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 .
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responsive to the amendment filed on 2/13/2026. Claims 1-10 are pending. Claims 7-10 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to a non-elected invention, in accordance with 37 CFR 1.142(b). Applicant’s arguments have been considered. Claims 1-6 are finally rejected for reasons below.
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (KR 2020-0015207) in view of Grabowski (WO 2020/259937).
See figure 6 of Kim. Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a battery pack 1 comprising: a plurality of battery cell stacks 10, each of the plurality of battery cell stacks formed by stacking a plurality of battery cells 110,
a plurality of adhesive layers 40,
wherein each adhesive layer 40 is applied to a lower surface of each of the plurality of battery cell stacks 10 and extending under the plurality of battery cells 110 of each of the plurality of battery cell stacks 10 to bond the plurality of battery cells 110 to each other,
wherein the plurality of adhesive layers 40 have an insulation property (page 8, 5th paragraph of translation). See figure 6 of Kim.
Regarding claim 5, which further comprises
an insulating cover 230, 240 that covers both end parts of the battery cell stack, and a holding member 220 that wraps both end parts of the battery cell stack adjacent to the insulating cover 230, 240. See figures 5 and 6 of Kim.
Regarding claim 1, Kim does not disclose a lower pack housing having a plurality of module regions and on which the plurality of battery cell stacks is mounted. Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses wherein a heat conductive resin layer is located adjacent each of the plurality of adhesive layers, but does not disclose a plurality of heat conductive resin layers. Grabowski teaches a lower pack housing that has a plurality of module regions and on which the battery cell stack is mounted. See figure 1.
Regarding claim 3, Grabowski teaches the plurality of module regions are partitioned by a plurality of partition walls formed within the lower pack housing, and the partition walls are located between adjacent battery cell stacks among the plurality of battery cell stacks. See figure 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add Grabowski’s housing to the plurality of battery modules of Kim for the benefit of protecting the battery modules of Kim.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form Kim’s heat conductive resin layer to fit into each module region of the lower pack housing for the benefit of tightly fitting each battery cell stack into each module region.
Regarding claim 1, it is noted that the combination of Kim modified by Grabowski would read on claim 1, in particular, each of the plurality of heat conductive resin layers located between a respective one of the plurality of adhesive layers and the lower pack housing, and a number of the battery cell stacks is equal to a number of the plurality of adhesive layers and a number of the plurality of heat conductive resin layers.
Regarding claim 2, it is noted that the combination of Kim modified by Grabowski would read on claim 2, in particular, the plurality of heat conductive resin layers of Kim comes into direct contact with the lower pack housing of Grabowski.
Regarding claim 4, it is noted that the combination of Kim modified by Grabowski would read on claim 4, in particular, each of the plurality of heat conductive resin layers of comprises a first heat conductive resin layer and a second heat conductive resin layer, the plurality of module regions of Grabowski comprises a first region and a second region that are partitioned from each other by the partition wall in Grabowski, the first heat conductive resin layer of Kim is formed so as to correspond to the first region of Grabowski, and the second heat conductive resin layer of Kim is formed so as to correspond to the second region of Grabowski.
Regarding claim 5, it is noted that the combination of Kim modified by Grabowski would read on claim 5, in particular, wherein a battery module containing the battery cell stack, the insulating cover, the holding member, and the adhesive layer of Kim would be directly mounted on the lower pack housing of Grabowski.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (KR 2020-0015207) in view of Grabowski (WO 2020/259937) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Murayama (US 20200251697).
Regarding claim 6, Kim modified by Grabowski does not teach which further comprises an upper pack housing that covers the plurality of battery cell stacks. Murayama teaches an upper pack housing 6 that covers a plurality of battery cell stacks. It would have been obvious to of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add an upper pack housing of Murayama to the battery pack of Kim modified by Grabowski, as taught by Murayama, for the benefit of protecting the battery modules of Kim modified by Grabowski.
Response to Arguments
Arguments dated 2/13/2026 are moot in view of the new grounds rejections.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CYNTHIA KYUNG SOO WALLS whose telephone number is (571)272-8699. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F until 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Leong can be reached at 571-270-1292. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CYNTHIA K WALLS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751