Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 22 December 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments in regard to the prior art are moot as that rejection has been withdrawn. However, the instant amendments are not supported by original specification, introduce new matter and enablement issues to the claims as the amendments appears to attempting to bring limitations from the arrangement with the battery cell (claim 8) and combination of bracket bodies (in claim 6) without also requiring the additional bracket body in a mirroring mode.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 has been amended to require that “the resisting parts of the bracket body are abutting against a part of an edge at one end of the battery cell to prevent the battery cell from sliding out of the bracket body from the first surface when installed in the receiving groove edges at two ends of the battery cell.” However, this appears to be a misconstruction of how a single bracket body interacts with the battery cell. The instant claim is drawn to a single bracket body, with a base shell and stoppers with resisting parts where “the two resisting parts are higher than the first surface of the base shell and form a gap with the first surface; the first surface of the base shell is mounted by a planar conductive sheet”. I.e. the claimed resisting parts are all on one side, above a first surface. The amendment to the claims appears to be attempting to claim what a bracket which includes two mirroring bracket bodies, which are stacked together such that there are stoppers and resisting parts on each end (i.e. claim 6).
Therefore, the claim amendments are taken to introduce new matter as the instant specification fails to describe how a single bracket body with resisting parts that are all higher than a first surface (i.e. all on one surface of the bracket) can exist on two ends of a battery cell which is inserted into a groove of the bracket.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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 1-5 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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are at least: “A bracket, comprising: a first bracket body and a second bracket body wherein the second bracket body rotates relative to the first bracket body in a mirroring mode in a predetermined direction, and is fixed to the first bracket body in a laminating mode; the first bracket body and the second bracket body having the same structure”.
Further, it is unclear and the instant specification does not provide for how a single bracket body with resisting parts that are all higher than a first surface (i.e. all on one surface of the bracket) can exist on two ends of a battery cell which is inserted into a groove of the bracket. In any event, prior art cited below teaches the ability to use mirroring bracket bodies which engage with two ends of the battery cell.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Newly cited Sato et al. US Pub 2018/0114960 teaches a battery pack with symmetrical brackets (see figures 1-7).
US Pub 2016/0329537 A1 (newly cited) teaches a battery holder in FIGS. 1 and 2, the frame 20 is substantially mirror image identical across a longitudinal vertical center plane indicated by the centerline 50 and a lateral vertical center plane indicated by the centerline 52, except for the bracket 35.
Pellenc (USP 8,703,325) teaches a similar battery positioning system (see abstract and figures 1 and 6). US Pub 2014/0248520 teaches a similar battery bracket.
As noted before - CN 104393210 of record, a copy and translation of which are of record teaches mirroring bracket bodies 1, 2 with buckles 61 for mounting copper electrode sheets which include stoppers 71 which engage with two ends of a battery cell 8 considered relevant to the claims (see figure 1 below) –
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/NICHOLAS P D'ANIELLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723