DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The following is in reply to the applicants submission (e.g. amendment, remarks, etc.) filed on December 23, 2025.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicants arguments with respect to Claims 1, 7, 16 and 17 have been fully considered, but are now moot because the following new grounds of rejections do not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities.
In Claim 1, “which method comprises” (line 2) should be changed to –which comprises--; “a start node” (line 13) should be changed to –the start node--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1 through 3 and 6 through 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over German Publication DE 2113195 (hereinafter “DE’195”)1 in view of the teachings of U.S. Publication 2014/0023897 to Suga (hereinafter “Suga”) and U.S. Patent 3,930,254 to Tarbox (hereinafter “Tarbox”).
Claims 1 and 7: DE’195 discloses a method for creating at least one low-voltage path, which method comprises:
providing a contacting system (e.g. see Fig. 1) having a main body (e.g. 1) with a top surface;
attaching a start node (e.g. 12, Fig. 2), an end node (e.g. 15) at least one guide element (e.g. either one of 2 or 14) to the main body, the at least one guide element extending from and above the top surface of the main body (e.g. Figs. 1 or 2);
providing a guide head (e.g. e.g. 8’ or 9’, Figs. 1 or 2) for discharging an electrical conductor (e.g. 11);
guiding the guide head by a machine (e.g. Fig. 1) in a predefinable path relative to the main body, and the electrical conductor is discharged from the guide head and laid on the main body and deflected by the at least one guide element (e.g. 14) to form the at least one low-voltage path (e.g. either 20 or 21, Fig. 2, ¶ [0011]); and
fixing the electrical conductor to the start node relative to the main body [e.g. by wrapping] before being laid on the main body, wherein the fixing maintains tension (e.g. tightening) on the electrical conductor from a beginning and after an end of a laying process of the electrical conductor (e.g. ¶¶ [0011], [0014]);
the electrical conductor making electrical contact with the start node (e.g. due to stripping of wire, ¶¶ [0002], [0008]).
Claim 2: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, which further comprises carrying out a movement of the guide head automatically by means of a programmable control program (e.g. 25 or 26, Fig. 1, ¶ [0014]).
Claim 3: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, which further comprises tensioning (e.g. tightening or no ripples) the electrical conductor, while being discharged from the guide head, in relation to a conductor section (e.g. at 12) that is already fixed (e.g. ¶¶ [0012], [0013]).
Claim 6: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, which further comprises using an apparatus that consists of a holding means (e.g. 3, Fig. 2).
Claim 8: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, which further comprises using a wire (e.g. 11) as the electrical conductor.
Claim 9: DE’195 discloses the method according to Claim 7, which further comprises:
the at least one low-voltage path (e.g. at 20 or 21) being a common conductor (e.g. 11); and
creating at least two low-voltage paths (e.g. 20, 21, Fig. 2) from the common conductor being laid on the main body without interruption and then being separated into the at least two low-voltage paths (e.g. 20, 21).
Claim 11: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a contacting head (e.g. 9’) that is moved by the machine is moved to a laid electrical conductor (e.g. 12, 14 or 15) and the contacting head makes electrical contact between the electrical conductor and a counterpart (e.g. 32, Fig. 1).
Claim 12: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one guide element (e.g. 14) is a pin (e.g. Fig. 2) fixed to the main body.
Claim 14: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one guide element (e.g. 14) is one of a plurality of guide elements [e.g. 2, Fig. 2].
Claim 15: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 9, which further comprises providing a plurality of guide elements (e.g. 2, 14, 15, 12, etc.) on the main body for deflecting the electrical conductor, the guide elements extending up from and above the main body (e.g. Figs. 1, 2).
Claim 16: DE’195 discloses the method [from Claims 1, 7 and 9] for creating low-voltage paths, further including:
wrapping the electrical conductor completely around at least one of the plurality of guide elements (e.g. 12 or 15, ¶¶ [0008], [0013]).
Claim 17: DE’195 discloses the method [from Claims 1, 7, and 16] for creating low-voltage paths, further including:
DE’195 discloses creating the at least two low-voltage paths (e.g. 20, 21) from the common conductor (e.g. 11) being laid on the main body without interruption by separating the conductor at a point (e.g. at 2 or 14, Fig. 2) between two wrapped guide elements (e.g. at 12, 15, Fig. 2).
Claims 18 and 19: DE’195 discloses the method according to claim 14 or 15, which further comprises fixing the electrical conductor to at least one of the plurality of guide elements (e.g. 12 or 15, by winding or wrapping, ¶ [0013]).
DE’195 discloses substantially all of the limitations of the claimed manufacturing method except that the contacting system is a “cell” contacting system, or that the guide head has a “discharge opening”.
The contacting system of DE’195 includes a printed circuit board (PCB, 1, Fig. 1) as its main body. It is conventional, and notoriously well-known in the art that PCBs can have various applications, such as PCBs being used as part of a battery cell system. Suga discloses that a PCB (e.g. 350, Fig. 2) having at least one electrical conductor (e.g. 301, 302) can be used in a battery cell system (e.g. 20, 320) to electrically connect battery cells (e.g. 320).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the contacting system of DE’195 can be a cell contacting system, as taught by Suga, being that the main body (PCB) can be used in other applications that include a battery cell system to allow connection of various battery cells.
Regarding Claim 13, Suga further teaches that the main body includes a guide element (e.g. 331 or 341, Figs. 2 and 4) that is a pin and is releasable on the basis that the main body can be removed via fasteners (e.g. 359, ¶ [0070]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the pin of DE’195 by allowing the pin to be releasable, as taught by Suga, to positively allow disassembly and/or maintenance of the main body or pin.
Tarbox discloses a method where contacting system includes a guide head (e.g. Fig. 3) having a discharge opening (e.g. 49) for discharging an electrical conductor that is a wire (e.g. 30, col. 2, lines 24+).
Regarding Claim 10, Tarbox further discloses that the discharge opening as part of the guide head is a wire guide nozzle (e.g. 40, 44, 48, etc.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified that guide head of DE’195 by including a discharge opening and wire guide nozzle, as taught by Tarbox, to achieve the very same purpose of discharging and positioning of the electrical conductor accurately on a main body.
Conclusion
Applicants amendment filed as part of their submission has necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to A. DEXTER TUGBANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4570. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JESSICA HAN can be reached at (571) 272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A. DEXTER TUGBANG/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2896
1 The interpretation of DE’195 was made from a Machine Translation in English, a copy of which is attached herein.