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 Objection
Claim 25 is objected to because of the following informalities: it should depend from claim 23. This dependency has been assumed for purposes of examination on the merits below. Appropriate correction is required.
35 USC 102 Rejections
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 13, 15 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 107394445.
Regarding claim 1, CN ‘445 (Figure 5) discloses a cylindrical terminal, comprising a contact section 31, a fixing section 32 and a connecting section 33; wherein the fixing section comprises an extension section (unnumbered) and an assembly portion (unnumbered) disposed on the extension section; the contact section, the extension section and the connecting section are integrally formed as a cylindrical tube; the contact section is provided with at least two axial slots (between elastic sheets 31), which divide a side wall of the contact section into at least two contact elastic sheets 31; the contact section is provided with a depression (at 311) that is recessed radially inward, such that the contact elastic sheets form arc-shaped structures; and the connecting section is electrically connected to a wire (not shown).
Regarding claim 2, CN ‘445 discloses the slots penetrate through one end of the contact section 31 that is away from the fixing section 32, and one end of each contact elastic sheet 31 is a free end.
Regarding claim 5, CN ‘445 discloses the slots are arranged inclinedly with respect to an axis of the cylindrical terminal.
Regarding claim 6, CN ‘445 discloses the assembly portion is formed by extruding the extension section.
Regarding claim 10, CN ‘445 discloses the cylindrical tube is a seamless tube, or a seamed tube rolled from a sheet material; and when the cylindrical tube is a seamed tube, there is no seam on the contact elastic sheets 31.
Regarding claim 13, CN ‘445 discloses distances between inner surfaces of the arc-shaped structures and an axis of the cylindrical terminal are the same; and a diameter of the connecting section 33 is smaller than or equal to a diameter of the contact section 31 or the extension section 32.
Regarding claim 15, CN ‘445 discloses an outward expanding chamfer (at 310) is provided at one end of the contact section 31 that is away from the fixing section 32 and has an angle of 17° to 178°.
Regarding claim 29, CN ‘445 discloses a plug-in connection structure, comprising the cylindrical terminal according to claim 1 and a plug-in terminal (see Abstract), wherein the plug-in terminal is inserted into the contact section 31, an outer side wall of the plug-in terminal is closely fitted with inner side walls of the contact elastic sheets 31.
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) 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 107394445 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of CN 207743426.
CN ‘426 (Figure 3) discloses both ends of each slot (between elastic sheets 11) are closed, and both ends of each contact elastic sheet are fixed, a width of one end of each slot that is close to the fixing section is greater than or equal to a width of one end of the slot that is away from the fixing section, and to form the elastic sheets/slots of CN ‘445 in this way thus would have been obvious, for better electrical contact.
Claim(s) 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 107394445 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bankstahl 7682208.
Bankstahl (claim 6 thereof) discloses a terminal made of tellurium copper, and to form the terminal of CN ‘445 of this material thus would have been obvious, for good electrical conductivity. The specific percentage of tellurium is deemed to have been an obvious matter of routine experimentation.
Claim(s) 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 107394445 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Leroyer et al 8317552.
Leroyer et al (front page) discloses an outer side of the contact section 4 is provided with a second groove 7 arranged in a circumferential direction, the cylindrical terminal further comprises an elastic ferrule 10 that is sleeved on the second groove, and to provide CN ‘445 with same thus would have been obvious, for better electrical contact with a plug-in terminal. To form the ferrule of a rubber material is deemed to be an obvious matter of routine experimentation.
Claim(s) 21 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 107394445 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Okita et al 2005/0048851.
Regarding claim 21, Okita et al (front page) discloses a plating layer is provided on at least part of the contact section and/or the connecting section; the plating layer comprises a bottom layer and a surface layer; and the bottom layer is made of one or more selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, nickel, tin, tin-lead alloy and zinc; and the surface layer is made of one or more selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, nickel, tin, tin-lead alloy, zinc, silver-antimony alloy, palladium, palladium-nickel alloy, graphite-silver, graphene-silver and silver-gold-zirconium alloy, and to provide CN ‘445 with same thus would have been obvious, for good conductivity.
Regarding claim 25, to form the bottom layer of CN ‘445 (as modified by Okita et al) with a thickness of 0.01 µm to 15 µm; and the surface layer with a thickness of 0.5 µm to 55 um are deemed to have been obvious matters of routine experimentation.
Claims Defining Over Prior Art
Claims 7, 19, 30, 31, 33 and 37 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of the prior art discloses or teaches the assembly portion being made of a plastic material, a side wall of the extension section being in a corrugated shape; nor the sealing ring sleeved on the first groove and made of a rubber material; nor the positioning pin and positioning hole; nor the combination of method steps; in combination with the rest of the subject matter of the respective independent claim.
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/GARY F PAUMEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834