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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-8 and 10-12, in the reply filed on 7/28/26 is acknowledged. Unelected claim 9 is withdrawn from consideration.1 Elected claims 1-8 and 10-12 will be examined as follows.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takahashi, et al. (US 2020/0355749, herein Takahashi).2 Regarding claim 1, Takahashi teaches an estimation device comprising: a determination unit configured to determine whether a shape change mode of an energy storage device is a first mode or a second mode (paragraph 0048, see also paragraphs 0052-0054 & 0082-0085); and an estimation unit configured to estimate a change in shape of the energy storage device in response to the shape change mode determined by the determination unit (paragraph 0051).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 and 10-12 are 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.3
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 - 9:30 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, Thomas K Pham can be reached at 571-272-3689. 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 Applicant is reminded of rejoinder procedure as outlined in MPEP § 821.04. Rejoinder will be considered when appropriate.
2 In addition to the cited paragraphs, please see also the associated figures.
3 A full discussion of reasons for allowance will be given once all claims are disposed.
4 The Examiner can also be reached at matthew.mikels@uspto.gov.
