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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 15 June 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 15 June 2026.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu US PG-PUB 2020/0370993 A1 (hereafter Wu) in view of Tsukui US PG-PUB 2015/0207182 A1 (hereafter Tsukui).
As to claim 1: Wu teaches a leakage detecting device (see fig. 1 and ¶ 31), comprising:
a detecting bin (102; see fig. 1 and ¶ 31) having a cavity (not labeled but see fig. 1 regarding the interior space of bin 102);
a vacuum generator (112; see fig. 1 and ¶ 31) being in communication with the cavity (see ¶ 32), a first switch valve (104; see fig. 1 and ¶ 32) being connected between the vacuum generator (112) and the detecting bin (102) (see fig. 1) and configured for enabling the vacuum generator to be in communication with or disconnect from the cavity, the vacuum generator being configured for extracting gas from the cavity (see ¶ 32); and
a leakage detector (106; see ¶ 31) being in communication with the cavity (see ¶ 32), a switch valve (110; see fig. 2 and ¶ 32 - the valve is considered to be equivalent to the claimed “third valve” because “third” is considered to be a textual label that does not impart any specific structural or functional limitations to the claimed valve) being connected between the leakage detector (106) and the detecting bin (102) and configured for enabling the leakage detector to be in communication with or disconnect from the cavity, the leakage detector being configured for detecting gas composition in the cavity (see ¶ 32).
Wu does not explicitly teach:
the detecting bin being provided thereon with a material-loading port which is in communication with a cavity, and the detecting bin being further provided thereon with a blocking component for opening or blocking the material loading port, the material-loading port being configured for enabling a piece to be detected to be placed into the cavity or enabling it to be taken out of the cavity; and
a clean gas generator being in communication with the cavity, a second switch valve being connected between the clean gas generator and the detecting bin and configured for enabling the clean gas generator to be in communication or disconnect from the cavity, the clean gas generator being configured for delivering clean gas to the cavity.
However, Tsukui teaches a detecting bin (520; see fig. 3 and ¶ 34) being provided thereon with a material-loading port (350; see fig. 3 and ¶ 38) which is in communication with a cavity (300; see fig. 3 and ¶ 38), and the detecting bin (520) being further provided thereon with a blocking component (352; see fig. 5) for opening or blocking the material loading port (see fig. 5 and ¶ 58), the material-loading port (350) being configured for enabling a piece to be detected to be placed into the cavity or enabling it to be taken out of the cavity (see ¶ 57); and
a clean gas generator (541; see fig. 3 and ¶ 53) being in communication with the cavity (300) (see ¶ 54), a second switch valve (542; see fig. 3 and ¶ 53) being connected between the clean gas generator (541) and the detecting bin (520) (see fig. 3) and configured for enabling the clean gas generator (541) to be in communication or disconnect from the cavity (300) (see ¶ 54), the clean gas generator (541) being configured for delivering clean gas to the cavity (see ¶ 55).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Wu’s detecting bin such that it has provided thereon a material-loading port which is in communication with a cavity, and the detecting bin being further provided thereon with a blocking component for opening or blocking the material loading port, the material-loading port being configured for enabling a piece to be detected to be placed into the cavity or enabling it to be taken out of the cavity and a clean gas generator being in communication with the cavity, a second switch valve being connected between the clean gas generator and the detecting bin and configured for enabling the clean gas generator to be in communication or disconnect from the cavity, the clean gas generator being configured for delivering clean gas to the cavity because such a construction achieves the useful and predictable result of stabilizing reactions in a battery and also inserting a gas that is useful in leak testing into such a battery, such as suggested in Tsukui ¶ 56 and further in ¶ 96. Accordingly, such a construction would be beneficial to Wu’s device because Wu’s device is already concerned with leak detection and leaks are a known issue in batteries such as suggested in Tsukui ¶ 6 and such a construction also serves to improve accuracy of checking for such leak conditions as further suggested in Tsukui ¶ 93.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu US PG-PUB 2020/0370993 A1 (hereafter Wu) in view of Tsukui US PG-PUB 2015/0207182 A1 (hereafter Tsukui) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wetzig et al. US PG-PUB 2024/0019336 A1 (hereafter Wetzig).
As to claim 2: Wu as modified by Tsukui teaches all of the limitations of the claimed invention as described above regarding claim 1, including a cavity (not labeled but see Wu fig. 1 regarding the interior space of bin 102), but does not explicitly teach:
a pressure detecting element being in communication with the cavity and configured for detecting gas pressure in the cavity.
However, Wetzig teaches a pressure detecting element (24; see ¶ 31) being in communication with a cavity (not labeled but see ¶ 25 regarding the disclosed test chamber) and configured for detecting gas pressure in the cavity (see ¶ 31).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Wu’s device to include a pressure detecting element being in communication with the cavity and configured for detecting gas pressure in the cavity because such a design allows for testing of gas pressure inside a system utilizing a vacuum pump and can also allow for partial pressure measurements or optical spectral analysis of test gases in such a system and thus improves the flexibility of the system by allowing for more parameters of test gases to be determined or characterized in an increased number of ways such as suggested in ¶ 11 of Wetzig.
As to claim 3: Wu as modified by Tsukui and Wetzig teaches the leakage detecting device according to claim 2, wherein the pressure detecting element (24 of Wetzig) is connected between the third switch valve (110 of Wu) and the detecting bin (102 of Wu; see fig. 1 and ¶ 31), and is in communication with the third switch valve and the cavity respectively (see fig. 1 of Wetzig in view of the positional arrangement of the switch valve 110 of Wu and the detecting bin 102 of Wu).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10 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 4: The prior art of record does not disclose or render obvious to the skilled artisan a leakage detecting device comprising a pipeline cleaning valve comprising a first pipeline cleaning port, a second pipeline cleaning port and a third pipeline cleaning port, the first pipeline cleaning port is in communication with the clean gas generator, the second pipeline cleaning port is in communication with the third switch value, and the third pipeline cleaning port is in communication with the leakage detector, when considered in combination with the other limitations recited in the instant claim and with those of parent claim 1.
In particular, while it is known in the prior art to include multiple pipelines in a gas conveying apparatus (see, for example, Amikura et al. US PG-PUB 2022/0080476 A1 ¶ 200), there does not appear to be any teaching, suggestion, or motivation that would fairly suggest to the skilled artisan a modification of the other cited available prior art to arrive at Applicant’s claimed invention as set forth by the limitations of claim 4.
As to claims 5-9: Each of said claims depends ultimately from claim 4 which is itself 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, and accordingly each of claims 5-9 are also objected to at least by virtue of their respective dependencies upon claim 4.
As to claim 10: The prior art of record does not disclose or render obvious to the skilled artisan a leakage detecting device wherein an electric proportional valve is connected between the second switch valve and the clean gas generator, when considered in combination with the limitations of parent claim 1.
In particular, while it is known from the prior art to utilize a proportional valve in conjunction with switching valves (see, for example, Matsuura US PG-PUB 2021/0364192 A1 ¶ 26), there does not appear to be any disclosure, teaching, suggestion, or fair motivation to modify Wu or the other cited prior art of record to arrive at Applicant’s claimed invention as set forth by the limitations of claim 10 and parent claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN M ROYSTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7215. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30 E.S.T..
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/JOHN M ROYSTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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