2E DETAILED ACTION 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 2. This Non-Final office action is in response to application 18/324,382 , application filed on 05/26/2023 . Claims 1- 20 are currently pending in this application . Information Disclosure Statement 3 . The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/16/2023, 12/19/2023, 04/22/2024, 10/21/2024 and 04/22/2025 , respectively, is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 4 . 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness . 5 . Claim(s) 1- 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALLAG (US P G Pub No. 2023/0069766 ) in view of Carroll (US Patent No. 12,148,938) and in further view of Prosser (US PG Pub No. 2012/0303397) . 6 . With respect to independent claim 1, ALLAG teaches : A battery maintenance system ( see battery management system for power balancing and monitoring conditions and health of battery modules, para 12 ) comprising: a first unit comprising a battery maintenance device ( see first device in a stack, Abstract; battery monitors are arranged as devices in a stack, para 13; battery monitor in the stack improves the health and monitoring accuracy of battery pack, para 14 ) ; a second unit comprising a battery maintenance device ( see second battery monitor, para 4; see second device in the stack, see ALLAG, claim 3; see second device as battery monitor, para 57-58 ) ; a third unit having a power supply and voltage input-output circuitry configured to couple to a battery ( see third battery monitor connected to communication bridge and battery management controller, Fig 2 ; see Fig 1 where one device monitor has connection/isolation from power supply/charger, Fig 1 ) ; a fourth unit having an operator interface ( see communication interface, command responses, para 3-4 ) . ALLAG appears to be silent regarding: wherein each of the first, second, third and fourth units are encased in a housing and include physical connectors that allow the first unit, the second unit, the third unit and the fourth unit to be coupled together in a stacked configuration in a user selectable order. However, Carroll teaches: wherein each of the first, second, third and fourth units are encased in a housing ( see housing, battery units in stackable and chain-connecting fashion as shown in Fig 8-9 and described in Col 10, lines 20-35; Col 16, lines 30-45 ) . ALLAG/Carroll appear to be silent regarding: physical connectors allow the first, second, third and fourth units coupled together in a stacked configuration and arranged in a user selectable order . However, Prosser teaches: physical connectors allow the first, second, third and fourth units coupled together in a stacked configuration and arranged in a user selectable order ( see coupled and stacked battery service device connections for the stacked batteries as shown in Fig 8A ; see battery modules in correct order by user, para 146-150 ) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the invention to have (1) incorporate d Carroll’s stackable chain-connecting battery power modules as part of its stackable modular battery support system into the battery monitoring system of ALLAG because Carroll discloses a stackable module system with an interface and power transfer switch which would improve ALLAG by enabling external modular assembly and interchange of ALLAG’s battery monitoring system components, thus making it easier to repair, replace or expand battery monitoring elements depending on the number of battery modules to monitor and maintain ; and (2) incorporated Prosser’s coupled stacked battery service devices into ALLAG’s battery monitoring scheme in order to improve adaptability and ease of connection between battery charging/discharging components . 7 . With respect to claim 2, while ALLAG appears to be silent regarding the limitations recited in claim 2 below, Carroll teaches: The battery maintenance system of claim 1, wherein the first and second units are sandwiched between the third unit and the fourth unit so that the third unit is located below the first and second units and the fourth unit is located above the first and second units ( see first bank, modules and batteries arranged in first configuration, see re-configurable battery rack, Col 30, lines 50-63; modules capable of being re-arranged, Col 5, lines 20-30 ) . ALLAG/Carroll appear to be silent regarding: w herein the physical connectors of the first and second units are coupled together . However, Prosser teaches: w herein the physical connectors of the first and second units are coupled together ( see physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . ( F or motivation to combine ALLAG/Carroll and Prosser, see rejection of claim 1 above) 8 . With respect to claim 3, Prosser teaches : the battery maintenance system of claim 1, wherein each of the first unit, the second unit, the third unit and the fourth unit include four physical connectors located at each corner of the housing of each unit ( see physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . 9 . With respect to claim 4, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 3, wherein each physical connector comprises a vertical member having a first end and an opposing second end and an extension protruding from the first end, wherein the second ends of the vertical members of the four physical connectors of the second unit are mounted to the extensions of the four physical connectors of the first unit ( see physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . 10 . Claim(s) 7- 10 and 12- 13 and 15- 16 is/are rejected under 35 U .S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Prosser (US PG Pub No. 2012/0303397) in view of A LLAG (US PG Pub No. 2023/0069766) . 11 . With respect to independent claim 7 , Prosse r teaches : a plurality of separable units coupled together ( see separable battery units coupled together, Fig 8A, see quick-disconnect capability, see stackable and/or chain-connecting battery modules, para 48-49, 138-145 ) a including a first battery device ( see battery devices in connected stack, Fig 8A, para 48-49, 138-145 ) having a first set of physical connectors ( see physical connectors, latch receiver, male and female connectors between stackable battery devices as shown in Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) each located at a corner of a housing of the first battery device ( see male and female connectors on corners/ends of battery devices, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) and a second battery device ( see battery devices in connected stack, Fig 8A, para 48-49, 138-145 ) including a second set of physical connectors each located at a corner of a housing of the second battery device ( see male and female connectors on corners/ends of battery devices, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) , wherein each physical connector of the first set of physical connectors aligns with one of the physical connectors of the second set of physical connectors ( see vertical alignment of male/female connectors ) ; wherein each physical connector of the first battery device and each physical connector of the second battery device comprises: a vertical member having a first end and an opposing second end ( see vertical connectors of male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) ; and an extension protruding from the first end ( see protrusions of connectors of male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) ; wherein the second end of each of the vertical members of the physical connectors on the second battery devices are mounted to one of the extensions of the physical connectors on the first battery maintenance device ( see physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . Prosser appear s to be silent regarding: wherein the first and second battery devices are battery maintenance devices. However, ALLAG teaches: wherein the first and second battery devices are battery maintenance devices ( see battery management system for power balancing and monitoring conditions and health of battery modules, para 12; see first device in a stack, Abstract; battery monitors are arranged as devices in a stack, para 13; battery monitor in the stack improves the health and monitoring accuracy of battery pack, para 14 ) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the invention to have incorporated ALLAG’s battery maintenance devices into the invention of Prosser, as Prosser’s batteries, which are used to service fleets of electric vehicles, would be improved by providing ALLAG’s battery health monitoring to the vehicle batteries they service. 12 . With respect to independent claim 8, Prosser teaches : The battery maintenance system of claim 7, wherein each of the vertical members of the first set of physical connectors and the second set of physical connectors are at least partially hollow ( see female/hollow physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . 13 . With respect to independent claim 9, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of separable units further comprise a base unit including a third set of physical connectors each located at a corner of a housing of the base unit, wherein each physical connector of the third set of physical connectors aligns with one of the physical connectors of the first set of physical connectors and wherein each physical connector of the third set of physical connectors comprises a vertical member having a first end with a protruding extension and an opposing second end ( see female/hollow physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . 14 . With respect to independent claim 10, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 9, wherein the second end of each of the vertical members of the first set of physical connectors are mounted to one of the extensions of the third set of connectors on the base unit ( see female/hollow physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . 15 . With respect to independent claim 12, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of units further comprise a top unit including a fourth set of physical connectors each located at a corner of a housing of the top unit, wherein each physical connector of the fourth set of physical connectors aligns with one of the physical connectors of the second set of physical connectors and wherein each physical connector of the fourth set of physical connectors comprises a vertical member having a first end with a protruding extension and an opposing second end (see female/hollow physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145) . 16 . With respect to independent claim 13, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 12, further comprising a pair of rail members and associated four corner members, wherein each first, second, third and fourth corner member is mounted to one of the extensions of the fourth set of physical connectors on the top unit, wherein a first rail member connects the first and second corner members and a second rail member connects the third and fourth corner members (see female/hollow physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145) . 17 . With respect to independent claim 15, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 7, wherein the first battery maintenance device comprises a battery discharging unit ( see charging/discharging portions for EV battery service, para 13-15 ) . 18 . With respect to independent claim 16, Prosser teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 7, wherein the second battery maintenance device comprises a battery charging unit ( see charging/discharging portions for EV battery service, para 13-15 ) . 19 . Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U .S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Prosser (US PG Pub No. 2012/0303397) in view of A LLAG (US PG Pub No. 2023/0069766) and in further view of Carroll ( US Patent No. 12,148,938 ). 20 . With respect to independent claim 11, while Prosser/ALLAG appear to be silent regarding the limitations recited claim 11, Carroll teaches : t he battery maintenance system of claim 7, further comprising a set of wheels, wherein the second end of each of the vertical members of the third set of connectors on the base unit is mounted to one of the set of wheels ( see wheels shown in Fig 2 to transport battery service apparatus, Col 6, lines 1-15 ) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the invention to have (1) incorporated Carroll’s stackable chain-connecting battery power modules as part of its stackable modular battery support system into the battery monitoring system of Prosser/ALLAG because Carroll discloses a stackable module system with an interface and power transfer switch which would improve ALLAG by enabling external modular assembly and interchange of ALLAG’s battery monitoring system components, thus making it easier to repair, replace or expand battery monitoring elements depending on the number of battery modules to monitor and maintain. 21 . Claim(s) 17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 a s being unpatentable over C arroll (US Patent No. 12,148,938) in view of Prosser (US PG Pub No. 2012/0303397) and in further view of ALLAG (US PG Pub No. 2023/0069766). 22 . With respect to independent claim 17 , C arrol l teaches : a plurality of separable units each enclosed in a housing ( see housing, battery units in stackable and chain-connecting fashion as shown in Fig 8-9 and described in Col 10, lines 20-35; Col 16, lines 30-45 ) , the plurality of separable units comprising at least a first and second unit ( see housing, battery units in stackable and chain-connecting fashion as shown in Fig 8-9 and described in Col 10, lines 20-35; Col 16, lines 30-45 ) , a third unit comprising a base unit that provides a power supply, voltage input-output circuitry configured to couple to a battery and at least one digital communication module for the battery maintenance system and a fourth unit comprising a top unit having an operator input/output interface for the battery system ( see Carroll: inverter and converter 112/116 for input-output voltage circuitry, power interface 108 , controller 118 , and user interface UI 110 of Fig 1 ) ; and wherein at least the fir s t and second units are located between the third unit and the fourth unit ( see first bank, modules and batteries arranged in first configuration, see re-configurable battery rack, Col 30, lines 50-63; modules capable of being re-arranged, Col 5, lines 20-30 ) . C arrol l appears to be silent regarding: the separable units and coupled to each other the at least first and second units comprising battery maintenance devices . However, Prosser teaches: the separable units and coupled to each other ( see coupled and stacked battery service device connections for the stacked batteries as shown in Fig 8A ) . C arrol l/Prosser appear to be silent regarding: the at least first and second units comprising battery maintenance devices . However, ALLAG teaches: the at least first and second units comprising battery maintenance devices ( see battery management system for power balancing and monitoring conditions and health of battery modules, para 12; see first device in a stack, Abstract; battery monitors are arranged as devices in a stack, para 13; battery monitor in the stack improves the health and monitoring accuracy of battery pack, para 14 ) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the invention to have (1) incorporated Prosser’s coupling of battery servicing devices into the invention of Carroll because Prosser’s coupled stacked battery service devices improve adaptability and ease of connection between battery charging/discharging components ; and ( 2 ) incorporated ALLAG’s battery maintenance capabilities into the invention of Carroll/Prosser because Prosser’s batteries, which are used to service fleets of electric vehicles, would be improved by providing ALLAG’s battery health monitoring to the vehicle batteries they service. 2 3 . With respect to claim 20, Prosser teaches : wherein each of the plurality of separable units enclosed in a housing comprises four physical connectors located at each corner of each housing, wherein each physical connector on each unit includes a vertical member having a first end and an opposing second end and an extension protruding from the first end, wherein the second end of each of the vertical members of the connectors on the second unit are mounted to one of the extensions of the connectors on the first unit ( see physical connectors and extensions of the male/female pins aligned to mate between battery devices in stack, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145; see four connectors which mate to connect first and second unit to each other, Fig 8B, para 48-49, 138-145 ) . Allowable Subject Matter 24. Claims 5-6, 14 and 18-19 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. 25 . With respect to claim 5 and claim 6 which depends therefrom , the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in claim 5 , including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 5 , as follows: t he battery maintenance system of claim 1, wherein each of the first unit, the second unit, the third unit and the fourth unit includes a channel that extends from a bottom panel of each housing to a top panel of each housing and has channel walls, each channel configured to house cables to electrically interconnect each of the units to each other. 26 . With respect to claim 14 , the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in claim 14 , including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 14 , as follows: wherein the housing of each of the plurality of separable units comprises a channel configured to allow cables to run between the plurality of separable units when coupled together. 27 . With respect to claim 18, and claim 19 which depends therefrom , the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in claim 1 8 , including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 18 , as follows: wherein each of the first unit, the second unit, the third unit and the fourth unit includes a channel that extends from a bottom of each unit to a top of each unit and has channel walls, each channel configured to house cables to electrically interconnect each of the units together. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUCHIN PARIHAR whose telephone number is (703)756-1970. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8am-5pm. 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, Jack Chiang can be reached on 571-272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding 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. /SUCHIN PARIHAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851