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 .
Claim Status
This Office action is responsive the amendments filed on 2/17/2026.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, and 12 have been amended.
Claims 15-20 have been newly added.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending with 12-14 withdrawn from consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/24/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the non-final office action mailed on 10/6/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. The Chinese office action included with the IDS has not been considered because it was not included on the IDS nor was a translation of the office action provided. The two foreign patent documents were considered however.
Response to Amendment
In light of the amendment the objection to the drawings is withdrawn.
In light of the amendment the objection to the abstract is withdrawn.
In light of the amendment the §112(f) interpretation of claim 1 is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant amended claim 1 in order to overcome.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., the attachment of the protective plate to the jig plate) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 11 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2016002566 (A), HIDEKI from the IDS provided dated 1/13/2023 along with a machine translation into English.
Regarding claim 1. HIDEKI [0006] discloses a jig for manufacturing a rechargeable battery, which the reference calls a laser irradiation nozzle, the jig comprising:
[0031] in the annotated figure depicted below a press, configured to press a welding part of a corresponding rechargeable battery;
The mere duplication of parts, without any new or unexpected results, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Harza, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960) (see MPEP § 2144.04).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have used a plurality of presses in an industrial setting in order to economize the production of the batteries.
a jig plate supporting the plurality of pressing parts, the jig plate including a flow path for circulation of a refrigerant therein.
This coolant or refrigerant would cool the plurality of presses.
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It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have used a plurality of nozzles in order to weld a plurality of batteries. The motivation being purely economical in nature. It would have been within the purview of one of ordinary skill to have performed routine experimentation in order to add a plurality of nozzles to the laser irradiation nozzle disclosed by HIDEKI.
Regarding claim 2. HIDEKI discloses the jig of claim 1, further comprising [0009] a cooling device connected to the flow path to circulate the refrigerant in the jig plate. The reference discloses a flow path on the outer surface of the main body.
Regarding claim 3. HIDEKI [0018] discloses the jig of claim 1, wherein a material of the plurality of presses and the jig plate includes a copper alloy.
Regarding claim 5. HIDEKI discloses the jig of claim 1, wherein each press of the plurality of presses includes [0021] a transmission part, called a laser light source configured to transmit a laser beam to the welding part as shown in the figure depicted above.
Regarding claim 6 and 19. HIDEKI discloses the jig of claim 5, wherein the jig plate includes a transmission hole, called an optical system [0021] corresponding to the transmission part of each of the plurality of presses.
HIDEKI does not disclose a plurality of transmission holes corresponding to the transmission part of each of the plurality of pressing parts.
However, the mere duplication of parts, without any new or unexpected results, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Harza, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960) (see MPEP § 2144.04).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have used a plurality presses, each press having a transmission hole thereby meeting the limitation of claim 19. This person of ordinary skill would have been motivated by the economics of scaling up for industry and cost-effectiveness of duplicating the parts disclosed by HIDEKI.
Regarding claim 11. HIDEKI discloses in the annotated figure depicted below the jig of claim 6, wherein the flow path (20) is u-shaped, and wherein the plurality of transmission holes is located between straight portions of the u-shaped flow path.
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Regarding claims 15, 18 and 20. HIDEKI discloses the jig of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose the plurality of presses are spaced from each other in a first direction and extend from the jig plate in a second direction.
The mere duplication of parts, without any new or unexpected results, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Harza, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960) (see MPEP § 2144.04).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have used a plurality of presses in an industrial setting in order to economize the production of the batteries. It also would have been obvious to have spaced the plurality of presses in a first direction i.e. a row, and have then extend down in the second direction, i.e., down towards the battery thereby meeting the limitation of claim 18 on a plate, or “jig plate” also meeting the limitations of claim 20.
Regarding claims 16 and 17. HIDEKI discloses in the annotated figure depicted below the jig of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of presses includes a body part (10) and a transmission part (30) surrounded by the body part. The transmission part (30) is configured [0022] to transmit a laser beam, called a laser light to the welding part.
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Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2016002566 (A), HIDEKI from the IDS provided dated 1/13/2023 along with a machine translation into English as applied to claims 1 and 3 above, and further in view of US 20170352997 A1, MARUISHI.
Regarding claim 4. HIDEKI discloses the jig of claim 3,
HIDEKI does not disclose the copper alloy includes beryllium copper.
MARUISHI [title and abstract] discloses A Connector and includes a plurality of contacts for batteries where,
MARUISHI [0036] discloses “the contact 22 is made of metal and can be manufactured using publicly known techniques such as press work or cutting. Examples of the material of the contact 22 include brass, beryllium copper or phosphor bronze since the contact 22 is required to have spring properties, conductivity, dimensional stability or the like.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have used the beryllium copper contacts disclosed by MARUISHI in the jig disclosed by HIDEKI in order to improve the spring properties, conductivity, and dimensional stability of the contacts.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAWRENCE LA RAIA III whose telephone number is (703)756-5441. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur 6:00am-4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Barbara Gilliam can be reached at (571) 272-1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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LAWRENCE LA RAIA III
Examiner
Art Unit 1727
/L.L./Examiner, Art Unit 1727
/BARBARA L GILLIAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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