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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Information disclosure statement filed 3/12/2024 has been considered.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claim 1-2, 3-4, 11-13 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-5 of U.S. Patent No. 11,934,016 B2 (hereinafter “the ‘016 patent”). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the pending claims of the present application are obvious variations of the patented claims of the ‘016 patent.
Regarding claim 1, the ‘016 patent claims an optical adapter holding structure (col. 19, ll. 42) comprising: an attachment tool having a plurality of insertion holes that are provided side by side (col. 19, ll. 43-44); optical adapters, each of the optical adapters being fitted into one of the plurality of insertion holes (col. 19, ll. 45-46); and a swaying mechanism that allows the optical adapters to sway against the attachment tool (col. 19, ll. 47-48), wherein for any one of the optical adapters, when a force greater than a prescribed strength is applied to the other optical adapters that are adjacent to the one of the optical adaptors, the swaying mechanism allows the other optical adapters that are adjacent to the one of the optical adapters to sway in a direction in which the other adjacent optical adaptors are provided next to the one of the optical adaptors (col. 19, ll. 49-53), and when the force is offloaded, the swaying mechanism can hold the optical adapters in a direction substantially vertical to the attachment tool due to a balance between forces in the swaying mechanism (col. 19, ll. 54-57); a hard magnetic body is fixed in proximity of each of end parts of a width direction of each of the optical adapters, the width direction being a direction in which the optical adapters are provided side by side (col. 20, ll. 8-12); a part of the attachment tool facing the hard magnetic body that is provided on each of the optical adapters is formed of a soft magnetic body that can attract the hard magnetic body (col. 20, ll. 14-19); and when any of the optical adapters receive a force greater than an attractive force of the hard magnetic body, the hard magnetic body on one of the end parts separates away from a facing face, thereby allowing the optical adapters to sway (col. 20, ll. 23-28), and when the force is offloaded, the attractive force of the magnetic body allows the optical adapters to sway so as to be held in the direction substantially vertical to the attachment tool (col. 20, ll. 20-23).
Regarding claim 2, the ‘016 patent claims wherein each of the optical adapters includes a protruding portion that protrudes from each of outer face sides of each of the optical adapters, the outer face sides being orthogonal to the direction in which the optical adapters are provided side by side, and the swaying mechanism allows the optical adapters to sway with proximity of the protruding portion as a base (col. 19, ll. 60- col. 20, ll. 5).
Regarding claim 11, the ‘016 patent claims wherein the hard magnetic body is disposed in proximity of each of the end parts of the width direction of each of the optical adapters (col. 20, ll. 8-13) on each face of a vertical direction that is perpendicular to the direction in which the optical adapters are provided side by side (col. 20, ll. 20-23).
Regarding claim 12, the ‘016 patent claims a method for plugging or unplugging an optical connector to or from the optical adapter holding structure, the method comprising: when plugging or unplugging the optical connector to or from any one optical adapter of the optical adapters, swaying the other optical adapters that are adjacent to the one optical adapter in a direction in which the optical adapters are provided side by side by using the swaying mechanism to create a space around the one optical adapter; and returning the other optical adapters to original positions by using the swaying mechanism after the plugging or unplugging operation is completed (col. 20, ll. 29-42).
Regarding claim 13, the ‘016 patent claims a method for checking a bending radius of an optical cable that is connected to the optical adapter holding structure, the method comprising: acquiring in advance a swaying starting moment of the swaying mechanism; acquiring in advance a relationship between a moment applied to each of the optical adapters and a bending radius of the optical cable at the time of applying a force to the optical cable connected to each of the optical adapters; making sure that the moment applied to each of the optical adapters is equal to or less than the swaying starting moment by checking that all the optical adapters are not swaying and are kept in a normal state; and knowing that the bending radius of the optical cable is equal to or more than a certain radius since the moment applied to each of the optical adapters is equal to or less than a certain moment (col. 20, ll. 43-60).
Regarding claims 3-4, the above-reference claims of the ‘016 patent anticipates the claimed limitations of the pending application as discussed above. Although the ‘016 patent does not explicitly recite the hard magnetic body of each of the optical adapters is magnetically closed, or the polarity of the hard magnetic body on a first side is different from a polarity on the second side, such magnetic arrangement that prevents magnetic interference with an adjacent magnetic body is well known and common in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize such an arrangement to be advantageous and desirable since it would prevent any magnetic field of adjacent magnetic bodies from interfering the movement of optical adapters to which the magnetic bodies are attached. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the claims of the ‘016 patent to claim that the hard magnetic body of each of the optical adapters is magnetically closed, or the polarity of the hard magnetic body on a first side is different from a polarity on the second side in the manner claimed in the present application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9, 10 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: as discussed above, an optical adapter holding structure comprising an attachment tool, optical adapters, a swaying mechanism, hard magnetic bodies, such that an attractive force of the hard magnetic bodies can hold the optical adapters in the direction substantially vertical to the attachment tool when each of the optical adapters is inserted into an insertion hole, and when each of the optical adapters receives a force greater than the attractive force of the hard magnetic bodies, one of the hard magnetic bodies separates away from a facing face so that each of the optical adapters can sway, is claimed by the ‘016 patent.
However, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such an optical adapter holding structure, wherein the hard magnetic body is fixed to a main body of each of the optical adapters by using holding means; and the holding means is formed of a soft magnetic body, as claimed in claim 5 of the present application.
Also, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such an optical adapter holding structure, wherein the hard magnetic body is fixed to a main body of each of the optical adapters by using holding means; the holding means is a non-magnetic body; and a vertical position of the hard magnetic body on a first side of the width direction of each of the optical adapters is different from a vertical position of the hard magnetic body on a second side of the width direction of each of the optical adapters, as claimed in claim 10 of the present application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNG H PAK whose telephone number is (571)272-2353. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7AM- 5PM.
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/SUNG H PAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874