DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claim 2 objected to because of the following informalities: “third mating slots span” appears to be a typo for “third mating slot spans.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bunke US 12327967. Regarding claim 1, Bunke discloses a receptacle electrical connector (see at 102 for the general configuration of the connector and at 216 for the particular configuration of the receptacle connectors 108) comprising:
an insulating housing (see e.g. at 314) having two first mating slots (labeled MS1 below) arranged parallel in a first direction (labeled D1 below),
two second mating slots (labeled MS2) and one third mating slot (labeled MS3), each of the two first mating slots extending in a second direction (labeled D2) perpendicular to the first direction; and
a plurality of terminals (see at 512 in figure 5) retained in the insulating housing and comprising contacting portions extending into said mating slots, respectively;
wherein the two second mating slots are aligned with each other in the first direction, each of the second mating slots is aligned with a corresponding first mating slot in the second direction, and the third mating slot is located at one side of the two second mating slots.
To the extent that Bunke may not disclose every element of the connector specifically as it pertains to the arrangement shown at 216, combining the elements more clearly shown in other species into the arrangement as at 216 would have been obvious. The reason would have been to make the plug/receptacle in the arrangement as shown at 216. Note that the individual connectors are in pairs of plug and receptacle connectors (col. 8., lines 15-20).
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Regarding claim 8, Bunke discloses a plug connector (see at 104 for the general configuration of the connector, including paddle cards at 118 in figure 1, and at 216 for the particular configuration of the USB connectors 118) comprising:
an insulating housing (see e.g. at 322 in figure 3) having a base portion (the portions of the housings surrounding the circuit boards 114, 320, which form the paddle cards can be considered to collectively form the base); two first paddle cards (paddle cards visible in figure 1 at 118, location labeled PC 1 in annotated figure 2A below) extending across the base portion and arranged parallel to each other in a first direction (labeled D1), each of the two paddle cards extending in a second (labeled D2) direction perpendicular to the first direction;
two second paddle cards (labeled PC2) extending across the base portion and aligned with the first paddle cards in the second direction, respectively; and one third paddle card (labeled PC3) extending across the base portion;
wherein the third paddle card is located at one side of the two second paddle cards and extends to the first paddle card in the first direction.
To the extent that Bunke may not disclose every element of the connector specifically as it pertains to the arrangement shown at 216, combining the elements more clearly shown in other species into the arrangement as at 216 would have been obvious. The reason would have been to make the plug/receptacle in the arrangement as shown at 216. Note that the individual connectors are in pairs of plug and receptacle connectors (col. 8., lines 15-20).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 9-12 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. Claims 13-14 are allowable. Regarding claim 13, the prior art does not disclose the invention as claimed including the two rows of cables connected with the connecting portions of the signal terminals; and two covers sandwiching the two rows of cables in a height direction, further including one of the two covers is reversely assembled to another of the two covers and the hook portions are inserted into and locked with complementary holes of the two covers as claimed.
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
