DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Examiner notes that while Applicant traversed the election of species between species I and II, Applicant as silent as to the requirement for election between species I/II and III and IV. Thus, Applicant’s election of I and II is being treated as an election without traversal, while Applicant’s arguments that I and II should be subjected to a species election is being treated as an election with traversal.
With respect to Applicant’s traversal of the election between species I and II, Examiner finds Applicant’s arguments persuasive and the requirement is withdrawn. Thus, claims 1-40 will be examined and claims 41-70 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. With respect to claims 41-70, election was made without traverse in the reply filed on April 16, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-10, 16-17, 19-25 and 27-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fernando US PGPUB 2020/0305513.
Regarding claim 1, Fernando discloses a method for preparing an electroporation device for delivering an electroporation treatment [Examiner notes that since the preamble is not necessary to interpret the body of the claim, the “preparing an electroporation device” is being treated as non-limiting], comprising:
delivering a charge current from at least one battery through a charge circuit to a supercapacitor unit [fig. 2, battery 106 charging super capacitor 126; pars. 79-81];
charging the supercapacitor unit with the charge current [figs. 2-3; pars. 79-81], wherein the charging step comprises:
measuring one or more input parameters of the charge current while the charge current is in at least one charge state of a plurality of charge states of charging the supercapacitor unit [par. 88; current and voltage measurement]; and
at least one step of transitioning the charge current between charge states of the plurality of charge states responsive to the one or more measured input parameters, wherein transitioning the charge current comprises adjusting a magnitude of the charge current, wherein the measuring and transitioning steps are automatically controlled by a control unit executing machine-readable instructions [fig. 3; pars. 88 & 100-104; the charging current of the supercapacitor is transitioned from a first stage around 3.7 A to a higher stage around 3.8 A and then a variable stage 260 that is a decrease; the stage transitions (240, 250, 260) are controlled according to the charging voltage which is measured, via signals from controller 108 (par. 90)].
Regarding claim 2, Fernando discloses wherein at least one battery is selected from the group comprising Alkaline, NiMH, and Li-Ion batteries [par. 4].
Regarding claim 4, Fernando discloses wherein:
the one or more input parameters is selected from the group comprising:
a battery voltage measured at a first location [pars. 47, 88-91 & 100; based on the charging voltage (voltage across the capacitor 126 while it is charging], a change in the battery voltage when a charge load is applied to the at least one battery, a first boosted voltage measured at a second location between the at least one battery and the supercapacitor unit, a second boosted voltage measured at a third location between the second location and the supercapacitor unit, and a charging duration, and
the method further comprises determining whether the one or more measured input parameters satisfies a condition statement for triggering the at least one transitioning step [pars. 47, 88-91 & 100; fig. 3; the charging stage changes based on the voltage].
Regarding claim 5, Fernando discloses wherein:
the plurality of charge states comprises a set of primary charge states, and when the transitioning step comprises transitioning the charge current from one charge state to another charge state that are both in the set of primary charge states, the adjusting step comprises decreasing the electric current [fig. 3; stages 240 and 250, a decrease from in the current from 240 and 250; par. 101].
Regarding claim 6, Fernando discloses wherein the set of primary charge states comprises:
a first primary charge state, in which the electric current is substantially maintained at a first current value, and a second primary charge state, in which the electric current is substantially maintained at a second current value that is less than the first current value [fig. 3; a first primary state in 240 for current 220, and then a state 250 where the current is maintained the value in the first 250].
Regarding claim 7, Fernando discloses wherein the at least one transitioning step comprises transitioning the charge current from the first primary charge state to the second primary charge state, thereby adjusting the electric current from the first current value to the second current value [fig. 3].
Regarding claim 8, Fernando discloses wherein the first current value is in a range from about 1000 mAmps to about 3000 mAmps [fig. 3, about 2 A].
Regarding claim 9, Fernando discloses wherein the second current value is in a range from about 300 mAmps to about 600 mAmps [fig. 3; for at least some time in stage 250 the current is maintained at a current between .3 and .6 A; par. 101].
Regarding claim 10, Fernando discloses further comprising boosting a voltage of the charge current from the battery voltage to the first boosted voltage, wherein the boosting step is performed by a first voltage boost regulator of the charge circuit, wherein the first boost regulator is located at or upstream of second location [pars. 32, 92 & 93; the voltage of the battery is boosted via the converter 108, located at a second location].
Regarding claim 16, Fernando discloses wherein the at least one transitioning step comprises transitioning the charge current from one of the primary charge states to a top-off charge state after the supercapacitor unit reaches a full charge level [pars. 27-29; the capacitor can be charged after the fully charged state is reached until the device is removed from the charger].
Regarding claim 17, Fernando discloses further comprising, concurrent with the step of transitioning the charge current to the top-off charge state, communicating an indication signal indicating that the device is treatment ready [par. 27].
Regarding claim 19, Fernando discloses wherein:
the plurality of charge states includes an initial charge state, in which the measured one or more input parameters includes the battery voltage and no charge current is delivered to the supercapacitors [fig. 3, an initial state before 240 where no current is delivered (while the voltage is around 2.5 V); pars. 100-102], and the at least one transitioning step comprises transitioning the charge current from the initial charge state to the first primary charge state [fig. 3, from before 240 to 240], the adjusting step comprises adjusting the charge current from an initial electric current value of substantially zero to the first current value [fig. 3], and the method further comprises determining whether the measured battery voltage equals or exceeds a threshold voltage value prior to the at least one transitioning step [fig. 3; the voltage is measured, thus the voltage is determined to exceed some type of threshold (arbitrary) before transitioning].
Regarding claim 20, Fernando discloses wherein, in each of the primary charge states, the respective electric current value is maintained for at least a respective predetermined duration:
until either the supercapacitor unit reaches the full charge level [pars. 21, 23 & 25], or the charging duration exceeds a respective duration limit associated with the respective primary charge state;
unless at least one of the one or more input parameters satisfies a threshold limit that triggers a transition to an abort state of the plurality of charge states before the supercapacitor unit reaches the full charge level or before the charging duration exceeds the respective duration limit [par. 28; if the current reaches 0 the charging stops regardless if the capacitor is full].
Regarding claim 21, Fernando discloses wherein:
the at least one transitioning step comprises transitioning the charge current from one of the first and second primary charge states to the abort state responsive to (1) the charging duration exceeding the respective duration limit or (2) the control unit determines that the at least one of the one or more input parameters satisfies the threshold limit, and the adjusting step comprises adjusting the respective electric current value substantially to zero [par. 28; if charging current reaches zero charging is aborted and the current is zero].
Regarding claim 22, Fernando discloses wherein the set of primary charge states further comprises a third primary charge state, in which the magnitude of the charge current is substantially maintained at a third current value that is less than the second current value [fig. 3; an infinite amount of states exist in stage 250 with current values less than the first or second value, as the current decreases; pars. 100-102].
Regarding claim 23, Fernando discloses wherein the third current value is in a range from about 150 mAmps to about 300 mAmps [fig. 3].
Regarding claim 24, Fernando discloses wherein the at least one transitioning step further comprises transitioning the charge current from the second primary charge state to the third primary charge state, thereby adjusting the magnitude of the charge current from the second current value to the third current value [fig. 3; stage 250].
Regarding claim 25, Fernando discloses wherein the at least one transitioning step further comprises transitioning the charge current from the third primary charge state to a top-off charge state after the supercapacitor unit reaches a full charge level [pars. 27-29; the capacitor can be charged after the fully charged state is reached until the device is removed from the charger].
Regarding claim 27, Fernando discloses further comprising communicating indication signals to a user, wherein each of the indication signals indicates a transition between charge states [par. 27; the on and off state of the LED indicates a transition from charging to charged; par. 49; or a plurality of LEDs].
Regarding claim 28, Fernando discloses wherein the step of communicating indication signals comprises communicating optical indication signals to at least one LED display [par. 27].
Regarding claim 29, Fernando discloses wherein optical indication signals are selected from the group comprising:
a steady LED signal [par. 27], a flashing LED signal, a first LED color [par. 27, green], a second LED color, and a third LED color.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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 3, 18 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fernando US PGPUB 2020/0305513.
Regarding claim 3, Fernando does not explicitly disclose wherein at least one battery comprises a pair of batteries selected from the group comprising Alkaline and NiMH batteries.
However, Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the battery charging arts to using NiMH batteries since they have little or no memory effect. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fernando to further include wherein at least one battery comprises a pair of batteries selected from the group comprising Alkaline and NiMH batteries for the purpose of avoiding the memory effect of other batteries, and since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) which was ready for improvement in order to yield results predictable by one of ordinary skill the art. KSR International Co. v Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 127 S. Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Regarding claim 18, Fernando does not explicitly disclose wherein the supercapacitor unit has a voltage in a range of about 11.5 volts to about 12.5 volts when at the full charge level.
However, Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the portable device arts to use a 12 V voltage, like a portable CPAP. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fernando to further include wherein the supercapacitor unit has a voltage in a range of about 11.5 volts to about 12.5 volts when at the full charge level since 12 V is a safer voltage for personal electronics, and since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) which was ready for improvement in order to yield results predictable by one of ordinary skill the art. KSR International Co. v Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 127 S. Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Regarding claim 26, Fernando does not explicitly disclose wherein: the one or more input parameters includes charging duration, and the method further comprises: maintaining the electric current at the third current value for at least a predetermined duration until either (1) the supercapacitor unit reaches the full charge level, or (2) the charging duration exceeds a duration limit associated with the third primary charge state, determining that the charging duration exceeded the duration limit, and responsively transitioning the charge current to an abort state of the plurality of charge states, thereby adjusting the electric current from the third electric current value substantially to zero.
However, Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the battery charging arts to use a maximum charging duration. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fernando to further include wherein the one or more input parameters includes charging duration, and the method further comprises: maintaining the electric current at the third current value for at least a predetermined duration until either (1) the supercapacitor unit reaches the full charge level, or (2) the charging duration exceeds a duration limit associated with the third primary charge state, determining that the charging duration exceeded the duration limit, and responsively transitioning the charge current to an abort state of the plurality of charge states, thereby adjusting the electric current from the third electric current value substantially to zero for the purpose of avoiding overheating components if a voltage or current measurement error occurs and since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) which was ready for improvement in order to yield results predictable by one of ordinary skill the art. KSR International Co. v Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 127 S. Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 31-40 are allowed.
Claims 11-15 and 30 are 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.
With respect to claim 11, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “boosting the voltage of the charge current from the first boosted voltage to the second boosted voltage, wherein the further boosting step is performed by a second voltage boost regulator of the charge circuit, wherein the second boost regulator is located either at the third location or intermediate the second and third locations” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 11.
Claims 12-15, being dependent on claim 11, would be allowable for the same reasons as claim 11.
With respect to claim 30, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “wherein the step of communicating indication signals comprises communicating at least one audible indication signal to a speaker carried by the electroporation device” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 30.
With respect to claim 31, the following is an examiner' s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “discharging an output signal from the supercapacitor unit after the supercapacitor unit is fully charged; converting the output signal to one or more electroporation pulses; and transmitting the one or more electroporation pulses to at least one electrode of the handheld electroporation device.” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 31.
Claims 32-40, being dependent on claim 31, are allowable for the same reasons as claim 31.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Butler et al. US PGPUB 2016/0049819 discloses a portable charger for a device which uses a supercapacitor charged by a battery.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID V HENZE whose telephone number is (571)272-3317. The examiner can normally be reached M to F, 9am to 7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian Huffman can be reached at 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID V HENZE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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