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 information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 09/18/2024 and 09/13/2023. The submission is 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 § 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by US Patent Publication 6,168,470 to Ikeda et al.
With respect to claim 1, Ikeda et al. teach a base for mounting a voltage sampling member 22 configured to sample a voltage of a battery cell 1, comprising: a body 17 with 20, provided with a through hole at the wire connecting portion 20 for the voltage sampling member 22 to run through; and a pair of clamping members 18c and 18c’, mounted to the body 17 with 20 for clamping a busbar 16 connected to the battery cell 1 (Ikeda et al.: Column 7, Line 34 – Column 8, Line 22; Fig. 4).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 2 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Publication 6,168,470 to Ikeda et al.
With respect to claim 2, Ikeda et al. do not specifically teach the base, wherein the pair of clamping members are provided on two opposite sides of the body in a first direction, the first direction being perpendicular to an axial direction of the through hole.
However, the particular rearrangement of clamping members was held to be an obvious matter of design choice. In In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950).
With respect to claims 12 and 13, Ikeda et al. do not specifically teach a voltage sampling assembly, comprising: the base; and a voltage sampling member, wherein the voltage sampling member is threaded through the through hole; wherein the through hole is provided with internal threads on the inner wall, and the voltage sampling member is provided with external threads matching the internal threads.
However, It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have the voltage sampling member is threaded through the through hole since it was known in the art that threads in a through hole is one of the most common ways to fasten two components in the art.
With respect to claim 14, Ikeda et al. teach a voltage testing apparatus, comprising: a voltage detection circuit (a processing module); and two voltage sampling assemblies, wherein voltage sampling members 22 of the two voltage sampling assemblies are all electrically connected to the voltage detection circuit (the processing module) (Ikeda et al.: Column 7, Line 34 – Column 8, Line 22; Fig. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-11 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINGWEN R ZENG whose telephone number is (571)272-6649. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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/LINGWEN R ZENG/Examiner, Art Unit 1723 2/17/2026