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 .
Claims 1-8 are pending.
Claim Interpretation
The claims use “and/or” throughout. Claims are given their broadest reasonable interpretation. Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1316, 75 USPQ2d 1321, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2005). In accordance with this standard of interpretation, the Examiner will construe “and/or” to be “or”, i.e. all limitations are required only in the alternative. For clarity, the claims are listed below as listed by Applicant, but this interpretation is to be understood throughout this Office Action.
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 recites “wherein preferably the transistors of the third switching unit and/or of the fourth switching unit are in each case electrically interconnected via their source side.” The use of “preferably” does not particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter, because it is unclear to one of ordinary skill in the art whether the subject matter appearing after “preferably” is intended to be part of the claim. One of ordinary skill in the art is not able to determine if infringement would occur when the subject matter before “preferably” is present, or if infringement requires the subject matter after “preferably” as well. For the purposes of this examination, the Examiner will not give “preferably” patentable weight and will presume that all subject matter recited in this claim is required.
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 1-6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Conlon, et al. (US 2019/0283611, herein Conlon).1 2 Regarding claim 1, Conlon teaches An electrical circuit for a high-voltage network of a vehicle, wherein the high-voltage network comprises at least two electrical energy stores, the electrical circuit comprising: at least one first connection point and one second connection point which are configured for electrical connection to a load and/or a charging device (paragraph 0032: electrical connector sets), at least one first switching unit which is arranged between a first pole connector, configured for electrical contacting of a first pole of a first electrical energy store, and the first connection point (paragraph 0041: switch SA-1), at least one second switching unit which is arranged between a second pole connector, configured for electrical contacting of a second pole of a second electrical energy store, and the second connection point (paragraph 0041: switch SA-2), at least one third switching unit which is arranged between the first pole connector and a third pole connector, configured for electrical contacting of a first pole of the second electrical energy store (paragraph 0041: switch SA-3), and at least one fourth switching unit which is arranged between the second pole connector and a fourth pole connector, configured for electrical contacting of a second pole of the first electrical energy store (paragraph 0041: switch SA-4), wherein the switching units can be switched between an electrically connecting and an electrically separating state (paragraph 0041), wherein the first switching unit and/or the second switching unit are configured so as to be electrically separating in the electrically separating state (paragraph 0041), and wherein the third switching unit and/or the fourth switching unit are configured as semiconductor components (paragraph 0041). Regarding claim 2, Conlon teaches the third switching unit and/or the fourth switching unit comprise one or more transistors (paragraph 0041: MOSFET). Regarding claim 3, Conlon teaches the third switching unit and/or the fourth switching unit each comprise two transistors, which are in each case arranged in such a way that the blocking directions thereof are opposing, wherein preferably3 the transistors of the third switching unit and/or of the fourth switching unit are in each case electrically interconnected via their source side (paragraph 0041: MOSFET). Regarding claim 4, Conlon teaches at least one fifth switching unit which is arranged between the third pole connector and the fourth pole connector, wherein preferably the fifth switching unit is configured as a semiconductor component and can be switched between an electrically connecting and an electrically separating state (paragraph 0041: switch SB-1). Regarding claim 5, Conlon teaches the fifth switching unit comprises two transistors, which are in each case arranged in such a way that the blocking directions thereof are opposing, wherein preferably the transistors of the fifth switching unit are preferably electrically interconnected via their source side (paragraph 0041: MOSFET). Regarding claim 6, Conlon teaches a charging connection for connection to a charging unit for charging the electrical energy stores, the electrical circuit comprising: at least one sixth switching unit which is arranged between the charging connection and the first connection point (paragraph 0041: switch SB-2), and at least one seventh switching unit which is arranged between the charging connection and the second connection point (paragraph 0041: switch SB-3), wherein the sixth switching unit and/or the seventh switching unit can be switched between an electrically connecting and an electrically separating state (paragraph 0041). Regarding claim 8, Conlon teaches at least one electrical load, in particular an electrical vehicle drive, which comprises two opposite poles, wherein a first pole of an electrical vehicle drive is electrically connected to the first connection point, and a second pole of an electrical vehicle drive is electrically connected to the second connection point (paragraph 0032).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW MIKELS whose telephone number is (571)270-5470. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 7:30 AM ET - 5:00 PM ET, Friday 7:30 AM ET - 11:30 AM ET, the Examiner is on central time.4
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael G Lee can be reached at 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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/MATTHEW MIKELS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
1 In addition to the cited paragraphs, please see also the associated figures.
2 Cited in Applicant’s IDS dated 9/21/23.
3 See 112 rejection above for the construction of this claim.
4 The Examiner can also be reached at matthew.mikels@uspto.gov.
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