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 .
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because there is no designation of a “side plate” as featured in the current drawings. Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-5, 7, 8, 16, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (CN 112496306 A, herein referenced by the EPO English Translation), in view of Zhang (TW 201108909 A, herein referenced by the EPO English Translation).
Re Claim 1, Wu discloses a preparation method for a battery module end plate 100, the preparation method comprising: providing a first blank and machining the first blank to obtain a first plate body 200; providing a molding die (not shown) and placing the first plate body 200 into the molding die; providing a second blank and melting the second blank to obtain a molten material; and injecting the molten material into the molding die to allow the molten material to be wrapped around the first plate body, and obtaining the battery module end plate 100 through cooling, the battery module end plate 100 comprises the first plate body 200 and a second plate body, the second plate body being formed by cooling the molten material and wrapped around the first plate body 200; each of two ends of the first plate body has a connection surface 110 exposed from the second plate body, the first plate body 200 has a locking surface 111 exposed from the second plate body adjacent to the connection surface 110 and configured to be connected to an external component (Pars. 0033-0037, Figs. 1 and 2). Wu does not explicitly disclose stamping the first blank.
Zhang discloses a preparation method for a battery module end plate 10, the preparation method comprising: providing a first blank and stamping the first blank to obtain a first plate body 30-32; providing a molding die (not shown) and placing the first plate body 40 into the molding die; providing a second blank and melting the second blank to obtain a molten material; and injecting the molten material into the molding die to allow the molten material to be wrapped around the first plate body 30-32, and obtaining the battery module end plate 10 through cooling, the battery module end plate 10 comprises the first plate body 30-32 and a second plate body 20, the second plate body 20 being formed by cooling the molten material and wrapped around the first plate body 30-32 (Pars. 0002, 0006, 0013-0016, Figs. 1-3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Wu, by stamping a first blank to form a first plate body as disclosed by Zhang, as a known alternative method of forming a blank to manufacture a battery module end plate.
Re Claim 2, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses the first blank is made of metal; the second blank is made of metal (Pars. 0034-0036).
Re Claim 3, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses when both the first blank and the second blank are made of metal, the battery module end plate 100 is molded through die-casting molding after the molten material is injected into the molding die (Pars. 0034-0036).
Re Claim 5, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses each of the connection surfaces 110 is welded to a side plate when the battery module end plate is assembled to the side plate (Pars. 0028 and 0030).
Re Claim 7, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses the first plate body 200 has at least one opening 210, the at least one opening being filled with a part of the molten material during an injection of the molten material into the molding die (Pars. 0034-0036, Figs. 1 and 2). Note: as the first body 200 is molded with the second body as may be seen in figure 1, it is apparent that the opening 210 is filled with molten material during the injection molding step of Wu.
Re Claim 8, the combination as applied to claims 1 and 7 remains as previously applied. Wu does not explicitly disclose the at least one opening comprises a plurality of openings, including some transverse elongated holes, some longitudinal elongated holes, and some circular holes.
Zhang discloses the first plate body 30-32 has at least one opening 33, 311, the at least one opening and comprises a plurality of openings 33, 311, including some transverse elongated holes, some longitudinal elongated holes, for the benefit of better joining the components of the end plate (Pars. 0010 and 0011, figures 1 and 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Wu by providing a first plate body with a plurality of openings, said openings comprising some transverse elongated holes, some longitudinal elongated holes, and some circular holes, as disclosed by Zhang, for the benefit of better joining the components of the end plate.
Re Claim 11, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses the first plate body 200 comprises a first body portion, two first profiled portions 120, and two first fixing portions 110, the first body portion is in a flat plate shape, and each of the two first profiled portions 120 is of an L shape (the outer profile of the portions 120 forms a 90 angle or “L-shape” as may be seen in figure 1), the two first profiled portions 120 are respectively arranged at two ends of the first body portion (see figure 1), and the two first fixing portions 110 are respectively arranged at ends of the two first profiled portions 120 away from the first body portion, each of the first fixing portion 110 is a hollow (Par. 0029, Fig. 1).
Re Claim 12, the combination as applied to claim 11 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses a side of each of the first fixing portions 110 facing away from the respective first profiled portion 120 is the connection surface 110, and each of a top surface and a bottom surface of the first fixing portion is the locking surface 111 (See figure 1).
Re Claim 16, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses the second plate body has at least one weight reduction hole 130, the at least one weight reduction hole 130 is an elongated hole extending in a longitudinal direction of the second plate body (See figure 1).
Re Claim 17, the combination as applied to claim 1 remains as previously applied. Wu discloses the second plate body has a plurality of weight reduction holes 130 each extending in a longitudinal direction of the second plate body and arranged at intervals in parallel in a transverse direction of the plurality of the second plate body (See figure 1).
Claim Objections
Claims 13-15 and 18-20 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed January 12, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues the combination of Wu and Zhang fails to disclose all of the limitations of amended claim 1 specifically, “each of two ends of the first plate body has a connection surface exposed from the second plate body, the first plate body has a locking surface exposed from the second plate body adjacent to the connection surface and configured to be connected to an external component.”
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. As stated in paragraph 6 above, Wu discloses each of two ends of the first plate body 200 has a connection surface 110 exposed from the second plate body, the first plate body 200 has a locking surface 111 exposed from the second plate body adjacent to the connection surface 110 and configured to be connected to an external component (See figure 1).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/BAYAN SALONE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3726