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 .
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 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.
Specification
The specification and drawings have been reviewed and no clear informalities or objections have been noted.
Claim Objections
Claim 12 objected to because of the following informalities: In line 8, there appears to be a typographical error and “storge” should be corrected to “storage”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 15, Applicant claims “a first narrow surface of a storage battery of the first battery group”, “a first narrow surface of a storage battery of the second battery group”. It is not clear if these “a first narrow surface” recitations are the same as the “a first narrow surface” of claim 1. Clarification is required.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "the battery back" in the 5th to last line. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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) 11 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2011/0151298) in view of Sim (US 2017/0062789).
Regarding claim 11. Kim discloses a battery pack comprising:
a first battery group and a second battery group (see annotated Fig. 2 below) disposed in a case housing (see case housing 300/200 in Fig. 1), each of the first battery group and the second battery group being arranged so that a plurality of storage batteries (storage batteries 110), each of which is formed in a cuboid (as is depicted in Fig. 2) including a pair of wide surfaces (see wide surface as depicted in annotated Fig. 2 below and the other wide surface is the opposite of the labeled wide surface) and a plurality of narrow surfaces (see annotated Fig. 2 below which shows a plurality of narrow surfaces), are arranged to make the wide surfaces face opposite each other (battery groups are arranged such that they are stacked on the wide surface of each battery cell, as depicted in Fig. 2) and the plurality of storage batteries are physically bound together (via bracket 420),
wherein the narrow surfaces include a first narrow surface (as depicted in annotated Fig. 2 below), a second narrow surface opposite the first narrow surface (as depicted in annotated Fig. 2 below), and a third narrow surface different from the first narrow surface and the second narrow surface (as depicted in annotated Fig. 2 below) and a 4th narrow surface with an external terminal (4th narrow surface is opposite the 3rd narrow surface and see Fig. 2 which illustrates terminals 111 on this surface),
wherein the first battery group and the second battery group are disposed such that the third narrow surfaces of the storage batteries of the first battery group and the third narrow surfaces of storage batteries of the second battery group are opposite each other across a gap (see Fig. 2 in which the third narrow surfaces of the batteries are opposite each other across a gap which contains heat transfer material 400),
wherein a thermally conductive material is disposed in the gap to which heat of the storage batteries is transferred (as discussed in paragraph 44 which discloses that the support frame 400 assists in transferring heat generated in the batteries away from the stack),
wherein the first battery group and the second battery group are disposed in a case for the case housing, and
wherein the case is covered with a lid (see Fig. 1 in which the battery groups are contained in a case housing with a lid 300).
Kim teaches external terminals on the narrow surface that is not the 1st narrow surface. See Fig. 2 in which the external terminals 111 are located on the narrow surface that is opposite the 3rd narrow surface.
Sim also teaches a battery pack (see abstract).
Sim, like Kim, teaches two groups of batteries that each comprise a stack of cuboid cells and are separated by a gap (see Fig. 2). Sim, also like Kim, teaches that one of the faces of this cuboid cell comprises terminals (116 and 117, see Fig. 2). Sim goes on to teach that it is known in the art that the location of the terminals can be changed to any surface of the cell (paragraph 47).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the narrow surface of Kim which contain the terminals and change the location of the terminals to the 1st narrow surface, as suggested by Sim. One of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have been motivated to make such a change in order to achieve a desired form factor of a battery that fits a certain need/configuration. In other words, such a modification would have been nothing more than a rearrangement of parts and would have not modified the operation of the battery pack. See MPEP §2144.04(VI)(C) which states that the placement of a contact in an electrical configuration is an obvious matter of design choice.
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Regarding claim 12, Kim further discloses the storage batteries in the first battery group are first storage batteries, and the storage batteries in the second battery group are second storage batteries (see individual cells 110 in each battery group, as defined above),
wherein each first storage battery of the first battery group is connected to an adjacent first storage battery, among the plurality of first storage batteries, via a first bus bar (see Fig. 2 in which each battery cell is connected to an adjacent cell via busbar 115), and
wherein each second storage battery of the second battery group is connected to an adjacent second storage battery, among the plurality of second storage batteries, via a second bus bar (see Fig. 2 in which each battery cell is connected to an adjacent cell via busbar 115).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2011/0151298) in view of Sim (US 2017/0062789) and further in view of Sekino (US 2010/0266887).
Regarding claim 15, Kim, as modified above, further discloses the cuboid of each of the plurality of storage batteries includes a fourth narrow surface opposite the third narrow surface (see annotated Fig. 2 above which illustrates a 4th narrow surface opposite a third narrow surface),
wherein additional terminals are respectively disposed on a first narrow surface of a storage battery of the first battery group (as modified above, all the 1st narrow surfaces of the cells in the 1st battery group of Kim teach additional terminals that connect the batteries to each other via busbars), among the storage batteries of the first battery group. And wherein heat generated by the secondary batteries of the first and second battery groups is dissipated via the additional terminals (heat will flow through the metallic terminals away from the battery cells).
Kim, however, does not teach:
“a first narrow surface of a storage battery of the second battery group, among the storage batteries of the second battery group, and are disposed closer to a center of the battery back than the fourth narrow surface, wherein the additional terminals are configured to connect each battery group to external equipment, separate from the external terminal”
In other words, Kim does not teach a terminal for connecting the battery groups with equipment outside of the storage battery being located closer to a center of the battery back than the fourth narrow surface.
Sekino also discloses a battery pack (see abstract).
Sekino teaches several embodiments where the terminals for connecting the battery with equipment outside (terminals 3 and 4 in Fig. 6, for example) are located at a central part of the battery pack (such as in Fig. 6 where the terminals 3 and 4 are adjacent to each other in the center of the battery pack and a terminal 31 is located in the center and connects the first and second battery groups). Modifying the location of the terminals in modified Kim for connecting the battery groups with equipment outside to a central location of the pack, as taught by Sekino, would have been an obvious modification to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. Modification would be done to achieve a desired terminal location for connecting to a specific configuration of an end user of the battery. Such a modification would have been nothing more than a rearrangement of parts and would have not modified the operation of the battery pack. See MPEP §2144.04(VI)(C) which states that the placement of a contact in an electrical configuration is an obvious matter of design choice.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 10/24/2025 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J MERKLING whose telephone number is (571)272-9813. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm.
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/MATTHEW J MERKLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725