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
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/26/2024 was filed on the mailing date of the application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukamachi et al. [US 2002/0019156] in view of Noro et al. [US 2001/0046798].
Regarding claim 1, Fukamachi discloses a lever-type connector, comprising: a connector housing (fig. 1; F) connectable to a mating connector (fig. 1; M), the connector housing (F) including a housing body (fig. 1; 16) having an assembly surface (fig. 1; surface of 16); a lever (fig. 1; 20) having a code arrangement surface (fig. 2; 40), the lever (20) being assembled with the connector housing (F) rotatably from a connection start position (fig. 1) to a connection completion position (fig. 6); and an identifier (fig. 6; 41) disposed on the code arrangement surface (40), the code arrangement surface (40) being a surface (40 is extending outward) facing outward both when the lever (20) is at the connection start position (fig. 1) and when the lever is at the connection completion position (fig. 6), facing the same side (bottom side) as the assembly surface (surface of 16) when the lever (20) is at the connection start position (fig. 1) and facing a side (top side) different from the assembly surface (surface of 16) when the lever is at the connection completion position (fig. 6).
Fukamachi does not disclose an assembling portion disposed on the assembly surface, the assembling portion being engaged with an external member.
However, Noro teaches an assembling portion (fig. 1; 45) disposed on the assembly surface (fig. 1; 43), the assembling portion (45) being engaged with an external member (fig. 1; 17, 18).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate an assembling portion disposed on the assembly surface, the assembling portion being engaged with an external member as suggested by Noro for the benefit of improving the mechanical retention strength between two connectors.
Regarding claim 2, Fukamachi modified by Noro has been discussed above. Fukamachi discloses wherein: the housing body (16) has a wire draw-out surface (Par [0020] Ln 4-7; posterior face) facing a side (top side) different from the assembly surface (surface of 16), a wire draw-out opening (opening in the posterior face that wires come through, see Par [0020] Ln 4-7) for drawing out a wire (Par [0020] Ln 4-7; electric wires) being open in the wire draw-out surface (opening in the posterior face), and the code arrangement surface (40) is a surface facing the same side (top side) as the wire draw-out surface (opening in the posterior face) when the lever (20) is at the connection completion position (fig. 6; 40 extends toward the top side of F).
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukamachi et al. [US 2002/0019156] and Noro et al. [US 2001/0046798] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yoshida [US 2020/0313351].
Fukamachi and Noro disclose all of the claim limitations except wherein the code arrangement surface is disposed to be inclined with respect to the assembly surface when the lever is at the connection start position.
However, Yoshida teaches the code arrangement surface (fig. 4; 35a, 35b) is disposed to be inclined with respect to the assembly surface (fig. 2; surface of 13) when the lever is at the connection start position (fig. 7).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the code arrangement surface is disposed to be inclined with respect to the assembly surface when the lever is at the connection start position as suggested by Yoshida for the benefit of improving the design of the lever in order to optimize lever operation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS E HARCUM whose telephone number is (571)272-9986. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 8am-5pm.
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 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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/MARCUS E HARCUM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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