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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11 December 2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 12 November 2025 has been entered.
Applicant’s amendments have overcome the claim objections. The claim objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments have overcome the 35 USC 112(a) rejection. The 35 USC 112(a) rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 12 November 2025, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. However, after conducting an updated search, an additional reference was identified, which teaches the amended portion of the claims. Therefore, the grounds of rejection under 35 USC § 103 still stand.
Status of the Claims
In the amendment dated 12 November 2025, the status of the claims is as follows: Claims 1, 4-5, and 7-8 have been amended.
Claims 1 and 4-10 are pending.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 and 4-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe et al. (WO-2013160932-A1, referencing foreign version for drawings and provided English translation for written disclosure) in view of Jeong et al. (WO-2018131843-A1, referencing foreign version for drawings and provided English translation for written disclosure).
Regarding claim 1, Watanabe teaches a welding jig (device main body 60, fig. 3; the device 60 holds the electrode assembly 10 for laser welding from the laser emission section 60, fig. 3; the body 60 is construed as being a welding jig) comprising:
a jig body (upper lifting mechanism 63 and lower lifting mechanism 70, fig. 3) positioned to weld (figs. 6-7) an electrode lead (current collecting bodies 14d, fig. 7; current collecting bodies 14d are leads for electrode plates 12, fig. 3) and a sensing bus bar (pressed portion 14c, fig. 7; a sensing bus bar is not explicitly disclosed but is construed as being in the position of the pressed portion 14c, fig. 7) to each other; and
a positioning guide clamp (springs 66 and 76, upper lever 64, lower lever 74, clamping bodies 20-21, and pressing member 40, fig. 3) coupled to the jig body and configured to make a step correction (the pressing member 40 moving upwards from fig. 5 to fig. 6 is construed as a “step correction”) in at least any one direction (vertical upwards arrow on pressing member 40, fig. 6) among three pairs of opposing directions (the device 60 is a 3D object and is construed as have height, length, and width, i.e., opposing directions across a z-axis, a y-axis, and a x-axis in three dimension) when the electrode lead and the sensing bus bar are welded (fig. 7), the positioning guide clamp including:
an elastic first positioning guider (clamping members 20-21 and pressing member 40, fig. 3) coupled to the jig body (upper lifting mechanism 63 and lower lifting mechanism 70, fig. 3) and configured to be elastically movable (pressing member 40 has a spring 40b, fig. 11 and clamping member 20 has a spring 25, fig. 13) in first and second opposing directions (vertical, i.e., up and down directions, fig. 3) of the jig body;
an elastic second positioning guider (spring 66, fig. 3) coupled to the jig body and configured to be elastically movable in third and fourth opposing directions of the jig body (horizontal direction, fig. 3, i.e., left and right); and
wherein the elastic second positioning guider (spring 66, fig. 1) is coupled to a manipulation lever (lever 64, fig. 1) such that a force applied to the manipulation lever in a fifth direction (“the ball screw drive section (61a) is actuated to lower the lifting block (62),” page 18; construed as a force in the downward direction on lever 64, fig. 5) is configured to cause movement of the elastic second positioning guider in the third and fourth opposing directions (raising and lowering the lever 64 causes the spring 66 to move back in forth in the arrow shown in fig. 1), the fifth direction being perpendicular to the third and fourth opposing directions (the arrow direction of spring 66 is perpendicular to the vertical direction of the device, fig. 1).
Watanabe, fig. 1
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Watanabe does not explicitly disclose a sensing bus bar; a third positioning guider including a tilting lever, the third positioning guider coupled to the jig body and configured to be tiltable at a predetermined angle in the first and second opposing directions at first and second sides of the jig body.
However, in the same field of endeavor of electric battery manufacturing, Jeong teaches a sensing bus bar (“bus bar,” para 0036; the bus bar is a “metal plate” on top of the cell leads, para 0036; construed such that the voltage of the bus can be sensed or measured because of the bus bar’s accessible position); a third positioning guider (tilting member 120) including a tilting lever (shaft 123, fig. 4), the third positioning guider coupled to the jig body (the tilting member 120 taught by Jeong is construed as modifying the pressing blocks 51 taught by Wang) and configured to be tiltable at a predetermined angle (“rotation angle,” para 0044) in the first and second opposing directions (because of the rotation, the tilting member 120 tilts in vertical direction, fig. 4) at first and second sides of the jig body (left side and right side of the tilting member 120, fig. 4).
Jeong, fig. 4
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Watanabe, in view of the teachings of Jeong, by modifying the lower surface of the clamping member 21, as taught by Watanabe in fig. 1, such that it had a tilting member 120 and a contact member 110, as taught by Jeong, and by welding the current collector 14d, as taught by Watanabe, to a bus bar, as taught by Jeong, in order to use a tilting mechanism that can account for gaps between the welding surface of the jig and the base material, because gaps can reduce adhesion during welding, and because a bus bar in the form of a metal plate can be overlapped on the electrode plates to form a battery module to place a large number of batteries in series and/or in parallel for the advantage of increasing power capacity and output (Jeong, paras 0004, 0008, and 0036).
Regarding claim 4, Watanabe teaches wherein the first positioning guider (clamping members 20-21 and pressing member 40, fig. 3) includes:
a vertical positioning bar (pressing member 40, fig. 1; construed as a bar) configured to be movable along the first and second opposing directions (pressing member 40 moves up and down, figs. 5-6) of the jig body and provided to contact a first end of the sensing bus bar (left endo of pressed part 14c, fig. 7); and
a vertical elastic portion (spring 40b, fig. 11) elastically coupled to the vertical positioning bar and configured to guide movement of the vertical positioning bar (middle of page 16).
Regarding claim 5, Watanabe teaches wherein the vertical positioning bar (pressing member 40, fig. 1) has at least one positioning protrusion (the top of pressing member 40 is construed as a protrusion, fig. 1) for fixing the sensing bus bar (pressed part 14c, fig. 7).
Regarding claim 6, Watanabe teaches wherein the sensing bus bar (pressed part 14c, fig. 7) has at least one positioning groove configured to receive the at least one positioning protrusion (annotated in fig. 7 below).
Watanabe, fig. 7 (annotated)
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Regarding claim 7, Watanabe teaches wherein the elastic second positioning guider (spring 66, fig. 1) includes:
a side positioning guider (right side of spring 66, fig. 1) configured to be movable along the third and fourth opposing directions (the right side of spring 66 moves back and forth along the arrow for spring 66, fig. 1) of the jig body and provided to press the electrode lead toward the sensing bus bar (when the upper lever moves down, the spring 66 presses the electrodes ends 14d to the right, figs. 5-6); and
a side elastic portion (left side of spring 66, fig. 1) elastically connected to the side positioning guider (right side of spring 66, figs. 1) and configured to guide movement of the side positioning guider (left side of spring 66 guides the movement of the right side of spring 66 due to the elastic force of the spring, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 8, Wang teaches wherein the manipulation lever (lever 64, fig. 1) is coupled to the side elastic portion (the lever 64 is coupled to the left side of spring 66, fig. 1) and configured to guide a user manipulation (a user uses and actuator to lower the lifting block 62, fig. 1 and page 18) for moving the side positioning guider (right side of spring 66 moves right because of the downward movement, figs. 1 and 5).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Watanabe in view of Jeong as set forth above regarding claim 1 teaches the invention of claim 9. Specifically, Jeong teaches wherein the third positioning guider (tilting member 120, fig. 4) includes:
a tilting body (contact member 110, fig. 4) coupled to the jig body (jig body 100, fig. 4) and configured to be tiltable (“rotation direction and inclination,” para 0044) at the predetermined angle (“rotation angle,” para 0044); and
a tilting guider (elastic member 130, fig. 4) coupled to the tilting body (contact member 110, fig. 4) and configured to guide a tilting operation of the tilting body (para 0046).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Watanabe in view of Jeong as set forth above regarding claim 1 teaches the invention of claim 10. Specifically, Jeong teaches wherein the tilting lever (shaft 123, fig. 4) configured to guide a user manipulation for the tilting operation (“it is preferable that the support rod (150) be screw,” para 0033; construed such that by adjusting the screws 150, a user can cause the tilting member 120 to tilt about the shaft 123, fig. 4).
Response to Argument
Applicant' s arguments filed 12 November 2025 have been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new rejections of Watanabe combined with Jeong.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lee et al. (US-11398662-B2) teach a sensing wire harness.
Lee et al. (US-11527805-B2) teach rotating bars (fig. 10).
Lee et al. (US-20240006725-A1) teach perpendicular levers (fig. 5).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERWIN J WUNDERLICH whose telephone number is (571)272-6995. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30.
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/ERWIN J WUNDERLICH/Examiner, Art Unit 3761 2/6/2026