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 1-14) in the reply filed on February 10th, 2026 is acknowledged.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-5, 8, 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narampanawe et al. (US2021/0337319A1) hereinafter, Narampanawe in view of Widmer et al. (US 9726518).
As to Claim 1, Narampanawe teaches a battery coil module (battery module 8, abstract, Figures 1-3), comprising: two battery polarity terminals for contacting battery poles of a secondary battery (the battery module 8 comprising a secondary cell 10, two contact elements 28,30 for contacting the secondary cell 10 at two different potential surfaces 16,32. See at least [0055], Figures 3-7); a fuse ( the battery module has a fuse 14 which is arranged at a short distance from the contact element assigned to the positive terminal to protect against short circuit. See at least [0018]); a ferrite element (a ferrite jacket 42, abstract, Figure 3, [0057]); a receiver coil (the battery module has an induction coil which is arranged on the outside of the ferrite jacket and is set up for inductive energy reception. See at least [0008], Figure 3, abstract, [0057]) a resonance capacitor ((resonance capacitor 18, Figures 2-3 used to set the resonance frequency, specifically in relation to the frequency of an assigned inductive charger. See at least [0054]); a temperature sensor (battery module 8 including a thermistor 26 for temperature monitoring of secondary cell 10. See a least [0054]) for sensing a temperature close to the secondary battery (a battery module including a thermistor disposed within the housing near or on the battery itself. See at least page 3, [0003]); and regarding the following: a module ring, Narampanawe teaches a flat plastic film forming a bottom surface of a copper jacket. See at least [0027], but does not explicitly teach a module ring. However, Widmer in related field (Battery for wireless power transmission) teaches on Figures 5A-5D, teaches placement of induction coil and ferrite material relative to a battery. Figure 5A teaches a fully ferrite embedded induction coil 536a. The wireless power induction coil may include a ferrite material 538a and a coil 536a wound about the ferrite material 538a. Conductive shielding may be particularly useful in vehicles made of plastic or composites. Further, a non-conductive (e.g., plastic) protective layer 533d may be used to protect the conductive shield 532d. See at least col. 14 lines 49-68 and col. 15 lines 10-15. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to further include a module ring made of a plastic material to protect the copper jacket of the battery module.
As to Claim 2, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, and Narampanawe further teaches wherein said module ring has a shape of a hollow circle and/or is made of a plastic material that does not contain any magnetizing composition (the ring is “capped” with a “bottom surface” on one side. This bottom surface is preferably connected to the ring in one piece at least one location, in particular by cutting a strip with a lateral bulge, which subsequently forms the bottom surface, out of the flat plastic film, placing the strip with respect to the ring and folding up the bulge as the bottom surface. See at least [0027].
As to Claim 3, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, and regarding the following: wherein said receiver coil has a three winding turns receiver coil, Narampanawe teaches the induction coil applied to the ferrite jacket has preferably two turns. See at least [0032], but does not explicitly teach the inductive coil has three windings. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the number of windings of the induction coil to form a desired width of the conductor track on the ferrite jacket. See at least Narampanawe on [0032].
As to Claim 4, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, and, Narampanawe further teaches comprising a copper sheet, (copper jacket 36, surrounding the secondary cell 10. See at least abstract, Figure 3, [0056]).
As to Claim 5, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 4, and, Narampanawe further teaches comprising a flexible ferrite sheet as said ferrite element, as the ferrite jacket is made of comparatively flexible, pliable film material. See at least [0026])
As to Claim 8, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, and Narampanawe further teaches r comprising a coin cell battery and/or battery tabs (two contact elements 28,30 for contacting the secondary cell 10. See at least abstract, Figure 4)
As to Claim 11, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, and Narampanawe further teaches and wherein the battery coil module (battery module 8) is configured for a hearing instrument (hearing device 1, Figure 1).
As to Claim 12, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 3, and Narampanawe further teaches wherein said three winding turns receiver coil is made from a copper material (the induction coil having winding turns formed of copper. See at least Narampanawe on [0032])
As to Claim 13, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 4, and Narampanawe further teaches wherein said copper sheet surrounds a battery circumferential surface (copper jacket 36, surrounding the secondary cell 10. See at least abstract, Figure 3, [0056])
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narampanawe et al. Narampanawe et al. ((US2021/0337319A1) hereinafter, Narampanawe hereinafter, Narampanawe in view of Widmer et al. (US 9726518) in further view of Volz Andreas et al. (DE19837909A1), hereinafter “Volz Andreas”.
As to Claim 9, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, but does not explicitly teach wherein said fuse is a resettable fuse. However, Volz Andreas in related field (rechargeable battery) teaches the battery including an overcurrent fuse designed as a PTC resistor, the resistance of which increases as the temperature rises. See at least page 3, [0001]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to design the fuse such that it is capable of limiting the current supplied to and from the circuit thus preventing damage from excessive current.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narampanawe et al. ((US2021/0337319A1) hereinafter, Narampanawe in view of Widmer et al. (US 9726518) in further view of Lee et al. (US20170213644A1), hereinafter “Lee”.
As to Claim 10, Narampanawe in view of Widmer teaches the limitations of Claim 1, and regarding the following further comprising a first and a second resonance capacitor, Narampanawe teaches resonance capacitor 18, Figures 2-3 used to set the resonance frequency, specifically in relation to the frequency of an assigned inductive charger. See at least [0054], but does not explicitly teach a second resonance capacitor. However, designing a resonant circuit with multiple inductors and capacitors in series or parallel to improve power conversion efficiency is well known in the art. Lee in related field (Battery module) teaches [0051] an alternating current generated by the transmitting coil 210 may be transmitted to the receiving coil 310 which is inductively coupled to the transmitting coil 210. Alternatively, power transmitted to the transmitting coil 210 may also be transmitted to the wireless power receiving apparatus 300 having the same resonance frequency as that of the wireless power transmitting apparatus 200. Power may be transmitted by resonance between two inductor-capacitor (LC) circuits having matching impedances. Referring to FIG. 3, [0054] the transmitting coil 210 may include an inductor L1 and a capacitor C1, and both ends of the inductor L1 may be connected to both ends of the capacitor C1. [0055] Here, the capacitor C1 may be a variable capacitor, and impedance matching may be performed as capacitance of the capacitor C1 is adjusted. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to include first and second resonance capacitor to improve power transmitting and receiving technology using principle of magnetic resonance. See at least Lee on [0003].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 7, 14 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNITA JOSHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7227. The examiner can normally be reached 8-3.
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/SUNITA JOSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691