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 Arguments
The examiner is withdrawing the rejections in the previous Office Action because
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, This Action Is Made Final.
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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kishimoto et al. (US20110104521) in view of Zhou et al. (US20190004339).
2. Regarding claims 1, 2, 4, 6, Kishimoto teaches a battery information sampling assembly (see Fig. below), comprising: a battery sampling controller; and a flexible printed circuit board, wherein the flexible printed circuit board is configured to collect information of a corresponding cell, and the flexible printed circuit board is connected with the battery sampling controller (see Fig. below).
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3. Regarding claims 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, Kishimoto teaches a battery module, comprising: a cell; a battery support disposed on the cell (As illustrated in FIG. 13, in this example, a spacer SP1 is fitted between an end surface E1 of a battery block 10Ba and an end surface E2 of a battery block 10Bb [0176]; As illustrated in FIGS. 14 (a) to 14 (c), the spacer SP1 includes a plate member 810 in a substantially rectangular shape and four supporting bars 820 [0177]); and a battery information sampling assembly, wherein the battery information sampling assembly comprises: a battery sampling controller; and a flexible printed circuit board is configured to collect information of a corresponding cell, and the flexible printed circuit board is connected with the battery sampling controller (see Figs. below).
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4. They are silent about a plug disposed on the flexible printed circuit board, wherein the plug is configured to be inserted into a receptacle on the corresponding cell to electrically connect the flexible printed circuit board to the corresponding cell.
5. Zhou teaches (see Fig. below) for the benefit of indicating various operational status or battery status of the device 10 [0030].
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6. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kishimoto with Zhou teachings for the benefit of indicating various operational status or battery status of the device 10.
7. Claims 5, 7-9, 14, 16, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kishimoto et al. (US20110104521) in view of Zhou et al. (US20190004339) and further in view of Okachi et al. (US 20050118463).
8. Regarding claims 5, 7-9, 14, 16, 17 and 18, the complete discussion of Kishimoto as applied to claim 1 is incorporated herein.
9. Kishimoto teaches a reinforcing plate configured to reinforce a connection between the flexible printed circuit board and the plug, wherein the reinforcing plate is disposed on a back side of the flexible printed circuit board (The printed circuit board 21 is mounted on the base plate attachment, portion 92b in the one end surface frame 92 by a screw. The battery module 100 includes the battery block 10BB and the printed circuit board 21 [0116]).
10. Kishimoto teaches a first side of the flexible printed circuit board is connected with the plug; and a second side of the flexible printed circuit board is connected with the reinforcing plate (the pair of end surface frames 92 includes a flat portion 92 a, four base plate attachment portions 92 b, and four connection portions 92 c. The connection portions 92 c are provided at four corners of the flat portion 92 a [0114]).
11. Kishimoto teaches wherein the flexible printed circuit board is welded to the battery sampling controller; and the plug is welded to the flexible printed circuit board (The one end of each of the conductor lines 51 exposed to the lower surface is electrically connected to the attachment portion 42, 46 in the bus bar 40, 40 a by soldering or welding, for example [0136]; The other ends of the conductor lines 52 in the FPC board 50 are connected to the corresponding connection terminals 22 by soldering or welding [0138]).
12. Okachi teaches connector 25 is disposed adjacent to one end of the control circuit-board 23 and can be connected with the plug connector 105 of the electronic apparatus 100. Furthermore, the control circuit-board 23 is provided with four attachment holes 23a which are separated by a predetermined distance in the longitudinal direction of the control circuit-board 23 and correspond to the four respective insertion holes 21a of the protection sheet 21 [0079] for the benefit of contributing to the compactness of the battery pack [0082].
13. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kishimoto with Okachi’s teachings for the benefit of contributing to the compactness of the battery pack.
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 OLATUNJI GODO whose telephone number is (571)272-3104. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas Smith can be reached on 571-272-8760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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