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 . Claims 1-5 are pending in the current application.
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Specifically, Claim 1, lines 1-2, is rejected since it is not clear how the “circuit breaker” comprises “a plurality of breaking units.”
Regarding Claim 1, line 2, it is not clear what is meant by the term “units.”
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.
Claims 1, 2, and 5, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shoden Corp. (JP Pat. No. JP3113266 U, hereinafter “Shoden”) in view of Horinouchi et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2021/0265831 A1, hereinafter “Horinouchi”).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Shoden discloses a circuit breaker comprising a plurality of breaking units (see, e .g., FIGS. 1-3) each of which is configured to interrupt a current flowing (inherently disclosed), and a housing including a plurality of slots in which the respective breaking units are inserted (see, e.g., FIGS. 3 and 5). Shoden does not disclose the claimed (i) two directions, and (ii) circuit.
However, Horinouchi discloses (i) units each of which is configured to interrupt a current flowing in each of two directions among a plurality of directions (i.e., two directions; FIG. 2, ¶ [0037]), and (ii) that the housing houses a circuit in which each of the plurality of breaking units is coupled between points of different lines in a corresponding slot among the plurality of slots (FIG. 2; ¶¶ [0035] - [0037]), and wherein the different lines are in association with the two directions related with each of the plurality of breaking units (FIG. 2; ¶¶ [0035] - [0037]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Horinouchi with those of Shoden to provide fast switching protection for multidirectional current flow.
Regarding Claim 2, Horinouchi discloses that each of the plurality of breaking units includes circuits each of which is configured to interrupt the current flowing in one direction, the circuits being connected in series in opposite directions such that the current flowing in each of the two directions is interrupted (FIG. 2; ¶ [0037]).
Claim 5 includes language substantially similar to that of Claim 1 and is rejected for reasons at least similar to those discussed above with respect to Claim 1.
Conclusion
Garrasi (U.S. Pat. No. 10,862,277 B1) discloses an electric power distribution system for securely transferring electrical power and data to a plurality of outlets or loads via bus bars and a plurality of output modules by using a non-mechanical breaker (see, e.g., Claim 1 of Garrasi).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R. JIMENEZ whose telephone number is 313-446-6518. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 1030am - 9pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Luebke, can be reached at (571) 272-2009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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