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 § 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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tamura (US 2014/0062234 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tamura discloses a bus bar unit fixing *method, wherein a bus bar unit includes: a bus bar (38) including a first end and a second end (see annotated fig. 2, immediately below), and extending from the first end to the second end; and a connector unit (40) molded to be integrated with the bus bar by insert molding, wherein a first bolt insertion hole (66) through which a first bolt is inserted is formed in the first end of the bus bar, and a second bolt (72) insertion hole through which a second bolt is inserted is formed in the connector unit (figs. 1-2 and 4; pars. 0029-0033), the bus bar unit is fixed by: fixing the bus bar unit to a fixing-object member (20); connecting the first end to a connection terminal (18b) provided on an electronic component (10) (fig. 1; par. 0017); and connecting a cable (32b) to the second end (fig. 3; par. 0025), and the bus bar unit fixing *method comprises: a first step of inserting the first bolt through the first bolt insertion hole, and fastening the first end of the bus bar to the connection terminal provided on the electronic component (figs. 2-3; pars. 0031 and 0047-0049); and a second step of inserting the second bolt through the second bolt insertion hole, and fixing the connector unit to the fixing-object member, the second step being performed after the first step (figs. 2 and 7; pars. 0032 and 0053).
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*NOTE: The preamble of claim 1 is a confusing and exceedingly long introduction to the actually recited claimed method. The positively recited and required steps of the method do not even begin until line 18 (Applicant’s own line numbering) of the claim. It is entirely unclear the purpose of this very long preamble, especially with respect to lines 13-17 which are disclosed in manner similar to a method, but do not represent positively recited method steps. This ambiguity does not rise to the level of indefiniteness, because it is apparent that the method begins on line 18, but the first 17 lines of the claim are currently interpreted under broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) to be simply informative, rather than to carry patentable weight. Nonetheless, as a courtesy, the Examine has cited the limitations of Tamura which anticipate and map to the limitations of the preamble. If the Applicant wishes for the method of claim 1 to have any more specificity or meaning than that which is currently presented in lines 18-24, then they are strongly encouraged to amend the body of the claim to include additional or further defined positively recited method steps and structures, and to significantly decrease the length and complexity of the claim preamble.
Regarding claim 2, Tamura discloses the bus bar unit fixing method according to claim 1, further comprising: a third step of connecting the cable to the second end, the cable including an electric wire (annotated fig. 2, above), an insertion-type terminal (34b) provided at one end of the electric wire, and a connector configured (98) to house the insertion-type terminal and hold the one end of the electric wire, the third step being performed after the second step (figs. 2 and 7; pars. 0053-0056, wherein the connector of the cable is provided with a sealing member (102), and in the third step, the connector is fitted to the fixing-object member such that the sealing member of the connector comes into close contact with the fixing-object member, and the cable is connected to the second end by inserting the insertion-type terminal of the cable (figs. 2 and 7; pars. 0039-0044).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please refer to the concurrently mailed PTO-892, as all of those cited references are considered to be pertinent to the claimed invention. For example, Sakurada (US 2012/0212089 A1) is held to disclose most, if not all, of the limitations of at least claim 1 (please see annotated fig. 1, below, as well as fig. 4; also, pars. 0029-0030 and 0033-0036). The Sakurada reference is not currently applied as an anticipation rejection due to the completeness of the above applied art, and in order to avoid an overly long Office Action or duplicative rejections.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeffrey T Carley whose telephone number is (571)270-5609. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sunil Singh can be reached at (571)272-3460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEFFREY T CARLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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