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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group IV (i.e., claims 1, 6-7) in the reply filed on 7/21/26 is acknowledged.
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) 1, 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Faulkner et al (US 20190004273; “Faulkner”).
Regarding claim 1, Faulkner teaches an optical cable structure comprising: connector-equipped 18 optical fibers {OFs} (e.g., figs.1, 5-10), derived from an end portion of a sheath 22 (e.g., figs.1, 5-10; the connector equipped optical fibers are arrived at or ultimately caused by OFs 26/45 coming from the sheath 12/22 which at least means anything subsequently attached to OFs 26/45 is derived from the end portion of the sheath) of an optical cable 12, that are accommodated in a tubular member 56/60 (e.g., fig. 10; ¶ 0039), wherein each of the connector-equipped optical fibers includes: a derivation optical fiber 26/45/47 from the end portion of the sheath 22/12 (e.g., fig. 4); and an optical connector 18 disposed at a distal portion of the derivation optical fiber 26/45/47, lengths of at least some of the derivation optical fibers 26/45/47 are different from each other (e.g., fig. 10), each of the derivation optical fibers 26/45/47 includes: a proximal-side optical fiber 26/45 on an end portion side of the sheath 22/12 (e.g., fig. 4); a distal-side optical fiber 47 on an optical connector 18 side (e.g., figs. 5-8); and a connecting portion 51/46 connecting the proximal-side optical fiber 26/45 to the distal-side optical fiber 47 (e.g., figs. 7-8), and the connecting portions 51/46 are disposed in the tubular member 60/56 (e.g., fig. 10) when the connector-equipped optical fibers are accommodated in the tubular member 60/56 (e.g., fig. 10).
Thus claim 1 is met.
Regarding claim 6, Faulkner teaches the optical cable structure according to Claim l (see above), wherein in each of the derivation optical fibers: the proximal-side optical fiber 26/45 is a multi-core fiber (e.g., figs. 2-6), the distal-side optical fiber 47 is configured by single-core fibers
Thus claim 6 is met.
Regarding claim 7, Faulkner teaches a method for producing an optical cable structure including connector-equipped optical fibers, the method comprising: terminating an optical connector 18 at a first end portion of each of distal-side optical fibers 47 (e.g., figs. 5-8); leading out proximal-side optical fibers 26/45 from an end portion of a sheath 22 of an optical cable 12 (e.g., fig. 4); connecting a second end portion of each of the distal-side optical fibers 47 to a distal portion of each of the of proximal-side optical fibers 26/45 after the terminating of the optical connector 18 and the leading out (e.g., fig. 4) of the proximal-side optical fibers 26/45 to form the connector-equipped 18 optical fibers [e.g., ¶ 0033: “the individual optical fibers 28 are exposed by stripping the primary coating 38, secondary coating 40, polymeric matrix 42, and outer coating 44 from the optical fibers 28 (as shown in FIG. 3)”; the removal of coatings 44/42/40/38 leaves the glass core/clad 36 which are exposed single core fibers; figs. 3, 5-8, 10], wherein the connector-equipped optical fibers (e.g., figs.1, 5-10): are derived from the end portion of the sheath 22 (e.g., figs.1, 5-10; the connector equipped optical fibers are arrived at or ultimately caused by OFs 26/45 coming from the sheath 12/22 which at least means anything subsequently attached to OFs 26/45 is derived from the end portion of the sheath) and accommodated in a tubular member 56/60 (e.g., fig. 10; ¶ 0039), and each include the optical connector 18 and a derivation optical fiber 26/45/47 including one of the proximal-side optical fibers 26/45 and one of the distal-side optical fibers 45; and setting one or both of lengths (e.g., ¶ 0022; figs. 1, 10; see also ¶ 0023: splices are protected by overmold 20; at least in fig. 1 the overmolds 20 are at staggered distances at least due to the different lengths of the legs 14) of the proximal-side optical fibers and lengths of the distal-side optical fibers before the connecting of the second end portion such that lengths of at least some derivation optical fibers among the derivation optical fibers derived from the end portion of the sheath are different from each other (e.g., ¶ 0022; figs. 1, 10; see also ¶ 0023: splices are protected by overmold 20; at least in fig. 1 the overmolds 20 are at staggered distances at least due to the different lengths of the legs 14).
Thus claim 7 is met.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mr. Michael Mooney whose telephone number is 571-272-2422. The examiner can normally be reached during weekdays, M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached on 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Center. Should you have questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). For checking the filing status of an application, please refer to <https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/checking-application-status/check-filing-status-your-patent-application>.
/MICHAEL P MOONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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