DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDSes filed 5/23/23 and 7/3/23 have both been considered and placed of record. The initialed copies are attached herewith.
Drawings
The drawings filed 5/23/23 are acceptable for examination.
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 1-4 and 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Meng et al. (US 2017/0366035). (Note that apparatus claims are grouped with respective method claims because the apparatus claims performed the claimed method steps).
Re claims 1 and 6, the reference discloses a short protection method, suitable for a battery module having, inter alia, a battery cell pack (in wearable device) and a control circuit (90), the method comprising: detecting a temperature of the battery cell pack as a battery cell temperature through the control circuit (S402); determining whether the battery cell temperature shows a downward trend (S405) when the battery cell temperature is higher than a first predetermined temperature value (S403); and deactivating the battery module when the battery cell temperature does not show the downward trend (S410). Fig 4. See also para 69.
Re claims 2 and 7, the reference further discloses determining whether the battery module is in a charge/discharge state (S401); and determining whether the battery cell temperature is continuously higher than a second predetermined temperature value for more than a detection time (S405) when the battery module is not in the charge/discharge state (S411). See para 69.
Re claims 3 and 8, the reference further discloses deactivating the battery module (S410) when the battery module is not in the charge/discharge state and the battery cell temperature is continuously higher than the second predetermined temperature value for a time exceeding the detection time (S411).
Re claims 4 and 9, the reference further discloses the second temperature (S411) is lower than the first temperature (S403).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meng et al. (US 2017/0366035).
The reference does not explicitly disclose a transistor is used to control current transmission by turning it off/on. Official notice is taken of the fact that it is a common knowledge in the art to use a transistor as a switch to turn off electronic components because of the reliability and its instantaneous speed. It would have been well within the skill of one versed in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have used a transistor to turn off the current transmission due to its fast and reliability.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to the Examiner at the below-listed number. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thu from 7:00am-5:00pm.
The Examiner’s SPE is Drew Dunn and he can be reached at 571.272.2312. The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571.273.8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866.217.9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800.786.9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571.272.1000.
/EDWARD TSO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 571.272.2087
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