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 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.
DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the claims filed June 12, 2025, in which claims 1-5 were presented for examination, of which claims 4-5 were withdrawn, due to Restriction Requirement dated December 23, 2025.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-3 in the reply filed on February 19, 2026 is acknowledged.
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andersen et al. “Andersen” (US PG Pub. 2005/0015978) in view of Felix et al. “Felix” (US PG Pub. 2015/0082623).
Regarding claim 1, Andersen discloses a method for manufacturing a multicore cable assembly (Abstract), comprising:
a stranding step of stranding the plurality of insulated wires into a spiral shape (Par. 0033, as shown in Fig. 2).
Andersen does not disclose a stripping step and a connecting step.
However, Felix teaches yet another cable assembly, wherein Felix teaches a method that includes one ends of a plurality of spirally twisted insulated wires are connected to a plurality of electrodes of a board (Par. 0054 and 0059, as shown in diagram Fig. 16), comprising:
a stripping step of removing an insulating coating at each of the one ends of the plurality of insulated wires to expose a core wire (Par. 0075, lines: 1-5, step 96 in Fig. 16);
a connecting step of connecting the core wires at the one ends of the plurality of insulated wires to the plurality of electrodes of the board after the stripping step (Par. 0076, step 100 in Fig. 16).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of manufacturing as disclosed by Andersen, by incorporating a plurality of electrodes of a board, a stripping and connecting step as taught by Felix, in order to enhance the structural integrity of the cable assembly, wherein with this combination the stranding step disclosed by Andersen would come after the connecting step taught by Felix.
Regarding claim 2, Andersen in view of Felix disclose wherein the stranding step comprises a step of stranding together the plurality of insulated wires while suppressing a residual twist of each of the plurality of insulated wires (Par. 0039 of Andersen, examiner notes “suppressing a residual twist” is shown at plate 66 of Fig. 2).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andersen in view of Felix, further in view of Bueno et al. “Bueno” (US PG Pub. 2016/0168786).
Regarding claim 3, Andersen in view of Felix disclose wherein the stranding step comprises a step of stranding the plurality of insulated wires by using a rotating body (12, Par. 0040) in which a plurality of tubular elements (24B’, 24B’’, 24B’’’, Fig. 2) are arranged along a circumferential direction centering on a rotation axis (axis of 54, Par. 0035 and 0040, examiner notes rotation occurs at the arrow shown in Fig. 2, due to rotating body 12).
They do not disclose suctioning.
However, Bueno teaches yet another method for manufacturing cables, wherein Bueno teaches suctioning each of a plurality of drawn members (52, Fig. 4) fixed on the other end of each of the plurality of wires (13, 13’, Par. 0092).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the stranding step as disclosed by Andersen in view of Felix, by incorporating suctioning as taught by Bueno, in order to enhance the structural integrity of the produced cable assembly. Examiner notes with this combination “rotating of the rotating body while suctioning each of a plurality of drawn members fixed on the other end of each of the plurality of insulated wires inside each of the plurality of tubular elements” is accomplished, due to the step of suctioning being added to the part of rotating the rotating body with a plurality of tubular elements, which was disclosed by Andersen in view of Felix.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent (See PTO-892) to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAKOTA MARIN whose telephone number is (571)272-3529. The examiner can normally be reached Mon.-Fri., 9:00AM-6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ALISSA TOMPKINS can be reached at (571) 272-3425. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAKOTA MARIN/Examiner, Art Unit 3732
/ALISSA J TOMPKINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3732