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 .
Drawings
Figures 1-3 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 5-8, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 is considered vague and indefinite. Claim 1 earlier recites “a second pore, with a number of at least three”, including just three. Claim 2 depends on claim 1 and recites that “each of the second pores is evenly divided into two groups”. Three cannot be evenly divided into two groups.
Claim 5, line 3, “the two first insulating mediums” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 7, lines 2 and 4, “the second insulating medium” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 7, line 2, “the second insulating medium and a third insulating medium” renders the claim indefinite since “a first insulating medium” has not been cited in claim 1.
Claim 8, line 2, “the first insulating medium” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 10, line 1, “conductors” is unclear to how these conductors relate to “a pair of conductors” cited in claim 1.
Claim 10, line 3, “first pores” is unclear to how these relate to “first bore” cited in claim 1.
Claim 6 is included in this rejection because of dependency.
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)(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.
Claims 1-3 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tang (CN 109859888).
Tang (Fig. 3) discloses an insulating medium structure, comprising: an insulating medium body (102); and pore formed in the insulating medium body; wherein the pore comprises: a first pore (where conductor 101 located), with a number of a pair being formed in the insulating medium body and being arranged in an axially symmetric manner, and the pair of the first pores is used for passing a pair of conductors (101) as a differential pair; and a second pore (103.1), with a number of at least three being formed in the insulating medium body; and each of the second pores is arranged in an axially symmetric manner relative to a symmetry axis of the pair of the first pores (re-claim 1). Tang also discloses that the second pores are evenly divided into two groups, and the second pores in each group are symmetrically distributed with a center of the first pore as a center (re-claim 2); the insulating medium body is further provided with third pores (103.2), passing areas of the third pores are differently from those of the second pores, and each of the third pores is arranged in an axially symmetric manner relative to the symmetry axis (re-claim 3); and the insulating medium body is arranged in an axially symmetric manner relative to the symmetry axis (re-claim 9).
Claims 1, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Heffner (2007/0098940).
Heffner (Figs 1 and 5) discloses an insulating medium structure, comprising: an insulating medium body; and pore formed in the insulating medium body; wherein the pore comprises: a first pore (where conductor 16 located), with a number of a pair being formed in the insulating medium body and being arranged in an axially symmetric manner, and the pair of the first pores is used for passing a pair of conductors (16) as a differential pair; and a second pore (12, see Fig. 1), with a number of at least three being formed in the insulating medium body; and each of the second pores is arranged in an axially symmetric manner relative to a symmetry axis of the pair of the first pores (re-claim 1). Heffner also discloses that the insulating medium body comprises a first insulating medium (10) and a second insulating medium (32), wherein each of the first pores is coated with the first insulating medium (10), wherein the two first insulating mediums (10) are completely coated the second insulating medium (32), and wherein the first insulating medium (10) is provided with the second pores (12) (re-claim 5); the second insulating medium (32) is also provided with the second pores (Fig. 5) (re-claim 6).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang in view of Ota et al. (JP 2020-053302).
Tang discloses the invention substantially as claimed including the first, second, and third pores being arranged in an axially symmetric manner relative to the symmetry axis.
Tang does not disclose the insulating medium body being further provided with fourth pores, passing areas of the fourth pores being different from those of the second pores and those of the third pores, and the fourth pores being arranged in an axially symmetric manner relative to the symmetry axis.
Ota et al. discloses an insulating medium body (30) comprising first (where conductor 20 located), second, third and fourth pores (see Fig. 4), each having a different passing area from the others.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to provide fourth pores (smallest pores in Fig. 4), as taught by Ota et al., in the insulating medium body (102) of Tang to further reduce the dielectric constant of the insulating body. It would also have been obvious to one skilled in the art to arrange the fourth pores in an axially symmetric manner relative to the symmetry axis, as already taught by Tang with respect to the second and third pores, to evenly distribute the air channels around each conductor.
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heffner in view of Ota et al.
Heffner discloses the invention substantially as claimed including the insulating body comprising the second insulating medium (32) and the second insulating medium being outside of the two first pores (where conductor 16 located) (re-claim 7); the insulating body comprising the first insulating medium (10), and each first pore (12) being coated with the first insulating medium (10) (re-claim 8).
Heffner does not disclose a third insulating medium which is provided with the second pores. In other words, each second pore is coated with the third insulating medium.
Ota et al. (Fig. 4) discloses an insulating body (30) comprising pores (32A, 32B) which are coated with an insulating medium (S1, S2).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to coat each second pore (33) of Heffner with a (third) insulating medium, as taught by Ota et al. to prevent the pores from communicating with each other so that pores have a desired size can be formed more reliably, see page 6 of the machine translation of Ota et al.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang.
Tang discloses the invention substantially as claimed including a high-speed cable comprising conductors, ground wires (104, Fig. 6), a shielding layer (105/106), and the insulating medium structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pair of conductors pass through the first pores on the insulating medium structure in a one-to-one correspondence, and wherein the insulating medium structure is coated with the shielding layer.
Tang does not disclose the high-speed cable (Fig. 6) comprising an outer jacket, wherein the shielding layer and the ground wires are coated with the outer jacket. However, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to surround the shielding layer and the ground wires of Tang with an outer jacket to protect the cable components from the environment since a cable comprising an outer jacket over a shielding layer is well-known in the art.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAU N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1980. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th, 7am to 5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Imani N Hayman can be reached at 571-270-5528. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHAU N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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