NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION
Acknowledgements
1. This non-final Office Action addresses broadening reissue U.S. Application No. 18/631,991 (“instant application”). Examiners find the actual filing date of the instant application is April 10, 2024.
2. The instant application is a broadening reissue application of U.S. Patent No. 11,302,982, (“‘982 Patent”) issued Apr. 12, 2022. The ‘982 Patent was filed on Nov. 30, 2018 as U.S. Application No. 16/618,993 (“993 Application”), titled “BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME.”
3. Examiners do not find any certificates of correction, ongoing/previous proceedings before the Office, or current ongoing litigation involving the ‘982 Patent.
4. The ‘982 Patent issued with claims 1-17 (“Patented Claims”). In the preliminary amendment filed April 10, 2024 ("APRIL 2024 CLAIM AMENDMENTS"), claims 18-20 are added.
5. Claims 1-20 are pending and examined and are grouped as follows:
claims 1-11 and 18-20; and
claims 12-17.
Priority Claims
6. The ‘993 Application was the national stage entry of PCT/KR2018/015113, which was filed Nov. 30, 2018. Thus, the presumed effective filing date is Dec. 3, 2019.
Specification Objections
7. The first sentence of each reissue specification must provide notice stating that more than one reissue application has been filed, and it must identify each of the reissue applications and their relationship within the family of reissue applications, and to the original patent. The specification is objected to because it does not contain the aforementioned first sentence.
An example of the suggested language to be inserted is as follows:
Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of Patent No. 99,999,999. The reissue applications are application number 99/999,994 (the present application); and application numbers 99/999,995 and 99/999,998, both of which are divisional reissues of Patent No. 99,999,999.
CORRECTION IS REQUIRED.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
8. Claims 1-4, 8-14, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 10,992,008 to Seo et al. filed April 2, 2018 (“Seo”).
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As to claim 1, Seo discloses the following:
A battery pack (fig. 2) comprising:
a pack tray (#20);
a 1st x bar (fig. 1, #3) provided on the pack tray (#20);
a plurality of battery modules (#1) provided on the pack tray (#20);
a lateral plate (#30) for covering a lateral side of at least one of the battery modules (#20); and
a 2nd x bar (fig. 2, #2) provided on the 1st x bar (#3), overlapping the 1st x bar (#3), and disposed in parallel to the 1st x bar (#3),
wherein the lateral plate (#30) forms a protrusions and depressions structure (fig. 7) with at least one of the 1st x bar (#3) and the 2nd x bar (#2) such that the lateral plate (#30) is combined with the at least one of the 1st x bar (#3) and the 2nd x bar (#2).
As to claim 2, Seo discloses “the 1st x bar and the 2nd x bar are combined by a plurality of fastening members” as shown by the annotated bolt fasteners.
As to claim 3, Seo discloses “each of the plurality of fastening members is formed of a bolt fastening structure” as shown by the annotated bolt fasteners.
As to claim 4, Seo discloses “the bolt fastening structure includes a bolt penetrating the 2nd x bar and passing through at least part of the 1st x bar” as shown in the Examiner annotated figure above.
As to claim 8, Seo discloses “both of the 1st and 2nd x bars have a shape in which a main wall extends perpendicularly from a central portion of an end wall” because the claimed shape is shown by guide grooves (#21), coupling grooves (#14b) and sliding protrusions (#14a).
As to claim 9, Seo discloses “the 1st x bar and the 2nd x bar are provided between battery modules neighboring each other from among the plurality of battery modules” as shown by battery modules (#10) in pack module (#20).
As to claim 10, Seo discloses “each of the battery modules is rectangular with longer sides and shorter sides, and the 1st x bar and the 2nd x bar are disposed to correspond to the shorter side of the battery module” as shown in Examiner Annotated figure 1 above.
As to claim 11, Seo discloses “a device including the battery pack of claim 1” because Seo teaches using the battery pack in a vehicle. See col. 1:33.
As to claim 18, Seo discloses “the protrusions and depressions structure interlocks the lateral plate with the at least one of the 1st x bar and the 2nd x bar” as shown in Examiner Annotated figure 7 above.
As to claim 19, Seo discloses “the 2nd x bar engages the lateral plate to secure the lateral plate to the pack tray” as shown in Examiner Annotated figure 7 above.
As to claim 20, Seo discloses “the lateral plate is secured to the pack tray by a structure of the lateral plate being captured between a portion of the 2nd x bar and the pack tray” as shown in Examiner Annotated figure 7 above.
As claims 12-14 and 17, these method claims are merely the method of forming Seo’s battery pack device. Thus, they are rejected for the same reasons as claims 1-4.
Double Patenting
9. Claims 1-20 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 18-37 of copending Application No. 18/633,174 (reference application).
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they cover the same embodiment of the battery pack (see figures 1). Specifically, both sets of claims cover the same embodiment. See figure 5. This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Allowable Subject Matter
10. Claims 5-7 and 15-16 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.
As to claim 5, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious “the protrusions and depressions structure includes a protrusion formed on at least one of respective edges of an end of the lateral plate and a recess portion formed on at least one of the 1st x bar and the 2nd x bar” in combination with the other limitations of the claims.
As to claim 6, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious “a 2nd lateral plate for covering a lateral side of at least another one of the battery modules the protrusions and depressions structure includes a plurality of protrusions and depressions, and the plurality of protrusions and depressions include 1st protrusions and depressions and 2nd protrusions and depressions formed by recess portions formed on respective sides of the 1st x bar and protrusions formed at bottoms of ends of the lateral plates neighboring each other with the 1st x bar therebetween, and 3rd protrusions and depressions and 4th protrusions and depressions formed by recess portions formed on respective sides of the 2nd x bar and protrusions formed on tops of ends of the lateral plates neighboring each other” in combination with the other limitations of the claims..
As to claim 7, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious “the protrusions and depressions structure includes a recess portion formed on at least one of respective edges of an end of the lateral plate and a protrusion formed on at least one of the 1st x bar and the 2nd x bar” in combination with the other limitations of the claims.
As to claim 15, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious “the protrusions and depressions structure is formed to include a protrusion formed on at least one of respective edges of an end of the lateral plate and a recess portion formed on at least one of the first x bar and the second x bar” in combination with the other limitations of the claims.
As to claim 16, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious “the protrusions and depressions structure is formed to include a recess portion formed on at least one of respective edges of an end of the lateral plate and a protrusion formed on at least one of the first x bar and the second x bar” in combination with the other limitations of the claims.
Conclusion
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEANDRA M HUGHES whose telephone number is (571)272-6982. The examiner can normally be reached Generally M-Th 8AM-6PM.
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Signed:
/DEANDRA M HUGHES/Reexamination Specialist, Art Unit 3992
Conferees:
/CHRISTINA Y. LEUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3991
/Patricia L Engle/SPRS, Art Unit 3991