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. 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. Specification The specification and drawings have been reviewed and no clear informalities or objections have been noted. 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 appl icant regards as his invention. Claim 17 is 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. Claim 17 recites the limitation "the connection port" in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. 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. Claim (s) 1 , 4 and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eom (US 2017/0033417) in view of Lee (WO 2018/124494) . Regarding claim s 1 and 15 , Eom discloses a battery module comprising: a sub-module stack formed by stacking a plurality of sub-modules, each of the plurality of sub-modules comprising at least one cooling member having a coolant flow path and a plurality of battery cells disposed on opposite surfaces of the at least one cooling member (see Fig. 5 which illustrates a sub-module stack which comprises a plurality of battery cells 100 that are disposed on either side of a cooling plate 210/220, see Fig. 6 for an exploded view of this layout) ; and Eom teaches a battery module but is silent regarding the configuration of how the battery cells are interconnected. More specifically, Eom does not teach: a pair of bus bar frame assemblies coupled to a first side and a second side of the sub-module stack to electrically connect the plurality of battery cells. Lee also discloses a battery module (see abstract) Lee teaches a plurality of stacked cells (C) that are electrically connected to each other via a plurality of bus bar frames (120, 130) that are situated on a first and second side, (see Fig. 3 in which bus bar frames 120, 130 are configured such that they are on opposite ends of the cell stack C). Lee teaches such a configuration in order to place the bus bars (121 and 122, for example) in place such that they electrically connect the plurality of battery cells via electrode tabs T1 and T2, see lines 348-357). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the bus bar frame of Lee to the module of Eom in order to electrically connect the plurality of battery cells. Regarding claim 4 , Eom discloses the at least one cooling member comprises: a first flow path plate having a first flow path groove; and a second flow path plate having a second flow path groove coupled to the first flow path groove to form the coolant flow path (see paragraph 58 and Fig. 3 which discloses that the cooling channel is formed by sandwiching two cooling plates together , each having a flow path therein, such that they form a groove/opening that allows for fluid to flow therethrough) . Regarding claim 14 , Eom further discloses a first module terminal and a second module terminal electrically connected to the sub-module stack (see Fig. 11 which illustrates two external terminals on the top side of the battery module which connect to the submodule stack inside the battery module) , wherein the first module terminal and the second module terminal are provided on a same surface of the battery module (top surface) . Regarding claim 16 , Eom further discloses the at least one cooling member is a plurality of cooling members, and wherein the plurality of cooling members and the plurality of sub-modules are alternately stacked (see Fig. 1 which illustrates a plurality of cooling members 200 and sub-module stacks 100 are alternately stacked) . Claim(s) 1- 3, 11, 13, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (KR 20180091600 with references made to the machine translation) in view of Lee (WO 2018/124494 with references made to the machine translation ). Regarding claim 1 , Lim discloses a battery module comprising: a sub-module stack formed by stacking a plurality of sub-modules, each of the plurality of sub-modules comprising at least one cooling member having a coolant flow path and a plurality of battery cells disposed on opposite surfaces of the at least one cooling member (see Fig. 2 which illustrates a sub-module stack which comprises a plurality of battery cells 10 that are disposed on either side of a cooling plate 200). Lim teaches a battery module where the electrode tabs are situated on opposite ends of the cell (see annotated Fig. 7 below) but is silent regarding the configuration of how the battery cells are interconnected. More specifically, Lim does not teach: a pair of bus bar frame assemblies coupled to a first side and a second side of the sub-module stack to electrically connect the plurality of battery cells. Lee also discloses a battery module (see abstract) Lee teaches a plurality of stacked cells (C) that are electrically connected to each other via a plurality of bus bar frames (120, 130) that are situated on a first and second side, (see Fig. 3 in which bus bar frames 120, 130 are configured such that they are on opposite ends of the cell stack C). Lee teaches such a configuration in order to place the bus bars (121 and 122, for example) in place such that they electrically connect the plurality of battery cells via electrode tabs T1 and T2, see lines 348-357). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the bus bar frame of Lee to the module of Lim in order to electrically connect the plurality of battery cells. Regarding claim 2 , Lim further discloses a pair of electrode leads provided in each of the plurality of battery cells extend in opposite directions to each other along a width direction of the at least one cooling member (as depicted in annotated Fig. 7 below) , and wherein the plurality of battery cells is disposed along a longitudinal direction of the at least one cooling member on the opposite surfaces of the at least one cooling member (see Fig. 7 where a plurality of battery cells are disposed along a longitudinal direction) . Annotated Fig. 7 Regarding claim 3 , Lim further discloses the coolant flow path reciprocates between a first side and a second side in the longitudinal direction of the at least one cooling member (see Fig. 3 which illustrates the cooling channel going out and back/reciprocate between each end of the cooling plate in the longitudinal direction) and extends from a first side to a second side in the width direction of the at least one cooling member (see Fig. 3 where the cooling channel 230 flows from one side of the cooling plate to the other in the width direction) . Regarding claim 1 1, Lim, as modified above, teaches a bus bar frame that interconnects all the battery cells but does not explicitly teach the pair of bus bar frame assemblies connect a pair of battery cells of the plurality of battery cells facing each other with the at least one cooling member interposed therebetween in parallel, connect the battery cells of the plurality of battery cells adjacent to each other along a longitudinal direction of the at least one cooling member in series, and connect adjacent sub-modules of the plurality of sub-modules to each other in series. Lee teaches the bus bar frames are situated such that the busbar frames provide serial/parallel connection between the cells and this parallel/serial connection can be freely changed depending on need of voltage/capacity (lines 241-245). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the busbar frame of modified Lim to achieve the desired parallel/serial configuration between the battery cells, as suggested by Lee to arrive at a desired voltage/capacity of the battery module. Regarding claim 13 , Lim further discloses a module inlet and a module outlet connected to the coolant flow path, wherein the module inlet and the module outlet are provided on a same surface of the battery module (see Fig. 3 in which the inlet/outlet of the cooling channels 210, 220 are arranged on the same side of the plate/module) . Regarding claim 16 , Lim further discloses the at least one cooling member is a plurality of cooling members, and wherein the plurality of cooling members and the plurality of sub-modules are alternately stacked (see Figs. 2 and 4 which illustrates a plurality of cooling members 200 alternately stacked with a plurality of sub-modules 110) . Regarding claim 17 , Lim further discloses each of the plurality of cooling members has a pair of ports on a side of the cooling member (as depicted in Fig. 3 which illustrates an inlet and outlet 220, 210 on the side of the plate/member) , and wherein an inlet pipe (500) , an outlet pipe (600) , and at least one connection pipe (30) are connected to the ports of the plurality of cooling members, the connection port connected to a first cooling port of a first cooling member of the plurality of cooling members and a first port of a second cooling member of the plurality of cooling members (the inlet pipe 500 is connected to the first port/inlet port of each of the cooling members) . Claim (s) 5 -10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eom (US 2017/0033417) in view of Lee (WO 2018/124494) and further in view of Shaaia (US 2016/0043454) . Regarding claim 5 , Eom teaches cooling member that is made from aluminum (paragraph 59), but states that other materials may also be used. Eom, however, does not explicitly teach the first flow path plate and the second flow path plate are made of a resin material, and an ultrasonic welding portion is formed at a bonding interface between the first flow path plate and the second flow path plate. Shaaia also discloses a battery cooling plate (see abstract). Shaaia teaches a cooling plate (100) that is formed from resin (plastic, see abstract) and teaches that this resin can be sealed via ultrasonic welding (see paragraph 24). Shaaia teaches the use of plastic/resin in the construction of the cooling plate rather than metal as metal cooling plates can include more difficult manufacturing methods and may not provide the voltage isolation that plastic/resin cooling plates provide (paragraph 30). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to utilize the resin plates of Shaaia in the battery module of modified Eom in order to facilitate manufacturing as well as improving voltage isolation. Furthermore, such a modification also teaches ultrasonic welding of the two resin plates of modified Eom in order to seal the plates to each other. Regarding claim 6 , Eom further discloses the first flow path plate comprises ultrasonic welding bases formed at opposite sides of the first flow path groove ( the bases are formed by beading portions B that can provide a base for welding when the two plates are brought together , as depicted in annotated Fig. 8 below ). It is noted, however, that Applicant has not claimed that the base is actually ultrasonic welded , but rather states that the bases are there that potentially can be welded ) . Annotated Fig. 8 Regarding claims 7 and 8 , Eom further discloses the second flow path plate comprises a plurality of welding rib s formed at opposite sides of the second flow path groove (see annotated Fig. 3 below which illustrates a plurality of welding ribs/beads B) . Annotated Fig. 3 Regarding claims 9 and 10 , Eom further discloses a depth of the first /second flow path groove is in the range of ½ to ⅕ of a thickness of the first /second flow path plate (see annotated Fig. 4 below which illustrates the thickness of both the depth of the groove and the depth of the flow path plate and illustrates a ratio that is clearly within the claimed range where the depth of the flow path groove is greater than 1/5 of the thickness of the flow path plate and less than ½ of the thickness of the flow path plate) . Annotated Fig. 4 Claim (s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eom (US 2017/0033417) in view of Lee (WO 2018/124494) and further in view of Ledbetter (US 2015/0194649) . Regarding claim 12 , Eom further disclsoes a base plate (420) covering a lower surface of the sub-module stack; a top plate (410) covering an upper surface of the sub-module stack; and Eom, however, does not teach the claimed plurality of strap that compress the sub-module stack. Ledbetter also discloses a battery module (see abstract). Ledbetter teaches a plurality of straps (18) surrounding a circumference of the battery module so that the battery module is compressed and held together (paragraph 22) . As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the straps of Ledbetter to the sub-module stack of modified Eom in order to compress and hold together the stack of cells and cooling plates. Relevant Prior Art US 2006/0244416 - Discloses ultrasonic welding a protruding rib/ridge of a battery module to seal the battery module (paragraph 54) but is silent regarding the use of this technique in a cooling member. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT MATTHEW J MERKLING whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-9813 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Basia Ridley can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-1453 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MATTHEW J MERKLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725