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 .
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
In this instance, the abstract recites the legal term “comprising” in the 1st and 3rd lines.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7, 9-11, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “generally” in claims 1-4 is a relative term which renders the claims indefinite. The term “generally” is not defined by the claims, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Since claims 5-7 and 9-11 depend from claim 1, these claims are rejected under 35 USC 112(b) for the same reason.
With regard to claims 2, 9, and 17, the limitations “PTC” and “PTCHF” are unclear, since the specification lacks disclosure of what “PTC” represents. Although “HF” is an abbreviation for “heating film”, the lack of disclosure of “PTC” renders both “PTC” and “PTCHF” indefinite. Correction and clarification are required, including that “PTC” should include disclosure that it stands for “positive temperature coefficient”.
With regard to claims 3, 10, and 20, the (similar) limitations “wherein when operating (operation of) the plurality of generally (substantially) cylindrical battery cells and the external case have (comprise) no cables connected thereto” are unclear, as the “conditional” term “when” does not only not impart any structural limitation, but also the battery cells and the external case have no cables connected thereto is unclear in the instance that a condition defined by “when” is occurring. Correction and clarification are required.
Claims 4, 11, and 18 recite the limitation "the temperature" in the 2nd lines of these claims. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. In this instance, it is suggested to replace “the” with “a” to obtain proper antecedent basis.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the plurality of substantially cylindrical battery cells" in the 3rd line. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. In this instance, it is believed that the dependency of claim 9 should be changed from “claim 1” to “claim 8” to obtain proper antecedent basis. Since claims 10 and 11 depend from claim 9, these claims are rejected under 35 USC 112(b) for the same reason.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 216015503 U, of which a complete copy of the Chinese document with a machine translation is provided with this Office Action, with an English equivalent to Chen (US 2023/0387507) for use in reference to translated text (rather than the machine translation of CN 216015503 U).
Regarding independent claims 1, 8, and 15, CN ‘503 (refer to equivalent US 2023/0387507) discloses a battery arrangement (see US ‘507; abstract; paragraphs [0057]-[0079]; and Figures 1-5), in which the battery arrangement comprises the following structural features:
a plurality of (generally or substantially) cylindrical battery cells (20) positioned in a side-by-side orientation as a planar or co-planar array (see Figure 2 and paragraph [0061] of US ‘507), in which the plurality of battery cells (20) comprises at least 16 cylindrical battery cells (20),
wherein the plurality of battery cells (20) is connected to provide electrical power over a single electrical power transmission channel (see Figure 2 and paragraph [0061] of US ‘507).
Regarding claims 2, 9, 16, and 17, CN ‘503 (US ‘507) discloses that the plurality of battery cells (20) are covered with PTC (positive temperature coefficient) heating film in the form of a heating component (400), including contacting as a conductive upper layer and as a conductive lower layer with respect to adjoining and electrical connection to respective upper and lower ends of the battery cells (20) – see paragraphs [0067]-[0072] of US ‘507.
Regarding claims 3, 10, and 20, CN ‘503 (US ‘507) discloses an external case in the form of a box body (10) for maintaining the plurality of battery cells (20), wherein the battery cells (20) and external case (10) lack cables connected thereto – see Figure 2 and paragraphs [0059]-[0061] of US ‘507.
Regarding claims 4, 11, and 18, CN ‘503 (US ‘507) discloses that a battery thermal management system (via the heating component (400) and its structural features – see paragraphs [0067]-[0079] and Figures 3-5) can be able to raise a temperature of the plurality of battery cells (20), wherein warm gas would pass upward through channels formed by the plurality of battery cells (20) and would be in communication with an exhaust structure (410) of the heating component (400) – see Figure 4 and paragraphs [0067]-[0072] of US ‘507.
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 19, CN ‘503 (US ‘507) discloses that the battery arrangement having the plurality of battery cells (20) would further include a switch to enable turning the battery arrangement on and off (see paragraphs [0057]-[0061] of US ‘507; and Figures 1 and 2).
Regarding claims 6, 7, 13, and 14, CN ‘503 (US ‘507) further discloses a battery monitor in the form of a controller (200), wherein the battery monitor (200) is operable to measure voltage, current, power, state of charge, temperature, and/or warning conditions – see Figure 1 and paragraph [0057] of US ‘507.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicants' disclosure. US 2010/0028758 and WO 2012/044934 A1 are also cited in PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN P KERNS whose telephone number is (571)272-1178. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-430pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Walker can be reached at (571)272-3458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN P KERNS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735 June 21, 2026
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