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 .
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 2 be found allowable, claim 3 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO2022/075430A1 to Matsumoto (machine translation replied upon herein).
Regarding claim 1, Matsumoto teaches a battery case comprising:
an outer case 10 having an open top 26c, and including a side wall 10a (annotated Figs. 1, 2 below);
an inner case 14 received in the outer case 10 and including a side wall 22b spaced from the side wall 10a of the outer case 10 (annotated Figs. 2, 3, 4, 37 below);
an upper case 23 (annotated Figs. 2, 4, 31) having
an upper opening 22c, defining a battery receiving portion jointly with an interior 22a of the inner case 14 (annotated Figs. 4, 15, 31 below);
a shelf portion surrounding the upper opening 22c (annotated Figs. 4, 31 below) and extending substantially horizontally (annotated Fig. 15 below), and a trough formed in the shelf portion so as to be recessed downward (annotated Fig. 15 below); and
a peripheral cover 56 having an annular shape in top view (annotated Fig. 19 below) and covering a space defined between the side walls of the outer case and the inner case (annotated Figs. 3, 4, 37), wherein the peripheral cover is configured such that water deposited on an upper surface thereof is guided to an upper surface of the shelf portion (As is clear from the annotated figures below, the peripheral cover is oriented nearly vertically, and water deposited thereon would naturally flow as claimed.);
wherein the upper case 23 (annotated Figs. 2, 4, 31 below) is provided with a cutout 22a5 (annotated Figs. 15, 17 below) configured to let water collected in the trough to drop into a selected part of a bottom end of the outer case 10 (Lines 319-326 of machine translation)
Annotated Matsumoto Figures 1 and 2
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Annotated Matsumoto Figures 31 and 4
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Annotated Matsumoto Figures 3 and 37
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Annotated Matsumoto Figure 15
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Annotated Matsumoto Figure 17
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Annotated Matsumoto Figure 19
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Per claim 2, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches the peripheral cover 56 has a sloping upper surface such that an outer periphery thereof is slightly higher than an inner periphery thereof. (Fig. 19 clearly shows the peripheral cover 56 having a sloping upper surface such that an outer periphery thereof is slightly higher than an inner periphery thereof.)
Annotated Matsumoto Figure 19
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Per claim 3, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches the peripheral cover 56 has a sloping upper surface such that an outer periphery thereof is slightly higher than an inner periphery thereof. (Fig. 19 (above) clearly shows the peripheral cover 56 having a sloping upper surface such that an outer periphery thereof is slightly higher than an inner periphery thereof.)
Per claim 4, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that the peripheral cover 56 is provided with a depending flange 26b along an outer periphery thereof (Fig. 4), and the depending flange 26b overlaps with the side wall of the outer case 10a from outside (Fig. 2).
Annotated Matsumoto Figures 4 and 2
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Per claim 5, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that the battery case 10 comprises a top cover 28 (Fig. 18) fitted on the peripheral cover 56 (Fig. 19), wherein the top cover 28 is provided with a groove recessed upward along an outer periphery thereof, and an elastomeric seal member 58 received in the groove (Fig. 13; Lines 397-400), and the peripheral cover is provided with an upright wall 24 extending along an outer periphery of the peripheral cover 56 which resiliently abuts against the seal member 58 when the top cover 28 is placed on the peripheral cover 56 (Fig. 13; Lines 397-400).
Annotated Matsumoto Figures 18 and 19
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Annotated Matsumoto Figure 13
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Per claim 6, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that the trough has a bottom part that slants downward toward the cutout. Matsumoto teaches that trough formed in the shelf portion so as to be recessed downward is provided with a portion that slants downward toward the cutout portion (Fig. 15; Lines 298-326).
Annotated Matsumoto Figure 15
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Per claim 7, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that the battery receiving portion is configured to receive the battery 12 in a tilted attitude which is tilted toward a prescribed side of the outer case 10a (Fig. 45), and a bottom end of the inner case is provided with an electric connector 64 for electric connection with the battery 12, the electric connector 64 being positioned at a higher end of a bottom part of the battery receiving portion (Fig. 45; Lines 989-996).
Annotated Matsumoto Figure 45
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Per claim 8, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 7. Matsumoto further teaches that a part of the wall of the inner case 42 facing the prescribed side of the outer case 10a (Figs. 7, 44) is provided with a first drainage trough 42d1 and a second drainage trough 42d2 extending substantially vertically on either outer side thereof, lower ends of the troughs directly communicating with exterior of the inner case (Lines 998-1014).
Annotated Matsumoto Figures 7 and 44
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Annotated Matsumoto Figure 46
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Per claim 9, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that the upper case 23 (Fig. 31) is fitted with a flap door 24 hinged to a higher end of the upper opening 22c of the upper case 23 such that the upper opening 22c is normally resiliently closed (Fig. 31) by the flap door 24, and can be swung open when pushed downward by the battery 12 (Fig. 45).
Annotated Matsumoto Figure 31
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Annotated Matsumoto Figure 45
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Per claim 10, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that the outer case 10 has a substantially open bottom end 20 (Fig. 2; Lines 80-83).
Annotated Matsumoto Figure 2
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Per claim 11, Matsumoto teaches the limitations of claim 1. Matsumoto further teaches that a receiving space is defined between the wall of the outer case 10a and the wall of the inner case 22b (Fig. 37), and an electric component 30 (Lines 874-875) is positioned in a part of the receiving space remote from the cutout.
Annotated Matsumoto Figure 37
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEROME J NASH whose telephone number is (571)272-3025. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:30 am-5:00 pm.
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/J.J.N./Examiner, Art Unit 1726
/JEFFREY T BARTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1726 22 December 2025