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 .
This Office Action responses to the Application filed on 12/03/2024.
Priority
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 parent Application No. IT 102023000026118, filed on 12/06/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 12/03/2024 was considered.
Claims 1-11 are pending for examination.
Requirement for Information
Examiner requests under 37 CFR 1.105 the Applicant submit with the response to this Office Action (1) the legal status of any co-pending or related foreign patent application filed by the assignee or inventor(s) of this instant case and that is relevant to the prosecution of this case, and (2) the international search report, if any, of the copending or related foreign patent application. This request is necessary for the Examiner to consider possible foreign or non-patent literature that may be germane to patentability of the claimed invention.
Applicant is reminded replies to requirements for information must be complete and filed within the time period set including any extension. Failure to reply within the time period set will result in the abandonment of the application. MPEP § 704.12.
Note to Applicant
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show: “wherein each elastic connection element (21) comprises a spring fixed to the relative filtering module (11) and stressed in a compressive manner by the electrical connection device (5)” in claim 4 and “each electric connection element (21) comprises a shaped leaf spring having a first end (22) fixed to the printed circuit board (12) and a second end (23) electrically connected to the relative conductor bar (8) through mechanical interference” in claim 9 as described in the specification. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
Reference designation numbers should be omitted in the claims
Claim 1 line 2 recites “the electric/electronic apparatus” should be “the at least one electric/electronic apparatus”
Claim 4 line 1 recites “each elastic connection element” should be “each of the at least one respective elastic connection element”
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claims drafting are lack of clarity. Under 37 CFR 1.75 (i), a claim sets forth a plurality of elements or steps, each element or step of the claim should be separated by a line indentation. There may be plural indentations to further segregate subcombinations or related steps. See MPEP § 608.01. For examination purpose, the rejections are based on best understood.
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(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RÖHRNER, DE Patent Publication 102023101144; hereinafter “RÖHRNER”. A translate version from Espacnet is attached for ease of claims mapping.
Regarding claim 1, RÖHRNER discloses a vehicle electric system [0008] comprising at least one electric/electronic apparatus (2, 3) ([0008] “a consumer”); a power supply device (4) ([0008] “an energy source”) to electrically power the electric/electronic apparatus (2, 3) [0008]; an electrical connection device (5) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) to connect the power supply device (4) and the electric/electronic apparatus (2, 3) to one another [0008]; a filtering device (6) (Fig. 1-3) associated with the electrical connection device (5) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) ([0008] “busbar between an energy source and a consumer”) to at least limit interfering voltages and/or currents generated by said electric/electronic apparatus (2, 3) ([0005] passive common-mode filter in Fig. 1-3 suppress common-mode noise bidirectional); and electrical connection means (20) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) to power the filtering device (6) with the electric current supplied through the electrical connection device (5) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) ([0008] the common-mode filter receive power from the energy source); and characterized in that the filtering device (6) comprises at least two filtering modules (11) mounted in series to one another and coupling means (13) to connect the filtering modules (11) to one another in a releasable manner.
In embodiment of Figur 1-3, RÖHRNER discloses the single stage common-mode/differential-mode filter. RÖHRNER does not disclose multiple stages of the common-mode/differential-mode filter. However, in embodiment of Figur 6-7, RÖHRNER discloses stage common-mode/differential-mode filter that can be cascade for higher rejection (embodiment of Figur 6 shows multiple common-mode filter stages can be cascaded to have higher rejection rate that cause the noise spectrum role-off faster as shown in Figur 7a). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified embodiment of Figur 1-3 to incorporate the teaching of embodiment of Figur 6-7 to cascade a second filter to have: the filtering device (6) comprises at least two filtering modules (11) mounted in series to one another and coupling means (13) to connect the filtering modules (11) to one another in a releasable manner. Doing so would allow the combined filters have higher noise rejection ratio since this is a well-known practice in the art.
Regarding claim 2, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 1 above, RÖHRNER also discloses the filtering modules (11) are configured to limit respective interfering voltages and/or currents having different frequencies from one another (common-mode filter inherently limit voltage and/or current of certain frequency A.K.A rejection frequency and non-rejection frequency).
Regarding claim 3, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 1 above, RÖHRNER also discloses the electrical connection means (20) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) comprise, for each filtering module (11) (Fig. 1-3, common-mode filter 1), at least one respective elastic connection element (21) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22 made from thin elongate conductive material, therefore it has elastic property) made of conductive material (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22 are conductive [0008]) and interposed between the electrical connection device (5) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) and the filtering module (11) (Fig. 1-3, common-mode or differential mode filter 1).
Regarding claim 4, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 3 above, RÖHRNER also discloses each elastic connection element (21) comprises a spring (Fig. 3a, spring properties of conductors 2 and 21-22) fixed to the relative filtering module (11) (Fig. 3a, filter 1) and stressed in a compressive manner by the electrical connection device (5) (Fig. 3a, compress on one side when force pushed on conductors 2 and 21-22).
Regarding claim 5, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 1 above, RÖHRNER also discloses the electrical connection (5) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) comprises a busbar (7) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 or 21-22).
Regarding claim 6, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 1 above, RÖHRNER also discloses each filtering module (11) comprises a passive EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) filter (all embodiments in Figur 1-8 are passive common-mode filter or differential mode filter comprising passive LC filter as shown in Figur 1 [0008]).
Regarding claim 7, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 1 above, RÖHRNER also discloses each filtering module (11) comprises a printed circuit board (12) [0025] and a plurality of electronic components (16) (Figur 3a, build-in capacitor 7 [0025]-[0027], and toroidal core 31 [0016]), in particular inductances (17) [0016] and capacitors (18) [0025]-[0027], mounted on the printed circuit board (12) (Figur 3a, circuit board 7 with build-in capacitor 7) and electrically connected to one another through the printed circuit board (12) (Figur 3a, build-in capacitor 7 [0025]-[0027]; and busbar 21 and 22 combined with the toroidal core 31 are part of inductance [0016] are mounted on printed circuit board 7).
Regarding claim 8, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 7 above, RÖHRNER also discloses the electrical connection device (5) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) comprises at least one conductor bar (8) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 or 21-22) mounted between the power supply device (4) and said electric/electronic apparatus (2, 3) ([0008] the common-mode filter receive power from the energy source), and the electrical connection means (20) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22) comprise, for each filtering module (11) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22 are on each module), at least one respective elastic connection element (21) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22 made from thin elongate conductive material, therefore it has elastic property) made of a conductive material (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 and 21-22 are conductive [0008]) and interposed between the printed circuit board (12) (Fig. 1-3, 7) of the filtering module (11) and a relative conductor bar (8) (Fig. 1-3, connections 2 or 21-22).
Regarding claim 9, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 8 above, RÖHRNER also discloses each electric connection element (21) comprises a shaped leaf spring (Fig. 3a, conductors 2 and 21-22 a shaped as shown and have broad body reviewed in Fig. 5c) having a first end (22) fixed to the printed circuit board (12) (Fig. 3a, top side of conductors 2 fixed to PCB 7) and a second end (23) (Fig. 3a, bottom end of conductors 2 fixed to PCB 7) electrically connected to the relative conductor bar (8) through mechanical interference (Fig. 3a, bottom end of conductor 2 electrically connected to conductor 2 through interference bend of conductor 2).
Regarding claim 10, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 8 above, RÖHRNER also discloses each filtering module (6) comprises at least one inductance (17) (Fig. 2-3, 31 and 32 are toroidal core) with an annular shape (Fig. 2-3, 31 and 32 are toroidal core) mounted on the printed circuit board (12) (Fig. 2-3, 2 and 21-22 are part of inductance structure and mounted on PCB 7), and wherein each conductor bar (8) (Fig. 2-3, 2, 21-22 ) extends through the inductances (17) (Fig. 2-3, toroidal core 31 and 32 toroidal core).
Regarding claim 11, RÖHRNER discloses the system according to claim 10 above, RÖHRNER also discloses each conductor bar (8) (Fig. 2-3, 2, 21-22 ) extends perpendicularly to and through the printed circuit boards (12) of the filtering modules (11) (Fig. 2-3, 2, 21-22 are part of PCB 7 that extend downward which perpendicular to toroidal cores 31 and 32).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0668. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 8:30 - 5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barney can be reached at 571-272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/THAI H TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836