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 .
The amendment filed on June 22, 2026 has been considered.
Examiner’s Note
Applicant could not be reached for a discussion to overcome the 35 USC 112(b) issues of claims 1 and 26.
Further, a portion of Applicants’ remarks is incorrect. For example, Applicants explain that features of allowable claim 11 are incorporated into independent claim … 27 (see page 7, Allowable Subject Matter Section). Examiner notes that claim 27 is a dependent claim and has not been amended. Further, Applicants imply that claim 10 has not been cancelled (see page 7, paragraph 3). Examiner notes that claim 10 has been cancelled.
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:
Claims 1 and 26, “altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic based on the operational characteristic, where the operational characteristic associated with the body portion” is not described in the specification.
Claim 26, “altering frequency of a leading edge harmonic … to modulate an impedance associated with the body portion” is not described in the specification.
Instead, the specification discloses “various harmonics often increase the impedance to the signal being applied to the battery” and “conventional charging techniques are often accompanied by uncontrolled harmonics and such harmonics
alter the impedance to the charge signal being applied to the battery.” (paragraph 0028).
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 26, and 27 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1, the operational characteristic (line 13) should read -- the calculated operational characteristic”.
Claims 26, “the operational characteristic” (line 16) should read -- the calculated impedance
- claim 27, “..” (end of claim) should be -- . --.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-7, 12, 26, and 27 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.
Claims 1, “altering the attribute of the charge waveform comprises altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic based on the operational characteristic (lines 14-15) to maintain modulate an impedance associated with the body portion” (lines 15-16) is indefinite, since “the operational characteristic associated with the body portion” (lines 13-14). The operational characteristic associated with the body portion does not support altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic, does it?
Claim 26, “altering the attribute of the charge waveform comprises altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic based on the operational characteristic (lines 14-15) to maintain modulate an impedance associated with the body portion” (lines 15-16) is indefinite, since “the impedance operational characteristic associated with the body portion” (lines 14-15). The operational characteristic associated with the body portion does not support altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic, does it?
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7, 12, 26, and 27 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), set forth in this Office action.
Claims 13, 14 and 16-25 are allowed.
Reasons For Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The combination as claimed wherein a system for an electrochemical device comprising altering the attribute of the charge waveform comprises altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic based on the operational characteristic to modulate an impedance associated with the body portion (claims 1, 26) or altering the attribute of the charge waveform comprises altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic to modulate an impedance associated with the leading edge (claim 13) or the multiplexor controlled to sequence storage of the first measurement in the first memory and the second measurement in the second memory (claim 14) is not disclosed, suggested, or made obvious by the prior art of record.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on June 22, 2026 have been fully considered.
With respect to the rejections under 35 USC 112(b), Applicants argue that “claims 1 and 26 are amended herein to recite "altering the attribute of the charge waveform comprises altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic based on the operational characteristic to modulate an impedance associated with the body portion". It is respectfully submitted that claims 1-7, 12, 26, and 27, as amended, are proper under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), second paragraph.”
Examiner’s position is that amended claim 1 is different from cancelled allowed claim 11/1. It is noted that cancelled allowed 11 does not depend from claim 26. Cancelled allowed claim 11 does not recite “altering the attribute of the charge waveform comprises altering a frequency of a leading edge harmonic based on the operational characteristic … “, as recited in amended claim 1 and similarly in amended claim 26. Amended claims 1 and 26 raise new issues under 35 USC 112(b) for reasons discussed above.
Applicant’s arguments and amendments with respect to the rejections under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections under 35 USC 103 have been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Nghiem whose telephone number is (571) 272-2277. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew Schechter can be reached at (571) 272-2302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/MICHAEL P NGHIEM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857 August 22, 2026
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