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 .
A response
Claims 1-20 and 26 are currently withdrawn.
Claims 21-25 and 27-33, 34-37 are currently pending.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required: the feature of “an interruption circuit separate from the detection circuit” does not appear in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 28- rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement.
The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Regarding Claim 28, 34-37 the feature of “an interruption circuit separate from the detection circuit” includes the exclusory proviso “separate from” (excluding “included with”) but does clearly exclude a combined circuit in the original filing. (The spec refers to them as “devices”, rather than circuits, and they appear to be apart of the same circuit. Applicant’s drawings demonstrate possession of a detection circuit, but not that a combination with an interruption circuit is specifically excluded. The burden for supporting an exclusory proviso is “inherency” rather than lack of disclosure. See MPEP 2173.05. “[A] showing of possession alone does not cure the lack of a written description. Enzo Biochem, Inc. v. Gen-Probe, Inc., 323 F.3d 956, 969-70, 63 USPQ2d 1609, 1617 (Fed. Cir. 2002)” MPEP 2163.)
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 22-25 and 27, 28- 30-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walpurgis (US 20150353175 A1) in view of Koebler (US 9412994 B2).
Regarding Claim 27, Walpurgis discloses a swimming and diving aid, comprising: a hull including a flow channel; an electric motor-driven drive unit disposed in the flow channel, the drive unit including a propeller; the hull including a support surface on a topside of the hull for an upper body of a user of the swimming and diving aid; handles attached to the hull and configured for the user to hold onto, the handles including operator inputs configured such that the user may control the drive unit; and an accumulator module (Element 70) configured to supply electrical energy to the drive unit(See Fig 4 for everything above in Applicant’s admitted prior art in Applicant’s pgpub paragraph 2). Walpurgis does not explicitly disclose the accumulator module including: a moisture-proof housing having an outer face; a plurality of accumulator cells disposed in the housing, each accumulator cell including cell contacts, the cell contacts of the plurality of accumulator cells being electrically interconnected; external contacts disposed at the outer face of the housing, the external contacts being electrically connected to the cell contacts; and a detection circuit configured to detect a short circuit between the external contacts.
Koebler discloses the accumulator module including: a moisture-proof housing (Element 16, 14) having an outer face; a plurality of accumulator cells (Element 18) disposed in the housing, each accumulator cell including cell contacts (Element 30), the cell contacts of the plurality of accumulator cells being electrically interconnected; external contacts (Element 30) disposed at the outer face of the housing, the external contacts being electrically connected to the cell contacts; and a detection circuit (C4, L60) configured to detect a short circuit between the external contacts. It would have been obvious at the time of filing for a person of ordinary skill in the marine art to use the accumulator of Koebler with the swimming aid of Walpurgis which can be accomplished with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify Walpurgis is to provide an accumulator casing to protect the accumulator.
Regarding Claim 28, Walpurgis in view Koebler discloses swimming and diving aid of claim 27, wherein: the accumulator module further includes an interruption circuit separate from the detection circuit, the interruption circuit being configured to interrupt a flow of current through the external contacts of the accumulator module upon detection of a short circuit between the external contacts. (Koebler, S-R Latch)
Regarding Claim 30, Walpurgis in view of Koebler discloses the swimming and diving aid of claim 27, swimming and diving aid of claim 27, wherein: the detection circuit includes an electronic circuit. (Koebler, S-R Latch)
Regarding Claim 31, Walpurgis in view of Koebler discloses swimming and diving aid of claim 30, wherein: the electronic circuit is configured to monitor a flow of current through the external contacts and to detect a short circuit between the external contacts when the flow of current exceeds a threshold value. (Koebler, C10, paragraph starting at line 21)
Regarding Claim 32, Walpurgis in view of Koebler discloses the swimming and diving aid of claim 27, wherein: the accumulator cells each have a substantially cylindrical shape, and the cell contacts of each of the accumulator cells are disposed on end faces of each accumulator cell. (See Koebler, Fig. 1..)
Regarding Claim 33, Walpurgis in view of Koebler discloses the swimming and diving aid of claim 32, further comprising: a bipartite mount including first and second mount parts, wherein the first and second mount parts enclose opposite ends of the accumulator cells. (See Takayasu Fig. 5.)
Regarding Claim 22, Walpurgis in view Koebler discloses the accumulator module of claim 33, wherein: the accumulator cells are clamped in the bipartite mount. (See Koebler Fig. 1.)
Regarding Claim 23, Walpurgis in view of Takayasu and further in view of Koebler discloses the accumulator module of claim 33, wherein: the first and second mount parts are braced against each other with the accumulator cells disposed in the bipartite mount. (See Koebler Fig. 1.)
Regarding Claim 24, Walpurgis in view of Takayasu and further in view of Kennmann discloses the accumulator module of claim 33, further comprising: a plurality of contact plates electrically interconnecting the cell contacts of the accumulator cells, the contact plates being electrically connected to the external contacts. (See Koebler Fig. 1.)
Regarding Claim 25, Walpurgis in view Koebler discloses the accumulator module of claim 24, wherein: each of the contact plates is secured to at least one of the first and second mount parts. (See Koebler Fig. 1.)
2. Claims 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walpurgis (US 20150353175 A1) in view of Koebler (US 9412994 B2) and futher in view of Takayasu (US 20190372182 A1).
Regarding Claim 21, Walpurgis in view of Takayasu and further in view of Koebkler discloses the accumulator module of claim 33, but does not explicitly disclose wherein: the first and second mount parts are made of a plastic material.
Takayasu discloses wherein plastic is a material suitable for creating battery housings. (paragraph 67) It would have been obvious at the time of filing for a person of ordinary skill in the marine art to select plastic as the material to use for the accumulator casing of Koebler which can be accomplished with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify Koebler is to select a material known to be suitable for battery accumulator casings.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding the lack of a “moisture-proof housing” in Takayasu have been fully considered and are persuasive. The Non-Final Rejection of 13 June 2025 has been withdrawn.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 29 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
This action is made non-final to allow Applicant to respond to the new rejection of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW POLAY whose telephone number is (408)918-9746. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 Pacific.
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/ANDREW POLAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615 18 Feb 2026