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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 9-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention II. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 07/06/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, claims 1-8 in the reply filed on 07/06/2026 is acknowledged.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 07/28/2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN202210899845.3 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/13/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Silha et al. US 2021/0167430 (hereinafter Silha).
Regarding claim 1, Silha discloses modular charging device (100), comprising a housing (Abstract and ¶ 0004: a charger includes a housing includes a front wall, a rear wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall, and a second side wall),
at least one battery package socket (includes element 212; a charger terminals) located on the housing (Abstract and ¶¶ 0004, 0046; the interface includes charging terminals positioned between a first rail and a second rail a first groove positioned between the first rail and a wall of the housing, and a second groove positioned between the second rail and the wall of the housing), and
a PCB (fig. 7, element 158; PCB and ¶ 0049; microcontroller) located in the housing,
the at least one battery package socket (see fig. 8 above) being located at one or two sides of the PCB (being located at the front side of the PCB),
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at least one battery package (fig. 13, element 14A; battery pack) being electrically connectable into the at least one battery package socket in a plug-in manner (¶ 0051; the charger terminals 212 are configured to electrically connect to battery pack terminals of the battery pack 14A received in the recess 204 for charging), and
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the battery package socket comprising a battery package insertion slot (fig. 5, element 204) extending inwards from the housing (fig. 5) to the PCB (fig. 7, element 158; from the housing toward the PCB).
Regarding claim 2, Silha discloses wherein each side of the PCB comprises at least one set of wiring lugs (fig. 8), the at least one battery package being correspondingly electrically connected to the at least one set of wiring lugs (fig. 3 and ¶ 0051; the charger terminals 212 are configured to electrically connect to battery pack terminals (not shown) of the battery pack 14A received in the recess 204 for charging).
Regarding claim 3, Silha discloses wherein the battery package insertion slot is a columnar insertion slot (see fig. 3), and the battery package socket further comprises:
a first sunken part, sunk inwards from the housing (see fig. 2 below); and
a second sunken part, sunk from the first sunken part to connect to the battery package insertion slot (fig. 2 below).
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Regarding claim 5, Silha discloses wherein each of the at least one battery package (fig. 13, element 14A) comprises a columnar member (battery pack terminals and ¶ 0051), the columnar member comprising multiple electric terminals which are correspondingly electrically connected to each set of wiring lugs in the at least one set of wiring lugs (¶ 0051; The charger terminals 212 are configured to electrically connect to battery pack terminals of the battery pack 14A received in the recess 204 for charging).
Regarding claim 7, Silha discloses modular charging device further comprising at least one slot disposed at the bottom of the housing (fig. 4, element 508), the at least one slot (see fig. 7 below) leading to the PCB (fig. 7, element 158).
Regarding claim 8, Silha discloses wherein each side of the PCB is electrically connected to the same number of battery packages (see fig. 3, elements 200A and 200B; one battery for each side).
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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(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silha in view of Hain et al. US Pub 2012/0045675 (hereinafter Hain).
Regarding claim 4, Silha does not disclose wherein each side of the PCB comprises at least one spring correspondingly electrically connected between the PCB and the at least one battery package.
Hain further discloses wherein each side of the PCB comprises at least one spring correspondingly electrically connected between the PCB and the at least one battery package (¶ 0024 and claim 15; the top housing 150 having the printed circuit board (PCB) 130 and a connector 143 can be electrically coupled to the batteries 105 and 110 via a pair of springs 140 and 145 and a wire lead 148… The springs 140 and 145 and the battery contacts 160 and 165 located on the top housing 150 and the bottom housing 125 holds the batteries 105 and 110 in association with the battery pack 200).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Silha to incorporate with the teaching of Hain by including at least one spring electrically connected between the PCB and the battery pack, because it would be advantageous to operatively hold the batteries with the spring and the battery contact and further prevent damaging the battery pack during operation.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silha in view of Wohltmann et al. US 2020/0295579 (hereinafter Wohltmann).
Regarding claim 6, Silha fails to disclose wherein a second PCB (31) spaced apart from the PCB (30) is provided in the housing, the second PCB (31) being provided with at least one hole (34) for the battery package insertion slot (121) to pass through.
However, Wohltmann discloses wherein a second PCB (fig. 16, element 302) spaced apart from the PCB (fig. 16, element 304) is provided in the housing, the second PCB (302) being provided with at least one hole (308) for the battery package insertion slot to pass through (¶¶ 0125, 0129; the jumpers 312 maintain their mechanical and electrical connection between the first section 302 and the second section 304 and the first through holes 308 maintain their electrical connection to the contacts 320).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Silha to incorporate with the teaching of Wohltmann by including two PCBs in the same housing, because it would be advantageous to reduce the manufacturing cost and improve overall reliability.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIXUAN ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-6739. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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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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/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 07/16/2026
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