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
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) 1-5, 9-11, 13, 14, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ayzenberg (US 20230010530) in view of Keyser et al. (US 20170025797).
Regarding Claim 1, Ayzenberg, discloses a subassembly for a cable connector, comprising:
a cable termination assembly (110) comprising:
an insulative housing (216, fig. 2);
a plurality of signal terminals (252, fig. 5B) held within the insulative housing,
each of the plurality of signal terminals comprising a mounting end (252b) configured for mounting to a surface of a substrate (211, 211a) and a wire connecting end(252a, fig. 5b); and
a plurality of ground terminals (256) held within the insulative housing, each of the plurality of ground terminals comprising a mounting end (256b) configured for mounting to the surface of the substrate;
Ayzenberg discloses the claimed invention except for a ground member mounted to the cable termination assembly and comprising a plurality of mounting portions configured for mounting to the surface of the substrate.
Keyser, in figures 1, 6, and 8 discloses a ground member (40, 60, 80) mounted to the cable termination assembly (20, fig. 1) and comprising a plurality of mounting portions (45, 64, 85) configured for mounting to the surface of the substrate (32, 70).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to provide a ground member in Ayzenberg as suggested by Keyser, so as to provide a common ground path for the shielding of the a plurality of cables.
Regarding Claim 2, Ayzenberg and Keyser disclose the subassembly, wherein: the mounting ends of the plurality of signal terminals and the plurality of ground terminals are co-planar with the mounting portions of the ground member (they are all connected to pads on the substrate (or circuit board); and Keyser discloses the plurality of signal terminals and the plurality of ground terminals are held by the housing in a row with signal terminals of the plurality of signal terminals disposed between ground terminals of the plurality of ground terminals (see fig 8B of Keyser). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ayzenberg and provide signal terminals between the ground terminals as suggested by Keyser, so as to have signal and ground terminals in a row, for space saving.
Regarding Claim 3-5 Ayzenberg and Keyser disclose the subassembly, Keyser also discloses the ground member further comprises strip and wings (Keyser fig 6) extending from the mounting portions, the strip being opposite the mounting ends; and each of the wings is attached to a respective ground terminal of the plurality of ground terminals. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ayzenberg and provide strip with wings on the ground member as suggested by Keyser, so as to have ground member attached to the shielding of the cable for proper grounding of shielding of wires.
Regarding Claim 9, Ayzenberg and Keyser disclose the cable connection assembly. Ayzenberg also discloses a first cable termination assembly comprising: a first plurality of signal terminals (Ayzenberg fig. 4); and a first plurality of ground terminals; the Ayzenberg as modified by Keyser also discloses (see rejection of claim 1) a first ground member; a first plurality of signal pads (213a, fig. 4, 5c, Aizenberg); and at least one ground pad (213b); the mounting ends of the first plurality of signal terminals are coupled to respective pads of the first plurality of signal pads, and the mounting ends of the plurality of ground terminals and the mounting portions of the ground member are each coupled to a ground pad of the at least one ground pad.
Regarding Claim 10, Ayzenberg and Keyser disclose the cable connection assembly, further comprising: a second cable termination assembly (Ayzenberg, fig 3, 4), comprising: a second plurality of signal terminals. Keyser discloses a ground member, that is being applied to the second cable connection assembly, thus Ayzenberg as modified by Keyser also discloses the second plurality of signal terminals comprising a mounting end and a wire connecting end; and a second plurality of ground terminals, each of the second plurality of ground terminals comprising a mounting end; a second ground member coupled to the second cable termination assembly and comprising a plurality of mounting portions, wherein: the substrate further comprises a second plurality of signal pads (pads on the bottom side of substrate 211 of Aizenberg); the mounting ends of the second plurality of signal terminals are coupled to respective pads of the second plurality of signal pads, and the mounting ends of the second plurality of ground terminals and the mounting portions of the second ground member are each coupled to a ground pad of the at least one ground pad.
Regarding Claim 11, Ayzenberg and Keyser disclose the cable connector, further comprising: an outer housing (230, 240, Fig 1 of Ayzenberg) comprising a cavity; a cable connection assembly (210, Ayzenberg, fig. 2) disposed within the cavity, the cable connection assembly comprising: the substrate (211, fig. 4) having a first side, the first side comprising: a plurality of signal pads (213a0; and at least one ground pad (213b); wherein: the mounting ends (252b, fig 5B, Ayzenberg) of the plurality of signal terminals are coupled to respective pads of the plurality of signal pads; the mounting ends of the plurality of ground terminals (256) are coupled to the at least one ground pad; and for each of the at least one ground members, the ground member is attached to ground terminals of the plurality of ground terminals of a respective cable termination assembly and the at least one ground pad.
Regarding Claim 13, Ayzenberg as modified by Keyser disclose a cable assembly, comprising: a plurality of cables (214, Ayzenberg), each of the plurality of cables comprising at least one wire (214a, fig. 6A, Ayzenberg) and a shield (214c); a cable connector terminating the plurality of cables, the cable connector comprising: a substrate (211) having a first side (211a) comprising: a plurality of signal pads (213a); and at least one ground pad (213b);
a cable termination assembly (210) mounted to the first side of the substrate, the cable termination assembly comprising: a plurality of signal terminals (252), each of the plurality of signal terminals comprising a mounting end (252b) mounted to a signal pad of the plurality of signal pads and a wire connecting end (252a) coupled to a wire of a cable of the plurality of cables; and a plurality of ground terminals (256), each of the plurality of ground terminals comprising a mounting end (256b) mounted to a ground pad (213b) of the at least one ground pad; and a lower ground member (40, 60, 80 of Keyser) comprising a first end and a second end opposite the first end with a plurality of mounting portions at the second end, wherein the lower ground member is coupled at the first end to the shields of the plurality of cables and the plurality of mounting portions are mounted to the at least one ground pad (also see rejection of claim 10).
Regarding Claim 14, Ayzenberg as modified by Keyser disclose the cable assembly of claim 13, wherein Ayzenberg as modified by Keyzer discloses at least one upper ground member, each of the at least one upper ground member comprising a concave portion (40 of Keyzer), wherein, for each upper ground member of the at least one upper ground member: a segment of a respective cable of the plurality of cables is disposed within the concave portion of the upper ground member (fig. 1) with the shield (27) of the respective cable coupled to the upper ground member; and the upper ground member is mechanically coupled to the cable termination assembly so as to press against the shield of the respective cable and provide electrical coupling between the shield of the respective cable and the upper ground member and the lower ground member.
Regarding Claim 16, Ayzenberg as modified by Keyser disclose a method of manufacturing a cable assembly, comprising: attaching a first ground member to a first cable termination assembly (fig. 3 of Ayzenberg), wherein the first cable termination assembly comprises a lead frame comprising an insulative housing (216) holding a plurality of signal terminals (252) and a plurality of ground terminals (256); and mounting the first cable termination assembly and the first ground member to a first side of a substrate (211), wherein the first side of the substrate comprises a plurality of signal pads (213a) and at least one ground pad (231b), the mounting comprising: soldering mounting ends of the plurality of signal terminals of the first cable termination assembly to respective signal pads of the plurality of signal pads on the first side of the substrate (paragraph 0037); and soldering mounting ends of the plurality of ground terminals of the first cable termination assembly to the at least one ground pad of the substrate (paragraph 0038).
Ayzenberg does not disclose the signal and ground terminals in a row. Keyser (fig 8b) discloses the signal and ground termination in a row. It would have been obvious to have terminal pads in a row of Ayzenberg as suggested by Keyzer so as to make assembly compact.
Regarding Claim 17, Ayzenberg and Keyser, discloses the method of manufacturing a cable assembly, further comprising: fusing a wire of each of a first plurality of cables to respective wire connecting ends of the plurality of signal terminals of the first cable termination assembly (Ayzenberg, 0035); coupling shields of each of the plurality of cables (214) to the at least one ground terminal of the first cable termination assembly; and positioning the first ground member below the first plurality of cables so that a portion of the first ground member is substantially parallel to a plane in which the wire of each of the first plurality of cables is fused to the respective wire connecting ends of the plurality of signal terminals of the first cable termination assembly and so that the first ground member is aligned with a portion of at least one of the plurality of first cables in which the shield is exposed.
Regarding Claim 18, Ayzenberg and Keyser, discloses the method of manufacturing the cable assembly, further comprising: disposing a segment of a respective cable of the plurality of cables within concave portions of a plurality of upper ground members with a shield of the respective cable coupled to the upper ground member (concave portions 252a, fig 5B, Ayzenberg) ; and electrically coupling the shield (214c)of the respective cable of the plurality of cables to the plurality of upper ground members (Fig 6A, 6B).
Regarding Claim 19, Ayzenberg and Keyser, discloses the method of manufacturing the cable assembly, further comprising: attaching a second ground member to a second cable termination assembly (fig 4B, 5C of Ayzenberg) wherein the second cable termination assembly comprises a lead frame comprising an insulative housing (210, 216) holding a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals in a row with ground terminals of the plurality of ground terminals bounding pairs of the plurality of signal terminals; mounting the second cable termination assembly (fig 3, Ayzenberg) and the second ground member to the first side of a substrate, the mounting comprising: soldering mounting ends of the plurality of signal terminals of the second cable termination assembly to respective signal pads of the plurality of signal pads on the first side of the substrate; and soldering mounting ends of the plurality of ground terminals of the second cable termination assembly to the at least one ground pad of the substrate 90037); fusing a wire of each of a plurality of second cables to respective wire connecting ends of the plurality of signal terminals of the second cable termination assembly (0035); and coupling shields of each of the plurality of second cables to the at least one ground terminal of the second cable termination assembly (fig 6B).
Regarding Claim 20, Ayzenberg and Keyser, discloses the method of manufacturing, further comprising: positioning the first ground member of the first cable termination assembly substantially parallel to the substrate (Fig 5C, Ayzenberg); and positioning the second ground member of the second cable termination assembly to form an acute angle with the substrate (fig 5C).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8, 12, and 15 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.
For claim 6, the recitation of ground member with a planar portion and a side portion at an angle of +/- 5 degrees, defines the claim over the art of record.
For claim 7, the recitation of a plurality of mounting portions disposed in a plane, and a the plane is an at angle of +/- 5 degrees or greater than 5 degrees with respect to the ground strip, defines the claim over art of record.
Claim 8 depends from claim 7.
Regarding Claim 12, the recitation of a second cable termination assembly, wherein the cable termination assembly is configured to receive a first plurality of cables routed to the cable termination assembly at a first angle with respect to the substrate; the second cable termination assembly is configured to receive a second plurality of cables routed to the second cable termination assembly at a second angle with respect to the substrate; and the second angle is larger than the first angle, defines the art of record.
Regarding Claim 15, the prior art of record does not disclose the cable termination assembly and a second termination assembly, both mounted on the first side of the substrate, wherein the second plurality of cables passes over the first cable termination assembly and are terminated to the second cable termination assembly ends of the first plurality of cables terminated to the first cable termination assembly are disposed in a first plane parallel to the first side of the substrate; ends of the second plurality of cables terminated to the second cable termination assembly are disposed in a second plane at an acute angle with respect to the first side of the substrate, and the first and second lower ground members comprises a planar region at the first end and a mounting region at the second end; for the first lower ground member, the planar region is parallel to the mounting region; and for the second lower ground member, the planar region is at an angle between 5 and 30 degrees with respect to the mounting region.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 10,690,364 to Champion et al. discloses two connectors mounted on the same side of the substrate, both connectors contact being parallel to the substrate.
US 12,451,627 to Zerebilov, discloses multiple connector modules mounted at an angle.
US 20220158390 to Lee, discloses two sets of cables mounted on opposite surface of the substrate, cables on each side being staggered and mounted parallel to the substrate.
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/TULSIDAS C PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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