17DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/17/2025 has been entered.
Claim Status
Claims 12 and 13 have been withdrawn.
Claim 1 has been amended; support for the amendment can be found in [0066] of the original specification.
Claim 2 is canceled.
Claims 1 and 3-11 have been examined on the merits.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/17/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., the thermal management component cannot be moved to the vehicle exterior, see pg. 9, para. 2) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
In response to applicant’s argument that the thermal management component of Mizutani cannot accommodate a liquid (see pg. 9, para. 2), the examiner notes the thermal management component of He is relied on to teach this limitation in a new grounds of rejection set forth below.
Applicant argues that He does not disclose that the thermal management component is formed as a part of the compartment wall and accommodates liquid to simultaneously adjust the temperature of the battery cell and the passenger compartment (see pg. 11, para. 2). In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). The examiner notes that He is relied on to teach that the thermal management component accommodates a liquid and Mizutani is relied on to teach that the thermal management component adjusts the temperature of the battery cell and passenger compartment simultaneously. Thus, applicant’s arguments are not found persuasive.
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 and 3-11 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the compartment wall" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claims 3-11 are rejected because they are dependent on claim 1.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3-5 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizutani (US 20190210658 A1) in view of He (US 2022/0126705 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Mizutani discloses a power consumption device (“vehicle 108”; [0087]; Fig. 8; element 108), comprising:
a passenger compartment (“vehicle cabin 12”; [0092]; Fig. 8; element 12); and
a box (Fig. 8; element 104 and 106) for accommodating a battery cell (“drive battery”; [0092]), the box (104, 106) comprising a thermal management component (Fig. 8; element 106; [0092]);
wherein the thermal management component (106) [adjusts] a temperature (“a contribution to be made to cooling or warming the drive battery”; [0092]) for the battery cell ([0092]) and the passenger compartment (12),
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wherein the thermal management component (106) is configured for a heat conducting connection (Fig. 8; [0092]) to the battery cell ([0092]), and the thermal management component (106) is formed as a part of the compartment wall (Fig. 8; 106) so as to simultaneously adjust (“warm air or cold air inside the vehicle cabin 12 is transmitted through the vehicle interior opening formation sections 114 to the pull-out receptacle 106 inside the storage section 110, such that the pull-out receptacle 106 attains a temperature close to the temperature inside the vehicle cabin 12”; [0092]) the temperature ([0092]) of the battery cell ([0092]) and the passenger compartment (12).
Mizutani fails to disclose “accommodates a liquid”.
He discloses a power consumption device (“vehicle”; [0002]), comprising:
a box (Fig. 12; element 207-212 and 219) for accommodating a battery cell (“plurality of cells 100”; [0204]),
the box (207-212, 219) comprising a thermal management component (“first panel 212 is a heat exchange plate 219 with a cooling structure disposed inside”; [0246]);
wherein the thermal management (212, 219) component accommodates a liquid (“cooling liquid”; [0246]) to adjust a temperature for the battery cell ([0246]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Mizutani by adding He’s thermal management component to Mizutani’s thermal management component such that He’s thermal management component is under Mizutani’s thermal management component and above Mizutani’s box because it is known in the art that liquid cooling is generally a more effective means of temperature regulation compared to air cooling (“[u]sing the air as the heat transfer medium may be the simplest approach, but it may not be as effective as heat transfer by liquid.”; pg. 7, para. 3; Pesaran, A., Matthew Keyser, and Steve Burch. An approach for designing thermal management systems for electric and hybrid vehicle battery packs. No. NREL/CP-540-25992. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO (US), 1999) and that different cooling systems including air cooling (Pesaran “air”; pg. 2, para. 3) like that taught by Mizutani and liquid cooling (Pesaran “liquid for cooling”; pg. 2, para. 3) like that taught by He, may be combined (pg. 2, para. 3) to achieve temperature regulation of a battery module. Further, by performing this modification, one of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably expected to maintain the battery cell at an appropriate operating temperature as taught by He ([0246]).
Regarding claim 3, Mizutani in view of He discloses wherein the box (104) further comprises a box body (Fig. 8; 104) but fails to disclose with an opening, the thermal management component is configured to cover the opening, the box body and the thermal management component enclose a closing chamber, and the closing chamber is configured to accommodate the battery cell.
He discloses a power consumption device (“vehicle”; [0002]), comprising:
a box (Fig. 12; element 207-212 and 219) for accommodating a battery cell (“plurality of cells 100”; [0204]),
the box (207-212, 219) comprising a thermal management component (“first panel 212 is a heat exchange plate 219 with a cooling structure disposed inside”; [0246]);
wherein the box (207-212, 219) further comprises a box body (He Fig. 12; element 207-211) with an opening (Fig. 12; opening formed by the connection of 207-211 per [0219]), the thermal management component (212, 219) is configured to cover (Fig. 12) the opening (Fig. 12), the box body (207-211) and the thermal management component (212, 219) enclose a closing chamber ( “accommodating space”; [0220]), and the closing chamber ( “accommodating space”; [0220]) is configured to accommodate ( “accommodating space”; [0220]) the battery cell ([0220]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have further modified Mizutani in view of He by substituting the box body and battery cell of He for the box body and battery cell of Mizutani in view of He such that the thermal management component is configured to cover the opening, the box body and the thermal management component enclose a closing chamber, and the closing chamber is configured to accommodate the battery cell as taught by He. In doing so one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect to provide a battery pack, where the battery pack has advantages such as high space utilization, high energy density, excellent battery life, high reliability, low costs, and high quality as taught by He ([0008]).
Regarding claim 4, Mizutani in view of He discloses wherein the compartment wall (Mizutani 106) comprises a bottom wall (Mizutani annotated Fig. 8; BW) and the thermal management component (He 212/219 and Mizutani 106) is in a heat conducting connection (Mizutani [0092]) to the bottom wall (BW).
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Regarding claim 5, Mizutani in view of He discloses wherein the box body (He 207-211 replaces 104 in Mizutani’s Fig. 8) is located under (Mizutani Fig. 8) the bottom wall (BW).
Regarding claim 9, Mizutani in view of He discloses wherein the power consumption device (Mizutani 108) is a vehicle (Mizutani [0038]).
Regarding claim 10, Mizutani in view of He discloses a bottom (Mizutani Fig. 8; 103) of the passenger compartment (12) but fails to disclose wherein the power consumption device further comprises a frame, the frame is located at a bottom of the passenger compartment and the box body is installed on the frame or as a part of the frame.
He discloses a power consumption device (“vehicle”; [0002]), comprising:
a box (Fig. 12; element 207-212 and 219) for accommodating a battery cell (“plurality of cells 100”; [0204]),
wherein the box (207-212, 219) further comprises a box body (Fig. 12; element 207-211)
wherein the power consumption device ([0002]) further comprises a frame (Fig. 12; elements 201-204, 211) and the box body (207-211) is installed on (Fig. 12) the frame (201-204) or as a part (Fig. 12; 211) of the frame (201-204, 211).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have further modified Mizutani in view of He by adding the frame of He to the box body of Mizutani in view of He such that the power consumption device of Mizutani in view of He further comprises a frame, the frame is located at the bottom of the passenger compartment and the box body is installed on the frame or as a part of the frame. In doing so, one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect to reduce the complexity and cost of production as taught by He ([00196]).
Regarding claim 11, Mizutani in view of He discloses wherein the frame (He 201-204, 211) comprises two main cross beams (He Fig. 12; element 203, 204), two main longitudinal beams (He Fig. 12; elements 201and 202) and a base plate (He Fig. 12; 211), and the two main cross beams (203-204), the two main longitudinal beams (201-202) and the base plate (211) enclose (He Fig. 12) the box body (He 207-211).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizutani (US 20190210658 A1) in view of He (US 2022/0126705 A1) as applied to claim 3 as set forth above and further in view of Nassoiy (US 20120087091 A1) and Ahn (US 20200194854 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Mizutani in view of He discloses a peripheral wall (He Fig. 12; 209) of the box body (He 207-211), and the thermal management component (He 212, 219 and Mizutani 106) comprises a body portion (He Fig. 12; element 212, 219), the body portion (212, 219) being configured to enclose the closing chamber (He Fig. 12, [0220]) with the box body (He 207-211).
Mizutani in view of He fails to disclose wherein the power consumption device further comprises a heating element, the heating element being configured to generate heat when the power consumption device is working; an extrusion portion, the extrusion portion being configured to protrude out of a peripheral wall of the box body, and the extrusion portion being attached to the heating element to adjust a temperature for the heating element.
Nassoiy discloses a power consumption device (“vehicle”; [0019]) comprising:
a thermal management component (“heat exchange plate”; [0027]);
a heating element (any one of “components such as a battery disconnect unit, a battery controller module, and a battery sensing module, as well as other controllers, contactors and electrical devices or heat sinks”; [0027]), the heating element ([0027]) being configured to generate heat (“heat” [0027]) when the power consumption device ([0019]) is working; and the thermal management component ([0027]) being attached ([0027]) to the heating element ([0027]) to adjust a temperature (“to facilitate heat transfer”; [0027]) for the heating element ([0027]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Mizutani in view of He by adding the heating element of Nassoiy to the invention of Mizutani and He such that the thermal management component is attached to the heating element to adjust a temperature for the heating element. In doing so, one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect to obtain the function of, for example, a battery disconnect unit as taught by Nassoiy ([0027]), without having to provide an additional thermal management component to cool it.
Mizutani in view of He and Nassoiy still fails to disclose an extrusion portion, the extrusion portion being configured to protrude out of a peripheral wall of the box body, and the extrusion portion being attached.
Ahn discloses a thermal management component (“cooling block”; [0012]), wherein the thermal management component (Fig. 1; element 13) comprises a body portion (annotated Fig. 1; BP) and an extrusion portion (annotated Fig. 1; element EP), the extrusion portion (EP) being configured to (Fig. 1) protrude out of a peripheral wall (annotated Fig. 1; PW) of a box body (Fig. 1; 11).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Mizutani in view of He, and Nassoiy by substituting the shape of the thermal management component of Ahn for the shape of the thermal management component of Mizutani in view of He, and Nassoiy such that the component comprised an extrusion portion configured to protrude out of the peripheral wall of the box body. In doing so one of ordinary skill in the art would have been changing the shape of the component of Mizutani in view of He, and Nassoiy to a shape known in the art as evidenced by Ahn. It has been held that the configuration or shape of a claimed device is a matter of choice which a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found obvious absent persuasive evidence that the particular configuration of the claimed device is significant (see MPEP 2144.04).
Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy and Ahn still fails to disclose the extrusion portion being attached to the heating element. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy and Ahn by rearranging the heating element so that the extrusion portion was attached to the heating element because doing so would not have changed the operation of the invention, as the thermal management component would still facilitate heat transfer from the heating element with this rearrangement. It has been held that if a claimed invention reads on the prior art except with regard to the position of a component of a device, the invention is unpatentable if switching the position of the component would have not modified the operation of the device (MPEP 2144.04).
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizutani (US 20190210658 A1) in view of He, Nassoiy (US 20120087091 A1) and Ahn (US 20200194854 A1) as applied to claim 6 as set forth above and further in view of Maguire (US-20180212292-A1).
Regarding claim 7, Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy and Ahn discloses an intersection (Ahn annotated Fig. 1; I) between the body portion (Ahn BP) and the extrusion portion (Ahn EP), a direction (Ahn annotated Fig. 1; Z) perpendicular to the body portion (Ahn BP) and the extrusion portion (Ahn EP), the thermal management component (He 212, 219, Mizutani 106) is
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connected to the peripheral wall (He 209) of the box body (He 207-211).
Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy and Ahn fails to disclose wherein the thermal management component further comprises a fixing portion, the fixing portion is provided at an intersection between the body portion and the extrusion portion and extends in a direction perpendicular to the body portion and/or the extrusion portion, and the thermal management component is connected to the peripheral wall of the box body through the fixing portion.
Maguire discloses a thermal management component (“heat exchanger plate 264”; [0064]; Fig. 9; 264) comprising a fixing portion (“clip arm 274”; [0064]), the fixing portion (264) is provided at an intersection (annotated Fig. 9; I) between a body portion (annotated Fig. 9; BP) and an extrusion portion (annotated Fig. 9; EP) and extends in a direction (annotated Fig. 9; Z) perpendicular to the body portion (BP) and the extension portion (EP) of the thermal management component (264), and the thermal management component (264) is connected to a peripheral wall (Fig. 9; element 257) of a box body (Fig. 9; 225) through the fixing portion (274), wherein the peripheral wall (257) of the box body (225) is provided with a groove (Fig. 9; element 284) corresponding to the fixing portion (274), and the fixing portion (274) is configured to be (Fig. 9) embedded into the groove (284).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy and Ahn by adding Maguire’s fixing portion and groove to the invention of Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy and Ahn such that the fixing portion is provided at an intersection between the body portion and the extrusion portion and extends in a direction perpendicular to the body portion and/or the extrusion portion, and the thermal management component is connected to a peripheral wall of the box body through the fixing portion, the peripheral wall of the box body is provided with a groove corresponding to the fixing portion, and the fixing portion is configured to be embedded into the groove. In doing so, one of ordinary skill in the art would predictably expect to mechanically secure and thermally couple the thermal management component and box body as taught by Maguire ([0001]).
Regarding claim 8, Mizutani in view of He, Nassoiy, Ahn and Maguire discloses wherein the peripheral wall (He 209) of the box body (He 207-211) is provided with a groove (Maguire 284) corresponding to the fixing portion (Maguire 274), and the fixing portion (Maguire 274) is configured to be (Maguire Fig. 9) embedded into the groove (Maguire 284).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GRACE A KENLAW whose telephone number is (571)272-1253. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM-6:00 PM.
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/G.A.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1723 /TIFFANY LEGETTE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723