Office Action Predictor
Last updated: April 15, 2026
Application No. 18/575,962

BOARD CONNECTOR AND DEVICE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jan 02, 2024
Examiner
ALHAWAMDEH, NADER J
Art Unit
2831
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Sumitomo Electric Industries, LTD.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
92%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 10m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 92% — above average
92%
Career Allow Rate
569 granted / 620 resolved
+23.8% vs TC avg
Minimal +5% lift
Without
With
+5.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 10m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
644
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
39.5%
-0.5% vs TC avg
§102
52.1%
+12.1% vs TC avg
§112
2.6%
-37.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 620 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . 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. Claims 1-2 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 667 (JP 2015530724 A)(English Translated). In Regards to Claim 1: JP 724 teaches a board connector (10) to be mounted on a circuit board (102), comprising: a housing (116) including a receptacle (See Reproduced Drawing 1) open forward and a rear wall (See Reproduced Drawing 2) provided on a side opposite to a front end part (See Reproduced Drawing 2) where the receptacle (See Reproduced Drawing 1) is open; an outer conductor (110) fixed to the housing (116) through the rear wall (See Reproduced Drawing 2); an insulating dielectric (114) disposed inside the outer conductor (110); an inner conductor (112) disposed inside the dielectric (114); and a ground spring (104) to be connected to the outer conductor (110), the outer conductor (110) including a flange (222) to be disposed along the rear wall (See Reproduced Drawing 2) of the housing (116), and the ground spring (104) including a mounting piece (190) to be inserted between the rear wall (See Reproduced Drawing 2) and the flange (222). In Regards to Claim 2: JP 724 teaches the board connector of claim 1, wherein the ground spring (104) includes a gate-shaped mounting body portion (180) and a plurality of connection springs (194) projecting forward from a front edge of the mounting body portion (180), and the mounting piece (190) is provided to project inward from a rear edge of the mounting body portion (180). In Regards to Claim 5: JP 724 teaches the board connector of claim 1, wherein the ground spring (104) includes a holding spring (See Reproduced Drawing 2) to be brought into resilient contact with the flange (222) from behind. In Regards to Claim 6: JP 724 teaches a device, comprising: the board connector of claim 1; a circuit board (102) having the board connector (10) mounted thereon; and an enclosure made of metal, the circuit board (102) being accommodated inside the enclosure, the enclosure being electrically connected to the outer conductor (110) via the ground spring (104). PNG media_image1.png 519 719 media_image1.png Greyscale PNG media_image2.png 589 838 media_image2.png Greyscale Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3 and 4 are 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. The prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest these limitation as substantially described in claims 3 and 4, these limitations, in combination with remaining limitations of claims 3 and 4, are neither taught nor suggested by the prior art of record. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NADER J ALHAWAMDEH whose telephone number is (571)270-0571. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9Am - 6Pm EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. 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. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /NADER J ALHAWAMDEH/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831 /ABDULLAH A RIYAMI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 02, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 22, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102
Mar 25, 2026
Response Filed

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12603448
CARD CONNECTOR
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12597745
ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12592518
Hands-Free Connectors
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12592503
CABLE CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12586958
ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH IMPROVED SHIELDING FEATURES
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
92%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+5.0%)
1y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 620 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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