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
This Office Action is responsive to the amendment filed on 7/27/2026. Claim 11 has been added. Claims 1-11 are pending. Claims 6, 8, 9 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to a non-elected invention, in accordance with 37 CFR 1.142(b). Applicant’s arguments have been considered. Claims 1-5, 7, 10, 11 are finally rejected for reasons of record and for reasons necessitated by applicant’s amendment.
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 1, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Ohkura (US 2010/0271223) in view of Aizawa (WO 2020/012716).
Figure 7 of Ohkura. Regarding claim 1, Ohkura discloses a wiring module that is attached to a plurality of power storage elements 10, comprising:
a bus bar 40 that is connected to electrode terminals of the plurality of power storage elements;
an electric wire 52; and
a circuit substrate 50 that connects the bus bar 40 and one end of the electric wire 52, wherein a conductive path is routed on the circuit substrate 50, and
the conductive path includes: a busbar land 42 (one of the attachment portions 42 not connected to the wire 51) connected to the bus bar 40, an electric wire land 42 (another of the attachment portions 42 connected to the wire 51) connected to the electric wire 52, and a fuse portion 60 provided between the busbar land and the electric wire land. It is noted that the fuse 60 is located between the pair of attachment portions 42 from a sideview (in the y-direction). See figure 7.
Regarding claim 1, Ohkura discloses a second conductive path connecting the electric wire land 42 (another of the attachment portions 42 connected to the wire 51) to another end of the fuse portion 60, but does not disclose a first conductive path connecting the bus bar land 42 (one of the attachment portions 42 not connected to the wire 51) to one end of the fuse portion 60 (figure 7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to electrically connect both attachment portions 42 of Ohkura for the benefit of making a stronger electrical connection from the battery to the circuit board.
Regarding claim 10, the wiring module is a vehicle wiring module that is mounted and used in a vehicle. See figure 14.
Regarding claim 1, Ohkura discloses an electric wire including a core wire, but does not disclose an insulating coating that covers the core wire. Aizawa teaches a wire having an insulation coating. See Abstract. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add insulating to the wire of Ohkura, as taught by Aizawa, for the benefit of protecting the wire from heat generation.
Claims 2-5 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohkura (US 2010/0271223) as applied to claim 1, in view of Zeng (US 2018/0198110) and Gotoh (US 2017/0179460).
Ohkura does not disclose a protector as claimed in claims 2-5.
In particular, Ohkura does not disclose in claim 2, further comprising a protector that holds the bus bar, the circuit substrate, and the electric wire. Zeng teaches a battery connection module comprising an insulating frame (Applicant’s protector), a plurality of bus bars, a circuit board, a plurality of extension connecting tabs that connect with the bus bars [0044, 0046]. The circuit board comprises circuit traces that electrically connect with the plurality of extension tabs [0047]. The insulating frame is used to be provided on the plurality of batteries and has a body accommodating grooves correspondingly accommodating the plurality of busbars and limiting the plurality of busbars in position [0045].
Regarding claim 4, the circuit substrate includes an engagement portion, and the protector includes a substrate engaging portion that engages with the engagement portion, Zeng teaches the insulating frame 2 has a plurality of protruding posts 23 protruding from the body 21 and the insulating substrate of the circuit board has a plurality of positioning holes correspondingly accommodating the plurality of positions posts, so that the circuit board and the insulating frame are positioned relative to each other [0050].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add an insulating frame with its protruding posts and their corresponding holes to the wiring module of Ohkura, as taught by Zeng, for the benefit of further stabilizing all the components of Ohkura’s wiring module.
Regarding claim 5, Zeng teaches further comprising a connector 10 that is connected to the other end of the electric wire, wherein the connector is held by the protector 2, 23, to be used to externally connect with a plug [0050]. Figure 4. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form the connector of Ohkura to be held by the protector, as taught by Zeng, for the benefit of having the flexibility of positioning the connector at a different location on the battery module, depending on the space availability of the electronic device being used.
Regarding claim 2, Ohkura modified by Zeng does not teach wherein the protector includes an electric wire engaging portion that engages with the electric wire. Gotoh teaches a wiring module having an electric wire holding portion 49 is integrally formed in the inner surface of the side wall 43A or the side wall 43B in the electric wire routing portion 4. The electric wire holding portion 49 is formed into a plate-like shape, which protrudes in parallel with the bottom wall 41 from the inner surface of the side wall 43A or the side wall 43B so as to provide a space in which the voltage detection wires 5 can be held between the electric wire holding portion 49 and the bottom wall 41. Due to the electric wire holding portion 49, intermediate parts of the voltage detection wires 5 extending from the tip portions of the voltage detection wires 5 held in the electric wire tip holding portion 27 of the bus bar reception portion 26 can be retained in the electric wire routing portion 4 in the state where the intermediate parts have been bent at least once [0041]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add an electric wire holding portion of Gotoh to the protector of Okura modified by Zeng, as taught by Gotoh, for the benefit of further stabilizing the wires of Ohkura modified by Zeng.
Regarding claim 3, two electric wire engaging portions are provided for the one electric wire land, and are disposed on two sides of the electric wire land, Ohkura discloses that the circuit board is attached to the attachment portions 32 of the busbars 40 by screws 54 in figure 8. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add a screws to either of the attachment portions of the bus bars in figure 7 for the benefit of attaching the attachment portions of the bus bars to the circuit board. The screw reads on Applicant’s wire engaging portion disposed on one side of the electric wire land. Further, Gotoh teaches a wiring module having an electric wire holding portion 49 is integrally formed in the inner surface of the side wall 43A or the side wall 43B in the electric wire routing portion 4 [0041]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add an electric wire holding portion of Gotoh to the protector of Okura modified by Zeng, as taught by Gotoh, for the benefit of further stabilizing the wires of Ohkura modified by Zeng. Gotoh’s wire holding portion reads on Applicant’s wire engaging portion disposed on another side of the electric wire land.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohkura (US 2010/0271223) as applied to claim 1, in view of Kozu (US 2005/0112456).
Regarding claim 7, Ohkura discloses the circuit substrate is a flexible printed substrate [0063]. Ohkura discloses the fuse portion, but does not disclose the fuse is formed by a pattern fuse. Kozu teaches a battery pack having a circuit substrate having a pattern fuse that has an irreversible current cutting function and stops current flow when the current exceeds a preset limit, so as to improve the reliability of the battery pack [0066].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form the Ohkura’s fuse of pattern fuse on the circuit substrate, as taught by Kozu, for the benefit of reliably cutting current when current exceeds a preset limit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest prior art is Ohkura (US 2010/0271223). Ohkura does not disclose nor suggest:
“wherein the electric wire includes a linearly extending portion which extends linearly and passes over the one electric wire land and the circuit substrate” as recited in claim 11 (emphasis added).
Figure 7 of Ohkura. Ohkura’s electric wire 51 connects to an electric wire land 42 (another of the attachment portions 42 connected to the wire 51). The electric wire land 42 (another of the attachment portions 42 connected to the wire 51) is disposed adjacent the bus bar 40, and there is no motivation to pass over the electric wire 51 the electric wire land 42.
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 CYNTHIA KYUNG SOO WALLS whose telephone number is (571)272-8699. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F until 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Leong can be reached at 571-270-1292. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CYNTHIA K WALLS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751
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