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 .
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I in the reply filed on 08/03/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a, 1) as being anticipated by CN 216698854.
Regarding claim 1, CN discloses an energy storage connector (see figures 1-7), comprising a male connector 1 and a female connector 2 configured to connect to each other; wherein the male connector 1 has a connector housing 1-1 arranged on a side of the male connector 1 facing the female connector 2, the connector housing 1-1 has an inner surface, and the inner surface has at least two engagement grooves 2-13 arranged at intervals along a circumferential direction of the inner surface; wherein the female connector 2 has an engagement portion 2-1 configured to cooperate with the connector housing 1-1 and a base attached to the engagement portion 2-1, the engagement portion 2-1 has a first side facing the male connector 1, a second side away from the male connector 1 and abutting the base, an outer surface between the first side and the second side, and at least one tooth 1-121 formed on the outer surface and configured to engage with the at least two engagement grooves 2-13; and wherein each tooth of the at least one tooth 1-121 has opposing first and second ends, the first end being away from the male connector 1 and flush with the second side of the engagement portion 2-1, and the each tooth 1-121 of the at least one tooth 1-121 has a length between the opposing first and second ends that is smaller than a length of the engagement portion 2-1 in a first direction Y directing from the second side to the first side of the engagement portion 2-1.
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.
Claims 2-3, 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN.
Regarding claim 2, CN discloses the claimed invention except for in the first direction, a ratio of a length of one respective tooth of the at least one tooth to a length of the engagement portion ranges from 0.312 to 0.337. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify CN to provide such features optimum dimension for each application. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 3, CN discloses the claimed invention except for in response to one respective tooth of the at least one tooth engaging into a corresponding engagement groove of the at least two engagement grooves, there is a gap between the one respective tooth and a side wall of the corresponding engagement groove, and a width of the gap along the circumferential direction of the inner surface ranges from 0.1 5mm to 0.25mm. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify CN to provide such features optimum dimension for each application. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 5, CN discloses the claimed invention except for a width of a cross section along the first direction of one respective tooth of the at least one tooth ranges from 1.49mm to 1.69mm. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify CN to provide such features optimum dimension for each application. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 6, CN discloses the claimed invention except for the at least two
engagement grooves and the at least one tooth extend along the first direction. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective to filling date of the claimed invention to modify CN to provide such feature so as to provide for easy mating. It has been held that a mere reversal of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. In re Einstein, 8 USPQ 167.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN in view of Smith (U. S. Patent 8,512,060).
Regarding claim 4, CN discloses the claimed invention except for a number of the at least one tooth is 20. Smith discloses at least one tooth 68. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify CN to provide such features as taught by Smith so as to provide for better alignment.
Claims 7-20 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.
None of the references discloses having a pre-engagement state and an engagement state; wherein in response to the energy storage connector being in the pre-engagement state, the at least two engagement grooves are separated from the at least one tooth; and wherein in response to the energy storage connector being in the engagement state, the at least two engagement grooves engage with the at least one tooth, the male connector has a button configured to lock or unlock the female connector and a cavity defined along a second direction intersecting with the first direction, the male connector further has, on the side facing to the female connector, a limiting hole extending along the first direction and communicating with the cavity, a guiding portion extending along the second direction is formed on a bottom of the cavity, and an elastic component is sleeved on the guiding portion; wherein the button is arranged in the cavity, a guiding hole extending along the second direction and cooperating with the elastic component is defined on a side of the button close to the
guiding portion, and the elastic component is arranged in the guiding hole; and wherein the button has, on a side close to the limiting hole, a limiting portion cooperating with the limiting hole, and the limiting portion is configured to engage into the limiting hole.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONG K DINH whose telephone number is (571)272-2090. The examiner can normally be reached M-F from 8:30 am - 5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Riyami A Abdullah can be reached at 571-270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHUONG K DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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