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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1 – 2, and 10 – 11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In each of claims 1 and 10, the phrase “soldering portion having a nearest soldering point to the retaining portion” is confusing. This phrase will be interpreted as requiring the soldering portion to have a nearest soldering point close to the retaining portion.
In claim 2, line 2, “corresponding grounding portions” lacks antecedent basis. For the purposes of examination it will be assumed this language is referring to corresponding second grounding portions.
In claim 11, line 1 “gournding” appears to me a misspelling of grounding.
Appropriate corrections are 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.
Claims 1 – 2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 217691950 U (“Xiao”) in view of U.S. Pat. No. 10,756,489 (“Hu”).
Regarding Xiao, any reference to the written description will utilize the English language version, U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0411912. Also, Figure 3 of Xiao is magnified and marked up below, and this Figure was retrieved from the US publication because the drawings are clearer in that publication.
Regarding claim 1, Xiao discloses an electrical connector comprising:
an insulating housing (210);
one row of terminals (220a) arranged in the insulating housing (see Figs. 9 – 11) and comprising signal terminals (S2) and grounding terminals (G2), each of the signal terminals and the grounding terminals comprising a retaining portion retained in the insulating housing (see the bottom portion of each terminal which is retained using member 240 in the housing, Fig. 11), an elastic arm (upper part of each terminal, Fig. 11) and a soldering portion extending from opposite ends of the retaining portion (see the feet portion for soldering to a board, Fig. 3), and an arc-shaped contacting portion extending from the elastic portion (see the portion mating to 121, Fig. 3), the contacting portion having a contacting point (see Fig. 3), the soldering portion having a nearest soldering point close to the retaining portion (see Fig. 3); and
a grounding member (231) attached in the insulating housing (see Fig. 3) and comprising plural first grounding portions (portions 201 at locations A, see below) arranged in one row (see Fig. 11) and each extending downwards (201 extends along the ground terminal in a downward direction, see below) and plural second grounding portions (portions 202 at locations B, see below) arranged in one row (see Fig. 11) and each extending upwards (202 extends along the ground terminal in an upward direction, see below);
wherein the first grounding portions touch the grounding terminals at first touching points (the location where 201 touches G2), the second grounding portions touch the grounding terminals at second touching points (the location where 202 touches G2), the first touching point is located at a middle-length point between the contacting point and the nearest soldering point along an extending direction of the grounding terminal (see below where the middle point between the contacting point and soldering point is marked with line M and which crosses 202), and the second touching point is located near the first touching point (201 and 202 are located near each other at the bottom end of the terminal).
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Figure 3, magnified and marked up
Xiao discloses that the grounding portions extend perpendicularly from the main body section of 231, and thus does not disclose that the grounding portions extend slantwise.
However, Hu teaches a ground member 33 which contacts ground terminals using grounding portions which extend from a main body portion of the ground member, and the ground portions extend slantwise (see portions 371 and 372) between the main body portion and the section which contacts the terminals (see Fig. 5). It would have been obvious to make the portion of HU which extends between the main body and the portion extend slantwise as taught by Hu, because the slantwise extension projects the grounding portions away from the body at an angle to position the grounding portions as required along the ground terminal, which enables the body portion of the ground terminal to be smaller because the body portion no longer needs to have height to align a perpendicular extension with the contact point.
Regarding claim 2, Xiao discloses free ends of the first grounding portion and corresponding second grounding portions are located close to each other without any clearance after the first and second grounding portions are in a straight status (portions 201 and 202 are close to each other at the bottom of the terminals G2, and when straightened to contact G2 each have no clearance from the contact G2).
Regarding claim 8, Xiao discloses the first touching points and the second touching points are located on the retaining portions (the touch locations of 201 and 202 are on the portions of terminals G2 which are retained in the housing).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 7 and 9 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, and if all applicable claim objections are remedied.
Claims 10 – 14 are allowable, if all applicable claim objections are remedied.
Regarding Claim 3, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed electrical connector including wherein the first grounding portions are designed to have a shortest length and the second grounding portions are designed to have a longest length, along with the remaining elements of the claim.
Regarding Claim 4, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed electrical connector wherein the grounding member comprises an upper bar, a lower bar, and plural upright bars connecting with the upper bar and the lower bar, the first grounding portions extending downwards from a lower edge of the upper bar, and the second grounding portion extending upwards from an upper edge of the lower bar, along with the remaining elements.
Regarding Claim 9, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed electrical connector wherein each of the retaining portions defines an upper interfering portion and a lower interfering portion, and the first and the second touching points are located above the upper interfering portions, along with the remaining elements of the claim.
Regarding Claim 10, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed electrical connector including plural first grounding portions arranged in one row and each extending slantwise upwards, plural second grounding portions arranged in one row and each extending slantwise upwards, and plural third grounding portions arranged in one row and each extending slantwise downwards; wherein the first grounding portions touch the grounding terminals at first touching points, the second grounding portions touch the grounding terminals at second touching points, the third grounding portions touch the grounding terminals at third touching points, the first touching point is located at a middle-length point between the contacting point and the nearest soldering point along an extending direction of the grounding terminal, the second touching point is located near the contacting points, and the third touching point is located near the nearest soldering point, along with the remaining elements of the claim.
Casher teaches ground portions of different lengths, and multiple bars, but does not disclose the ground contact at a middle-length point and does not teach how to utilize the ground portions with bars in the device with the ground portions situated as disclosed in Xiao.
Xiao discloses the terminals as having interfering portions extending laterally at the bottom of each terminal, but does not disclose the touching points located above the upper interfering portion as required by the claim.
Hsiao discloses a connector having a ground member with three ground contact touching points, but does not disclose or teach a middle-length point, and the connector does not have elastic arms.
Fang discloses a connector with a ground member having a slantwise ground portion.
The prior art, when taken alone, or in combination, cannot be construed as reasonably teaching or suggesting all of the elements of the claimed invention as arranged, disposed, or provided in the manner as claimed by the Applicant.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D BAILLARGEON whose telephone number is (571)272-0676. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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/PAUL D BAILLARGEON/Examiner, Art Unit 2831
/renee s luebke/Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2831
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