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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/12/2026 has been entered.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-4 and 9 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1- 15 of copending Application No. 18/056,123.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection.
Claims 5-8 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-15 of copending Application No. 18/056,123, hereinafter 123’, in view of WO 2021/0110460 A1.
As to claim 5, 123’ discloses all of the claim limitations except, wherein the power tool operational information comprises unique identification information related to the power tool or unique identification information related to the manufacturer, owner, and/or previous owners of the power tool, or a combination thereof.
460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the power tool operational information comprises unique identification information related to the power tool or unique identification information related to the manufacturer, owner, and/or previous owners of the power tool, or a combination thereof [see ¶0020].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use unique identification number for tool information in 123’s apparatus as taught by 460’ in order to distinguish or uniquely identify each power tool.
As to claim 6, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the power tool operational information comprises historical information related to an operation of the power tool, historical information related to the repair and/or theft of the power tool, historical information related to error codes or alerts triggered by the power tool, or a combination thereof [historical information disclosed; see ¶0020].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use historical information in 123’s apparatus as taught by 460’ in order to effectively charge the battery pack.
As to claim 7, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the power tool operational information comprises sensor related information gathered from one or more sensors disposed throughout the power tool, information related to tool components of the power tool, or a combination thereof [see ¶0017].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add sensors in 123’s apparatus as taught by 460’ in order to measure battery or power tool electrical parameters in order to prevent or avoid adverse damages.
As to claim 8, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the battery pack operational information includes unique identification information related to the battery pack, historical information related to the operation of the battery pack, cycles of operation, a power level, a state of health (SOH) status, a state of charge (SOC) status, historical information related to error codes, a lockdown status, a unlock status, or a combination thereof [see ¶022 and Claim 8].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use SOC information in 123’s apparatus as taught by 460’ in order to avoid battery damage due to over charging or undercharging.
As to claim 10, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the historical information related to the operation of the power tool comprises information related to runtime [see ¶0020].
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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. 103 as being unpatentable over W0 2021/0110460 A1, hereinafter 460’, in view of Hsieh et al. (US 2019/0280502), hereinafter Hsieh.
As to claim 1, 460’ discloses in figure 1, a system, comprising:
PNG
media_image1.png
506
420
media_image1.png
Greyscale
a plurality of battery packs [battery pack s(104); see ¶0017 and ¶0023-0024] associated with a plurality of different power tools [, each battery pack configured to receive and gather respective battery pack and power tool operational information [see ¶0005 and ¶0022-0023]; and
a connected charger [charger connectors (126) and (128); and ¶0022-0023] having a housing and configured to removably couple with at least one of the plurality of battery packs to a first interface the first interface including electrical power contacts and separate data contacts configured to transfer power between the connected charger and the coupled battery pack and to transfer the respective battery pack and power tool operational information of the coupled battery pack directly to charger circuitry of the connected charger [noted that the memory (144) stores battery and power information and this memory device can be also stored in the charger; ¶0025-0027; ¶0031-0032 and ¶0045[,
wherein the connected charger [charger (106) module] comprises:
a charger memory [memory (144) can be stored in the charger unit; see ¶0027-31 and figure 7] disposed within the housing of the connected charger and forming part of the charger circuitry, the charger memory [memory 144; the memory 144 is separate from the communication device; see figure 7] configured to receive and store, independently of any memory of any of the plurality of battery packs, the respective battery pack and power tool operational information via the data contacts of the first interface [the battery ack (104) has memory (144) see also ¶0025-0027],
a communications module [communication device (138) is disposed in the charger (106)] disposed within the housing of the connected charger [see figure 7; element 138 and also see ¶00044], and operatively coupled to the charger memory [charger incorporates memory (144); see ¶0025-0024], the communications module comprising a wireless transceiver [cellular (136)] and being configured to access the respective battery pack and power tool operational information [cellular transceiver; see also Claim ] stored in the charger memory and to transmit the accessed information to a cloud-based computing system even during a period of time when the respective battery pack is physically disconnected from the first interface and is not in electrical communication with the connected charger [cloud based computing device (136); see ¶007, ¶0024-28; Abstract ].
a charger controller [processor ( 142) ] operatively coupled to the charger memory [the charger memory can be memory (144)] the charger controller being configured to write respective battery pack and power tool operational information into the charger memory during multiple, consecutive coupling events with the plurality of battery packs and to retain the written operational information in the charge memory after each battery pack is decoupled [noted that the memory stores battery and power tool information during communications with the battery and the power tool, such that the connected charge maintains a multi-session operational history corresponding to the plurality of power tools and the respective battery packs;
wherein the communications module is further configured to access the multi-session operational history from the charger memory and to transmit the accessed history to the cloud-based computing system when wireless communication becomes available, including after period during which wireless communication is unavailable and the multi-session operational history remains stored in the charger memory [the communication module (108) which is deposed in the charger receives information from the battery and store the information when the; see ¶004, ¶0022, ¶0024, ¶0030-0033 and ¶0045]].
460’ does not disclose explicitly, battery is not coupled to the charger; the communication module transmits the signal to the cloud based server in later time the charger.
Hsieh discloses in figure 1, the charger [charging unit (23)] transmits data when the battery is disconnected /uncoupled from the charger [claim 7].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the communication of 460’ and transmits data to the charger when the battery is disconnected from the charger as taught by Hsieh in order to continuously monitor battery status to avoid battery charging and discharging.
As to claim 2, 460’ and Ito disclose, a second battery pack [plurality of battery packs (160,162,164) are disclosed] another battery pack of the plurality of battery packs configured to removably couple with the connected charger via the first interface [460’ discloses the charger 108 connected with the battery packs via the connection terminals 134], wherein the connected charger is configured to charge the another battery pack while transmitting the stored power tool information from the charger memory [see ¶0024-¶0025].
As to claim 3, 460’ discloses in figure 2, the first battery pack [battery packs 160, 162, 164] of the plurality of battery pack via the connected charger [charger 108] while the battery pack is connected to the first interface [¶0025].
As to claim 4, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the wireless transceiver is a cellular transceiver having a cellular transceiver having a cellular antenna [see Abstract, see ¶0026; Cellular transceiver disclosed by 460’].
As to claim 5, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the power tool operational comprises unique identification information related to the power tool or unique identification information related to the manufacturer, owner, and/or previous owners of the power tool, or a combination thereof [see ¶0020].
As to claim 6, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the power tool operational information comprises historical information related to an operation of the power tool, historical information related to the repair and/or theft of the power tool, historical information related to error codes or alerts triggered by the power tool, or a combination thereof [historical information disclosed; see ¶0020].
As to claim 7, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the power tool operational information comprises sensor related information gathered from one or more sensors disposed throughout the power tool, information related to tool components of the power tool, or a combination thereof [see ¶0017].
As to claim 8, 460’ discloses in figure 2, , wherein the battery pack operational information includes unique identification information related to the battery pack, historical information related to the operation of the battery pack, cycles of operation, a power level, a state of health (SOH) status, a state of charge (SOC) status, historical information related to error codes, a lockdown status, a unlock status, or a combination thereof [see ¶0022 and Claim 8].
As to claim 9, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein a first battery pack of the plurality of battery packs is a rechargeable battery pack comprising a series of rechargeable battery cells [claim 9].
As to claim 10, 460’ discloses in figure 2, wherein the historical information related to the operation of the power tool comprises information related to runtime [see ¶0022].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been fully considered but they are not persuasive, or moot in view of new ground of rejection.
Applicant argues that Neither Böhm nor Ito teaches or suggests a connected charger having a housing that includes a charger memory forming part of charger circuitry and independent of any battery-pack memory, a charger controller configured to write and retain respective battery pack and power tool operational information during multiple, consecutive coupling events with a plurality of battery packs, or maintaining a multi-session operational history corresponding to a plurality of power tools and battery packs for later transmission”
Examiner disagrees with the above applicant’s assertion Boham discloses the communication module (138) disposed in the charger and the memory of the charger stores power tool and battery pack information to transmits to the server [ see ¶0022, ¶0024, ¶0024, ¶0030-0033 and ¶0045]
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL BERHANU whose telephone number is (571)272-8430. The examiner can normally be reached M_F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian A. Huffman can be reached at Julian.Huffman@uspto.gov. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SAMUEL BERHANU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859