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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In Par. 0003, 0004, 0016, 0023, 0025, 0028, 0038, 0042, and 0047 change “electrically conducive foil” to “electrically conductive foil”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 10, 13, and 18 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 3: “an electrical contact formed of an electrically conducive foil” should be changed to “an electrical contact formed of an electrically conductive foil”.
Claim 10, line 2: “an electrical contact formed of an electrically conducive foil” should be changed to “an electrical contact formed of an electrically conductive foil”.
Claim 13, line 2: “a sheet of the electrically conducive foil” should be changed to “a sheet of the electrically conductive foil”.
Claim 18, line 2: “and wherein method further comprises” should be changed to “and wherein the method further comprises”.
Claim 18, line 3: “a sheet of the electrically conducive foil” should be changed to “a sheet of the electrically conductive foil”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bitner et al. (US 12,023,754), hereinafter Bitner.
Regarding claim 1, Bitner discloses an electrical assembly, comprising: an electrical conductor (metal part 10, Fig. 1a) having a planar connection surface; and an electrical contact (bearing area 12, Fig. 1a) formed of an electrically conductive foil (foil 20, Fig. 1a) having different electrical and mechanical properties than the electrical conductor (Col. 4, lines 23-24, “the foil is formed from a different metal material than the metal part”) and disposed on a discrete portion of the connection surface (Figs. 1a-1c), the electrical contact being metallurgically bonded to the connection surface (Col. 6, line 40-41, “the foil placed on the metal part is irradiated with a laser at least in parts of the bearing area”).
Regarding claim 2, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein the electrical conductor comprises an electrical busbar having a generally rectangular cross-section (see Fig. 1a-1c) and comprises a copper-based material or an aluminum-based material (Col. 3, line 13-16, “The metal part can be formed from a solid material, in particular from a single metal material such as copper or copper alloys or aluminium or aluminium alloys”).
Regarding claim 3, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein the electrical contact is thermally metallurgically bonded to the connection surface (Col. 10, line 43-45, “The laser 30 can melt around the foil 20 and thus achieve a material bond between the foil 20 and the metal part 10 in the area of laser action”).
Regarding claim 4, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 3, wherein the electrical contact is metallurgically bonded to the connection surface using a laser welding process (Col. 10, line 43-45, “The laser 30 can melt around the foil 20 and thus achieve a material bond between the foil 20 and the metal part 10 in the area of laser action”).
Regarding claim 5, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 3, wherein the electrical contact is metallurgically bonded to the connection surface using an ultrasonic welding process (Col. 12, line 35-37, “coat the contact surface of the sonotrode [50] on a first metal part 10 with a foil 20”).
Regarding claim 7, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein the foil has a thickness of less than 0.5 millimeter (Col. 3, line 55-58, “The foil, which will later be at least partially joined to the metal part, may be a metal foil. This may, for example, have a thickness of 1 μm, 3 μm, 10 μm, 30 μm or 100 μm”).
Regarding claim 8, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 7, wherein the foil has a thickness of 0.1 to 0.2 millimeter (Col. 3, line 55-58, “The foil, which will later be at least partially joined to the metal part, may be a metal foil. This may, for example, have a thickness of 1 μm, 3 μm, 10 μm, 30 μm or 100 μm”).
Regarding claim 9, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 7, wherein a material forming the foil comprises at least one material selected from a list consisting of a tin-based material, a nickel-based material, a silver-based material, and a copper-based material (Col. 4, line 18-21, “The metal foil may be formed from metal materials such as tin, nickel, copper, aluminium, silver or gold or alloys thereof”).
Regarding claim 10, Bitner discloses a method of manufacturing an electrical assembly, comprising: disposing an electrical contact (bearing area 12, Fig. 1a) formed of an electrically conductive foil (foil 20, Fig. 1a) on a discrete portion of a planar connection surface (Fig. 1a-1c) of an electrical conductor (metal part 10, Fig. 1a), the electrical contact having different electrical and mechanical properties than the electrical conductor (Col. 4, lines 23-24, “the foil is formed from a different metal material than the metal part”); and metallurgically bonding the electrical contact to the connection surface (Col. 6, line 40-41, “the foil placed on the metal part is irradiated with a laser at least in parts of the bearing area”).
Regarding claim 11, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 10, wherein the foil has a thickness of less than 0.5 millimeter (Col. 3, line 55-58, “The foil, which will later be at least partially joined to the metal part, may be a metal foil. This may, for example, have a thickness of 1 μm, 3 μm, 10 μm, 30 μm or 100 μm”).
Regarding claim 12, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 11, wherein the foil has a thickness of 0.1 to 0.2 millimeter (Col. 3, line 55-58, “The foil, which will later be at least partially joined to the metal part, may be a metal foil. This may, for example, have a thickness of 1 μm, 3 μm, 10 μm, 30 μm or 100 μm”).
Regarding claim 13, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 10, further comprising cutting the electrical contact from a sheet of the electrically conductive foil (Col. 6, line 9-10, “foils that have already been cut to size can be held on a roller and rolled onto the metal part”).
Regarding claim 14, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 10, further comprising cutting an aperture (hole 14, Fig. 7a) in the electrical contact.
Regarding claim 15, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 10, wherein the electrical contact is metallurgically bonded to the connection surface by using a welding device (laser 30, Fig 1c, welding pattern 40, Fig. 3a).
Regarding claim 16, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the welding device is an ultrasonic welding device comprising a sonotrode (sonotrode 50, Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 20, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the electrical contact is metallurgically bonded to the connection surface using a laser welding device (Col. 10, line 43-45, “The laser 30 can melt around the foil 20 and thus achieve a material bond between the foil 20 and the metal part 10 in the area of laser action”).
Examiner's Note: regarding method claims 10-16 and 20, since there are no specific method steps being claimed, just a general process of assembling the device (i.e., providing each element, forming, joining, inserting, connecting, etc.), the fact that the structure of the present invention is anticipated over Bitner means that the general method for providing such a structure is also anticipated in view of the same reference. The method steps recited in the claims are inherently necessitated by the structure of the device of Bitner.
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) 6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bitner (US 12,023,754) in view of Lang (DE 102009028618B4).
Regarding claim 6, Bitner discloses the electrical assembly in accordance with claim 5.
However, Bitner fails to explicitly disclose wherein the ultrasonic welding process is a torsion ultrasonic welding process.
Lang teaches wherein the ultrasonic welding process is a torsion ultrasonic welding process (torsion sonotrode 14, Fig. 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Lang to modify the method disclosed in Bitner to use a torsion ultrasonic welding process. One would be motivated to make this modification because linear and torsional ultrasonic welding are art-recognized alternative modes of ultrasonic welding and the substitution of one welding mode for another to bond an electrical contact to a conductor would have yielded the predictable result of a reliable metallurgical bond.
Regarding claim 17, Bitner discloses the method in accordance with claim 16, wherein the ultrasonic welding device is a torsion ultrasonic welding device.
However, Bitner fails to explicitly disclose wherein the ultrasonic welding process is a torsion ultrasonic welding process.
Lang teaches wherein the ultrasonic welding process is a torsion ultrasonic welding process (torsion sonotrode 14, Fig. 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Lang to modify the method disclosed in Bitner to use a torsion ultrasonic welding process. One would be motivated to make this modification because linear and torsional ultrasonic welding are art-recognized alternative modes of ultrasonic welding and the substitution of one welding mode for another to bond an electrical contact to a conductor would have yielded the predictable result of a reliable metallurgical bond.
Examiner's Note: regarding method claim 17, since there are no specific method steps being claimed, just a general process of assembling the device (i.e., providing each element, forming, joining, inserting, connecting, etc.), the fact that the structure of the present invention is obvious over Bitner and Lang means that the general method for providing such a structure is also obvious in view of the same references. The method steps recited in the claims are obviously necessitated by the structure of the device of Bitner and Lang.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-19 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 18, allowability resides, at least in part, with the prior art of record not fairly showing, suggesting, or teaching the method in accordance with claim 17, wherein the sonotrode defines a distal projection configured to cut through the foil and wherein the method further comprises cutting the electrical contact from a sheet of the electrically conductive foil using the distal projection, as recited in claim 18. These limitations are neither taught nor suggested by the prior art of record taken alone or in combination. Claim 19 is dependent on claim 18 and is therefore allowable for the same reasons.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sebetlela et al. (US 20230198176) discloses a connection arrangement comprising a flat conductor having a rectangular cross section using ultrasonic welding.
Copperthite et al. (US 20190115704) discloses a terminal configured to be ultrasonically welded to a substrate.
Schloms et al. (US 8,448,836) discloses a torsional ultrasonic welding to a metal connection part.
Swengel, Sr. et al. (US 3,988,563) discloses a welding method and means utilizing a conductive foil disposed between members to be welded together.
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/JEFFREY MOUNTAIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/THO D TA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
