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 1-3 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aoki (JP 2012191691 A)(English Translated).
In Regards to Claim 1:
Aoki teaches an electrical junction box (10) comprising:
a resin case (12); and a component mount (20) that protrudes from the resin case (12) for mounting an electrical component (22); wherein the component mount (20) includes a peripheral wall portion extending along an outer peripheral surface of the electrical component (22), the peripheral wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) includes a first wall portion (32) and a second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) disposed circumferentially adjacent to each other and extending in mutually intersecting directions, pressure contact ribs (54) are provided on an inner surface (32) of at least one of the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1), the pressure contact ribs (54) being pressed against the outer peripheral surface (See Reproduced Drawing 1) of the electrical component (20), and the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) are circumferentially coupled to each other via a deformation-allowing wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1), the deformation-allowing wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) allowing outward deformation of whichever of the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) has the pressure contact ribs (54) provided thereon when the pressure contact ribs (52) are pressed against the electrical component (22).
In Regards to Claim 2:
Aoki teaches the electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the pressure contact ribs (54) are provided on the inner surfaces of the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1).
In Regards to Claim 3:
Aoki teaches the electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the deformation-allowing wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) is connected to circumferentially opposing edges of the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1), and has a shape that extends circumferentially around a virtual intersection between the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1).
In Regards to Claim 5:
Aoki teaches the electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the deformation-allowing wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) has a curved shape connecting circumferentially opposing edges of the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1).
In Regards to Claim 6:
Aoki teaches the electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the deformation-allowing wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1) is formed of a material with greater flexibility than that of the first wall portion (32) and the second wall portion (See Reproduced Drawing 1).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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 NADER J ALHAWAMDEH whose telephone number is (571)270-0571. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9Am - 6Pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah A Riyami can be reached at (571)270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NADER J ALHAWAMDEH/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831 /ABDULLAH A RIYAMI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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