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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/11/2023 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20090322072, Tiberghien.
In regards to claim 1, in Figures 3-8 and paragraphs detailing said figures, Tiberghien discloses a floating joint and retainer connection structure, comprising: a fixed retainer (410) having a first side (left side of L410) and a second side (right side of L410) and internally defining a first receiving space (417, 418, 419) between the first and the second side; the first side being in an open state while the second side having a through hole (the right end of 417) provided thereat; and the through hole being communicable with the first receiving space; an adaptor joint (121) having a guiding section and a pipe connecting section(216); the guiding section internally defining a second receiving space and having a free end in an open state with a beveled guiding surface (215) formed along a rim of the free end; the pipe connecting section including a pipe fitting end and an engaging end, and internally defining a flow passage communicable with the second receiving space; and the pipe connecting section of the adaptor joint being extended through the first receiving space to project from the through hole of the fixed retainer; and a retaining element (411) fitted on around an outer surface of the pipe connecting section of the adaptor joint to limit the adaptor joint from moving axially relative to the fixed retainer while allowing the adaptor joint to move radially relative to the fixed retainer such that, prior to establishing an axial connection, a male joint and a female joint are brought to have substantially the same centerline.
In regards to claim 5, in Figures 3-8 and paragraphs detailing said figures, Tiberghien discloses the through hole on the fixed retainer has an inner diameter larger than an outer diameter of the pipe fitting end of the pipe connecting section.
In regards to claim 6, in Figures 3-8 and paragraphs detailing said figures, Tiberghien discloses the first side of the fixed retainer is provided with a penetrating opening, which is communicable with the first receiving space (in as much as Applicant shows).
In regards to claim 7, in Figures 3-8 and paragraphs detailing said figures, Tiberghien discloses the engaging end of the pipe connecting section of the adaptor joint has an abutting surface (218) abutting against an inner surface (418) of the second side of the fixed retainer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/11/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that claim 1 requires that radial floating movement during a
connection procedure occurs at the adaptor joint itself, as a single joint member, rather than at a plate-level, carrier-level, or module-level structure. The Examiner disagrees. The language does not exclude a plate-level, carrier-level, or module-level structure.
Further, the original disclosure recites:
Please refer to Figs. 5 to 8, which show the use of the floating joint and retainer connection structure according to the present invention to connect two non-coaxial couplers. It is noted, when viewing in front of the drawings, the left side of Figs. 5 to 8 is a fixed side, which is illustrated as a server cabinet 8 in the present invention. A female coupler 9 is mounted on the fixed side, i.e. on the server cabinet 8. There are also other parts on the server cabinet 8 but they are not described in detail herein. As to components shown in the right or movable side of Figs. 5 to 8, they are movable relative to the server cabinet 8. In Figs. 5 to 8, the movable side is illustrated as a server case or server chassis 10 assembled to the server cabinet 8 in slip fit. The floating joint and retainer connection structure of the present invention is mounted on the movable side server case 10. The following description is related to the movements of the parts included in the present invention. As to other parts on the server case 10, they are not particularly described herein. As shown, the fixed retainer 1 of the floating joint and retainer connection structure of the present invention is mounted on the server case 10. When it is desired to axially connect the server case 10 to the server cabinet 8 end to end via the male coupler 5 and the female coupler 9 while the server cabinet 8 and the server case 10 are not coaxial with each other, i.e. the male coupler 5 and the female coupler 9 are radially offset from each other, the floating joint and retainer connection structure of the present invention can be used to correct the radial offset between the male and the female coupler 5, 9 as much as possible to an acceptable error before they can be connected end to end.
The original disclosure clearly anticipates a plate-level, carrier-level, or module-level structure for floating joint and retainer connection structure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AARON M DUNWOODY whose telephone number is (571)272-7080. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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/AARON M DUNWOODY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679