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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/25/25 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Applicant’s amendment and arguments, filed 09/25/2025 (with claim set of 08/19/25), have been fully considered. Claim(s) 11 is/are amended, claim(s) 12–14, 16–19, and 24–26, and 28–30 stand(s) as originally or previously presented; and claim(s) 1–10, 15, 20–23, and 27 is/are canceled; no new matter has been added. Examiner affirms that the original disclosure provides adequate support for the amendment.
Upon considering said amendment and arguments, the previous drawings objection as well as 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection set forth in the Office Action mailed 07/17/2025 has/have been withdrawn. Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection below.
Claim Interpretation
Claim 11 recites containing the gas or liquid at “atmospheric pressure” within the flexible pressure element. Per the instant specification, p. 5, line 19, “atmospheric pressure” is simply ambient pressure and, thus, will be interpreted as the (unaltered) pressure surrounding the gas or liquid.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text forming the basis for the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 may be found in a prior Office Action.
Claim(s) 11, 16, 18, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritz et al. (US 20200161717 A1; see 09/17/24 PTO-892) (Fritz), taken alone or in view of Naruke (US 20150107921).
Regarding claim 11, Fritz discloses an energy storage assembly (e.g., Abstract, fig. 5) comprising (per annot. fig. 5 below) a traction battery (battery module 82, which would be a traction battery by being used in a vehicle (Abstract)) configured to store electrical energy (necessarily for power, as in ¶ 0044); a flexible pressure element (FPE as pressure hoses 31–33) which is filled with gas or liquid (¶ 0042) and which is located directly between a covering component and the traction battery (between base part 22—which, in protecting the battery (¶ 0019), being separate from the battery housing (¶ 0038), and covering the module within vehicle 10 (e.g., figs. 3–5), reasonably constitutes a “covering component”, substantially similar to instant fig., 2’s ref. 130—and module 82).
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As seen in figs. 3–5, base part 22 appears to define or be part of the floor of the vehicle’s underbody (note specifically the base part’s deformability via bollard 90 in figs. 5 and 6, which determines if vehicle 10 is drivable (¶ 0042, 0043), making the base part appear to constitute part of underbody) such that the covering component is part of underbody paneling of a motor vehicle.
Alternatively, Naruke, in teaching a mounting structure of an EV battery pack (Title, Abstract), teaches that the pack is held under a floor panel within a concave portion formed by a raised portion in a back surface of the floor panel (¶ 0012, FIG. 7).
Naruke and Fritz are analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely traction batteries.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the claimed invention's effective filing date, that Fritz’s battery module/pack—and, by extension, “covering component”—must necessarily be positioned somewhere in the vehicle and, as demonstrated by Naruke, the skilled artisan would find it obvious to embed the module—protected by base part 22/“covering component”—inside a concave section under a floor panel and, thus, as part of the vehicle’s underbody paneling with a reasonable expectation of forming a successful EV. Examiner notes that “underbody paneling” appears to not require the outermost portion of the underbody as long as the “covering component” is under the car’s body, as in Naruke’s fig. 7.
Fritz further discloses no indication that the gas or liquid in the flexible pressure element (hoses 31–33) is contained at any pressure beside ambient pressure and, thus, reasonably discloses that the gas or liquid is contained at atmospheric pressure within the flexible pressure element.
As noted above, Fritz further discloses that base part 22 is separated from the traction battery by the hoses 31–33 (fig. 5), but, in failing to specify the distance of such separation, Fritz fails to explicitly disclose that the covering component is located at a distance between 10 mm and 30 mm from the traction battery.
As seen in Fritz’s fig. 5, though, the flexible pressure element’s size/diameter would control the distance between the “covering component” and traction battery. The skilled artisan would further understand that the flexible pressure element must be large/wide enough for adequate pressure sensing (Fritz, ¶ 0042) but that making the element too large/wide would necessarily reduce the assembly’s energy density by reducing the battery module’s relative active-material volume. To balance these effects, then, it would have been obvious to arrive at the recited distance by routinely optimizing the flexible element’s size/diameter and, thus, necessarily controlling the distance separating the covering component from the traction battery (MPEP 2144.05 (II)).
Fritz further discloses a pressure sensor which is connected to the flexible pressure element (pressure ascertainment apparatus connected to pressure hoses (¶ 0042) and configured to sense collision-induced pressure fluctuations in the flexible pressure element (note measuring pressure fluctuations in hoses based on test deformation from bollard 90, fig. 5 and ¶ 0042; it is submitted that if Fritz’s vehicle crashed, such would necessarily induce pressure fluctuations in the flexible element such that the sensor would be configured to sense such fluctuations).
Regarding claim 16, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 11, wherein the pressure sensor is arranged directly on the flexible pressure element (pressure ascertainment apparatus in Fritz, ¶ 0042).
Regarding claim 18, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 11, further comprising a control device which is configured to automatically evaluate measured values of the pressure sensor and to initiate at least one protective measure after a collision event (evaluation apparatus 40 plus signal apparatus 42, which evaluate pressure-change data and output corresponding audible or visual signal—i.e., protective measure—respectively, in Fritz’s ¶ 0039 and fig. 4).
Regarding claim 19, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 11, wherein the energy storage assembly is part of a motor vehicle with an electric drive (by being incorporated into EV 10, e.g., Fritz’s fig. 4 and ¶ 0044).
Claim(s) 12, 14, 24, 26, 28, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritz et al. (US 20200161717 A1) (Fritz), taken alone or in view of Naruke (US 20150107921), as applied to claim 11, further in view of Lee et al. (US 20220077550 A1) (Lee).
Regarding claim 12, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 11.
Although Fritz allows other forms of sensors such as pad-like sensors in separate embodiments (e.g., piezoelectric film, ¶ 0010; see also apparent film-like air pressure sensor 31 in fig. 9 and ¶ 0055), Fritz fails to explicitly disclose that the pressure sensor is designed as a pressure pad.
Lee, in teaching a traction battery module (Abstract, ¶ 0020), teaches a pressure pad filled with fluid and coupled to the module alongside sensors for evaluating pressure fluctuations in the pad and maintaining battery surface pressure (e.g., Abstract, ¶ 0011, fig. 2).
Lee is analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely pressure sensing in traction batteries.
As Fritz does not appear strictly limited to a hose to achieve the desired pressure sensing, while Lee recognizes utility of pressure pads for battery-module pressure sensing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to routinely substitute Fritz’s hoses for Lee’s pressure pad with the reasonable expectation of achieving successful pressure sensing, as suggested by Lee (MPEP 2143 (B.)).
Regarding claim 14, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 12, wherein the pressure pad is segmented and has a plurality of chambers filled with the gas or the liquid, a respective pressure sensor being provided for each chamber (per Lee’s fig. 5A, the pad may be segmented—and, thus, necessarily include chambers filled with the gas/liquid (as in Lee’s ¶ 0043/0044)—and include a sensor on each segment).
Regarding claims 24 and 26, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claims 12 and 14, wherein the pressure sensor is arranged directly on the flexible pressure element (e.g., Lee’s fig. 4A).
Regarding claims 28 and 30, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claims 12 and 14.
Lee further teaches that hydraulic pressure sensor 510 may be part of pressure measuring unit 500 (e.g., fig. 2, ¶ 0041), which is distanced from the pressure pad by a line (fig. 2) and transmits the pressure-change data to pressure adjusting unit 400 (e.g., fig. 2, ¶ 0012), though modified Fritz fails to explicitly embody such in Lee’s figs. 4A and 5A.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Lee’s distanced pressure measuring unit into modified Fritz’s pressure-sensing system—which, in being part of the pressure-sensing system, would reasonably read on the pressure sensor’s being arranged at a distance from the flexible pressure element and connected to the flexible pressure element via a line—with the reasonable expectation of achieving successful pressure sensing, as suggested by Lee (see, e.g., MPEP 2143 (A.)).
Claim(s) 13, 25, and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritz et al. (US 20200161717 A1) (Fritz), taken alone or in view of Naruke (US 20150107921), as applied to claim 11, further in view of Lee et al. (US 20220077550 A1) (Lee), as applied to claim 12, further in view of Ruehle (WO 2012010347 A1).
Regarding claim 13, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 12 but, in failing to specify the pressure pad’s thickness, fails to explicitly disclose a maximum thickness of 10 mm.
Ruehle, in teaching a battery module with a pressure plate coupled to a battery (Abstract), teaches that the plate is preferably ~ 2 mm thick (¶ 0030).
Ruehle is analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely battery modules with pressure pads.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the claimed invention's effective filing date, that modified Fritz’s pressure pad must necessarily be incorporated with a certain thickness, and, as demonstrated by Ruehle, the skilled artisan would find it obvious to incorporate the plate at, e.g., ~ 2 mm thick as an appropriate size.
Regarding claim 25, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 13, wherein the pressure sensor is arranged directly on the flexible pressure element (e.g., Lee’s fig. 4A).
Regarding claim 29, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 13.
Lee further teaches that hydraulic pressure sensor 510 may be part of pressure measuring unit 500 (e.g., fig. 2, ¶ 0041), which is distanced from the pressure pad by a line (fig. 2) and transmits the pressure-change data to pressure adjusting unit 400 (e.g., fig. 2, ¶ 0012), though modified Fritz fails to explicitly embody such in Lee’s figs. 4A and 5A.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Lee’s distanced pressure measuring unit into modified Fritz’s pressure-sensing system—which, in being part of the pressure-sensing system, would reasonably read on the pressure sensor’s being arranged at a distance from the flexible pressure element and connected to the flexible pressure element via a line—with the reasonable expectation of achieving successful pressure sensing, as suggested by Lee (see, e.g., MPEP 2143 (A.)).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritz et al. (US 20200161717 A1) (Fritz), taken alone or in view of Naruke (US 20150107921), as applied to claim 11, further in view of Kim (US 20220393284 A1; see 09/17/24 PTO-892).
Regarding claim 17, modified Fritz discloses the energy storage assembly of claim 11.
As noted above, Fritz appears to disclose that the pressure ascertainment apparatus, i.e., sensor, is attached to the hoses (¶ 0042), i.e., flexible element, yet, while not appearing necessarily limited to directly arranging the sensor on the flexible element as long as the desired pressure-fluctuation data is transmitted to evaluation apparatus 40 (fig. 4), Fritz fails to explicitly disclose that the pressure sensor is arranged at a distance from the flexible pressure element and is connected to the flexible pressure element via a line.
Kim, in teaching a battery module applicable to EVs (Abstract, ¶ 0064), teaches tube 130 filled with fluid and coupled to the cells (fig. 2, ¶ 0067), where pressure sensor 160 is distanced from and connected to the tube by a line (fig. 2) and measures the tube’s pressure fluctuations (¶ 0071).
Kim is analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely pressure sensing in EV batteries.
As Fritz does not appear strictly limited to a directly attached pressure sensor and Kim recognizes utility with a pressure sensor distanced from and connected via line to a fluid-filled pressure element, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to routinely substitute Fritz’s directly attached sensor with Kim’s distanced sensor with the reasonable expectation of achieving successful pressure sensing, as suggested by Kim (MPEP 2143 (B.)).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 11 have been considered. Applicant’s amendment overcame the previous 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection—which, as noted above, has been withdrawn—and necessitated the new grounds of rejection citing the new reference(s) Fritz, as established above.
Conclusion
The cited art made of record but not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure:
US 20150171486 A1: traction battery pack with cooling channels integrated with pressure sensors and between cells and lower enclosure panel.
US 20210336298 A1: similar arrangement as Fritz.
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/J.S.M./Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/JONATHAN G LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1751 12/29/2025