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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Receipt of preliminary amendment filed on 09/12/2024 is acknowledged. Claims 4-10 have been amended. Thus, claims 1-10 are pending in the instant application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 09/12/2024, 01/13/2025, and 06/15/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been 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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et al. (U.S Publication No. 20250158330 A1) in view of Kitagawa (U.S Publication No. 20130224986 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lin discloses a connector (which is an easy-lock connector 10) for a flat connection object (which is a flat wire 2), the flat connection object (2) comprising a pair of notches (which are notches 22) and a plurality of electrode portions (as shown in fig. 2), the plurality of electrode portions being formed on an insertion end of the flat connection object (2), the pair of notches (22) being formed on two opposite lateral edges of the flat connection object (2), (see fig. 1-2, paragraph [0030]), the connector (10), (see fig. 1-12), comprising:
an insulating housing (16) including an opening (via an insertion port 162, see fig. 9 and 11) for insertion of the flat connection object (2);
a plurality of contacts (18) held by the insulating housing (16), each contact (18) including a contact portion extending into the opening (162) and being to be in contact with one of the plurality of electrode portions and a connection terminal portion opposite to the contact portion and extending out of the insulating housing (16), (see fig. 2);
an upper electrically conductive shell (housing 12 is also named upper shell) and a lower electrically conductive shell (14), the upper electrically conductive shell (12) and the lower electrically conductive shell (14) being fixed to the insulating housing (16); (see paragraph [0040] that shows housing 14 is conductive);
wherein the lower electrically conductive shell (via a lower housing 14) includes a lower shell body portion (which is a lower body 148) and a pair of locking portions (142) respectively positioned on two ends of the lower shell body portion (148), each locking portion (142) is normally and elastically biased to a locking position, each locking portion (142) includes a pressed portion (as shown in fig. 5), a first extension portion (146) and a stop tab (144), the first extension portion (146) is extended into the opening (162) from the pressed portion, the stop tab (144) is formed on a distant end so that when the flat connection object (2) is inserted into the opening (162), the stop tabs (144) of the pair of locking portions (142) are engaged with the pair of notches (22) for preventing the flat connection object (2) from being removed from the connector (10), (see fig. 5-7);
the upper electrically conductive shell (12) includes an upper shell body portion (122) and a pair of unlocking portions (124) respectively positioned on two ends of the upper shell body portion (122), each unlocking portion (124) includes an elastic arm and an actuator portion (see fig. 4a and 4b), the actuator portion is formed on a distant end of the elastic arm and positioned above the pressed portion, the pressed portion is pushed downward by pressing the actuator portion so that the locking portion (142) is biased out of the locking position so as to release locking of the flat connection portion (124 and 1242), (see fig. 6, and paragraph [0043]).
Lin does not explicitly disclose each unlocking portion further includes a tactile indicator portion positioned above the actuator portion, the tactile indicator portion has an upper surface which is positioned at a level higher than an upper surface of the upper shell body portion so that unevenness caused by the tactile indicator portion is tactually perceptible for indicating a pressed position for releasing the locking of the flat connection object.
Kitagawa, on the other hand, discloses a desirable for the cable connector to include a pair of indicator marks formed on the insulator, wherein, when viewed in the insertion/removal direction of the cable, the indicator marks are covered by the lock members when the lock members are positioned at the locked position, and the indicator marks are exposed by the lock members when the lock members are positioned at the unlocked position (see paragraph [0019]). Furthermore, a pair of left and right indicator marks 29 are formed on the left and right upper rear-edge portions of the insulator 20, respectively (see paragraph [0075]). Furthermore, when the lock members 45 are positioned at the locked position, since the left and right indicator marks 29 are covered by the lock members 45 (operational portions 46), respectively, when the FPC connector 10 is viewed in a plan view, as shown in FIG. 5, a worker/technician, etc., can visually confirm that the lock members 45 are positioned at the locked position (see paragraph [0071]). Furthermore, when the lock members 45 are positioned at the unlocked position, since the lock members 45 (operational portion 46) expose the left and right indicator marks 29, respectively, when the FPC connector 10 is viewed in a plan view, as shown in FIG. 16, the worker/technician, etc., can visually confirm that the lock members 45 are positioned at the unlocked position (see paragraph [0072]). Furthermore, when the lock members 45 rotatably return to the locked position by the elastic force of the elastically deformable portions 62 of the lock-member biasing springs 60, since a worker/technician, etc., can feel a strong tactile click, the worker/technician, etc., can not only visually confirm that the indicator marks 29 are covered by the lock members 45 (operational portions 46), but also can reliably discern that the lock members 45 have returned to the locked position by the tactile feel in his/her hand (see paragraph [0080]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the connector as taught by Lin with the connector as taught by Kitagawa having unlocking portion further includes a tactile indicator portion positioned above the actuator portion, the tactile indicator portion has an upper surface which is positioned at a level higher than an upper surface of the upper shell body portion so that unevenness caused by the tactile indicator portion is tactually perceptible for indicating a pressed position for releasing the locking of the flat connection object, in order to allow the worker/technician, etc., can visually confirm that the lock members are positioned at the unlocked position (see paragraph [0072] by Kitagawa).
The modification forms indicator marks, corresponding to the indicator, on the insulator of the FPC connector so that these indicator marks cannot be visually confirmed in a plan view when the lock members are positioned at the locked position, and so that these indicator marks can be visually confirmed in a plan view when the lock members are positioned at the unlocked position (see paragraph [0122] by Kitagawa).
Regarding claim 2, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the tactile indicator portion is integrally formed with the actuator portion (the present invention provides a cable connector in which the entire connector is miniaturized and lock retention against unintentional external forces is improved, while being a type in which a Non-ZIF and an actuator are provided, see fig. 1 and 16, paragraph [0014] by Kitagawa). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the connector as taught by Lin in view of Kitagawa having the tactile indicator portion is integrally formed with the actuator portion, which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 3, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the tactile indicator portion is formed separately from the upper electrically conductive shell and attached to the actuator by adhesive agent, binding agent or solder (see fig. 1 and 16 by Kitagawa), which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 4, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the tactile indicator portion is textured (see fig. 1 and 16 by Kitagawa), which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 5, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the tactile indicator portion is formed with a relief or recessed pattern or character (see fig. 1 and 16 by Kitagawa), which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 6, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the tactile indicator portion is formed with a printed pattern or character (see fig. 1 and 16 by Kitagawa), which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 7, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the tactile indicator portion is colored (see fig. 1 and 16 by Kitagawa), which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 8, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein each locking portion further includes a U-shaped bent portion and a second extension portion, the second extension portion is extended from the lower shell body portion, and the pressed portion and the second extension portion are connected by the U-shaped bent portion (see fig. 6, paragraph [0007] and [0038] by Lin).
Regarding claim 9, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the actuator portion is formed with a protrusion protruded toward the pressed portion (see fig. 1 and 16, paragraph [0005] and [0014] by Kitagawa).
Regarding claim 10, Lin in view of Kitagawa discloses the connector of claim 1, wherein the stop tab (144) has a front edge inclined toward an insertion direction of the flat connection object (2), when the flat connection object (2) is inserted into the opening (162), the insertion end of the flat connection object (2) is abut against the front edge of the stop tab (144), and further movement of the flat connection object (2) in the insertion direction causes the stop tab (144) to be biased downwardly so that the locking portion is biased away from the locking position (see fig. 5-7 by Lin).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI N PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
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/Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 09/24/2026
