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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 4, 7 and 9 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.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the force-exerting arm of the upstream connecting rod" in lines 3 and 5-6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the force-exerting arm of the downstream connecting rod" in lines 4 and 6-7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites "particularly" in line 4. The use of "particularly" renders the Claim indefinite because it is unclear is the limitation following the recitation of particularly is required by the Claim.
The Examiner suggest replacing “particularly” with optionally.
Claim 7 recites "preferably" in line 5. The use of " preferably " renders the Claim indefinite because it is unclear is the limitation following the recitation of preferably is required by the Claim.
The Examiner suggest replacing “preferably” with optionally.
Claim 9 recites the limitation the force-receiving end" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation the force-exerting end" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites " particularly" in lines 4 and 6. The use of "particularly" renders the Claim indefinite because it is unclear is the limitation following the recitation of particularly is required by the Claim.
The Examiner suggest replacing “particularly” with optionally.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cherry et al. (US-20210083237-A1 which is the US equivalent to EP-3793022-A1 provided in the IDS dated 02/02/2024).
Regarding Claim 1, Cherry discloses:
Battery device for powering a working device, characterized in that the battery device comprises (“The battery pack 100 includes a housing 110 that encloses one or more battery cells to provide power to a piece of equipment such as, for example, a power tool, a lawn and garden tool, a radio, and other different types of equipment,” see [0059]):
a locking component (engaging portion 114) configured to be capable of extending out of a housing of the battery device or retracting into the housing to engage with or disengage from the working device; an operation component (activation button 112) configured to be capable of being actuated by an operator (“When the user activation button 112 is depressed, the user activation button 112 causes the engaging portion 114 to recede into the opening 118 of the housing 110. When the user activation button 112 is depressed, at least a portion of the user activation button 112 recedes into the opening 116 of the housing 110. Releasing the user activation button 112 causes the user activation button 112 to return to its normal (default), undepressed position and causes the engaging portion 114 to return to its normal position with the engaging portion 114 protruding through the opening 118 of the housing 110,” see [0062] and Fig. 7-8);
and a transmission mechanism configured to transmit a motion of the operation component to the locking component when the operation component is actuated so as to make the locking component disengage from the working device (see annotated Fig. 9 below and Figs. 7-10),
wherein the transmission mechanism comprises at least two connecting rods (the button extension 128 includes the button extension arm 130 and the latch extension 134 which includes the latch extension arm 136, see [0068] and [0070]) which are sequentially overlapped in a force transmission direction (see annotated Fig. 9 below and Figs. 7-10).
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Regarding Claim 2, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that the locking component (the engaging portion 114 and flat portion 754, see Fig. 7-8) and the operation component (the user activation button 112, see Fig. 7-8) are located at an upper position of the battery device (see Figs. 1 and 7-10),
the locking component has a force-receiving portion facing a bottom surface of a top housing wall of the battery device (flat portion 754, see Figs. 7-8),
a force-receiving end of the transmission mechanism abuts against a bottom side of the operation component (button extension 128, see Fig. 7-8),
and a force-exerting end of the transmission mechanism abuts against a top side of the force-receiving portion of the locking component (angled portion 752, see Fig. 7-8).
Regarding Claim 3, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that at least one of the at least two connecting rods comprises a force-receiving arm and a force-exerting arm which are arranged at an obtuse angle to each other (see annotated Fig. 7 below),
a pivot portion is provided at a connection position between the force-receiving arm and the force-exerting arm (button pivot axis 132 and latch pivot axis 138 are shown to be between the indicated force-receiving arms and the force-exerting arms of annotated Fig. 7 below),
the connecting rod rotates around the pivot portion (the button extension arm 130 rotates about a button pivot axis 132 and the button extension 128 rotates about the button pivot axis 132, see [0068]-[0069]),
optionally, the moment arm of the force-receiving arm is greater than that of the force-exerting arm (optional limitation),
and optionally, in a pair of adjacent connecting rods in the at least two connecting rods, the force-exerting arm of the upstream connecting rod has an approximately equal length to the force-receiving arm of the downstream connecting rod (optional limitation).
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Regarding Claim 4, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that in a pair of adjacent connecting rods in the at least two connecting rods, the force-exerting arm of the upstream connecting rod is always in contact with the force-receiving arm of the downstream connecting rod (see Figs. 7-10 and annotated Fig 7 above),
and preferably, when the operation component is in a non-actuated state, the force-exerting arm of the upstream connecting rod is in surface contact with the force-receiving arm of the downstream connecting rod (see annotated Fig. 7 above).
Regarding Claim 5, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that in a pair of adjacent connecting rods in the at least two connecting rods (button pivot shoulder 133 and latch pivot shoulder 139, see Fig 9-10 and [0069]-[0070]),
an included angle between the force-receiving arm and the force-exerting arm of the upstream connecting rod has an opposite orientation to an included angle between the force-receiving arm and the force-exerting arm of the downstream connecting rod (see annotated Fig. 7 above,
and the adjacent connecting rods are overlapped within the included angle (see annotated Fig. 7 above).
Regarding Claim 6, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that the battery device further comprises a mounting plate (40), the mounting plate is provided with a recessed portion (42) corresponding to the pivot portion (513) of the upstream connecting rod (51), and the pivot portion of the upstream connecting rod is rotatably accommodated in the recessed portion of the mounting plate (the latch pivot shoulder 139 is rotatably accommodated in a recess of the latch pivot support 644, see Fig. 6B and [0070]);
and/or the bottom surface of the top housing wall of the battery device is provided with a recessed portion corresponding to the pivot of the downstream connecting rod, and the pivot portion of the downstream connecting rod is rotatably accommodated in the recessed portion of the bottom surface of the top housing wall (the latch pivot support 644 can be interpreted as a part of the bottom surface of the top housing wall of the battery device, see Figs. 6A-6B).
Regarding Claim 7, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that the at least one connecting rod is provided with a reinforcing rib (button pivot shoulder 133 and latch pivot shoulder 139) located at the connection position between the force-receiving arm and the force- exerting arm (see annotated Fig. 7 above and Figs. 7-10), the reinforcing rib protrudes toward the inside of the obtuse angle (see Fig. 9-10),
and preferably, the reinforcing rib comprises a plurality of rib plates arranged at intervals in an extension direction of the pivot portion (optional limitation).
Regarding Claim 10, Cherry discloses:
Working assembly, characterized in that the working assembly comprises a working device and the battery device according to claim 1, the locking component of the battery device being capable of engaging with or disengaging from the working device (“The battery pack 100 both engages/mates/couples with and attaches to the equipment and disengages/unmates/decouples and detaches from the equipment. The battery pack 100 slidably engages with and couples to the piece of equipment and locks into place with the piece of equipment,” see [0061]).
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.
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cherry et al. (US-20210083237-A1).
Regarding Claim 8, Cherry’s embodiment shown in Figs. 7-10 includes a spring 140, therefore, this embodiment does not teach:
characterized in that the battery device comprises elastic members abutting the operation component and/or the transmission mechanism and/or the locking component,
However, Cherry teaches an additional embodiment with the overall same latch assembly mechanism 126 with the only difference being the placement of the spring 960, see Fig. 11 and 12 and [0087]-[0086]. Cherry additionally teaches that the purpose of the spring 140 and the spring 960 is to keep the latch assembly mechanism 126 in the default state with the user activation button 112 in an undepressed position and the engaging portion 114 protruding through the opening 118 in the housing 110 when a user is not pressing on the user activation button 112, see [0073] and [0088]-[0089].
Absent a showing of persuasive secondary considerations, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have used springs 140 and 960 in both the positions shown Figs. 7-10 and Figs. 11-12 in order to keep the latch assembly mechanism in a default state when the user activation button is undepressed.
This modification teaches:
characterized in that the battery device comprises elastic members abutting the operation component and/or the transmission mechanism and/or the locking component (two springs abutting the latch assembly mechanism 126, see Figs. 7-12),
and the elastic members are configured to accumulate force when the operation component is pressed, and bias the operation component and/or the transmission mechanism and/or the locking component to return to its original position when the external force disappears (the purpose of the spring 140 and the spring 960 is to keep the latch assembly mechanism 126 in the default state with the user activation button 112 in an undepressed position and the engaging portion 114 protruding through the opening 118 in the housing 110 when a user is not pressing on the user activation button 112, see [0073] and [0088]-[0089]).
Regarding Claim 9, Cherry discloses:
characterized in that the elastic members include a first elastic member which abuts the force-receiving end of the transmission mechanism (the spring 140 is shown to be on the latch extension arm 136, see Figs. 7-10)
and/or the bottom side of the operation component (optional limitation),
and particularly, the first elastic member is a torsional spring (optional limitations);
and/or the elastic members include a second elastic member which abuts the force-exerting end of the transmission mechanism and/or a bottom side of the locking component (spring 960 is shown to be on the bottom side of the engaging portion 114, see Figs. 11-12),
and particularly, the second elastic member is a compression spring (optional limitation).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhang et al. (US-20110116861-A1)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kayla E Clary whose telephone number is (571)272-2854. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00-5:00 (PT).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Allison Bourke can be reached at 303-297-4684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/K.E.C./
Kayla E. ClaryExaminer, Art Unit 1721
/ALLISON BOURKE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1721
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