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
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 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) 2-9 and 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2020/06144 to Claessens et al.
Claessens discloses in figures 13-17, an optical fiber management assembly comprising:
A piece including, unitarily integrated therewith:
A baseplate (304) for mouning a portion of a cable jacket fixation subassembly (316) to the baseplate;
A basket for storing loops of fiber (322 area in figure 13) and
A fiber router (feeder 320) including a structure for mounting a fiber sheath holder module to the fiber router (via adapters 318), the fiber router being positioned between the baseplate and the basket.
As to claim 3, front side in figure 11 bypasses the rear portions.
As to claims 4 and 13, the structure shown in figure 4 enables pivoting.
As to claim 5, the trays can be considered second pieces and baseplates that “snappingly” mount to the pivot structure.
As to claim 6, additional “sheath holding modules” defined as claimed in figure 15.
As to claim 7, the first and second pieces are on opposing sides and utilizing the pivot “tower” shown in figure 4, enables snap-fitting.
As to claim 8, a third piece enables the use of seal blocks (figure 9).
As to claim 9, guide walls (unlabeled at F1; figure 13) and slack organizers (315) with routing paths through plurality of access portions.
As to claim 11, the fiber loop retainer is not structurally defined and therefore could be constituted by any number of internal components of the prior art.
As to claim 12, a tray is disclosed (350).
It is noted that Applicant does not define the “fiber loop module”. Any spool or even routing with tabs would meet this limitation.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 14-17, and 19-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Claessens.
Classens discloses the invention as claimed except for recitation of specific routing paths.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to select routing paths, associated materials and removable components to allow for ease of use.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2021/0116664 (snap-fit pivoting trays).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Eric K Wong whose telephone number is (571)272-2363. The examiner can normally be reached M-Tu, Th-F 8A-6P.
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, Thomas Hollweg can be reached on 571-270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ERIC K. WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2874
/Eric Wong/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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