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
Applicant's arguments filed 06/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the applicant’s arguments against Takano, that the FET 31 is not included in the removable battery pack and is not positioned between a negative pole or ground-side node of the energy storage cell and the alleged second power supply contact of the removable battery pack, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. As mapped in the previous rejection of claim 1, the removable battery pack is considered to be the battery 100 and the adaptor 550, and therefore the FET 31 is positioned between the negative pole of the cells 111-114 and the negative terminal “-“ between 550 and 400.
The applicant’s argument regarding Takano not teaching the claimed structural relationship of the measuring circuit connection is moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant further argues that Zhou does not cure the deficiency since it does not disclose or suggest relocating the alleged measuring circuit of Takano to the location recited in claim 1. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Zhou may not expressly state that a measurement circuit be moved to the specific location shown in Fig.4, the location of the measuring circuit as recited in claim 1, however, a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand the benefit of this location and be motivated to locate a measuring circuit to the location recited in claim 1, as it would allow for an avoidance of the measuring interference caused by charging or discharging currents and improves the measurement accuracy, as evidenced by Zhou.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1 & 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takano et al. (USPGPN 2009/0108806), in view of Zhou et al. (Chinese Publication CN 206533156 U – published 2015).
Regarding Claim 1, Takano (Fig.17) teaches a removable battery pack (100 & 550) comprising:
an electromechanical interface including a plurality of electrical contacts (“+”,”-“,T,LE,LS), wherein (i) a first electrical contact is configured as a first power supply contact (“+”) to which a first reference potential is applied, and (ii) a second electrical contact is configured as a second power supply contact (“-“) to which a second reference potential is applied;
at least one first switching element (31) configured to interrupt or enable a charging or discharging current across the first power supply contact and the second power supply contact (¶0077: FET 31 is turned on and off to state and stop power supply to an electric tool), the at least one first switching element electrically connected between (i) a negative pole of at least one energy store cell of the removable battery pack, and (ii) the second power supply contact (31 is placed between the negative pole of the cells and the negative terminal “-“ connecting 550 to 400); and
a measuring circuit (connection between 131 & 132 wired to LS & T) operably connected to (i) integrated components (131 & 132) of the removable battery pack (131 & 132 contained in 100 & 500), and (ii) at least one further contact of the plurality of electrical contacts (LS & T), the at least one further contact is configured as a signal contact or data contact (¶0184: battery-type signal over terminal T and temperature signal over terminal LS) for the measuring circuit.
Takano fails to explicitly teach wherein the measuring circuit is electrically connected between the second power supply contact and the at least one first switching element, such that the measuring circuit remains electrically connected to the second power supply contact when the at least one first switching element interrupts the charging or discharging current and the integrated components are measured substantially independently of the charging or discharging current.
However, Zhou (Fig.4) teaches a battery pack where the measuring circuit is electrically connected between the second power supply contact and the at least one first switching element (wiring connecting 21, 22, 31, & 32 are connected between MOS and P-), such that the measuring circuit remains electrically connected to the second power supply contact when the at least one first switching element interrupts the charging or discharging current (power sources of 41 and 42 still feed power for a measurement regardless of MOS state with a ground connection at P-) and the integrated components (21 & 31) are connected so that the measurement is independent of the charging or discharging current (separate power sources from the charging device, 41 & 42, feeding the integrated components makes the measurements independent).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Takano with Zhou to move the connection of the measuring circuit to between the at least one first switching element and the second power supply contact, such that the measuring circuit remains electrically connected to the second power supply contact when the at least one first switching element interrupts the charging or discharging current and the integrated components are measured substantially independently of the charging or discharging current. Doing so allows for an avoidance of the measuring interference caused by charging or discharging currents and improves the measurement accuracy, as evidenced by Zhou (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 2, Takano, as modified, further teaches a monitoring processor (Fig.17, 502) configured (i) to open the at least one first switching element for interrupting the charging or discharging current, and (ii) to close the at least one first switching element for enabling the charging or discharging current (¶0077: FET 31 is turned on and off to state and stop power supply to an electric tool; ¶0107: microcomputer 502 controls FET 31),
wherein the integrated components are measured across the at least one further contact and the second power supply contact when the at least on first switching element is open and when the at least one first switching element is closed (as modified by Zhou-Fig.4 in the rejection above, the integrated components 21 and 31 are connected and measured across the at least one further contact ID and NTC and the second power supply contact P-, regardless of the switched state of MOS, i.e. when it is open or closed).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takano, in view of Zhou, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Endo et al. (USPGPN 2015/0200553).
Regarding Claim 3, Takano, as modified fails to explicitly teach at least one further switching element operably connected between the measuring circuit and the second power supply contact in order to avoid a current flow proceeding from the second reference potential into the measuring circuit or from the measuring circuit towards the second reference potential.
However, Endo (Fig.8) teaches the inclusion of a switching element (Q10) operably connected between a measuring circuit (62) and a second power supply contact (GND) in order to prevent a current flow from the measuring circuit towards the second reference potential.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Takano, in view of Zhou, with Endo to include at least one further switching element operably connected between the measuring circuit and the second power supply contact. Doing so allows the battery pack the potential to utilize a single control circuit terminal for switching between two kinds of temperature measurements, as evidenced by Endo (¶0305).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takano, in view of Zhou, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Johnson et al. (Chinese Publication CN 100492750 C – published 2009).
Regarding Claim 7, Takano, as modified, fails to explicitly teach a protection element configured to decouple the at least one further contact.
However, Johnson teaches a protection diode used to decouple a further contact (Fig.29, 918 decouples 910 from 930).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system taught by Takano, in view of Zhou, with Johnson to include a protection element used to decouple the at least one further contact. Doing so improves the protection for the electric tool, as evidenced by Johnson (Technology Field)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 & 5 are 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:
Claim 4 recites “wherein the monitoring processor is configured to open the at least one further switching element in a time-dependent manner before the monitoring processor opens the at least one switching element”. The prior art of record fails to explicitly teach or suggest this limitation in combination with all other elements recited in the claim.
Claim 5 recites “wherein the monitoring processor is configured to close the at least one further switching element in a time-dependent manner after the monitoring processor closes the at least one switching element”. The prior art of record fails to explicitly teach or suggest this limitation in combination with all other elements recited in the claim.
Claim 6 is allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 6 recites “a protection diode configured to decouple at least one control input of the measuring processor”. The prior art of record fails to explicitly teach or suggest this limitation in combination with all other elements recited in the claim.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JOHN P ONDRASIK whose telephone number is (703)756-1963. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET.
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/JOHN P ONDRASIK/ Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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