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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Leeman (Patent No.: US 10,545,305 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Leeman teaches A fiber optic network system comprising a trunk-to-node cabling assembly for connecting a trunk cable to at least 16 network nodes, the trunk-to-node cabling assembly consisting of: a trunk VSFF uniboot connector (e.g. the connector at input reference numeral 510 in Figure 37) for terminating the trunk cable (reference numeral 22 in Figure 32) , a plurality of VSFF adapters (reference numeral 135 in Figure 8; reference numeral 145 in Figure 9; e.g. “adapters” “adapter ports” as in column 6 lines 23-43) and a plurality of cable assemblies (reference numeral 50 in Figure 1A) terminated by VSFF connectors (e.g. “connectorized ends” as in column 5 lines 55-67 and throughout) , the trunk-to-node cabling assembly being configured to connect the trunk cable to the at least 16 network nodes (e.g. “splitters 506 are 1×16 splitters” as in column 11 lines 63-67) without any prefabricated shuffle component or mid span breakout component between the trunk cable and the at least 16 network nodes (e.g. there being no prefabricated shuffle component or mid span breakout component).
Regarding claim 2, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 1, wherein each of the at least 16 network nodes comprises a VSFF receptacle (reference numeral 135 in Figure 8; reference numeral 145 in Figure 9; e.g. “adapters” “adapter ports” as in column 6 lines 23-43) and wherein the VSFF connectors of the trunk-to-node cabling assembly (e.g. “connectorized ends” as in column 5 lines 55-67 and throughout) include duplex VSFF connectors or multifiber VSFF connectors (e.g. “terminated with multi-fiber fiber optical connectors” as in column 6 lines 53-67) mated with the VSFF receptacle for each of the at least 16 network nodes.
Regarding claim 3, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 2, wherein at least some of the at least 16 network nodes comprise transceivers (e.g. “ONT” as in column 6 lines 6-24).
Regarding claim 4, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 1, wherein the VSFF connectors of the trunk-to-node cabling assembly comprise duplex VSFF connectors (e.g. “connectorized ends” as in column 5 lines 55-67 and throughout) and multifiber VSFF connectors (e.g. “terminated with multi-fiber fiber optical connectors” as in column 6 lines 53-67).
Regarding claim 5, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 4, wherein the VSFF connectors of the trunk-to-node cabling assembly further comprise at least one VSFF uniboot connector (e.g. “boots” as described in column 13 line 47-50 as illustrated through reference numeral 50a, 50b in Figure 11) .
Regarding claim 6, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 5, wherein the at least one VSFF uniboot connector comprises single-fiber ferrules (e.g. “can include a single optical fiber” as in column 7 lines 32-48).
Regarding claim 7, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 6, wherein the trunk VSFF uniboot connector comprises multifiber ferrules (e.g. “terminated with multi-fiber fiber optical connectors” as in column 6 lines 53-67; e.g. “can each include a plurality of optical fibers” as in column 6 lines 52-67).
Regarding claim 8, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cable assemblies of the trunk-to-node cabling assembly comprises a plurality of branch cable assemblies (reference numeral 40 in Figure 1A) and a plurality of peripheral cable assemblies (reference numeral 50 in Figure 1A) .
Regarding claim 9, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of VSFF adapters comprises a trunk VSFF adapter mated with the trunk VSFF connector (e.g. the adapter to which trunk VSFF connector 510 in Figure 37 in mated).
Regarding claim 10, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of branch cable assemblies comprises a multifiber VSFF connector (e.g. “terminated with multi-fiber fiber optical connectors” as in column 6 lines 53-67; e.g. “can each include a plurality of optical fibers” as in column 6 lines 52-67) mated to the trunk VSFF adapter (e.g. the adapter to which trunk VSFF connector 510 in Figure 37 in mated) and another VSFF connector opposite said multifiber VSFF connector (e.g. “connectorized ends” as in column 5 lines 55-67 and throughout).
Regarding claim 11, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of VSFF adapters further comprises a plurality of branch VSFF adapters (reference numeral 135 in Figure 8), said another VSFF connector of each branch cable assembly being mated to a respective branch VSFF adapter (reference numeral 50a in Figure 11).
Regarding claim 12, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 11, where each said another VSFF connector is a VSFF uniboot connector (e.g. “boots” as described in column 13 line 47-50 as illustrated through reference numeral 50a, 50b in Figure 11).
Regarding claim 13, Leeman teaches A fiber optic network system for connecting a trunk cable containing at least 64 optical fibers to at least eight transceivers, the fiber optic network system comprising: a trunk VSFF uniboot connector (e.g. the connector at input reference numeral 510 in Figure 37; e.g. “boots” as described in column 13 line 47-50) terminating the trunk cable connector; a trunk VSFF adapter (reference numeral 132 in Figure 8; reference numeral 142, 143 in Figure 9; e.g. the adapter to which trunk VSFF connector 510 in Figure 37 in mated), the trunk VSFF uniboot connector being mated to the trunk VSFF adapter (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 37); and four breakout cable assemblies (reference numeral 145 in Figure 9), a single multifiber VSFF connector (reference numeral 143 in Figure 9) , a plurality of individual breakout connectors (reference numeral 50a in Figure 14) , and breakout cabling connecting the single multifiber VSFF connector to each of the individual breakout connectors (e.g. “internal fiber leading to the optical splitter within the housing” as in column 8 lines 44-64 and throughout), the single multifiber VSFF connector of each of the four breakout cable assemblies being mated side-by-side in the trunk VSFF adapter (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 11 and Figure 14).
Regarding claim 14, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 13, wherein each of the individual breakout connectors (reference numeral 50A in Figure 14; reference numeral 530 in Figure 37) is mated with a different one of the at least eight transceivers.
Regarding claim 15, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 13, wherein the breakout cabling of each breakout cable assembly comprises a fan-out block (reference numeral 580 in Figure 32) .
Regarding claim 16, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 13, wherein the breakout cabling of each breakout cable assembly comprises individual cables (reference numeral 50 in Figure 1A and Figure 11) running from the single multifiber VSFF connector to each of the individual breakout connectors such that the breakout cabling is free of fan-out blocks.
Regarding claim 17, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 13, wherein at least some of the individual breakout connectors are VSFF MT connectors (reference numeral 50a in Figure 11).
Regarding claim 18, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 13, wherein at least some of the individual breakout connectors are VSFF uniboot connectors (e.g. “boots” as described in column 13 line 47-50 as illustrated through reference numeral 50a, 50b in Figure 11).
Regarding claim 19, Leeman teaches The fiber optic network system of claim 13, wherein at least some of the individual breakout connectors are MPO connectors (reference numeral 50a in Figure 11; e.g. “terminated with multi-fiber fiber optical connectors” as in column 6 lines 53-67).
Conclusion
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/AGUSTIN BELLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
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