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 .
35 USC 102 Rejections
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) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Iizuka et al 5391061.
Regarding claim 1, Iizuka et al (Figure 4) discloses an airtight terminal comprising: a metal substrate 103 in which a plurality of through-holes 105 are formed; a plurality of conductive terminals 107 each introduced through the respective through-holes; a glass filling material 106 that has an electrical insulating property, fills between the through-hole and the conductive terminal, and seals between the through-hole and the conductive terminal; a protective member 11 that is formed of a material with an electrical insulating property and elasticity and covers around the conductive terminal with the conductive terminal introduced in the protective member; and a locking portion (unnumbered) that is provided in the conductive terminal or the glass filling material, wherein the protective member includes a holding portion 12 that is provided in the protective member on a side opposite to a side of the metal substrate, is formed to have a smaller inner diameter than an outer diameter of the conductive terminal, and holds the conductive terminal, a deformable portion 10 that is provided on the side of the metal substrate with respect to the holding portion and is elastically deformable in a direction in which the deformable portion is compressed in contact with any one or both of the metal substrate and the glass filling material in a case in which the protective member is attached to the conductive terminal, and a restricting portion (unnumbered) that comes into contact with the locking portion and restricts movement of the protective member on the side of the metal substrate in the case in which the protective member is attached to the conductive terminal.
Regarding claim 2, Iizuka et al discloses the protective member 11 is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the conductive terminal 107.
Regarding claim 3, Iizuka et al discloses the deformable portion 10 is formed to have a larger inner diameter than the outer diameter of the conductive terminal 107 and is configured to be elastically deformable in a direction in which the deformable portion spreads outward in a radial direction of the conductive terminal in the case in which the protective member 11 is attached to the conductive terminal.
35 USC 103 Rejections
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) 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iizuka et al as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of JP 57-4235.
Regarding claim 7, JP ‘235 (Figure 3) discloses the metal substrate 8 further includes two attachment holes 11 that are formed to penetrate through the metal substrate and allow fastening members for attaching the metal substrate to an attachment target to be introduced therethrough, and the attachment holes are disposed at such positions that a straight line connecting the two attachment holes intersects a straight line connecting the respective through-holes, and to provide Iizuka et al with same thus would have been obvious, to facilitate mounting in a desired location.
Regarding claim 8, JP ‘235 discloses the conductive terminal 13 includes a core material 13 that is formed to have a constant outer diameter, and an outer skin material 15 that is formed of a member that has higher rigidity and heat resistance than the core material and has a thermal expansion coefficient that is equivalent to a thermal expansion coefficient of the glass filling material 12 or has a value between thermal expansion coefficients of the glass filling material and of the core material, and to provide Iizuka et al with same thus would have been obvious, for proper sealing under wide temperature variations.
Regarding claim 9, JP ‘235 discloses the conductive terminal 13 further includes a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion, and to form the conductive terminal of Iizuka et al in this way thus would have been obvious, to facilitate attachment to external devices.
Regarding claim 10, to form the outer diameter of the small diameter portion of Iizuka et al (as modified by JP ‘235) within a range of 3.0 mm to 3.4 mm is deemed to have been an obvious matter of routine experimentation, to reduce size.
Regarding claim 11, to form an outer diameter of the core material of Iizuka et al (as modified by JP ‘235) to be less than 50% of the outer diameter of the large diameter portion is deemed to have been an obvious matter of routine experimentation, to reduce size.
Claims Defining Over Prior Art
Claims 4-6 and 12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of the prior art discloses or teaches a groove portion that is provided between the distal end portion and the proximal end portion, surrounds an outer periphery of the distal end portion, and has a shape obtained by recessing a stepped part formed by a difference between the outer diameters of the distal end portion and of the proximal end portion toward the deformable portion; nor the retainer portion; nor the thickness dimensions recited; in combination with the rest of the subject matter of the independent claim and any intervening claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY F PAUMEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2013. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th.
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/GARY F PAUMEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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