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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in the European Patent Office on August 25th, 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the 23193423.3 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 9-10, and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kita et al (US20210234239A1, hereinafter Kita) in view of Chen et al (CN115149221A, hereinafter Chen).
Regarding claim 1, Kita discloses “A battery system comprising: a battery pack comprising a plurality of battery cells (Kita, [0033], cell stack 2 and stacked cells 8); a cell monitoring circuit (Kita, [0034], external battery ECU); and a conductor arrangement comprising a plurality of conductor lines (Kita, [0033], conductive wires 28), a flexible flat cable (Kita, [0033], FFC 6), and a plurality of printed circuit boards that overlap with the flexible flat cable (Kita, [0038], substrate 40), a first end of the conductor lines being connected to the cell monitoring circuit via the flexible flat cable (Kita, [0034], connector 32)”. However, Kita does not disclose “a second end of the conductor lines being electrically connected to live parts of the battery cells via the printed circuit boards” Kita only discloses that the conductive wire is stripped and then connected to the bus bars of cells (Kita, [0034]).
Chen discloses an FFC main line which includes a plurality of conductors with FPC branches connected to the conductors through holes in an insulating layer on the FFC (Chen, [0046]-[0048], FFC main line 1, FPC branch 2, conductor 11, insulating layer 12, and first notch 121). Chen further discloses that these FPC branches can be further connected to a cell busbar to collect voltage data of cells (Chen, [0061], busbar 4, terminal 24).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the battery system with FFC of Kita with the FPC branch connections of Chen to form rigid defined connection portions to individual cells and because one of ordinary skill in the art could have combined the elements by known methods and each element merely performs the same function as it does separately and that the result of the combination would have been predictable. See MPEP 2143 I (A).
Regarding claim 2, Chen discloses “the conductor lines are routed along the flexible flat cable (Chen, [0046], FFC main line 1 and conductors 11) and branched into the plurality of printed circuit boards (Chen, [0047], FPC branch 2, conductor 11, first notch 121)”.
Regarding claim 9, Chen discloses “at least one of the printed circuit boards connecting the flexible fat cable with one of the live parts comprises a fuse (Chen, [0062], first fuse 231)”.
Regarding claim 10, Chen discloses “at least one of the printed circuit boards comprises a temperature sensor (Chen, [0071]), and a conductor line of the conductor lines is electrically connected to live parts of a battery cell of the plurality of battery cells via the temperature sensor”.
The NTC thermistor is connected to the battery cell through the second nickel plate terminal and cell busbar (Chen, [0074]) and it is also connected to the FFC main line 1 through the third and fourth connection lines (Chen, [0074]) thereby allowing one or both of those connection lines to be electrically connected to live parts of the cell through the sensor.
Regarding claim 12, Chen discloses “an electric vehicle comprising the battery system (Chen, [0001])”.
Regarding claim 13, Kita and Chen disclose “connecting the first end of the conductor lines to the cell monitoring circuit via the flexible flat cable; and connecting the second end of the conductor lines to live parts of the battery cells via the printed circuit boards”.
The examiner notes that the combination of Kita and Chen discussed above discloses all of claim 1 and that for the structure of the combination of Kita and Chen with the interfaces disclosed (Kita, [0034], connector 32) (Chen, [0060]-[0062]) to exist at some point the connections described in the current claim inherently must be made, therefore reading upon the current claim.
Regarding claim 14, Kita and Chen disclose “a cell monitoring circuit (Kita, [0034], external battery ECU); and a conductor arrangement comprising a plurality of conductor lines (Kita, [0033], conductive wires 28), a flexible flat cable (Kita, [0033], FFC 6) and a plurality of printed circuit boards that overlap with the flexible flat cable (Kita, [0038], substrate 40), a first end of the conductor lines being connected to the cell monitoring circuit via the flexible flat cable (Kita, [0034], connector 32), and a second end of the conductor lines being electrically connectable to live parts of a battery cells via the printed circuit boards (Chen, [0046]-[0048], FFC main line 1, FPC branch 2, conductor 11, insulating layer 12, and first notch 121) (Chen, [0061], busbar 4, terminal 24).”
Claim(s) 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kita et al (US20210234239A1, hereinafter Kita) in view of Chen et al (CN115149221A, hereinafter Chen) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yaguchi et al (US8282412B1, hereinafter Yaguchi).
Regarding claim 3, neither Kita nor Chen disclose “the flexible flat cable comprises portions of the conductor lines that are routed through and fixed to openings of the printed circuit boards in an electrically conduction manner”. However, Yaguchi discloses a means for reinforcing the connection between a conductor of an FFC and the circuit of a printed board (Yaguchi, col. 2 lines 54-67) where the conductor is bent at a right angle at an end portion and then inserted into a hole formed on a corresponding printed board, the conductor is then fixed to the back of the FPC and reinforced.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to connect the conductor of Kita and Chen with the circuit board of Kita Chen using the disclosed means of Yaguchi where the conductor is passed through a hole in a corresponding circuit board and connected on the backside of the circuit board as this would further reinforce the connection between said connector and circuit board.
Regarding claim 4, Yaguchi discloses “the portions of the conductor lines that are routed through and fixed to the openings of the printed circuit boards are soldered to the opening of the printed circuit boards (Yaguchi, col. 2 lines 64-67).
Regarding claim 5, neither Kita nor Chen disclose “at least one of the flexible flat cable and the printed circuit board comprises at least one stability enhancing element that is routed through and fixed to the openings of the printed circuit boards”. However, Yaguchi disclose a reinforcing member which is inserted into the through-hole formed on the printed board and is then joined to the inner surface of the through hole (Yaguchi, paragraph spanning columns 11 and 12).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to use reinforcing member as described in Yaguchi where said member is inserted into a through-hole formed on the printed board and joined with the battery system of Kita and Chen to help further reinforce the interface between the conductor of the FCC and the circuit board.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kita et al (US20210234239A1, hereinafter Kita) in view of Chen et al (CN115149221A, hereinafter Chen) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yaguchi et al (US8282412B1, hereinafter Yaguchi) as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Moon et al (US20220115747A1, hereinafter Moon).
Regarding claim 6, neither Kita, Chen, nor Yaguchi disclose “the stability enhancing element is isolated form the cell monitoring circuit by at least one cut out that interrupts the stability enhancing element”. However, Moon discloses a dummy line used to reinforce the connection of a connection member (Moon, [0052], dummy line D) which has been separated from a conductive line due to a cut position (Moon, [0055], conductive line C and cut position T). Moon further discloses that the cut position removes conductor and insulation (Moon, [0066]) and that the dummy lines are isolated (Moon, [0053]) from the battery management system (Moon, [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to use the conductor interrupt design of Moon with the combination presented in claim 5 above preserve attachment strength while preventing unwanted and unnecessary electrical connections.
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kita et al (US20210234239A1, hereinafter Kita) in view of Chen et al (CN115149221A, hereinafter Chen) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Desilvestro et al (US20050057221A1, hereinafter Desilvestro).
Regarding claim 7, neither Kita nor Chen disclose “all of the printed circuit boards connecting the flexible flat cable with the live parts are identical”. However, Desilvestro discloses batteries connected to each other through a system of circuit boards and leads (which may be flexible ribbon cables) (Desilvestro, [0032]), where the circuit boards all may be identical for coast and ease of interchangeability (Desilvestro, [0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to make all of the circuit boards in Kita and Chen identical for the reasons of reducing cost and the ease of interchangeability.
Regarding claim 8, Chen discloses “the plurality of printed circuit boards comprises a temperature sensor, and all of the printed circuit boards comprising one of the temperature sensors are identical (Chen, [0071]-[0073], NTC thermistor 35)”. With all of the circuit boards being identical (Desilvestro, [0032]).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kita et al (US20210234239A1, hereinafter Kita) in view of Chen et al (CN115149221A, hereinafter Chen) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li et al (CN216085214U, hereinafter Li) and Murakami et al (WO2022074985A1, hereinafter Murakami).
Regarding claim 11, neither Kita nor Chen disclose “the conductor arrangement comprises an additional printed circuit board with a plurality of fuses connected between the flexible flat cable and the cell monitoring unit”. However, Li discloses a PCB at the end of an FFC with a plurality of fuses (Li, [0002]), but this PCB is not explicitly located between the FFC and the cell monitoring unit, while Murakami discloses placing a power fust which may be also formed on a circuit board on a voltage detection line between a second connector and a monitor circuit (Murakami, [0019]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the battery system of Kita and Chen with the PCB with a plurality of fuses of Li at the location described by Murakami to prevent and arc current from damage sensitive components of the cell monitoring unit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA P BISTANY-RIEBMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9591. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 7:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas A Smith can be reached at 5712728760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA P BISTANY-RIEBMAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 1752
/NICHOLAS A SMITH/ Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
