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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: “370B” shown in Figure 11.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “370A” has been used to designate both rounded edge surface region and extended edge surface region.
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. 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 6 objected to because of the following informalities:
The independent claims 1 and 6 identified the claimed invention to be “A connector”. However, it is common knowledge that the world has many different types of connectors, where two most common connectors are a mechanical connector for physically connecting two objects and an electrical connector for providing electrical connection and disconnection. Therefore, when the claimed invention is identified as “A connector”, it seems that the applicant is trying to claim all the existing connector as the claimed invention. In conclusion, the examiner suggests the applicant to change “A connector” to at least -- An electrical connector -- to distinguish the claimed invention from a mechanical connector.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-10, 14, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon (US 7,413,451 B2) in view of Regnier (US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0014438 A1).
Regarding claims 1-5, 10 and 14, Jeon discloses a connector 101 (see Figs. 5-6, 8-9 and 23), comprising: (Claim 1) a housing 104; a wafer 13 in the housing 104, the wafer 13 comprising a terminal conductor 15 stamped from a lead frame (see column 1, lines 23-31 and column 3, lines 1-8), the terminal conductor 133 comprising a lead contact, a tail contact, and a terminal conductor body extending between the lead contact and the tail contact (see Fig. 6 below), wherein: the wafer 13 and the terminal conductor are arranged vertically in the connector 101; and the tail contact of the terminal conductor 15 comprises a surface mount tail contact; (Claim 2) wherein the terminal conductor 15 comprises a side surface, a cut edge surface, and a body bend along the terminal conductor body; (Claim 3) wherein the surface mount tail contact further comprises a side surface; (Claim 10) wherein the surface mount tail contact is configured to be rested upon or contacted with a surface mount contact pad of the PCB and is soldered in place; and (Claim 14) wherein the surface mount tail contact further comprises a second side surface (the upper side) facing away from the side surface (the bottom side facing the top surface of the PCB), the side surface and the second side surface extending in planes that are parallel to each other (see Fig. 6 below).
However, Jeon does not disclose (Claim 1) the surface mount tail contact comprising a surface mount cut edge surface configured to rest upon and contact a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB), the surface mount tail contact being without a bend; (Claim 4) wherein the surface mount tail contact further comprises a side surface without a bend; and (Claim 5) wherein the surface mount cut edge surface is an edge surface formed from shearing or cutting the terminal conductor out from the lead frame.
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On the other hand, Regnier discloses a connector 1 comprising: (Claim 1) a housing 3, a plurality of terminal conductors 5, each terminal conductor 19 mounted in the housing 3 (see terminal 5 shown in Fig. 2), the terminal conductor 19 stamped from a lead frame (see Paragraph [0013]), the terminal conductor 19 comprising a lead contact 73, a tail contact 20, and a terminal conductor body 88 extending between the lead contact 73 and the tail contact 20; wherein the tail contact 20 of the terminal conductor 19 comprises a surface mount tail contact (see Fig. 2); wherein the surface mount tail contact 20 comprising a surface mount cut edge surface configured to rest upon and contact a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) 2, the surface mount tail contact 20 being without a bend (see Figs. 1 and 2); (Claim 4) wherein the surface mount tail contact 20 further comprises a side surface without a bend; and (Claim 5) wherein the surface mount cut edge surface is an edge surface formed from shearing or cutting the terminal conductor 19 out from the lead frame (see Figs. 1 and 2).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the terminal conductor taught by Jeon such that it would have a surface mount tail contact having a surface mount cut edge surface, which is an edge surface formed from shearing or cutting the terminal conductor out from the lead frame, rested upon and contacted a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB), being without a bend, and having a side surface without a bend as taught by Regnier because depending on the shape and the use of the terminal conductor, either the surface mount cut edge surface (as taught by Regnier) or the side surface (as taught by Jeon) can be use to rest upon and to contacted the top surface of PCB.
Regarding claims 6-8 and 19, Jeon discloses a connector 101, comprising: (Claim 6) a housing 104; a wafer assembly 13 (see Figs. 5 and 6 above) in the housing 104, the wafer assembly 13 comprising a plurality of wafers 13 and a plurality of terminal conductors 15, each terminal conductor 15 among the plurality of terminal conductors 15 being stamped from a lead frame (see column 1, lines 23-31 and column 3, lines 1-8) and comprising a lead contact, a tail contact, and a terminal conductor body extending between the lead contact and the tail contact (see Figs. 5 and 6 above), wherein the plurality of wafers 13 are arranged vertically in the wafer assembly 13; each tail contact of the plurality of terminal conductors comprises a surface mount tail contact; and each surface mount tail contact is arranged in a linear row extending along a mounting end region of the connector with the surface mount tail contact configured to rest upon and contact a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB); (Claim 7) wherein each surface mount tail contact comprises a side surface; (Claim 8) wherein each surface mount tail contact comprises a side surface; and (Claim 19) wherein each surface mount tail contact further comprises a second side surface facing away from the side surface, the side surface and the second side surface extending in planes that are parallel to each other.
However, Jeon does not disclose (Claim 6) the surface mount tail contact comprising a surface mount cut edge surface configured to rest upon and contact a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB), and (Claims 7 and 8) wherein the surface mount tail contact comprises a surface mount cut edge surface without a bend in the side surface,
On the other hand, Regnier discloses a connector 1 comprising: (Claim 6) a housing 3, a plurality of terminal conductors 5, each terminal conductor 19 mounted in the housing 3 (see terminal 5 shown in Fig. 2), the terminal conductor 19 stamped from a lead frame (see Paragraph [0013]), the terminal conductor 19 comprising a lead contact 73, a tail contact 20, and a terminal conductor body 88 extending between the lead contact 73 and the tail contact 20; wherein the tail contact 20 of the terminal conductor 19 comprises a surface mount tail contact (see Fig. 2); wherein the surface mount tail contact 20 comprising a surface mount cut edge surface configured to rest upon and contact a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) 2, the surface mount tail contact 20 being without a bend (see Figs. 1 and 2); (Claim 7) wherein the surface mount tail contact 20 further comprises a side surface without a bend; and (Claim 8) wherein the surface mount cut edge surface is an edge surface formed from shearing or cutting the terminal conductor 19 out from the lead frame (see Figs. 1 and 2).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the terminal conductor taught by Jeon such that it would have a surface mount tail contact having a surface mount cut edge surface, which is an edge surface formed from shearing or cutting the terminal conductor out from the lead frame, rested upon and contacted a top surface of a printed circuit board (PCB), being without a bend, and having a side surface without a bend as taught by Regnier because depending on the shape and the use of the terminal conductor, either the surface mount cut edge surface (as taught by Regnier) or the side surface (as taught by Jeon) can be use to rest upon and to contacted the top surface of PCB.
Claim(s) 11-13, 15-18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon and Regnier as applied to claims 1-8, 10, 14 and 19 above, and further in view of Zhang et al (US 7,517,249 B1).
Regarding claims 11, 13, 15-16, 18 and 20, reciting, “the surface mount cut edge surface comprises a rounded edge surface region, which is a curved surface, and an extended edge surface region, which is a flat surface, the extended edge surface region resting upon and contacting the top surface of the PCB”.
Jeon only discloses side surface of the terminal contact is bent to form the tail contact with a flat surface to surface mount on the top surface of the PCB.
Regnier, on the other hand, does disclose terminal contact 19 comprising the surface mount cut edge surface 20 without a bend being mounted on the top surface of the PCB 2. However, the surface mount cut edge surface 20 only has a flat surface and not the curved round edge surface region.
On the other hand, Zhang discloses a terminal conductor 21, 22 having a tail contact 218, 228 with a surface mount cut edge surface for contacting a top surface 51, 52 of a PCB 5 (see Fig. 1), wherein the surface mount cut edge surface comprises a rounded edge surface region, which is a curved surface, and an extended edge surface region, which is a flat surface, the extended edge surface region resting upon and contacting the top surface of the PCB 5 (see 3).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the tail contact taught by Jeon and Regnier such that it would have a surface mount cut edge surface comprising a rounded edge surface region with a curved surface and an extended edge surface region with a flat surface as taught by Zhang because whether the tail contact has a side surface for a mount surface or a cut edge surface as the mount surface or the side surface and the cut edge surface, both have the rounded edge surface region with the curved surface and the extended edge surface region with the flat surface, all the surfaces of the tail contacts will surface mount on the top surface of the PCB. Also, it is common knowledge that a terminal conductor with the tail contact can have many different shapes and is not limited to one shape only.
Regarding claims 12 and 17, reciting, “the rounded edge surface region comprises a bend radius ranging between 0.2 to 0.5 mm” Jeon, Regnier and Zhang do not disclose the size of their surface mount tail contact. However, it is clear that all the terminal conductors disclosed by Jeon, Regnier and Zhang have different shapes and sizes. Also, it is common knowledge that the terminal conductor is not limited to a set or fixed size, but can be made in many different shapes and sizes as shown by Jeon, Regnier and Zhang.
Therefore, It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the tail contact taught by any one of Jeon, Regnier and Zhang such that it would have a bend radius size of the rounded edge surface region of the tail contact as taught by the instant invention because it is common knowledge that the tail contact can be made in many different shapes and sizes. Making the tail contact with a specific size only deals with a changing size. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon and Regnier as applied to claims 1-5, 10 and 14 above, and further in view of Lange et al (US 8,851,926 B2).
Regarding claim 9, the mount tail contacts 15 of Jeon are arranged in the linear row, but Jeon does not disclose the mounting tail contacts 15 comprising a combination of data and ground tail contacts.
On the other hand, Lange discloses the mount tail contacts 50 being arranged in the linear row comprise a combination of data and ground tail contacts to reduce cross-talk during operation (see Figs. 9B and 10B).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the tail contact taught by Jeon such that it would have the mount tail contacts arranged in the linear row comprising a combination of data and ground tail contacts as taught by Lange because the combination of data and ground tail contacts arrangement of the mount tail contacts would reduce cross-talk during operation.
It is unnecessary, however, that inventions of references be physically combinable to render obvious an applicant’s invention. In re Sneed, 710 F.2d 1544, 1550, 218 USPQ 385, 389 (Fed. Cir. 1983). The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of another reference but what the combined teachings of those references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871,881 (CCPA 1981).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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 HAE MOON HYEON whose telephone number is (571) 272-2093. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:30 am - 6:00 pm.
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.
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/hmh/
/Hae Moon Hyeon/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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