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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 09/03/2026 has been entered.
Responses to Amendments and Arguments
The amendments filed 09/03/2026 have been entered. Claims 1 and 3 are amended, and Claim 2 is canceled. Claims 1, 3-10 and 12-18 remain pending in the application.
Applicant’s amendments and arguments filed 09/03/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-10 and 12-18 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and persuasive. Thus, the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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, 3-10 and 12-18 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.
In claim 1, claim limitation “detecting a first voltage of the energy storage … detecting a second voltage of the energy storage … based on the detected first and second voltages, which are detected by the periodic switch-over … the measuring process comprises a plurality of the periodically switched-over first and second current magnitudes … wherein the internal resistance is determined based on a subset of the detected first and second voltages, and wherein the subset of the detected first and second voltages comprises a subset of the first and second voltages detected towards an end of the measuring process” (emphasis added) renders the claim indefinite, because it is unclear what “a subset of the first and second voltages” indicates and/or which subset “a subset of the first and second voltages” is indicative of among a plurality of subsets of the first and second voltages periodically measured during the measured period (e.g., period 208 in Fig. 3). Examiner understands that Fig. 3 and its related descriptions describe that a subset of the first and second voltages is not measured in a single time, but the plurality of subsets of the first and second voltages are periodically measured during the measured period in a measuring process and a specific subset, which is measured towards an end of the measuring process, may be selected from the plurality of the measured subsets.
Further, claim limitation “a subset of the first and second voltages detected towards an end of the measuring process” renders the claim indefinite, because it is unclear what “towards an end of the measuring process” is indicative of and/or, for example, which clock/time/count/period “towards an end of the measuring process” is indicative of in the measuring period of the measuring process. (Emphasis added)
Claims 3-10 and 12-18 are also rejected by virtue of each dependency on claim 1.
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
HUANG YUNG-SHENG (EP 1821112 A1) teaches a plurality of switching over Q1 and Q3 in Fig. 3 to thereby detect the plurality of the first and second voltages for resistances R1 and R2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BYUNG RO LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3707. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lee Rodak can be reached on (571) 270-5628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-2555.
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/BYUNG RO LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
