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
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.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Leigh (US 10,895,697 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Leigh teaches An optical transceiver, configured for a first external optical connector and a second external optical connector to be plugged therein, the optical transceiver comprising: a housing (reference numeral 100, 500 in Figure 1A), having two openings (e.g. the openings roughly indicated by reference numerals 130A, 300, 200 in Figure 1A) spaced apart from each other, wherein the two openings are located on a side of the housing and connected to an inside of the housing (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 1A), and the two openings are configured for the first external optical connector (reference numeral 600A in Figure 4) and the second external optical connector (reference numeral 600B in Figure 4) to respectively penetrate therethrough; two connector couplers (e.g. at least four shown and roughly indicated by reference numerals 203A, 203B, 205 in Figure 1B; e.g. the elements holding reference numeral 300X in Figure 3) , disposed in the housing, wherein each of the two connector couplers comprises a positioning frame (e.g. the frame between reference numeral 204A-204B in Figure 1B, Figure 2A) and at least one elastic holding arm (reference numeral 201 in Figure 1B, Figure 2A; reference numeral 201A, 201B in Figure 3) , the positioning frame is located between at least part of the at least one elastic holding arm and the opening (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 2A), and the at least one elastic holding arm protrudes from the positioning frame (reference numeral 201 in Figure 2A) ; and two internal optical connectors (e.g. at least four of reference numeral 300 in Figure 1B; reference numeral 300X in Figure 3), disposed in the housing, wherein the two internal optical connectors are configured to be respectively optically coupled to the first external optical connector and the second external optical connector (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4), and the two internal optical connectors are held in position by the at least one elastic holding arm of the two connector couplers, respectively (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4).
Regarding claim 2, 11, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 1, wherein the at least one elastic holding arm of each of the two connector couplers comprises a plurality of elastic holding arms (reference numeral 201A, 201B, 201C in Figure 3) , the elastic holding arms are spaced apart from one another and together form a holding space (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 3), at least part of the internal optical connector (reference numeral 300X in Figure 3) is located in the holding space to be held in position by the elastic holding arms (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 3, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 2, wherein the elastic holding arms of each of the two connector couplers comprises two first elastic holding arms (reference numeral 201 in Figure 2A) and two second elastic holding arms (e.g. the “window” frame roughly indicated as reference numeral 205 in Figure 2A, and above reference numeral 300A in Figure 3), and a length of the first elastic holding arm in a longitudinal direction of the housing is larger than a length of the second elastic holding arm in the longitudinal direction (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 4, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 3, wherein the two openings are arranged along a first direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 1A), each of the two connector couplers further comprises two elastic fastening arms (reference numeral 203L in Figure 1B and illustrated around reference numeral 203X in Figure 2A) protruding from the positioning frame, and the two elastic fastening arms are arranged along a second direction perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the first direction (e.g. arranged vertically in a 2x2 structure as illustrated in Figure 1A).
Regarding claim 5, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 4, wherein the two first elastic holding arms (reference numeral 201 in Figure 3) are arranged along the first direction (e.g. in a direction parallel to reference direction A in Figure 3), and the two second elastic holding arms are arranged along the second direction (e.g. perpendicular to 201 as illustrated in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 6, 7, 13, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 4, wherein the housing further has two confining recesses (reference numeral 501A, 501B in Figure 4), the positioning frames of the two connector couplers are respectively accommodated in the two confining recesses (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4), and the two elastic fastening arms of the connector coupler are located outside the confining recess (reference numeral 203L in Figure 1B as illustrated in Figure 1A and Figure 4).
Regarding claim 8, 10, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 1, wherein each of the two internal optical connectors has an optical coupling facet (reference numeral 305A in Figure 4) corresponding to a plurality of optical fibers and a lateral surface (reference numeral 302A in Figure 4) facing toward the housing, the lateral surface adjoins the optical coupling facet (reference numeral 300A in Figure 3) , and the at least one elastic holding arm of the connector coupler (reference numeral 201A in Figure 3) contacts the lateral surface to hold the internal optical connector (reference numeral 302A in Figure 4) .
Regarding claim 9, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 1, wherein the internal optical connectors are MPO connectors (reference numeral 300 in Figure 1B).
Regarding claim 12, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 10, wherein the internal optical connector comprises a connector body (e.g. the narrow portion of reference numeral 301A closest to 305A as illustrated in Figure 4) and a blocking plate (e.g. the wide portion of reference numeral 301A closest to 302A as illustrated in Figure 4), the blocking plate has a first section of the lateral surface (e.g. the outermost edge surrounding reference numeral 302A as illustrated in Figure 4), the connector body has the optical coupling facet (reference numeral 305A in Figure 4) and a second section of the lateral surface (e.g. the mid portion of reference numeral 300A as illustrated in Figure 3), the optical coupling facet (reference numeral 305A in Figure 4) is located on an optical coupling side of the connector body, the blocking plate surrounds the connector body and located on an assembling side of the connector body opposite from the optical coupling side (e.g. as illustrated via 302 in Figure 1B and Figure 4) , the at least one elastic holding arm (e.g. leftmost reference numeral 201A in Figure 4) comprises a first elastic holding arm contacting the first section of the lateral surface and a second elastic holding arm ( e.g. rightmost reference numeral 201A in Figure 4) contacting the second section of the lateral surface.
Regarding claim 14, 17, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 10, further comprising a blocking protrusion (reference numeral 202A in Figure 3) disposed in the housing, wherein the internal optical connector comprises a connector body (e.g. the narrow portion of reference numeral 301A closest to 305A as illustrated in Figure 4) and a blocking plate (e.g. the wide portion of reference numeral 301A closest to 302A as illustrated in Figure 4) surrounding the connector body, and the blocking plate is located between the blocking protrusion and the opening such that the blocking protrusion prevents a movement of the internal optical connector away from the opening (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4).
Regarding claim 15, Leigh teaches An optical transceiver, configured for an external optical connector to be plugged therein, the optical transceiver comprising: a housing (reference numeral 100, 500 in Figure 1A), wherein an opening of the housing (e.g. the openings roughly indicated by reference numerals 130A, 300, 200 in Figure 1A) is located on a side of the housing and connected to an inside of the housing, the opening is configured for the external optical connector (reference numeral 600A in Figure 4) to penetrate therethrough; a connector coupler (e.g. at least four shown and roughly indicated by reference numerals 203A, 203B, 205 in Figure 1B; e.g. the elements holding reference numeral 300X in Figure 3), disposed in the housing, wherein the connector coupler comprises a positioning frame (e.g. the frame between reference numeral 204A-204B in Figure 1B, Figure 2A) and at least one elastic holding arm (reference numeral 201 in Figure 1B, Figure 2A; reference numeral 201A, 201B in Figure 3), the positioning frame is located between at least part of the at least one elastic holding arm and the opening (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 2A), and the at least one elastic holding arm protrudes from the positioning frame (reference numeral 201 in Figure 2A); an internal optical connector (e.g. at least four of reference numeral 300 in Figure 1B; reference numeral 300X in Figure 3), disposed in the housing and configured to be optically coupled to the external optical connector (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4), wherein the internal optical connector are held in position by the at least one elastic holding arm (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4); and at least one guiding protrusion (reference numeral 501A in Figure 4), disposed in the housing and on an inner surface of the housing; wherein the housing has a confining recess ((e.g. the confining recess formed by housing 500 as illustrated in Figure 3), the at least one guiding protrusion is located between the confining recess (e.g. the area to the right of reference numeral 102 as illustrated in Figure 3) and the opening (reference numeral 101 in Figure 3) , the positioning frame (e.g. the frame between reference numeral 204A-204B in Figure 1B, Figure 2A) is accommodated in the confining recess and contacts the at least one guiding protrusion (e.g. at reference numeral 202A in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 16, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 15, wherein the at least one guiding protrusion comprises a first guiding protrusion (reference numeral 501A in Figure 4) and a second guiding protrusion (reference numeral 501B in Figure 4) , the first guiding protrusion and the second guiding protrusion face each other (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4) and are located between the opening and the positioning frame (e.g. the frame between reference numeral 204A-204B in Figure 1B, Figure 2A) of the connector coupler to be configured to guide a movement of the external optical connector.
Regarding claim 18, Leigh teaches The optical transceiver according to claim 15, wherein the connector coupler further comprises two elastic fastening arms (e.g. the arms surrounding reference numeral 203A, 203B in Figure 1B) protruding from the positioning frame, and the two elastic fastening arms extend to cross over the at least one guiding protrusion (e.g. as illustrated in Figure 4 where fastening arms extend from a point before protrusion 501A towards the opening roughly indicated at 600A in Figure 4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AGUSTIN BELLO whose telephone number is (571)272-3026. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM.
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/AGUSTIN BELLO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
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