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 .
Priority
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.
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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Yasuhisa (JP2019067570) in view of Atsushi (JP2012245524). An English machine translation of Yasuhisa (JP2019067570) in view of Atsushi (JP2012245524) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Yasuhisa teaches a welding device, which welds an electrode tab protruding from an electrode assembly of a button-type battery to a can of the button-type battery in which the electrode assembly is mounted (intended use, where the top 4 tabs in the tab group 18 is considered an electrode tab and the last tab is considered the can, 0022), the welding device comprising: a base (Figs 3-7, conductive member 17, 0025) configured to support a bottom surface of the can (last tab 18) when an inner surface of the can faces an upper side, and the electrode tab (top 4 tabs) is in contact with the inner surface of the can; a jig disposed on the base to fix the electrode tab on the base and having an opening hole (welding jig 50, through hole 53, 0028) through which a laser light for welding (laser beam R, welded portion 31, 0041) the electrode tab to the can passes; a laser irradiation device configured to irradiate the laser light (laser irradiation device 62) to the opening hole when the jig fixes the electrode tab to the can.
Yasuhisa discloses the claimed invention except for four probes mounted on the base or the jig, two probes of the probes are connected to a power source so that current flows to welding portions of the can and the electrode tab when the probes are in contact with the welding portions, and the remaining two probes are connected to a voltmeter to measure voltages at the welding portions to be in contact with the welding portions.
However, Atsushi discloses four probes mounted on the base or the jig, two probes of the probes (Figs 1, 2, power supply blocks 35a, 35b, 0027) are connected to a power source (power supply unit 11, 0028) so that current flows to welding portions of the can and the electrode tab when the probes are in contact with the welding portions (members 61, 62, 0027), and the remaining two probes (Fig 2a, probes connected to welding electrodes 15a, 15b, members 61, 62, 0027) are connected to a voltmeter to measure voltages (welding electrode voltage detection unit 104, 0031, 0033, 0035) at the welding portions to be in contact with the welding portions is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the laser welding device of Yasuhisa silent to the probes with four probes mounted on the base or the jig, two probes of the probes are connected to a power source so that current flows to welding portions of the can and the electrode tab when the probes are in contact with the welding portions, and the remaining two probes are connected to a voltmeter to measure voltages at the welding portions to be in contact with the welding portions of Atsushi for the purpose of providing a known probe configuration that provides for a hybrid welding device and a hybrid welding method that can ensure weld strength and weld quality by performing welding work while directly monitoring the welding state by measuring the resistance between the welding electrodes due to the growth of the nugget formed by the thermal energy generated at the welded portion by resistance welding and laser welding (0013).
With respect to the limitations of claims 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9, Yasuhisa in view of Atsushi discloses two probes of the four probes are on the jig (Atsushi, power blocks 35a, 35b), and two probes of the four probes are on the base (Atsushi, probes connected to welding electrodes 15a, 15b, members 61, 62);
a gap between the two probes through which the current flows is greater than a gap between the two probes connected to the voltmeter (Atsushi, Fig 2a, spacing between power blocks 35a, 35b; spacing between probes connected to welding electrodes 15a, 15b, members 61, 62);
the two probes through which the current flows (Atsushi, power blocks 35a, 35b) are mounted on the jig (Yasuhisa, welding jig 50), and the two probes (Atsushi, probes connected to welding electrodes 15a, 15b, members 61, 62) connected to the voltmeter are mounted on the base (Yasuhisa, conductive member 17);
the probes are disposed to be spaced a predetermined distance (Atsushi, power blocks 35a, 35b; probes connected to welding electrodes 15a, 15b, members 61, 62) from a point at which the laser light is irradiated (Atsushi, laser light 27, 0039);
further comprising a controller that calculates resistance of each of the welding portions by calculating the current supplied from the power source and the voltage measured by the voltmeter, and compares the calculated resistance with input data to determine whether a welding defect occur (resistance calculation unit 106, 0035, 0038).
With respect to the limitations of claim 7, Yasuhisa teaches the jig is capable of ascending and descending to approach the base when descends and to be away from the base when ascends (0040, the welding jig 50 is moved toward the tab group 18 by the fluid cylinder 60).
With respect to the limitations of claim 5, Yasuhisa in view of Atsushi discloses the claimed invention except for the two probes through which the current flows are mounted on the base, and the two probes connected to the voltmeter are mounted on the jig. However, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to have the two probes through which the current flows are mounted on the base, and the two probes connected to the voltmeter are mounted on the jig, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable probe location involves only routine skill in the art (see MPEP 2144.04)
Claims 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Yasuhisa (JP2019067570) in view of Atsushi (JP2012245524) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Nasu (US 2016/0146884).
With respect to the limitations of claims 8 and 10, Yasuhisa in view of Atsushi discloses the claimed invention except for each of the probes includes a pogo pin that overcomes elastic force of a spring therein and is pressed; when the probes are mounted on the base or the jig, the probes are electrically insulated from the base and the jig. However, Nasu discloses each of the probes includes a pogo pin (Figs 1-3, probe 18, contact portion 46, 0060) that overcomes elastic force of a spring (elastic portion 48, slit portions 50, 0062) therein and is pressed; when the probes are mounted on the base or the jig, the probes are electrically insulated (positioning members 36, 38, ceramic, 0090) from the base and the jig is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the laser welding device of Yasuhisa in view of Atsushi having probes silent to the recited pogo pin and electrically insulated probes with each of the probes includes a pogo pin that overcomes elastic force of a spring therein and is pressed; when the probes are mounted on the base or the jig, the probes are electrically insulated from the base and the jig of Nasu for the purpose of providing a known probe configuration that allows the probes to easily positioned and where the positional accuracy of the probes can be improved.
Conclusion
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/THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 1/5/2026