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 .
Response to Amendment
Support for the amendments to claims 1 and 5 and support for newly added claims 6-10 can be found in Applicant’s specification in at least Fig. 6 and P71, 93.
The amendments to the claims have been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks Pages 4-5, filed 01/09/2026, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered. The rejections have been withdrawn in light of the amendments to the claims.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 5 recites “wherein the wiring is not in contact with the conductor except for the first portion”. This phrase appears to have a grammar issue. Instead it should recite something similar to “wherein the first portion is the only piece of the wiring in contact with the conductor”.
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.
Claim 1, and thus claims 2-4 and 7-10, and claims and 5-6 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.
Regarding claims 1 and 5, the claim recites “wherein the wiring is not in contact with the conductor except for the first portion”.
The claim is unclear as the claim does not define the type of “contact”. Given the wiring is electrically connected to the conductor, the entire wiring, not just the first portion, is in electrical contact with the conductor. Since they are electrically connected, it can also be said they are thermally connected as well, and, therefore, the entire wiring, not just the first portion, is in thermal contact with the conductor. Further, the parts of the wiring that are not the first portion are indirectly in physical contact with the conductor via the first portion.
The “contact” in claims 1 and 5 is being interpreted as “direct physical contact” such that the claim requires that the first portion is the only portion to be in direct physical contact with the conductor.
Further, claims 1, 5, and 6 recite “a portion of the conductor functioning as a fuse… a space of the conductor, the space defining the fuse”.
Upon further consideration of the claims, this too reads unclear, because the limitation “the space defining the fuse” could appear to state that the space itself is the fuse, however, a portion of the conductor has already been recited to function as the fuse.
Allowable Subject Matter
If the objections and rejections of the claims above are overcome and the Examiner’s interpretation of the claims stands, then the subject matter of claims 1-10 would be allowable.
Regarding independent claims 1 and 5, the claims recite “wherein the wiring is not in contact with the conductor except for the first portion”. Due to the 112(b) rejection above, the “contact” in claims 1 and 5 is being interpreted as “direct physical contact” such that the claim requires that the first portion is the only portion of the wiring to be in direct physical contact with the conductor.
As seen in the annotated Yamaguchi Fig. 5A provided below, the wiring contacts flat portion 27a and flat portion 27b, therefore, the wiring is in direct physical contact with more than just “the first portion” (drawn to flat portion 27a). This means Yamaguchi does not meet the claimed limitations.
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Annotated Yamauchi Fig. 5A
Further, Yamaguchi Figs. 7A-7B and 8A-8C show a wiring 116 that is only connected to a flat portion 127 on an extending portion 122 of a tab that connects to a battery (P9-12). A convex portion 126 on the extending portion 122 would be the area most analogous to the “at least a portion of the conductor” given it provides a space for a portion of the wiring to go through. However, if the convex portion was able to be modified by Fernandez to be made of a meltable material, the convex portion would not act as a fuse because when it melts, it would not disrupt the electrical path of the wiring to the entirety of the tab.
Even further, as seen in the Annotated Tanaka Fig. 5 below, the wiring is in direct physical contact with more than just “the first portion” (drawn to the meshed patterned oval in the figure below). This means Tanaka does not meet the claimed limitations.
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Annotated Tanaka Fig. 5
Additional search and consideration did not reveal any other prior art to remedy the deficiencies of Yamaguchi and Tanaka or teach the limitations of claims 1 and 5.
Regarding independent claim 6 recites the limitation “wherein the wiring is fixed to the conductor at only the first portion”.
Yamaguchi discloses, in relation to Fig. 5A, that the wire 16 is both clamped in the through hole 24 and soldered to the flat portion 27a. Given Yamaguchi uses the word “clamped” it can be reasonably inferred that the through-hole 24 “fixes” the wiring to the electrode tab 12 (drawn to the claimed conductor). The claimed first portion of the wiring is the portion of the wiring fixed to flat portion 27a, and the second portion of the wiring is the portion of the wiring passing through through-hole 24. Therefore, Yamaguchi does not meet the claim because both the first portion and the second portion of the wiring are fixed to the conductor.
Further, Tanaka discloses cutouts 7A and 7B are pieces of through part 7 (P70). Tanaka states the through part 7 is part of lock connection part and is used for fixing lead wire 8 at a specific position (P69-70). Therefore, since the first portion of wire 8 is welded to the bus bar (drawn to the claimed conductor) at coupling portion 5 (see Fig. 5) and other portions of the wires physically contact and are ‘fixed’ via the cutouts 7A and 7B, it cannot be said that Tanaka meets the limitation “wherein the wiring is fixed to the conductor at only the first portion”.
Additional search and consideration did not reveal any other prior art to remedy the deficiencies of Yamaguchi and Tanaka or teach the limitations of claim 6.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mary Byram whose telephone number is (571)272-0690. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am-5 pm EST.
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/MARY GRACE BYRAM/Examiner, Art Unit 1729