DETAILED ACTION
Examiner’s Comments
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 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.
Column and line (or Paragraph Number) citations have been provided as a convenience for Applicants, but the entirety of each reference should be duly considered. Any recitation of a Figure element, e.g. “Figure 1, element 1” should be construed as inherently also reciting “and relevant disclosure thereto”.
Claim Objections
Claims 6 and 9 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) The claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(g)(1) During the course of an interference conducted under section 135 or section 291, another inventor involved therein establishes, to the extent permitted in section 104, that before such person’s invention thereof the invention was made by such other inventor and not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed, or (2) before such person’s invention thereof, the invention was made in this country by another inventor who had not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of invention under this subsection, there shall be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other.
A rejection on this statutory basis (35 U.S.C. 102(g) as in force on March 15, 2013) is appropriate in an application or patent that is examined under the first to file provisions of the AIA if it also contains or contained at any time (1) a claim to an invention having an effective filing date as defined in 35 U.S.C. 100(i) that is before March 16, 2013 or (2) a specific reference under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) to any patent or application that contains or contained at any time such a claim.
Claims 1 – 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by IDS reference Furukawa (U.S. Patent App. No. 2004/0041569 A1)1.
Regarding claim 1, Furukawa discloses a battery pack (Title; Abstract) comprising: a battery cell (Figures 1 and 4 and see at least Paragraph 0040); a battery management apparatus (Figures 1 and 4:
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connected to the battery cell through a first line and a second line (e.g. elements 21 and 25, for example); a detecting unit (computer and see Paragraphs 0040 – 0042) configured to detect current of a third line (e.g. elements 31 and 34) that connects the first line with the second line (as shown above); and a determining unit configured to determine whether disconnection of the first line occurs, based on whether the current of the third line is detected (see at least Paragraphs 0050 – 0058: computer unit, etc.).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Furukawa disclose the claimed diode and photo-coupler (see at least Paragraphs 0055 – 0058).
Regarding claims 4 and 5, Furukawa discloses the claimed limitations for the reasons set forth above.
Regarding claim 7, Furukawa discloses the claimed first and second resistors (Figures 1 and 4).
Regarding claims 8, 10 and 11, Furukawa discloses the claimed limitations for the reasons set forth above.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: claims 6 and 12 – 14 recite a structure and method wherein the battery management system apparatus is configured to receive power through the first line and the third line in response to the first line being disconnected. This structure/aspect is neither taught nor rendered obvious by the prior art of record.
With regard to claim 9, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest wherein the first and third lines are ground lines of the battery management apparatus (Furukawa teaches these as nongrounding voltage lines, essentially teaching away from the claimed limitations).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN M BERNATZ whose telephone number is (571)272-1505. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri (variable: ~0600 - 1500 ET).
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/KEVIN M BERNATZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
June 24, 2026
1 The Examiner notes that this is the same general rejection set forth in the European Written Opinion provided on the December 20, 2024 IDS submission.
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