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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-13 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by CHUNG et al. (Pub NO. KR 20210108852 (A); hereinafter Chung; listed on IDS filed on 09/26/2024).
Regarding Claim 1, Chung teaches a test connector disposed between a test apparatus and a device under test (test connector 10 in Fig. 1-Fig. 3; See [0037]), comprising:
a housing (housing 10 in Fig. 2; See [0043]) having a first through hole (133 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) perforated in an up-and-down direction (VD direction; See [0043]);
a signal conduction portion (110 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) configured to be conductive in the up-and-down direction (VD direction; See [0043]) and disposed in the first through hole in the up-and-down direction so as to be spaced apart from an inner peripheral surface of the first through hole (110 is disposed in 133 and spaced apart from 133 in Fig. 1; See [0043]);
an insulation support portion (120 in fig. 1-Fig. 2) formed between the first through hole and the signal conduction portion (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) so as to surround the signal conduction portion in a circumferential direction with respect to a central axis of the first through hole (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]), and
configured to support and insulate the signal conduction portion such that the signal conduction portion is positioned coaxially with the central axis (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]),
wherein the insulation support portion (120 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) has an up-and-down directional thickness less than an up-and-down directional thickness of the housing (120 has thickness in VD direction in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]); and
an air insulation portion (130 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) located between the inner peripheral surface of the first through hole and an outer peripheral surface of the signal conduction portion (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]),
wherein the air insulation portion is a space formed by the inner peripheral surface of the first through hole (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]), the outer peripheral surface of the signal conduction portion, and an upper surface or a lower surface of the insulation support portion (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]).
Regarding Claim 2, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the air insulation portion (130 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) is formed as an annular groove that surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the signal conduction portion in the circumferential direction (130 surrounds 110 in fig. 1) at at least one of an upper end or a lower end of the first through hole (lower end of 133 in Fig. 1; See [0043]).
Regarding Claim 3, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the air insulation portion (130 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) includes a first air insulation portion and a second air insulation portion (See Fig. 3 and Fig. below), which are located at an upper end and a lower end of the first through hole (See Fig. 3 and Fig. below), respectively, and wherein the connector further comprises an elastic portion (112 in Fig. 2; See [0080]) that is formed in the first air insulation portion along the inner peripheral surface of the first through hole (See Fig. 2; See [0080]) so as to be spaced apart from the outer peripheral surface of the signal conduction portion (See [0080]).
Regarding Claim 4, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 3, wherein the elastic portion is made of silicone rubber (See [0078]) or silicone rubber containing a multiple number of pores.
Regarding Claim 5, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the air insulation portion (130 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) includes a first air insulation portion and a second air insulation portion (See Fig. 3 and Fig. below), which are located at an upper end and a lower end of the first through hole (See Fig. 3 and Fig. below), respectively, and wherein the connector further comprises an elastic portion (112 in Fig. 2; See [0080]), which is disposed in the first air insulation portion so as to surround the outer peripheral surface of the signal conduction portion (See Fig. 2; See [0080]) and contains a multiple number of pores (See [0083]-[0090]).
Regarding Claim 6, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the housing has a second through hole (131 in Fig. 10), which is spaced apart from the first through hole in a horizontal direction and is perforated in the up-and-down direction (131 is spaced apart from 133 in horizontal direction in Fig. 10), and wherein the connector further comprises a ground conduction portion (110 is connected to ground in fig. 10), which is disposed in the second through hole in the up-and-down direction and is configured to be conductive in the up-and-down direction (See Fig. 10).
Regarding Claim 7, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 6, wherein an upper end of the ground conduction portion protrudes with respect to an upper surface of the housing and a lower end of the ground conduction portion protrudes with respect to a lower surface of the housing (See upper and lower portion of 210 protrudes from housing in Fig. 11-Fig. 12; See [0090]-[0095]).
Regarding Claim 8, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 6, wherein the signal conduction portion comprises a multiple number of first conductive particles gathered so as to be capable of conducting in the up-and-down direction (See [0090]-[0095]), and a first elastic substance (210; See [0090]-[0095]) maintaining the multiple number of first conductive particles in the up-and-down direction (See [0090]-[0095]), and wherein the ground conduction portion comprises a multiple number of second conductive particles gathered so as to be capable of conducting in the up-and-down direction (See [0090]-[0095]), and a second elastic substance maintaining the multiple number of second conductive particles in the up-and-down direction (second 210 in Fig. 11; See [0090]-[0095]).
Regarding Claim 9, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, further comprising an insulation sheet (53; See [0074]) coupled to a portion in a vicinity of a lower end of the signal conduction portion to support the signal conduction portion (110 in fig. 1-Fig. 2; See [0043]) in the up-and-down direction (VD direction), and coupled to a lower surface of the housing (53 is coupled to lower surface of housing 51; See [0074]-[0075]), wherein the insulation support portion and the signal conduction portion are integrally formed (130 and 110 are integrally formed) and the signal conduction portion and the insulation sheet are integrally formed (110 and 53 are integrally formed; See [0074]-[0075]), thereby constituting a conduction module that is removably coupled to the housing, and wherein the insulation support portion is fitted into the first through hole (110 is fitted into 133).
Regarding Claim 10, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the signal conduction portion (110) includes: a concealed portion surrounded by the insulation support portion (112 in Fig. 2); and an exposed portion not surrounded by the insulation support portion (111 Fig. 1-Fig. 2) and surrounded by the air insulation portion (See Fig. 1-Fig. 2), wherein the exposed portion has a diameter equal to or greater than a diameter of the concealed portion and forms an upper end or a lower end of the signal conduction portion (diameter of 111 is greater than diameter of 112 in Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 11, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 10, wherein the diameter of the exposed portion is in a range of 1 times to less than or equal to 2.5 times the diameter of the concealed portion (See [0068]).
Regarding Claim 12, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 10, wherein the housing (51 in fig. 6) includes first and second housings that are stacked and bonded in the up-and-down direction (upper 54 and lower 54 are first and second housing in Fig. 6), wherein a portion of the first through hole is formed in the first housing and a remainder portion of the first through hole is formed in the second housing (133 goes from upper 54 to lower 54 in Fig. 1-Fig. 6), wherein the insulation support portion and the concealed portion are disposed in the portion of the first through hole (112 and 130 are disposed in 133 in fig. 1-Fig. 6) and the exposed portion is disposed in the remainder portion of the first through hole (111 is disposed on remainder portion in fig. 1-Fig. 6), and wherein the air insulation portion is formed to surround the exposed portion in a state where the first and second housings are stacked in the up-and-down direction (130 is surrounded by housing in Fig. 1-Fig. 6).
Regarding Claim 13, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 12, wherein the housing has a second through hole (131 in Fig. 10), which is spaced apart from the first through hole in a horizontal direction (131 is spaced apart from 133 in horizontal direction in Fig. 10) and is perforated in the up-and-down direction (See VD direction in Fig. 10), wherein the connector further comprises a ground conduction portion (110 is connected to ground in fig. 10), which is disposed in the second through hole in the up-and-down direction and is configured to be conductive in the up-and-down direction (See Fig. 10), and wherein the ground conduction portion includes a first portion disposed in the first housing, and a second portion disposed in the second housing and bonded to the first portion (portion of 110 are disposed on upper and lower 54 in Fig. 1-Fig. 10).
Regarding Claim 17, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the up-and-down directional thickness of the insulation support portion is in a range of 50% to 90% of the up-and-down directional thickness of the housing (See the thickness of 130 in Fig. 1-Fig. 10).
Regarding Claim 18, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the insulation support portion is made of one of silicone rubber (See [0087]), polyimide resin, polyetherimide resin, and polytetrafluoroethylene resin.
Regarding Claim 19, Chung teaches the connector of Claim 1, wherein the housing is made of a metallic material or nonmetallic material (See [0078]), and wherein the metallic material is aluminum or stainless steel and the nonmetallic material is polyimide resin (See [0078]) or standard epoxy resin.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-16 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.
Regarding Claim 14, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests the connector of Claim 10, wherein the housing includes first, second, and third housings that are stacked and bonded in the up-and-down direction, wherein an intermediate portion of the first through hole is formed in the first housing, an upper portion of the first through hole located on the intermediate portion is formed in the second housing, and a lower portion of the first through hole located under the intermediate portion is formed in the third housing, wherein the insulation support portion and the concealed portion are disposed in the intermediate portion of the first through hole and the exposed portion is disposed in the upper portion of the first through hole and the lower portion of the first through hole, and wherein the air insulation portion is formed so as to surround the exposed portion in a state where the first, second, and third housings are stacked in the up-and-down direction.
Claims 15-16 depend on claim 14, therefore claims 15-16 also have allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
ASHIBU et al. (Pub NO. US 2014/0342592 A1) discloses Electrical Connector.
Dodds et al. (Pub NO. US 2012/0289071 A1) discloses Electrical Connectors.
Hsiao et al. (Patent NO. US 7,976,325 B2) discloses Socket for Testing Semiconductor.
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/ZANNATUL FERDOUS/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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