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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (2) /(a)(1) as being anticipated by ZHOU et al. US Publication No. 2018/0342892.
Re Claim 1, ZHOU discloses a battery storage system comprising: a battery loading portion where a battery is loaded (P32, see claim 1 and Figs. 1-3);
a rack door coupled to the battery loading portion (P42-43, see claim 7 and Figs. 1-3); and
a battery protection portion installed on one side of the battery loading portion (P32-33, P40-41 , claim1 and Figs. 1-3) and configured to control charging and discharging of the battery (implicit , EMS controller) , wherein the battery protection portion includes;
a circuit breaker configured to interrupt power supplied to the battery (P40-41, claim 1, Figs, 1-3), a main body portion configured to accommodate the circuit breaker (P40-41, Fis. 1-3), and a unit door coupled to the main body of the circuit breaker (P42-43, Figs. 1-3, claim 7) .
Re Claim 4, ZHOU discloses the battery storage system of claim 1, wherein opening/closing of the unit door is controlled independently from the rack door (P42, P43).
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) 5 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XIE et al. CN 218677006 U, translation provided by the Examiner in view of MA CN-215119178-U, translation provided by the Examiner.
Re Claim 5, XIE discloses a battery protection unit comprising:
a circuit breaker (5) configured to interrupt current supplied to a battery 5( The opening 22 is matched with the position of the handle of the circuit breaker 5, so that the handle of the circuit breaker 5 is exposed without opening the cabinet door plate 2, which is convenient for controlling the circuit on/off of the energy storage battery cabinet);
a main body (battery cabinet body 1) configured to accommodate the circuit breaker (Pages 2-3, 5, the breaker is set in the middle position of the battery cabinet main body);
a unit door coupled to the main body; a handle configured to open/close the unit door (the cabinet door plate is provided with an opening, the opening is correspondingly set with the handle of the circuit breaker, so that the handle of the circuit breaker 5 is exposed without opening the cabinet door plate 2, which is convenient for controlling the circuit on/off of the energy storage battery cabinet) .
MA fails to disclose a handle configured to open/close the unit door according to a rotational operation; and a shaft protruding from the main body and fastened to the handle to rotate together with the handle when the handle rotates, wherein the circuit breaker is connected to the shaft to interrupt the current supplied to the battery or release the interruption of the current depending on a rotating direction of the shaft.
XIE discloses a handle configured to open/close the unit door according to a rotational operation; and a shaft protruding from the main body and fastened to the handle to rotate together with the handle when the handle rotates, wherein the circuit breaker is connected to the shaft to interrupt the current supplied to the battery or release the interruption of the current depending on a rotating direction of the shaft (Abstract and see claim 1).
Given the teachings of XIE it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ma with a handle configured to open/close the unit door according to a rotational operation; and a shaft protruding from the main body and fastened to the handle to rotate together with the handle when the handle rotates, wherein the circuit breaker is connected to the shaft to interrupt the current supplied to the battery or release the interruption of the current depending on a rotating direction of the shaft.
Doing so would improve the safety of the circuit breaker.
Re Claim 17, XIE and MA discloses the battery protection unit of claim 5, and XIE discloses wherein at least one handle is provided on the main body (Abstract).
Claim(s) 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al. US Publication No. 2018/0342892 in view of EMURA et al. CN 101150023 A.
Re Claim 2, ZHOU discloses the battery storage system of claim 1, but fails to disclose wherein the battery protection portion is configured to control operation of the circuit breaker depending on whether the unit door is locked with respect to the main body.
EMURA discloses wherein the battery protection portion is configured to control operation of the circuit breaker depending on whether the unit door is locked with respect to the main body (Abstract, See claim 1).
EMURA further discloses , wherein the battery protection portion is configured to stop the operation of the circuit breaker when the unit door is in a locked state, and to operate the circuit breaker when the unit door is in an unlocked state (Abstract).
Given the teachings of EMURA it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of ZHOU with wherein the battery protection portion is configured to control operation of the circuit breaker depending on whether the unit door is locked with respect to the main body.
Doing so would provide a user-friendly operation change circuit breaker and unlocking mechanism to meet the safety requirements of a circuit breaker.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-16 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter in Re Claim 6: the prior art of record fails to disclose wherein the handle includes: a door handle provided to be rotationally operated; a rotation body coupled to the door handle to rotate together with the door handle depending on the rotation of the door handle and including an opening into which the shaft is fitted to rotate the shaft; a locking cluster fixedly coupled to the unit door and configured to lock or unlock the unit door depending on a rotating direction of the shaft, wherein the rotation body is rotatably fastened to the locking cluster.
Conclusion
The following reference is cited but not relied upon:
Singer et al. discloses . The battery module may further have a locking mechanism which may include an operating handle at the front side of the housing. By operating the handle at the front side of the housing, a lock or a pair of locks at the rear side of the housing may be operated and engage with the storage section, such that the housing may be securely locked within the storage section.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SONJI N JOHNSON whose telephone number is (571)270-5266. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-9pm.
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SONJI N. JOHNSON
Examiner
Art Unit 2876
/SONJI N JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
