DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the anticipatory rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Manba WO 2019/088233 (“Manba”). See US 2021/0359449 for the English language publication. Regarding claim 1, Manba discloses a connector into and from which a connection object 60 is insertable and removable, the connector comprising:
an insulator 20 comprising an insertion portion into which a connection object is to
be inserted; and
an actuator 50 rotatable relative to the insulator between a closed position in which
the actuator is closed relative to the insulator and an open position in which the actuator is
opened relative to the insulator,
the actuator comprising: two mounting portions (labeled MP below) respectively located on opposite ends of the actuator in a longitudinal direction (labeled LD below) of the connector, the two mounting portions allowing the actuator to be mounted on the insulator;
an operating portion (labeled OPO) below located between the two mounting portions on a first outer surface (labeled OS1) of the actuator that faces in an insertion and removal direction of the connection object relative to the connector, the operating portion being configured to be operated to open the actuator from the closed position to the open position; and
a mated portion (labeled MTD) located between the two mounting portions on a second outer surface (labeled OS2) of the actuator that is opposite the first outer surface,
wherein the insulator comprises a mating portion (labeled MTG) to mate, from an open-position side, with the mated portion at least when the actuator is in the open position.
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1344
1100
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Per claim 2, the mated portion includes a projection 52D projecting from the second outer surface toward the mating portion, and the mating portion includes a recess or hole to receive the projection.
Per claim 3 the mated portion includes a sloped face (labeled SLPF below) continuous with the second outer surface and sloping from the second outer surface at the projection, and
the sloped face faces an inner face (labeled INNF below) of the mating portion that is located on the open-position side.
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1540
1018
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Per claim 4 the projection includes an adjacent portion (labeled ADJP below) adjacent to the second outer surface on the open-position side, and the adjacent portion faces an edge (labeled Edge below) of the insulator that is located at the mating portion on the open-position side.
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916
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Per claim 9, Manba discloses a pressing member 40 configured to urge the actuator toward the closed position when the actuator is in the open position, wherein each of the two mounting portions allows the actuator to be mounted on the insulator in response to receiving an urging force applied from the open-position side by the pressing member.
Per claim 10, the connector is an electronic device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5, 6, 7, and 8, 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROSS GUSHI whose telephone number is (571)272-2005. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 8:30 - 5:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Koehler can be reached on 571-272-3560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROSS N GUSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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