DETAILED ACTION
Summary
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a first Office Action on the merits.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
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 3, 6, 10, 13, and 17 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 3 recites the limitations “determining a third-state-adjustment level…”, “determining third state-adjustment sub-information…”, and “determining fourth state-adjustment sub-information” in lines 6-10. It is unclear whether claim 3 was intended to depend from claim 2 since claim 3, nor claim 1 from which claim 3 depends, include recitation of a first-state-adjustment level sub-information or a second state-adjustment level sub-information. For purposes of examination, claim 3 has been interpreted as depending from claim 2.
Claim 10 recites the limitations “determining a third-state-adjustment level…”, “determining third state-adjustment sub-information…”, and “determining fourth state-adjustment sub-information” in lines 7-11. It is unclear whether claim 10 was intended to depend from claim 9 since claim 10, nor claim 8 from which claim 10 depends, include recitation of a first-state-adjustment level sub-information or a second state-adjustment level sub-information. For purposes of examination, claim 10 has been interpreted as depending from claim 9.
Claim 17 recites the limitations “determining a third-state-adjustment level…”, “determining third state-adjustment sub-information…”, and “determining fourth state-adjustment sub-information” in lines 8-12. It is unclear whether claim 17 was intended to depend from claim 16 since claim 17, nor claim 15 from which claim 17 depends, include recitation of a first-state-adjustment level sub-information or a second state-adjustment level sub-information. For purposes of examination, claim 17 has been interpreted as depending from claim 16.
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected by dependence.
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) 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over STEWART et al, US 2019/0097435 in view of HUANG, CN 210273560.
Re claims 1, 8, and 15:
STEWART teaches a method for adjusting a state of an energy-storage battery, wherein the method is applied to an electronic apparatus (8), the electronic apparatus comprises a battery-state-adjustment button (20), and the method comprises:
receiving touch information input by a user through the battery-state-adjustment button [0022] [0041] [Figures 4-6];
determining state-adjustment information of the energy-storage battery according to the touch information [0022] [0041] [0042] [Figures 4-6];
performing state adjustment on the energy-storage battery according to the state-adjustment information to obtain a target state adjusted [0026] [0042] [Figures 4-6].
STEWART teaches a display module in the electronic apparatus that may be configured to display the battery state of charge [0028], but does not teach displaying the target state by the display module.
HUANG teaches a method for adjusting a state of an energy-storage battery, wherein a user activates a battery “ON” key to turn the battery on, and a battery activation indicator light (10) is illuminated red when lit to indicate the battery is activated [0029] [Figure 1].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further incorporate the teachings of HUANG in the method, terminal, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of STEWARD to further display the target state by the display module for the purpose of clearly providing the user with visual indication of whether the battery is on or not.
Re claims 2, 9, and 16:
STEWART, in view of HUANG teaches the method of claim 1, terminal of claim 8, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining the state-adjustment information of the energy-storage battery according to the touch information comprises:
obtaining touch duration and touch frequency in the touch information; determining first state-adjustment sub-information according to the touch duration; determining second state-adjustment sub-information according to the touch frequency; and performing parameter integration processing on the first state-adjustment sub-information and the second state-adjustment sub-information to obtain the state-adjustment information of the energy-storage battery (i.e., alternate the state of the battery, between the ‘on’ state and the ‘shipping mode,’ a user may provide the first input by depressing the pushbutton 20, which may cause the CPU 16a to illuminate the indicator light 20, such as in a first color, and to initiate a the first period of time defining the first time window. The first period of time may be five seconds in duration. The CPU 16a may continue to keep the indicator light 21 illuminated during the first period of time, provided the pushbutton 20 remains actuated [0024]).
Claim(s) 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over STEWART et al, US 2019/0097435 in view of HUANG, CN 210273560, as applied in claims 1, 8, and 15, and further in view of FARRIS et al, US 2024/0148522.
Re claims 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, and 19:
STEWART, in view of HUANG, teaches the method of claim 1, terminal of claim 8, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, but does not teach displaying the target state by the display module in the electronic apparatus comprises determining display color of the state-display lamp and flickering frequency of the state display lamp according to the target state and controlling the state-display lamp according to the display color and the flickering frequency to display the target state; however,
It is well known in the art to utilize a combination of color and flicker frequency to convey state information of an apparatus. FARRIS teaches the use of LEDs that light up different colors and different on/off rates to convey different states or modes of a device [0033]. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further modify STEWARD, in view of HUANG, such that the target state is displayed according to a determined display color and flickering frequency. Such modification merely provides different visual patterns of displaying the target state information.
Re claims 7, 14, and 20:
STEWART, in view of HUANG and FARRIS, teaches the method of claim 4, terminal of claim 11, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising:
Obtaining usage information of the energy-storage battery; determining a state parameter of the energy-storage battery according to the usage information; determining a display parameter of the state-display lamp according to the state parameter; and adjusting the state-display lamp according to the display parameter to indicate the state parameter of the energy-storage battery (i.e., CPU 16a monitors the state of charge of the battery pack 11 in a conventional manner, and may also illuminate the indicator light 21 accordingly [0028] The illumination colors include solid green for 90%-100% battery charge, flashing green for 50%-90% battery charge, solid yellow for 35%-50% battery charge; flashing yellow for 20%-35% battery charge, solid red for 10%-20% battery charge, and flashing red for 0%-10% battery charge [0029]-[0034]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6, 10, 13, and 17 would potentially be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA A GUDORF whose telephone number is (571)270-7607. If the Examiner cannot be reached by telephone, she can be reached through the following e-mail address: laura.gudorf@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 6:00-4:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Lee, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-2398. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAURA A GUDORF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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