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 domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. 120. The PCT Application Number PCT/JP2023/038814, being filed on October 27, 2023.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in present Application No. 18/756,791, filed on June 27, 2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed June 27, 2024 has been submitted for consideration by the Office. It has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings were received on June 27, 2024. These drawings are approved.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al (KR2018-0037364A1, herein referred to as Jung) in view of Ryeczek (Pat Num 5,922,996). Jung discloses a busbar (Figs 1-17) that prevents an insulation made of heat shrinkable material from being damaged during the assemblage of a laminated conductor, which enables a very easy and quick assembly thereby resulting in mass production of the busbar (Paragraph 1). Specifically, with respect to claim 1, Jung discloses a bus bar (Fig 16) comprising a bus bar main body (100) and an insulator (200) covering a part of the bus bar main body (100, Paragraph 36), wherein the insulator (200) has a hollow interior and being made of heat-shrinkable resin (Paragraph 40), wherein the bus bar main body (100) is inserted into the hollow interior (Paragraph 72-74). With respect to claim 2, Jung discloses that the bus bar main body (100) has through holes (111, 111) formed at both end sides (Fig 16) and in fixing a part of the insulator (200) to the bus bar main body (100), the insulator (200) is fixed to the bus bar main body (100) by heat-shrinking both end sides of the insulator (200, Paragraph 74) so as not to come in contact with the through holes (111, Paragraph 78).
However, Jung doesn’t necessarily disclose the insulator comprising an identification member being provided in the hollow interior and the identification member being operable to identify abnormal heat generation when the insulator is heat-shrunk due to the abnormal heat generation (claim 1).
Ryeczek teaches an electrically cable assembly (Figs 1-17), which may be any insulated conducting medium that transmits, distributes, conducts, or retains electrical energy (Col 3, lines 19-36), such as a busbar, wherein the cable assembly will indicate through attention getting means the presence of an electrical fault and/or malfunction, and/or damage and/or hazard in the electrical cable assembly (Col 1, lines 45-57). Specifically, Ryeczek teaches an electrical cable assembly (Fig 15) comprising a conductor (142) and an insulator (144, 146, 148), wherein the insulator (144, 146, 148) may be made of a heat shrinkable material (148, may be made of heat shrinkable material, Col 4, lines 24-26 & 48-56 & Col 10, lines 52-60 as shown in Figs 8-9), wherein the insulator (144, 146, 148) comprises an identification member (146) provided in the hollow interior of the insulator (148), and wherein the cable assembly (Fig 15) is capable of being operable to identify abnormal heat generation when the insulator (144, 146, 148) is heat shrunk due to abnormal heat generation (i.e. variation in temperature, Col 5, lines 36-47 & Col 12, lines 1-17, Fig 15).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art of cables at the time the invention was made to modify the busbar of Yung to comprise the insulator having an identification member configuration as taught by Ryeczek because Ryeczek teaches that such a configuration provides an electrically cable assembly (Figs 1-17), which may be any insulated conducting medium that transmits, distributes, conducts, or retains electrical energy (Col 3, lines 19-36), such as a busbar, wherein the cable assembly will indicate through attention getting means the presence of an electrical fault and/or malfunction, and/or damage and/or hazard in the electrical cable assembly (Col 1, lines 45-57).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please refer to the enclosed PTO-892 form for the citation of pertinent art in the present case, all of which disclose various busbars.
Communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM H MAYO III whose telephone number is (571)272-1978. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Thurs (5:30a-3:00p) Fri 5:30a-2p (w/alternating Fridays off).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Imani Hayman can be reached on (571) 270-5528. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/William H. Mayo III/
William H. Mayo III
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2847
WHM III
March 3, 2026