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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/21/2024 was considered by the examiner.
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(s) 9-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stengel EP1149292B1 in view of Thomas US 7112969 B1.
Regarding claim 9, Stengel discloses a jumper wire (fig. 1, elm. 4, par. [0017]) for connecting an electrical cable (par. [0001]) to a test device (fig. 1, elm.3, par. [0017]) for diagnosing a state of health of the electrical cable (par. [0001]), said jumper wire comprising: at least one data-storing element (fig. 1, elm. 9, par. [0017]) comprising predetermined test data of the electrical cable, said data-storing element being electrically connected to the output port by at least one data transmission lead, said data-storing element being configured to supply the test data to the test device (par. [0013]), (clm. 1).
Stengel does not disclose explicitly jumper wire comprising: configured to cooperate with an input port of the test device an input connector configured to cooperate with a connector of the electrical cable the input connector being electrically connected to the output port; wherein the jumper wire comprises at least one electrical test lead connecting the output port to the input connector and wherein the output port comprises a projecting portion comprising an inner face facing the electrical test lead, said data- storing element being positioned against the inner face of the projecting portion.
Thomas discloses jumper wire (fig. 2, elm. 202, col. 4, ln. 16-17) comprising: an output port (fig. 2, elm. 212, col. 4, ln. 56-58) configured to cooperate with an input port (fig. 2, elm. 206, col. 4, ln. 45-46) of the test device (fig. 2, elm. 202, col. 4, ln. 19-20), an input connector (fig. 2, elm. 216, col. 5, ln. 25-27) configured to cooperate with a connector (fig. 2, elm. 110, col. 1, ln. 47-48) of the electrical cable (fig. 2, elm. 100, col. 1, ln. 35-37), the input connector being electrically connected to the output port (see. fig. 1-6); jumper wire (fig. 2, elm. 202, col. 4, ln. 47-48) comprises at least one electrical test lead (fig. 2, elm. 202, col. 4, ln. 16-17) connecting the output port (fig. 2, elm. 212, col. 4, ln. 56-58) to the input connector (fig. 2, elm. 216, col. 5, ln. 25-27), and wherein the output port comprises a projecting portion (fig. 2-3, elm. 208, col. 4, ln. 45-51) comprising an inner face facing the electrical test lead (see. fig. 1-6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide an automated wire testing system includes adapter modules that couple a wire harness under test with an interface test adapter, as taught in Thomas in modifying the apparatus of Stengel. The motivation would be to provide customers with kits that comprise connectors conforming to the selected standard so that the customer can quickly and easily build adapter modules to test any desired wire harness. (see Thomas: Summary).
Regarding claim 10, Stengel and Thomas discloses the jumper wire according to claim 9, Stengel discloses wherein the input connector is configured to mate by shape complementarity only with the connector of the electrical cable whose test data is stored in the data-storing element (par. [0003]-[0004]).
Regarding claim 11, Stengel and Thomas discloses the jumper wire according to claim 9, Stengel discloses further comprising at least one power supply lead connecting the data-storing element to the output port, allowing power supply of the data-storing element by the test device (par. [0018]).
Regarding claim 12, Stengel and Thomas discloses a diagnostic module (fig. 1-2, elm. 1-9) for diagnosing a state of health of a plurality of types of electrical cables, said diagnostic module comprising a test device (fig. 1, elm.3, par. [0017]) and a plurality of jumper wires (fig. 1, elm. 4, par. [0017]) according to claim 9, each of the jumper wires (fig. 1, elm. 4, par. [0017]) configured to connect one type of electrical cable ( par. [0001]), to the test device (fig. 1, elm.3, par. [0017]), at least one data-storing element (fig. 1, elm. 9, par. [0017]): reading the test data stored in the data-storing element of the jumper wire (fig. 1, par. [0009]), and executing a test comprising (fig. 1, par. [0009], [0017]), (clm. 1): transmitting at least one test signal into the electrical cable via the jumper wire, the test signal being determined from the test data (par. [0001]-[0002]); and measuring at least one response signal of the electrical cable via the jumper wire so as to determine the state of health of the electrical cable (par. [0010], [0019]), (clm. 1).
Stengel does not disclose the jumper wires each comprising: an input connector of different shape configured to cooperate with a connector of one type of electrical cable, the test device comprising a single input port configured to co-operate alternately with the output port of each jumper wire to connect them electrically in a removable manner, the test device being configured for.
Thomas discloses the jumper wires (fig. 2, elm. 202, col. 4, ln. 16-17) each comprising: an input connector (fig. 2, elm. 216, col. 5, ln. 25-27) of different shape configured to cooperate with a connector (fig. 2, elm. 110, col. 1, ln. 47-48) of one type of electrical cable (fig. 2, elm. 100, col. 1, ln. 35-37), the test device (fig. 2, elm. 202, col. 4, ln. 19-20), comprising a single input port (fig. 2, elm. 206, col. 4, ln. 45-46) configured to co-operate alternately with the output port (fig. 2, elm. 212, col. 4, ln. 56-58) of each jumper wire to connect (see. fig. 1-6) them electrically in a removable manner (fig. 4, col. 5, ln. 52-55), the test device being configured for
The references are combined for the same reason already applied in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, Stengel and Thomas discloses the diagnostic module according to claim 12, Stengel discloses wherein the test data are in the form of at least one of the following elements: code data to be executed by said test device, the selection of a test to be executed from a list of tests of the test device and/or at least one test parameter for executing a test of the test device (par. [0009], [0017]) (clm. 1).
Regarding claim 14, Stengel and Thomas discloses the diagnostic module according to claim 12, Stengel discloses wherein the data- storing element of the jumper wire also comprises validation data and the test device is configured for: determining at least one reference signal from the validation data and comparing the response signal with the reference signal (par. [0009], [0017]) (clm. 1).
Regarding claim 15, Stengel and Thomas discloses a method of diagnosing the state of health the plurality of types of electrical cables by means of a diagnostic module according to claim 12, Stengel discloses test data of a type of electrical cable (par. [0001]) being initially stored in the data-storing element (fig. 1, elm. 9, par. [0017]) of each jumper wire (fig. 1, elm. 4, par. [0017]), the diagnostic method comprising: selecting a jumper wire whose input connector is configured to cooperate with the connector of an electrical cable (par. [0001]-[0003]), connecting the jumper wire to the test device (fig. 1, elm. 3, par. [0017]), connecting the jumper wire to the electrical cable, reading, by the test device, test data stored in the data-storing element of the jumper wire (clm. 1), and executing a test comprising: transmitting, by the test device at least one test signal into the electrical cable via the jumper wire, the test signal being determined from the test data, and measuring, by the test device, of at least one response signal of the electrical cable, via the jumper wire, so as to determine the state of health of the electrical cable (abs.)(fig. 1, par. [0017]) (clm. 1).
Regarding claim 16, Regarding "at least one of the electrical cables is in an aircraft propulsion assembly, said electrical cable initially connecting an aircraft computer to a turbomachine equipment" it has been held that a recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations. Ex parte Masham,2 USPQ2d 1647 (1987). Therefore, specifying that the diagnostic method comprising a preliminary step of disconnecting the connector of the electrical cable and connecting the connector to the turbomachine equipment does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations.
Stengel and Thomas discloses the diagnostic module according to claim 12, Thomas discloses wherein at least one of the electrical cables (fig. 2, elm. 100, col. 1, ln. 35-37), is in an aircraft propulsion assembly said electrical cable initially connecting an aircraft computer to a turbomachine equipment (col. 1, ln. 19-35), said diagnostic method comprising a preliminary step of disconnecting the connector of the electrical cable and connecting the connector to the turbomachine equipment (col. 4, ln. 14-25).
The references are combined for the same reason already applied in the rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to COURTNEY G MCDONNOUGH whose telephone number is (571)272-6552. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am-5 pm.
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/COURTNEY G MCDONNOUGH/ Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/EMAN A ALKAFAWI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858 6/29/2026
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