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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 06/01/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/01/2026.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the application, of claims 11-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1-10 are being examined on the merits in this Office Action.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4 recites the limitation “said interface”. It is suggested to amend the word “said” to - -the- -. It is recommended that once an element is given antecedent basis, it is then referred to as “the [element]”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xiamen et al. (CN218482319U).
The Examiner has provided a machine translation of CN218482319U. The citation of the prior art in this rejection refer to the machine translation.
Regarding claim 1, Xiamen teaches a battery assembly base portion (i.e., battery end cover assembly) (page 4, lines 25-30) (see figure 1 below), comprising:
a base plate (i.e., end cover) (1) (page 4, lines 25-30) comprising a base plate top surface and side edges (see figure 1 below); and
a siderail (i.e., main body) (20) (page 4, lines 34-37) comprising a siderail top surface and an inner edge (see figure 1 below);
wherein a weld groove (213) (i.e., second annular groove) is formed in one of the inner edge of the siderail and a side edge of the base plate (see figure 1 below) (page 5, lines 19-25); and
wherein the siderail is attached to the base plate by a weld bead (3) (i.e., welding fixing part) (page 4, lines 35-40) formed along the weld groove (213) such that the base plate top surface and the siderail top surface are flush with one another (see figure 5).
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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.
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) 2-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiamen et al. (CN218482319U).
Regarding claims 2-3, Xiamen teaches the battery assembly base portion as described above in claim 1 including the weld groove.
Xiamen does not explicitly articulate the specifics of the angle and deep pf the weld groove as recited in the claims.
However, Xiamen teaches the applicability of the battery assembly base portion in small and large battery sizes such as computers, mobile phones, electric vehicles, energy storage cabinets and other fields (page 1, lines 20-30). Therefore, scaling up and down or changing the shape or size of the components to form a desired configuration applicable to a specific structure, including the claimed dimension and depth, would be obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art absent evidence that the specific dimension and depth are critical (see MPEP 2144.04).
Regarding claim 4, Xiamen teaches the weld groove further comprises a flat bottom portion adjacent said interface (see figure 5 below).
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Regarding claim 5, teaches the battery assembly base portion as described above in claim 1 including the weld bead.
Xiamen does not explicitly articulate the specifics of the maximum height above the top surfaces of the base plate of the weld bead.
However, Xiamen teaches the weld bead is used for welding and fixing the base plate and enhances the stability of the welding fixture (page 1, lines 48-49; page 2, lines 14-16).
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art could have considered forming a weld bead to different heights, including the one claimed, in order to optimize the fixing mechanism and stability of the welding fixture.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10 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. In other words, claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form to incorporate:
all the limitations of claim 1 and claim 6.
Applicant is encouraged to consider amending claim 1 accordingly to place the application in condition of allowance.
The specifics as recited in claim 6 in combination with the features of claim 1 is not taught or suggested in the prior art in particular, the limitation “siderails attached to each of the base plate side edges, each including an interface between the inner edge of the respective siderail and the side edge of the base plate and an associated weld groove.”
Pertinent Prior Art
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Thibault et al. (U.S. Patent 4,556,612).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTIAN ROLDAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5098. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9:00 am - 7:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, TONG GUO can be reached at 571-272-3066. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTIAN ROLDAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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