18, etc., show that the contact elements traverse, i.e., cross, from one end of the insulating body to the opposite end of the insulating body (see figure 8), implying that the limitation means that the contact elements cross through the insulating body from one end of the body to the other. The limitation may alternatively be interpreted to mean that the contact elements cross over each other, though the figures contradict this interpretation (see figure 8) and the specification give no support for this interpretation. Further, the limitation of “a crossed manner within the insulating body” is ambiguous as to which insulating body is being referred to as “the insulating body” if the claim is requiring plural insulating bodies. Note that the specification (¶ 0058) seems to imply that being “routed in a crossed manner” is well-known prior art. If such is the case, this should be made clear on the record.
For purposes of analysis, the claim is being treated as 1) requiring two insulating bodies, one on each side of the central portion and 2) the contact elements cross from one side of the insulating body to the other.
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 anticipatory rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pepe et al. US 9263821 (“Pepe”).
Regarding claim 1, Pepe discloses an electrical connector for connection to cable plug-connectors of data cables, the electrical connector comprising:
a housing 102 having at least one insertion opening 108 for a cable plug- connector
a contact carrier (i.e. the interior of the housing) which is arranged in the housing and is realized integrally therewith;
a contact set (including contacts 118, 138, 124 and respective traces in board 132) that has a central portion (e.g. at 120, see figure 3) having parallelly-routed contact elements (the portions of the contacts extending outward/away from the portion 120).
There are two insulating bodies 119, one on each side of the central portion 120.
The contact elements cross from one side of the insulating body to the other.
The contact elements are held in the contact carrier at one end (at 145) of the contact set and project into the insertion opening;
a closure element (146 or 132) that closes the housing on the rear side opposite the insertion opening and has at least one leadthrough (vias 208 and/or the inherent leadthroughs for terminals 124 to electrically connect with the circuit board 132) for at least one electrical contact element,
wherein the contact set is at least mechanically connected to the closure element,
and the contact elements at an end of the contact set opposite to the insertion opening are routed into the closure element (at 199, figure 6, or terminals 124 in body 146).
Regarding claim 6 the closure element (146 or 132) is realized as a housing cover having a passage (e.g. vias 208) for receiving and mechanically fixing at least one portion of the contact set.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7-14 might be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, depending on how the rejections are overcome.
Regarding claim 2, the prior art does not disclose the invention as claimed including that the contact elements are routed outward through leadthrough openings in the base and are fixed mechanically and in a sealing manner in the leadthrough openings by a press fit.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art does not disclose the invention as claimed including that the closure element is realized as a circuit board having an electrical circuit and is inserted or attached in a sealed manner into or onto the rear side of the housing, and the contact elements are soldered to the circuit board.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROSS GUSHI whose telephone number is (571)272-2005. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 8:30 - 5:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Koehler can be reached on 571-272-3560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROSS N GUSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834