DETAILED ACTION
This is on the merits of Application No. 18/427911, filed on 01/31/2024. Claims 1-6 are pending. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 03/12/2024, 03/25/2024, 08/04/2024, and 08/19/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 3 is 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 3 states “a contact surface of the rotation member making contact with the restriction section is inclined to be positioned more on the restriction section side as the battery moves in a direction toward the mounting position from the replacement position.” It is unclear what is meant by this limitation. Fig. 7A shows the contact surface of contact portion 132C inclined so as to be located on the side away from the restriction section 113 in the X direction as it moves away from the mounting position. The “located on the regulating portion side” is unclear.
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 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 63-070661 (cited in applicant’s IDS).
‘661 discloses:
(Claim 1) A restriction apparatus, comprising: a movement section (battery body) that moves a battery (11) between a mounting position and a replacement position in a vehicle (vehicle body); a rotation section (20) disposed on either one of the movement section and the vehicle side, the rotation section being configured to rotate between a first position and a second position; and a restriction section (22) that is disposed on an other of the movement section and the vehicle, the restriction section being configured to restrict movement of the movement section from the mounting position by making contact with the rotation section located at the first position in a state where the movement section is located at the mounting position, wherein during when the movement section moves from the replacement position to the mounting position, the rotation section makes contact with the restriction section to rotate from the first position to the second position, and the rotation section passes a position of the restriction section to return to the first position (see Figs. 2 and 3, when pushed from replacement position to mounting position, as shown by the arrow in Fig. 3, element 20 goes from the first position solid line, rides up restriction section 22, as shown by the dashed line, and goes back to the first position, as shown in Fig. 2 solid line).
(Claim 6) wherein in a state in which the battery is in the mounting position, the restriction section makes contact with the rotation section to restrict movement of the battery from the mounting position to the replacement position (see Fig. 2, restriction section 22 contacts rotation section 20 such that moving the battery from the mounting position to the replacement position is restricted).
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.
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 63-070661 in view of JP 2006096148 to Takeda (cited in applicant’s IDS).
‘611 discloses:
(Claim 2) wherein the rotation section includes a rotation member (20).
(Claim 3 as best understood) wherein a contact surface (20c) of the rotation member making contact with the restriction section is inclined to be positioned more on the restriction section side as the battery moves in a direction toward the mounting position from the replacement position (see Fig. 3).
(Claim 4) wherein the rotation section includes a manipulation member (16, 17, 19) that is manipulatable to rotate the rotation member in a state in which the battery is in the mounting position, the manipulation member being disposed at a position corresponding to an outer end portion of the movement section (see Fig. 1, when handle 16 moves, rod 19 is pushed downward by element 17 causing rotation member to manipulate the rotation member to disengage and allow the battery to move).
‘611 does not explicitly disclose:
(Claim 2) a biasing member for biasing the rotation member toward the first position.
Takeda teaches:
(Claim 2) a biasing member for biasing the rotation member toward the first position (see Fig. 4 element 33, Fig. 9, spring causes 32 to rotate towards first position).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified, with a reasonable expectation of success, the structure of ‘611 to have a biasing member for biasing the rotation member toward the first position, as taught by Takeda, in order to ensure that the first position is achieved when installing the battery. The ‘611 reference does not explicitly how the rotation member achieves the first position once past the restriction section. One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to apply the teachings of Takeda and apply them to the ‘611 reference and achieve predictable results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record does not disclose nor render obvious the limitations of claim 5. Particularly, a portion of the movement section overlapping with a rotation range of the manipulation member is notched. ‘611 is the closest prior art of record. ‘611 does not disclose the above limitation. It would not have been obvious to modify ‘611 without improper hindsight teaching as none of the prior art disclose nor render obvious such a limitation.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang et al (US 20240234908) discloses a locking mechanism for battery pack.
Zhang et al (US 20240030541) discloses a lock mechanism for battery pack.
Huff et al (US 20190263269) discloses a mounting and dismounting system for a battery assembly.
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/TIMOTHY HANNON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655