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 is a final Office action in response to Applicant’s remarks and amendments filed on 09/24/2025. Claims 1 – 2, 4 – 8, and 10 – 12 are amended. Claim 3 and 9 are canceled. Claims 1 - 2, 4 – 8, and 10 – 12 are pending review in the current Office action.
The claim objections, 35 U.S.C. 112 rejections, 35 U.S.C. 102 rejections, and 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections set forth in the previous Office action are withdrawn.
A new grounds of rejection, necessitated by applicant’s amendments, is established below.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 10 is written to be dependent on claim 9, which is a canceled claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1 – 2, 4 – 5, 7 – 8, and 10 – 12 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ehrhardt (DE102011109310A1, machine translation provided) in view of Fredriksson (US PG Pub. 20090053586 A1) and Quinn (US6342826B1).
Regarding Claims 1 and 8, Ehrhardt discloses a pressure relief device (Figs. 4 – 7, 5; [0024 – 0025]) for carrying out a pressure relief function of a cell-like cavity which is enclosed by a battery housing, that is Ehrhardt teaches a battery housing 4, which would necessarily and inherently include a cell-like cavity, provided with device 5 which functions to reduce internal pressure in the battery housing in the event of unwanted pressure increase (Fig. 1; [0024]).
Ehrhardt teaches and shows in Fig. 1 and 4 – 7, that the device is included in the upper housing wall of the battery housing (Refer to 4 in Figs. 1 and 4 – 7; [0025]). The device includes a valve body which consists of a disc-shaped base body 12 and a mandrel 13, and the valve body closes an opening on the battery housing 4 by resting on the circumferential edge of the opening (Figs. 1 and 4 – 7; [0025]). As such, by being a structure that closes an opening on the battery housing, the valve body corresponds to the claimed pressure relief cover unit.
Furthermore, the valve body {i.e. corresponds to claimed pressure relief cover unit} comprises a cover part (disc-shaped base body; Figs. 4 – 7, 12; [0025]), which lies sealed on the outer side of the housing wall by means of a seal (sealing material; Figs. 4 – 7, 11; [0025]) around the edge of the opening in the closed state (Refer to open state shown in Figs. 4 – 5; [0025 – 0026]), and is lifted from the outer side of the housing wall in the open state (Refer to open state shown in Figs. 6 – 7; [0027]).
In Ehrhardt the pressure relief cover unit {i.e. valve body} is directly connected to spring element 7, that is the cutting claws 15 of the spring element hook into the material of the mandrel 13 of the valve body, so that a secure and reliable connection between the valve body 6 and the spring element 7 is achieved (Figs. 2 – 3; [0025]). The spring element 7 possesses spring arms 16 and stop arms 17 formed from a metallic material that, due to its geometric design and spring stiffness, are capable of triggering safely and reliably at a corresponding internal pressure and closing the opening at pressures below the internal pressure ([0028]). As such, by being a pressure sensitive structure that is involved in at least the pressure relief function of device 5, the spring element in Ehrhardt necessarily functions as a sensor device that is involved in the pressure relief function. Furthermore, because spring element 7 {i.e. corresponds to claimed sensor device} is hooked onto the valve body {i.e. corresponds to claimed pressure relief cover unit} (Figs. 2 – 3; [0025]), the sensor device is necessarily structurally integrated into the pressure relief cover unit.
Ehrhardt does not explicitly disclose the sensor device comprising at least one sensor element, and further wherein the sensor element is one from the group of strain sensors, piezoelectric sensors, thermoelectric sensors, electromagnetic sensors, capacitively measuring sensors, bimetallic elements and shape memory elements alone or in combination of at least two sensor elements (Claim 8).
Fredriksson teaches a battery provided with a pressure sensor 30 that includes an adjustable spring arrangement as a pressure control means, the spring arrangement is taught to include spring 32 that will change shape according to a pressure change (Fig. 3; [0031];[0035 – 0036]). Fredriksson further teaches choosing the material of the spring for the purpose of determining at which predetermined lower level the spring regains its initial shape which indicates that the pressure inside the battery is acceptable to continue the charging process ([0037]). Fredriksson also teaches that the choice of spring material can, alternatively, be used to determine the predetermined upper level of pressure that affects the spring shape ([0037]).
Quinn teaches a pressure and temperature responsive switch assembly for a battery case end cap, lid, or cover (Col. 4, lines 52 – 64). Quinn further teaches using bimetal and/or shape memory materials for allowing the switch elements of the switch assembly member to change shape in response to elevated pressure conditions and further teaches that such materials are capable of deforming when heated to a predetermined temperature and then recovering in shape upon cooling (Col. 8, lines 15 – 28; Col. 8, lines 59 – 65; Col. 11, lines 20 – 25, 29 – 35, 64 – 67; Col. 12, lines 1 – 9). Quinn further teaches using materials that change shape based on temperature because, with respect to batteries, a condition that generates an elevated pressure is known to cause an elevated temperature (Col. 7, lines 31 – 33).
Therefore, since Ehrhardt already teaches a desire to select, for the spring arms 16 {i.e. the arms responsible for opening the valve at a predetermined pressure ([0026])}, a material that allows the spring element to open at a corresponding internal pressure and also close at a pressure below said internal pressure through a change in shape of the arms (Refer to Figs. 4 and 6; [0028]), it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to utilize a shape memory material, as suggested by Fredriksson and explicitly taught by Quinn, for the pressure-sensitive spring arms of the spring element 7 {i.e. corresponds to claimed sensor device}, and thus obtain the claimed sensor device comprising at least one sensor element that is a shape memory element {i.e. within scope of claimed list of sensor elements}, with a reasonable expectation of success that such a material would allow for the spring arms to perform the desired function of opening by deforming in shape at an elevated pressure and closing by reverting back to its original shape.
Modified Ehrhardt further discloses the pressure relief device comprising at least one actuator and, that is the spring arms 16 of spring element 7 function as an actuator because it is the spring arms that causes the valve body to lift up from its closed position when exposed to an elevated pressure condition and thus ultimately allow the pressure relief device to operate. Additionally, by being an integral part of the spring element structure that is hooked onto and thus connected to the valve body {i.e. corresponds to claimed pressure relief cover unit}, the spring arms 16 of modified Ehrhardt are necessarily assigned to the pressure relief cover unit by integration into it.
Regarding Claim 2, modified Ehrhardt discloses all limitations as set forth above. In Ehrhardt the spring arms 16 of the spring element 7, which corresponds to the claimed sensor device, is responsible for lifting/closing the valve body depending on the internal pressure of the battery housing ([0026 – 0028]), as such, the corresponding sensor device in Ehrhardt is involved in the actuation of the pressure relief cover unit.
Regarding Claims 4 – 5, modified Ehrhardt discloses all limitations as set forth above. The corresponding sensor device of modified Ehrhardt is the spring element 7 (Refer to rejection of claim 1 above).
Modified Ehrhardt does not explicitly disclose wherein the sensor device is designed to transmit sensor signals to a reporting system (Claim 4) and further wherein the sensor device is provided with a processing unit for sensor signals (Claim 5).
Fredriksson further teaches connecting their pressure sensor device to a control signal generator that is attached by wires to a switch of the pressure sensor device ([0032];[0052]). The switch , when affected by a change in pressure, generates a control signal indicative an increase/decrease in internal pressure ([0032]). The signal is further are taught by Fredriksson to be used of monitoring the charging procedure or charging rate of the battery and for creating a feedback loop to regulate the current to a level that is necessary to maintain a constant pressure during charging ([0044];[0045]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the sensor device {i.e. spring element 7} of Fredriksson by designing the device to transmit control signals to a control signal generator, as taught by Fredriksson, with a reasonable expectation of success in achieving a battery with a more controlled charging system that is capable of preventing the housing of the battery from breaking due to excessive internal pressure ([0017]).
By generating controls signals and sending them to a control signal generator, modified Ehrhardt, as established above, has a sensor device designed to transmit sensor signals to a reporting system (Fredriksson: [0044 – 0045]) (Claim 4).
Furthermore, one with ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect modified Ehrhardt, and more specifically the control signal generator of modified Ehrhardt, to necessarily and inherently be provided with a processing unit for sensing signals (Claim 5), because the control signal generator has to be able to read the control signals from the sensor device to determine whether or not to send a charge/no charge signal to the power supply of the modified battery ([0044 – 0045]).
Regarding Claim 7, modified Ehrhardt discloses all limitations as set forth above. The corresponding sensor device of modified Ehrhardt is the spring element 7 (Refer to rejection of claim 1 above), and the device is taught to active when an elevated internal pressure condition occurs (Ehrhardt: [0024 – 0026]). Furthermore, the spring arms 16 of modified Ehrhardt are formed from a shape memory material capable of deforming at temperature corresponding to the predetermined elevated pressure condition and reverting back to its original state when the pressure Is relieved and cooling occurs (Fredriksson: [0037]; Quinn: Col. 8, lines 15 – 28; Col. 8, lines 59 – 65; Col. 11, lines 20 – 25, 29 – 35, 64 – 67; Col. 12, lines 1 – 9). Therefore, as established above, the sensor device of modified Ehrhardt is designed with at least a function of pressure detection, which is within the claimed scope of sensor device functions.
Regarding Claim 10 – 11, modified Ehrhardt discloses all limitations as set forth above. In modified Ehrhardt, the spring arms 16 of spring element 7 corresponds to the claimed actuator, and the spring arms 16 are formed of a shape memory material which corresponds to the claimed at least one sensor element (Refer to rejection of claim 1 above). During an elevated pressure condition, specifically a change in temperature, the modified spring arms change into a shape that allows for the valve to be lifted from the opening of the battery housing for the purpose of relieving pressure, and when the elevated pressure condition has passed and cooling has occurred, the springs arms are able to revert back to their original position which closes the opening (Refer to Ehrhardt: Figs. 4 and Quinn: Col. 11, lines 20 – 25, 29 – 35, 64 – 67; Col. 12, lines 1 – 9). As such, in modified Ehrhardt the actuator {i.e. spring arms 16} causes the pressure relief cover unit to open and close directly on a basis of a sensor signal from at least one sensor element, that is the shape memory material once affected by the pressure condition necessarily signals for the spring arms to move by way of a phase transformation (Quinn: Col. 11, lines 20 – 36) (Claim 10).
Furthermore, since the shape memory material {i.e. corresponds to at least one sensor element} is used in the spring arms {i.e. corresponds to actuator} of modified Ehrhardt (Refer to rejection of claim 1 above), the at least one sensor element and the at least one actuator of modified Ehrhardt are integrated into a common component of the pressure relief cover unit.
Regarding Claim 12, modified Ehrhardt discloses all limitations as set forth above. Ehrhardt further discloses a battery housing (Fig. 1, 4; [0024]).
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ehrhardt (DE102011109310A1), Fredriksson (US PG Pub. 20090053586 A1) and Quinn (US6342826B1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further as evidenced by Christ et. al. (Christ R. and Wernli R. The ROV Manual. Design Theory and Standards. 2nd Edition. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2014, Chapter 3, page 66-68, ISBN: 9780080982885, cited in non-final mailed 06/26/2025), hereinafter Christ.
Regarding Claim 6, modified Ehrhardt discloses all limitations as set forth above. The spring element 7, which corresponds to the claimed sensor device, possesses spring arms 16 and stop arms 17 which allow the device to open the battery housing opening at a corresponding internal pressure and close the opening at pressures below the internal pressure ([0028]).
Jia does not explicitly disclose wherein the sensor device is or can be involved in the pressure relief function for an open- or closed-loop control intervention; Christ defines an open-loop control system to be a condition on a functioning machine whereby the system has two basic states: “On” or “Off (Refer to paragraph under 3.3.5 Degrees of Autonomy section on pg. 66); therefore, since the pressure relief valve of modified Ehrhardt functions only to open {i.e. corresponds to an “on” state} or close {i.e. corresponds to an off state} based on internal pressure increase/decrease (Ehrhardt: Figs. 4 – 7, [0024];[0026 – 0027]), one with ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect the control intervention of modified Ehrhardt to necessarily and inherently be an open-loop control intervention.
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.
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/A.Y.O./Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/JONATHAN G LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1751 12/23/2025