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 communication is in response to the claims dated 12/18/2024.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) (10-13) mentioned in the description. 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. 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.
The drawings are objected to because: the drawings are blurry. The label numerals and details are not clearly shown. A clearer copy is requested. 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 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
It’s replete with grammatic errors (see below explanations). There is no transitional phrase to determine the scope of the claim; capitalization is off, acronyms (LLC, PID, “F max”, “F min”) are undefined.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 1 is 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.
Note: See below bolded limitations and explanations.
Claim 1 recites:
A control circuit unit equipped with an LLC resonant DC/DC converter to control the output voltage so as to charge batteries of different voltage levels;
A mounting unit fastened to (unclear what/where the mounting is fastened to) support and secure the parallel connection of multiple chargers;
Including, In a multi charger capable of simultaneous charging of the same type and different types (unclear what exactly the same/different types are),
The control circuit unit,
A Burst Mode PID controller provided to maintain a constant voltage under no-load conditions by applying PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) by creating pulses of maximum switching (Fmax) frequency;
A Duty Mode PID controller that maintains symmetrical balancing of the upper and lower parts by using a method of outputting a Center-aligned complementary PWM waveform for the switching waveforms of the upper and lower parts of the PWM while fixing the frequency under light load conditions and changing the duty within a preset range;
A Frequency Mode PID controller provided to control the output by adjusting the frequency of a PWM signal from F max to F min while having a preset range of duty;
Including (unclear; what exactly being included?),
The mounting unit is (not clearly understood),
A mounting case with a mounting space where the charger (unclear; same as above multi charger?) can be placed;
A mounting guide unit installed on both sides of the above mounting case to guide mounting of a charger (same as above multi charger?) accommodated in the mounting space;
Including (unclear, what exactly being included?),
The mounting guide unit is (not clearly understood),
A guide unit support plate provided to support both sides of the charger;
A connecting fixing plate installed integrally with the shape (unclear; also lacks antecedent basis)) of the guide unit support plate on the outer surface of the guide unit support plate;
A guide unit plate installed integrally with the shape (unclear; also lacks antecedent basis)) of the guide unit support plate on the outer surface of the above connecting fixing plate;
A plate support member installed at the lower (lacks antecedent basis) of the above guide unit support plate and provided to support the above guide unit support plate;
A support rotation roller rotatably connected to the lower (lacks antecedent basis) of the above plate support member and provided to adjust the angle (unclear what angle is; lacks of antecedent basis) of the above plate support member;
A guide unit shaft which is inserted vertically toward the case wing (lacks antecedent basis) of the above-mentioned mounting case while the above-mentioned support rotation roller is positioned at the top (unclear; at the top of what), but is equipped (unclear, how exactly?) to enable vertical movement;
An elastic member installed at the lower end (lacks antecedent basis) of the above guide unit shaft and capable of moving up and down along the guide groove (lacks antecedent basis) of the case wing while being provided to cushion shock;
A member support plate built into (unclear; how exactly?) the case wing to support the elastic member when it is raised and lowered along the guide groove;
A detachable frame formed to extend horizontally from the elastic member to protrude outwardly from the case wing and configured to raise and lower the elastic member;
A mounting guide member rotatably connected to the lower end of the above guide unit plate and provided to be supported by the above guide unit shaft;
A mounting protrusion unit installed at the end of the above mounting guide member to support the load of the charger;
Including (unclear),
A multi charger (unclear; same as above multi charger?) capable of simultaneous charging of the same type and different types (unclear what exactly the same/different types are).
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the parallel connection”, "the shape", “the lower”, “the case wing” and ‘the angle”. There is/are insufficient antecedent basis for the above limitations in the claim.
Note: Claim 1 is rejected as best understood and interpreted by the Examiner, based on the specification, since claim 1 contains numerous 112th issues, unclear scope and unclear drawings. It is also unclear whether claim 1 requires a multi charger or just a charger to be mounted in the mounting unit. The Examiner interprets claim 1 only require a charger to be mounted in said mounting unit.
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 WO2023/162234 to Kenta in view of Tada U.S. patent 8,546,014.
Claim 1 is rejected as best understood and interpreted by the Examiner since claim 1 contains numerous 112th issues and unclear scope.
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Regarding claim 1, Kenta teaches
The mounting unit (see above figure 1) comprising:,
A mounting case (10; figure 1) with a mounting space (space inside 10) where the charger (intended use) can be placed;
A mounting guide unit (161; figure 1) installed on both sides (see figure 1) of the above mounting case to guide mounting of a charger (intended use) accommodated in the mounting space;
A guide unit support plate (125; figure 1) provided to support both sides of the charger;
A connecting fixing plate (123 + 124; figure 1) installed integrally with the shape of the guide unit support plate on the outer surface of the guide unit support plate;
A guide unit plate (201; figure 1) installed integrally with the shape of the guide unit support plate on the outer surface of the above connecting fixing plate (125);
A plate support member (22; figure 1) installed at the lower of the above guide unit support plate and provided to support the above guide unit support plate;
A support rotation roller (241 + 242a; figure 1) rotatably connected to the lower of the above plate support member and provided to adjust the angle (implicitly taught in figure 1) of the above plate support member;
A guide unit shaft (see above annotated figure 1) which is inserted (see figure 1) vertically toward the case wing of the above-mentioned mounting case while the above-mentioned support rotation roller is positioned at the top, but is equipped to enable vertical movement (see figure 1);
A mounting guide member (241b; figure 1) rotatably connected to the lower end of the above guide unit plate and provided to be supported by the above guide unit shaft;
A mounting protrusion unit (147; figure 1) installed at the end of the above mounting guide member to support the load of the charger.
However, Kenta does not teach:
An elastic member installed at the lower end of the above guide unit shaft and capable of moving up and down along the guide groove of the case wing while being provided to cushion shock;
A detachable frame formed to extend horizontally from the elastic member to protrude outwardly from the case wing and configured to raise and lower the elastic member;
Tada teaches a similar structure, which suggests an elastic member (36; figure 4) installed at a lower end (see figure 4) of a guide unit shaft (33 + 32; figure 4) and capable of moving up (see figure 4) and down along the guide groove of the case wing while being provided to cushion shock (see figure 4);
A member support plate (32; figure 4) built into the case wing to support the elastic member when it is raised and lowered along the guide groove;
A detachable frame (15; figure 4) formed to extend horizontally from the elastic member to protrude (when it’s opened outwardly and upwardly) outwardly from the case wing and configured to raise and lower the elastic member.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to further modify and equip the mounting unit of Kenta with an elastic member installed at the lower end of the above guide unit shaft and capable of moving up and down along the guide groove of the case wing while being provided to cushion shock; and a detachable frame formed to extend horizontally from the elastic member to protrude outwardly from the case wing and configured to raise and lower the elastic member, as suggested by Tada, for mounting and removing of said charger into/from said mounting unit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)272-3069. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6PM..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Imani N Hayman can be reached at 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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/HUNG Q DANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2841 /IMANI N HAYMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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