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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Papadopoulos et al (2022/0340020A1 related to WO 2021045699 from search report of 9-27-24).
Papadopoulos discloses an overcurrent protection apparatus 100, comprising: a current sensor 203 configured to measure a charging current or discharging current of a battery pack (figs.3 and 4); a switch 103 configured to connect or disconnect the battery pack; and an overcurrent protection circuit 201 configured to receive an output signal N2 of the current sensor 203 as an input voltage to compare the input voltage and a reference voltage (node at R10), allow the switch 103 to maintain an on state when the input voltage N2 is less than the reference voltage (node R10) according to a comparison result, and control the switch so that the switch is turned off after a delay of a predetermined time when the input voltage is greater than or equal to the reference voltage (see Abstract).
With regard independent method claim 11, the expected use of the device of claim 1 meets the limitations of the recited method.
With regard to claims 2 and 12, capacitor C3 is charged by the output of comparison unit UA1 to implement a delay function.
With regard to claims 3 and 13, the relationships recited only describe the intrinsic operation of a capacitor based delay function in a circuit having a voltage compared to an established reference voltage.
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.
Claim(s) 4-10 and 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Papadopoulos et al (2022/0340020A1).
Papadopoulos discloses an overcurrent protection apparatus 100, comprising: a current sensor 203 configured to measure a charging current or discharging current of a battery pack (figs.3 and 4); a switch 103 configured to connect or disconnect the battery pack; and an overcurrent protection circuit 201 configured to receive an output signal N2 of the current sensor 203 as an input voltage to compare the input voltage and a reference voltage (node at R10), allow the switch 103 to maintain an on state when the input voltage N2 is less than the reference voltage (node R10) according to a comparison result, and control the switch so that the switch is turned off after a delay of a predetermined time when the input voltage is greater than or equal to the reference voltage (see Abstract).
The teachings of Papadopoulos differ from the claims by not reciting variations of the comparison between the reference voltage and the charging and discharging of capacitor elements to implement delay functions.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the invention to use the teachings of Papadopoulos to meet the claims because the implementation of delay functions in comparator circuits based on the charging and discharging of capacitor through resistive elements is well known in the art and would allow the person of ordinary skill to form protective circuits able to respond to the expected fault conditions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN W JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-2051. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-3:00.
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SWJackson
January 9, 2026
/STEPHEN W JACKSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838