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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-5 are currently pending for examination.
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 (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 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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim (US 2020/0365863 A1).
Regarding claims 1-2, Kim teaches a manufacturing device for an assembled battery including a plurality of battery cells (110a…110d) stacked in a first direction (i.e left/right direction in fig. 5), wherein each battery cell includes a terminal (111a) on a surface facing a second direction (i.e up/down direction in fig. 5) that intersects the first direction, and a busbar (130) welded to the terminal (figs. 4-10), the manufacturing device comprising: a plurality of pressing pieces (241b/242b) arranged along the first direction, a tip of each of the pressing pieces in the second direction facing the respective terminal with the busbar interposed between the pressing piece and the terminal (figs. 4-10; [0067]-[0068]); a rotor including a shaft (243) that extends along the first direction and that is rotated by an actuator (211) and a plurality of contact pieces (241a/242a) engaged with the shaft such that each of the contact pieces is in contact with the corresponding one of the pressing pieces (241b/242b), wherein the rotor is configured to press the pressing pieces against the busbars when rotated about an axis (figs. 4-10; [0053]-[0054], [0066] & [0091]); and a welder that welds the busbars and the terminals, wherein the welder welds the busbars to the terminals while the rotor presses the busbars against the terminals (figs. 4-10; [0079]-[0081]).
Regarding claim 3, Kim teaches engagement point between the contact pieces and the shaft being dispersed around the shaft when viewed from the first direction (figs. 6-7).
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.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2020/0365863 A1) in view of Reingruber (US 2023/0035654 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Kim teaches the manufacturing device of claim 2 but is silent as to a spring having elasticity in a circumferential direction of the shaft being interposed between the shaft and each of the contact pieces. Reingruber teaches a manufacturing device for an assembled battery, comprising a spring having elasticity for engaging a plurality of contact pieces with corresponding pressing pieces to connect a busbar with terminals of the assembled battery ([0028]-[0038] & [0047]-[0051]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to provide a spring as described above in order to elastically tension the pressing pieces against the battery cells and prevent excessive contact pressure from being exerted on the cells while allowing different lengths of cells to be processed better as taught by Reingruber ([0047]-[0049]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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 of record, Kim (as cited above), does not fairly teach or suggest the contact piece being a pinion gear and the pressing piece being provided with a rack gear that engages with the pinion gear.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, BARBARA GILLIAM can be reached at (571)272-1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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