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 .
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kusuda et al. (6,224,430).
Regarding claim 1, Kusuda et al., Fig. 1 shows a connector comprising:
a first fastener (51a); and
a housing (41a), the first fastener arranged on the housing and adapted to secure a wire (71a) between the housing and the first fastener, the housing including:
at least one side wall (FIGURE A below); and
a finger (43a) extending from one end of the at least one side wall, the at least one side wall includes a shoulder (FIUGRE A below) adapted to withstand external force applied to crimp the finger into a circuit board (not shown), a height from the shoulder to the one end of the at least one side wall is sufficient to prevent deformation of the housing during the crimping of the finger into the circuit board.
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Regarding claim 2, Fig. 1 shows the at least one side wall includes two opposing side walls, and the housing further including a top wall connected between the two side walls, the first fastener is provided on the top wall (pointed at 41a) and adapted to extend through the top wall.
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusuda et al. in view of Yamada et al. (6,361,382).
Regarding claim 3, Kusuda et al. disclose the claimed invention as descried above except for a second fastener arranged below the top wall between the two side walls and engaged with the first fastener so as to secure the wire.
Yamada et al., Fig. 2 shows a second fastener (6) arranged below the top wall between the two side walls and engaged with the first fastener so as to secure the wire. It would have been obvious to provide Kusuda et al. to have a second fastener arranged below the top wall between the two side walls and engaged with the first fastener so as to secure the wire, as taught by Yamada et al. for better connection.
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusuda et al. and Yamada et al. as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Daoud (6,319,018).
Regarding claim 14, Kusuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclose the claimed invention as described above except for the connector includes a gasket arranged between the first fastener and the housing, the wire adapted to be secured between the housing and the gasket.
Daoud, Fig. 8 shows a connector includes a gasket (69) arranged between the first fastener (70) and the housing (34), the wire (18) adapted to be secured between the housing and the gasket. It would have been obvious to provide Kusuda et al. and Yamada et al. to have the connector includes a gasket arranged between the first fastener and the housing, the wire adapted to be secured between the housing and the gasket, as taught by Daoud for better connection.
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Kusuda et al., Yamada et al. and Daoud disclose the first fastener is a bolt; the second fastener is a nut; and the gasket is abutted against below a head of the bolt so as to secure the wire between the housing and the gasket.
Claims 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kotera et al. (10,038,256) in view of Kusuda et al. (6,224,430).
Regarding claim 16, Kotera et al. disclose a connector assembly, comprising:
a bus (4, Fig. 5);
at least one pair of connectors (3, Fig. 5) electrically connected to one end of the bus; and
at least one pair of mating connectors (another 3, Fig. 5) electrically connected to the other end of the bus, each mating connector comprising:
a first fastener (3f, Fig. 3); and
a housing (3), the first fastener arranged on the housing and adapted to secure a wire (6) between the housing and the first fastener, the housing including: at least one side wall (3b, Fig. 2); and a finger (3c) extending from one end of the at least one side wall.
Kotera et al. disclose the claimed invention as described above except for the at least one side wall includes a shoulder adapted to withstand external force applied to crimp the finger into a circuit board, a height from the shoulder to the one end of the at least one side wall is sufficient to prevent deformation of the housing during the crimping of the finger into the circuit board.
Kusuda et al., FIGURE A above shows at least one side wall includes a shoulder adapted to withstand external force applied to crimp the finger into a circuit board, a height from the shoulder to the one end of the at least one side wall is sufficient to prevent deformation of the housing during the crimping of the finger into the circuit board.
It would have been obvious to modify Kotera et al. to have at least one side wall includes a shoulder adapted to withstand external force applied to crimp the finger into a circuit board, as taught by Kusuda et al. for better connection.
Regarding claim 17, Kotera et al. disclose the at least one pair of connectors includes a first pair of connectors adapted to transmit a control signal, a second pair of connectors adapted to transmit a power signal, and a third pair of connectors adapted to transmit another power signal.
Regarding claim 18, Kotera et al. disclose the at least one pair of mating connectors includes a first pair of mating connectors adapted to receive the control signal, a second pair of mating connectors adapted to receive the power signal, and a third pair of mating connectors adapted to receive the another power signal.
Regarding claim 19, Kotera et al. disclose the bus is one of a copper bar or a cable.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 and 20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THANH TAM T LE whose telephone number is (571)272-2094. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM.
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/THANH TAM T LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831 09/25/26
thanh-tam.le@uspto.gov
