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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 16 is missing a coma after “to claim 1”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ichida et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0181080). Regarding Claim 1, Ichida discloses a connector (Figs. 5 and 6A) for biological data acquisition that is mounted on a mounting object (Abstract) constituted of a wearing article (Paragraph 0027) worn by a user (Abstract) and is fitted to a counter connector (50) along a fitting direction (Figs. 5 and 6A), the connector for biological data acquisition comprising: a housing (24, 26) configured to be attached to the mounting object and including a first exposed surface (bottom surface of 26) that faces an opposite side from a body surface (Figs. 5 and 6A) of the user and a second exposed surface (24) that faces the body surface; and a plurality of conductive members (23) each extending along the fitting direction and retained by the housing in a state of passing through the housing in the fitting direction from the first exposed surface to the second exposed surface, wherein each of the plurality of conductive members includes a contact portion (upper portion of 23) having electrical conductivity and an electrode portion (lower portion of 23) having electrical conductivity, the contact portion protruding from the first exposed surface of the housing and being connected to a counter contact (terminal portion of 50) of the counter connector when the connector for biological data acquisition is fitted to the counter connector, the electrode portion protruding from the second exposed surface of the housing and being used to acquire biological data of the user.
Regarding Claim 2, Ichida discloses each of the plurality of conductive members being constituted of a single component (Figs. 5 and 6A) in which the contact portion and the electrode portion are formed to be integral with each other along the fitting direction, and each of the contact portion and the electrode portion has a columnar shape (Figs. 5 and 6A) extending along the fitting direction.
Regarding Claim 3, Ichida discloses each of the plurality of conductive members having a flange portion (Fig. 6A) overhanging in a direction perpendicular to the fitting direction from a border portion (Fig. 6A) between the contact portion and the electrode portion.
Regarding Claim 4, Ichida discloses the housing being composed of a top insulator (top of 26) having the first exposed surface and a bottom insulator (bottom of 26) having the second exposed surface, the top insulator includes a plurality of contact through-holes (where 23 are located) each of which receives the contact portion passing therethrough and is smaller in size than the flange portion, the bottom insulator includes a plurality of electrode through-holes (where 23 are located) each of which receives the electrode portion passing therethrough and is smaller in size than the flange portion, and the top insulator and the bottom insulator are fixed together in a state where the contact portions of the plurality of conductive members pass through the plurality of contact through-holes, the electrode portions of the plurality of conductive members pass through the plurality of electrode through-holes, and the flange portions of the plurality of conductive members are sandwiched between the top insulator and the bottom insulator.
Regarding Claim 5, Ichida discloses each of the plurality of conductive members being composed of a contact member (upper portion of 23) that forms the contact portion and an electrode member (lower portion of 23) that is joined with the contact member and forms the electrode portion, the contact member has a tubular portion (middle part of 23) extending along the fitting direction and provided in its interior with a recessed portion (Fig. 6A), and a part (Fig. 6A) of the electrode member is inserted in the recessed portion and makes contact with an inner surface (Fig. 6A) of the recessed portion, whereby the electrode member is electrically connected to the contact member.
Regarding Claim 6, Ichida discloses the contact member including a contact-side flange (Fig. 6A) overhanging in a direction perpendicular to the fitting direction from an end of the tubular portion, the electrode member includes a first round columnar portion (Fig. 6A) that extends along the fitting direction and is inserted in the recessed portion of the contact member as the part of the electrode member, a second round columnar portion (Fig. 6A) that extends along the fitting direction in a direction opposite from the first round columnar portion, and an electrode-side flange (Fig. 6A) overhanging in a direction perpendicular to the fitting direction from a border portion between the first round columnar portion and the second round columnar portion, and the contact-side flange and the electrode-side flange are stacked in the fitting direction to form a flange portion (Fig. 6A).
Regarding Claim 7, Ichida discloses the housing being composed of a top insulator (top of 26) having the first exposed surface and a bottom insulator (bottom of 26) having the second exposed surface, the top insulator includes a plurality of contact through-holes (where 23 are located) each of which receives the tubular portion of the contact member passing therethrough and is smaller in size than the contact-side flange, the bottom insulator includes a plurality of electrode through-holes (where 23 are located) each of which receives the second round columnar portion of the electrode member passing therethrough and is smaller in size than the electrode-side flange, and the top insulator and the bottom insulator are fixed together in a state where the tubular portions of the contact members of the plurality of conductive members pass through the plurality of contact through-holes, the second round columnar portions of the electrode members of the plurality of conductive members pass through the plurality of electrode through-holes, and the flange portions of the plurality of conductive members are sandwiched between the top insulator and the bottom insulator.
Regarding Claim 8, Ichida discloses the top insulator and the bottom insulator being fixed together with the mounting object being sandwiched between the top insulator and the bottom insulator, whereby the housing is attached to the mounting object (Fig. 6A).
Regarding Claim 9, Ichida discloses a reinforcement sheet (24) that is retained by the housing and has a fixing portion (Fig. 5) overhanging outward from an outer peripheral portion of the housing, wherein the fixing portion is fixed to the mounting object, whereby the housing is attached to the mounting object.
Regarding Claim 10, Ichida discloses the housing and the reinforcement sheet being integrally formed from insulating resin (Paragraph 0074).
Regarding Claim 11, Ichida discloses the housing including a lubricant retaining portion (Paragraph 0075) constituted of a groove (Paragraph 0075) that is formed at the second exposed surface and disposed around the electrode portion protruding from the second exposed surface.
Regarding Claim 12, Ichida discloses a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (Paragraph 0075) disposed on the second exposed surface.
Regarding Claim 13, Ichida discloses the bottom insulator being formed from an elastomer (Paragraph 0074).
Regarding Claim 14, Ichida discloses the insulating resin integrally forming the housing and the reinforcement sheet being constituted of an elastomer (Paragraph 0074).
Regarding Claim 15, Ichida discloses the electrode portion including an electrode surface (top of 23) that is exposed from the second exposed surface and roughened.
Regarding Claim 16, Ichida discloses the connector for biological data acquisition being configured to be mounted on a garment (Abstract) that is the mounting object.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art discloses connectors, similar to Applicant’s claimed invention, having housings, conductive members and electrode and contact portions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN A LEON whose telephone number is (571)272-2008. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am-6pm.
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, Renee S Luebke can be reached on 5712722009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EDWIN A. LEON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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