DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
In the communication dated June 12, 2026, claims 1-2 and 6-16 are pending. Claims 1 and 16 are amended and claims 3-5 are presently cancelled. Original claims 3-5 are incorporated verbatim into claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed June 12, 2026, with respect to the rejection of original claim 5, now incorporated verbatim into claim 1 with the intervening claims, under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A, as detailed further below. A new non-final rejection is issued.
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, 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, 6-7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. EP2800195A1 in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A.
Regarding claim 1. Wang discloses a personal-care device (¶1 – hearing aid, small electronic devices) comprising
a rechargeable lithium-ion battery (¶1-2);
a charging circuit (charger - ¶14) for receiving energy from an external energy source (implicit) and for charging the lithium-ion battery (¶1);
a first charging mode in which the rechargeable lithium-ion battery (¶1) is charged to a predetermined maximum voltage value (¶16 – 4.2V – charged using CC-CV to the maximum voltage);
a user-selectable second charging mode in which the rechargeable lithium-ion battery is charged until the voltage at the rechargeable lithium-ion battery has reached a first predetermined voltage value that is lower than the predetermined maximum voltage value (¶19 –selected charging 4.05V or 4.1V which is less than the maximum voltage of 4.2V; ¶24 – charging voltage selection left to user)
wherein the charging circuit is structured and/or arranged to employ a charging concept having a first charging stage in which the lithium-ion battery is charged in a constant current mode and a second charging stage succeeding the first charging stage in which the lithium-ion battery is charged in a constant voltage mode (¶16 – constant current-constant voltage charging), and
Wang does not explicitly teach wherein the first predetermined voltage value is chosen such that the charging of the lithium-ion battery is stopped while the charging circuit is in the first charging stage
Inoue discloses that the first predetermined voltage value is chosen such that the charging of the lithium-ion battery is stopped while the charging circuit is in the first charging stage (column 16, lines 21-25 – “If it is determined that the change rate in time (dV/dt) is equal to or smaller than the threshold value (TH) in the step S450, the process will go to the step S455 to halt the charging operation in the constant current charging circuit 153 since the terminal voltage (V) stops to raise up and the charged electricity amount has reached 60%”).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to halt charging of Wang at less than a maximum charge in order to avoid fire and/or fuming due to overcharge, as taught by Inoue (Inoue column 15, lines 6-14).
Regarding claim 6. Wang discloses that the personal-care device comprises at least one user-operable input element arranged for selecting the second charging mode (¶24 – selection button).
Regarding claim 7. Wang discloses a user-selectable third charging mode in which the rechargeable energy storage is charged until the voltage at the rechargeable energy source has reached a second predetermined voltage value (¶21 – voltage elevation is steps from 4.05-4.20V; ¶24 – button elevates the CV by 0.05V).
Regarding claim 9. Wang discloses a system comprising a personal-care device of claims 1 (as rejected above in claim 1) and a charger arranged for providing energy to the personal-care device (¶19/24/25/34 – charger).
Claims 2 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. EP2800195A1 in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A and further in view of Jung et al. US20130193915A1.
Regarding claim 2. Wang does not explicitly teach that the personal-care device is an electric toothbrush.
Jung teaches that the personal-care device is an electric toothbrush (2) (¶25).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing that the personal-care device of Wang be a toothbrush, as electric toothbrushes are known in the art to require charging, thus apply the device charging of Wang to a toothbrush.
Regarding claim 10. Wang does not explicitly teach that the charger is structured and arranged for providing the energy in a wireless manner.
Jung teaches the charger (22) is structured and arranged for providing the energy in a wireless manner (¶25 – inductive charger part of a base station 22).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide wireless charging as taught by Jung to the charging method of Wang in order to avoid problems associated with mechanical electric connectors and wet and humid conditions (Jung; ¶2).
Regarding claim 11. Wang does not explicitly disclose that the charger comprises a primary side of an inductive charging circuit and the charging circuit of the personal-care device realizes a secondary side of the inductive charging circuit.
Jung discloses the charger (22) comprises a primary side of an inductive charging circuit (¶25 – inductive charger part of a base station 22) and the charging circuit of the personal-care device (2) realizes a secondary side of the inductive charging circuit (6).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide wireless charging as taught by Jung to the charging method of Wang in order to avoid problems associated with mechanical electric connectors and wet and humid conditions (Jung; ¶2).
Claims 8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. EP2800195A1 in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A and further in view of Abiru et al. US20160197506A1
Regarding claim 8. Wang discloses a maximum nominal voltage of about 4.2 Volt (¶16/19).
Although Wang teaches a lower voltage of 4.05V (¶19), Wang does not explicitly teach that the predetermined first voltage value is in a range of between 3.9 Volt and 4.0 Volt.
Abiru discloses that the predetermined first voltage value is in a range of between 3.9 Volt and 4.0 Volt (¶29 – long life mode charging is restricted to the end voltage within a second voltage. The second voltage is suitable for 3.9-4.1V/cell).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the lower range of Abiru to the long-range charging of Wang in order to provide longer lasting battery capacity (Abiru; ¶4).
Regarding claim 16. Although Wang teaches a lower voltage of 4.05V (¶19), Wang does not explicitly teach that the predetermined first voltage value is about 3.95 Volt.
Abiru discloses that the predetermined first voltage value is in a range of between 3.9 Volt and 4.0 Volt (¶29 – long life mode charging is restricted to the end voltage within a second voltage. The second voltage is suitable for 3.9-4.1V/cell. The value of 3.95V is within the range of the reference).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the lower range of Abiru to the long-range charging of Wang in order to provide longer lasting battery capacity (Abiru; ¶4).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. EP2800195A1 in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A and further in view of Pan et al. US20180166904A1.
Regarding claim 12. Wang does not explicitly teach that the charger comprises a first circuit portion of a wireless resonance charging circuit and the charging circuit of the personal-care device realizes a secondary side of the resonance charging circuit.
Pan teaches that the charger (202) comprises a first circuit portion of a wireless resonance charging circuit (FIG. 2; ¶22 - the TX matching network 216 and the inductor 206 form a resonant circuit) and the charging circuit of the personal-care device (FIG. 2; 204) realizes a secondary side of the resonance charging circuit (¶23).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the resonant charging of Pan to the charging method of Wang in order to provide flexible placement of the toothbrush for charging (Pan; ¶3).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. EP2800195A1 in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A and further in view of Van der Linde et al. US20090096430A1.
Regarding claim 13. Wang does not explicitly disclose that the charger comprises an internal energy storage that has a higher capacity than a capacity of the rechargeable energy storage of the personal-care device.
Van der Linde discloses that the charger (10) comprises an internal energy storage (42) that has a higher capacity than a capacity of the rechargeable energy storage (30) of the personal-care device (12 - a personal-care device is a broad term that may be applied to any number of devices) (¶105 – “It is of course more advantageous for the charge capacity of the supply capacitor 42 to be greater than the storage capacitors 30 in order to recharge capacitors 30 to a capacity of 50% or more. For example, if the charge capacity of the supply capacitor 42 is twice the charge capacity of the storage capacitors 30, then recharging using the charger 10 will result in the capacitor being charged to 66% charge capacity. The greater the charge capacity of the supply capacitor 42 compared to the charge capacity of the storage capacitors 30, the greater the recharge”) .
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the capacity level teaching of Van der Linde to the system of Wang in order to provide a greater recharge to the device (Van der Linde; ¶105).
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. EP2800195A1 in view of Inoue et al. US5744933A and further in view of Chiu et al. US20180062414A1.
Regarding claim 14. Wong does not explicitly disclose that the charger comprises a motion or vibration sensor and the charger is structured and arranged to provide energy in response to a detected motion or vibration.
Chiu discloses that the charger comprises a motion sensor and the charger is structured and arranged to provide energy in response to a detected motion (¶31 – sensing unit D1 senses a handheld device M1 to activate the charger; ¶24 – sensing unit includes a touch sensor, a weight sensor, a pressure sensor, or the other sense switches).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide the teachings of Chiu to the system of Wang in order to provide repeated and consistent charging for a frequently used device (Chiu; ¶3).
Regarding claim 15. Wang does not explicitly disclose that the charger is structured and arranged to monitor whether energy provided to the personal-care device is utilized and to switch into a standby mode in case the provided energy is not used, where in the stand-by mode the charger is arranged to not provide energy for charging.
Chiu discloses that the charger is structured and arranged to monitor whether energy provided to the personal-care device is utilized and to switch into a standby mode in case the provided energy is not used (¶25 – wireless charging module in a standby mode or resting state), where in the stand-by mode the charger is arranged to not provide energy for charging (¶25 – the device enters a charging state after the standby state, thus, not providing power in the standby state).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide the teachings of Chiu to the system of Wang in order to provide repeated and consistent charging for a frequently used device (Chiu; ¶3).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sanpei US20050194938A1 discloses that charging is halted after a period of time when the terminal voltage becomes a first set voltage or more (claim 1).
Conclusion
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/PAMELA J JEPPSON/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/DREW A DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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