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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/6/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Acknowledgement is made of the amendment filed on 12/30/2025 in which claims 1, 5, 10, 14, and 19 were amended. No new claims were added. Therefore claims 1-20 are pending for examination below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection as necessitated by the amendment.
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 1-4, 7-13, and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Long et al. US 20200168393 in view of Pharand et al. US 20130069449.
With regards to claims 1 and 10 (Currently Amended) A wireless inductive charging apparatus [Figs. 7-10] comprising:
a plurality of coil boards arranged in parallel, including a first coil board and a second coil board [Figs. 7-10, ¶93 "In FIG. 7, the printed circuit board 703 is double-sided with conductive traces on the top and bottom sides but having no inter-layers. Multiple printed circuit boards or a multi-layer printed circuit board can be used with the turns connected in parallel to increase ampacity or in series to increase inductance"], each coil board comprising:
a substrate; and a first metallic trace forming a first inductive winding disposed on a first surface of the substrate [Figs. 7-10 ¶7 "Sample embodiments include a wireless power transfer coil including a printed circuit board having a first side and a second side, a first conductor pattern comprising a first plurality of conductors wound in a spiral on the first side of the printed circuit board"]; and
an insert board arranged between and adjacent to the first coil board and the second coil board, the insert board comprising an electrically-insulating and thermally-conductive material [Fig. 4a-d disclosed dielectric layer, where all dielectrics have at least some thermal conduction],
wherein the first coil board, the insert board and the second coil board are arranged in a stacked formation to generate electric power when exposed to a changing magnetic field [Fig. 4a-d and 7-10].
Long fails to disclose a plurality of physically separate coil boards, the insert board including a plurality of microchannels to provide cooling to the first and second coil boards, and wherein the plurality of microchannels extend entirely through a length of the insert board from a first edge of the insert board to a second edge of the insert board, the second edge on an opposite edge of the insert board relative to the first edge, such that the plurality of microchannels lie lengthwise in a plane parallel to the first and second coil boards, and wherein the microchannels are parallel to each other.
However, Pharand discloses a plurality of physically separate coil boards and the insert board including a plurality of microchannels to provide cooling to the first and second coil boards [Fig. 1a which has physically separate coils 12a and 12b, and an “insert board” middle MC (microchannel cooling plate) 16], and wherein the plurality of microchannels extend entirely through a length of the insert board from a first edge of the insert board to a second edge of the insert board, the second edge on an opposite edge of the insert board relative to the first edge, such that the plurality of microchannels lie lengthwise in a plane parallel to the first and second coil boards, and wherein the microchannels are parallel to each other [Fig 12a cold plates 304a/b and 306 a/b, which include microchannels for coolant flow indicated by the arrows, extend from one side to the other and are parallel to the coils 302 and ¶85 “FIGS. 12A and 12B show coolant flow primarily along the length dimension”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the inductive charging system of Long to include the microchannel cooling plate of Pharand in order to improve thermal management of the coils.
With regards to claim 10, the method steps disclosed therein would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill based on the teachings of the prior art references applied above, since the prior art of record herein is construed as teaching or suggesting all of the elements recited in the method claim, as pointed out in the above rejection of claim 1. The claim is accordingly rejected.
With regards to claim claims 2 and 11, wherein each coil board further comprises a second metallic trace forming a second inductive winding disposed on a second surface of the substrate, wherein the second surface is on an opposite side of the substrate relative to the first surface (Long Fig. 2c, 4a-d, and ¶7 "The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each coil board further comprises a second metallic trace forming a second inductive winding disposed on a second surface of the substrate, wherein the second surface is on an opposite side of the substrate relative to the first surface").
Claim 11 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 2 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
With regards to claims 3 and 12, wherein for each coil board the first and second inductive windings are electrically coupled in parallel (Long Fig. 1-2, 4a-d current path conductors 400 and 401 and ¶63 "The number of parallel traces is determined by the operating current and the ampacity of the trace for the specified trace cross-sectional area and environmental conditions. FIGS. 1 and 2 show embodiments using 4 parallel conductors but any number may be used").
Claim 12 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 3 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
With regards to claims 4 and 13, wherein each of the plurality of coil boards is electrically coupled in parallel (Long Fig. 4a-d ¶22 "at least two of the wireless power transfer coils may be stacked and connected in parallel to increase winding ampacity").
Claim 13 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 4 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
With regards to claims 7 and 16 the combination discloses, wherein the insert board includes an opening to accommodate electrical connectors on each coil board coupled to the first and second inductive windings on each coil board respectively (Long ¶16 "The multi-layer coil stack may further include terminals implemented as independent tabs offset along an edge of each printed circuit board to facilitate connection to independent terminal pairs of respective conductor patterns of each printed circuit board. Vias or terminals may also be provided to connect respective conductor patterns through a middle of the respective boards. Second terminals may also be implemented as independent tabs offset along a center of each printed circuit board to facilitate connection to independent terminal pairs of respective conductor patterns of each printed circuit board").
Claim 16 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 7 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
With regards to claims 8 and 17 the combination discloses, further comprising a shielding board arranged on an outward side of the apparatus to block passage of the changing magnetic field (Fig. 7-10 current shield 706, where Long discloses that the shield is located outward from the source of the magnetic field. Furthermore, the shield of Long is located between the coil board and the rectifier, and would also be positioned to block the magnetic field from passing into the electric vehicle, like what is disclosed in the present applications specification ¶40-41).
Claim 17 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 8 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
With regards to claims 9 and 18 the combination discloses, further comprising a rectifier arranged on an opposite side of the shielding board relative to the plurality of coil boards, the rectifier electrically coupled to a power output of the plurality of coil boards (Long Fig. 7-10 enclosed volume 708 which includes system components such as a rectifier ¶92 "The coil assembly enclosure 701 also may include a separate enclosed volume 708 containing other system components such as resonating capacitors, rectifiers, post-rectification ripple filter components, control, communications, foreign object and living object detection circuity, and interface electronics").
Claim 18 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 9 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
Claims 5, 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Long et al. US 20200168393 in view of Pharand et al. US 20130069449 further in view of Yuasa US 20180374624.
With regards to claims 5 and 14 the combination of Long and Pharand disclose, the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cooling system arranged to provide a coolant flow through the apparatus via the plurality of microchannels [Pharand Fig. 1a and ¶7 “A coil module includes at least one “coil set,” along with respective electronic circuitry at least for driving the coils of the coil set(s), at least one respective cooling device for cooling the coil set(s) using flow of a liquid coolant, and respective hydraulic conduitry connected to the cooling device(s)”],
wherein the cooling system comprises a manifold [Pharand Fig. 1a coolant manifold 22],
one or more inlet cooling paths, one or more outlet cooling paths [Pharand Fig. 1a and ¶46 “Each hydraulic plate 16, 18, 20, 26 has at least one respective coolant inlet 25 and at least one respective coolant outlet 27 that delivers fresh coolant and removes spent coolant, respectively, from the plate”],
one or more thermal sensors [Pharand Fig. 1a and ¶47 “If desired or required, the coil module 10 can include one or more magnetic-field sensors and/or one or more temperature sensors (not shown)”], and
a pump [Pharand ¶52 “Coolant flow to the coolant plates of a module can be controlled using solenoid-actuated valves having respective flow rates that are controlled using pulse-height and/or pulse-width modulation, for example. Coolant flow to the STC plate 26 can be controlled in a similar manner” where the coolant flow through the microchannels would require a pump3 in order to control the flow of the coolant throughout the system as a siphon type].
The combination of Long with Pharand fails to disclose wherein the one or more inlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the first edge of the insert board, and wherein the one or more outlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the second edge of the insert board.
However, Yuasa discloses, wherein the one or more inlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the first edge of the insert board, and wherein the one or more outlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the second edge of the insert board [Fig 3 supply port 138 (claimed inlet cooling path) is at a first edge and discharge port 138 (claimed outlet cooling path) is at a second edge].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine Long in view of Pharand with Yuasa to ensure proper cooling of the entire area of the coil system in order to prevent overheating of the system.
Claim 14 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 5 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
With regards to claim 19 Long discloses, an electric vehicle inductive charging apparatus [Figs. 7-10 where Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional representation of a vehicle side transfer coil assembly] comprising:
a plurality of coil boards arranged in parallel [Figs. 7-10, ¶93 "In FIG. 7, the printed circuit board 703 is double-sided with conductive traces on the top and bottom sides but having no inter-layers. Multiple printed circuit boards or a multi-layer printed circuit board can be used with the turns connected in parallel to increase ampacity or in series to increase inductance"],
each coil board comprising: a substrate; and a first metallic trace forming a first inductive winding disposed on a first surface of the substrate [Figs. 7-10 ¶7 "Sample embodiments include a wireless power transfer coil including a printed circuit board having a first side and a second side, a first conductor pattern comprising a first plurality of conductors wound in a spiral on the first side of the printed circuit board"];
a plurality of insert boards, each insert board arranged between and adjacent to a respective two of the plurality of coil boards, each insert board comprising an electrically-insulating material [Fig. 4a-d disclosed dielectric layer, where all dielectrics have at least some thermal conduction], and
wherein the plurality of coil boards and the plurality of insert boards are arranged in a stacked formation to generate electric power when exposed to a changing magnetic field [Fig. 4a-d and 7-10].
Long fails to disclose, a plurality of physically separate coil boards arranged in parallel, each insert board including a plurality of microchannels to provide cooling to the respective adjacent coil boards, wherein for each insert board the plurality of microchannels extend entirely through a length of the insert board from a first edge of the insert board to a second edge of the insert board, the second edge on an opposite edge of the insert board relative to the first edge, such that the plurality of microchannels lie lengthwise in a plane parallel to the two of the plurality of coil boards, and wherein the microchannels are parallel to each other; and a cooling system to provide a coolant flow through the apparatus via the plurality of microchannels, the cooling system comprising a plurality of inlet cooling paths, a plurality of outlet cooling paths, and a manifold to modulate coolant flow among the respective insert boards.
However, Pharand discloses, a plurality of physically separate coil boards arranged in parallel [Fig. 1a which has physically separate coils 12a and 12b arranged in parallel],
each insert board including a plurality of microchannels to provide cooling to the respective adjacent coil boards [Fig. 1a middle MC (microchannel cooling plate) 16],
wherein for each insert board the plurality of microchannels extend entirely through a length of the insert board from a first edge of the insert board to a second edge of the insert board, the second edge on an opposite edge of the insert board relative to the first edge, such that the plurality of microchannels lie lengthwise in a plane parallel to the two of the plurality of coil boards, and wherein the microchannels are parallel to each other [Fig 12a cold plates 304a/b and 306 a/b, which include microchannels for coolant flow indicated by the arrows, extend from one side to the other and are parallel to the coils 302 and ¶85 “FIGS. 12A and 12B show coolant flow primarily along the length dimension”]; and
a cooling system [Figs 1a, 10, and 12a/b] to provide a coolant flow through the apparatus via the plurality of microchannels, the cooling system comprising
a plurality of inlet cooling paths [Fig 10 inlet ports 106],
a plurality of outlet cooling paths [Fig 10 outlet ports 108], and
a manifold [Fig. 1a coolant manifold 22] to modulate coolant flow among the respective insert boards [Fig. 1a and ¶7 “A coil module includes at least one “coil set,” along with respective electronic circuitry at least for driving the coils of the coil set(s), at least one respective cooling device for cooling the coil set(s) using flow of a liquid coolant, and respective hydraulic conduitry connected to the cooling device(s)”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the inductive charging system of Long to include the microchannel cooling plate of Pharand in order to improve thermal management of the coils.
Long fails to disclose, wherein for each insert board one or more of the plurality of inlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the first edge of at least one insert board, and wherein for each insert board one or more of the plurality of outlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the second edge of the at least one insert board.
However, Yuasa discloses, wherein the one or more inlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the first edge of the insert board, and wherein the one or more outlet cooling paths are directly fluidly coupled to the plurality of microchannels at the second edge of the insert board [Fig 3 supply port 138 (claimed inlet cooling path) is at a first edge and discharge port 138 (claimed outlet cooling path) is at a second edge].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine Long in view of Pharand with Yuasa to ensure proper cooling of the entire area of the coil system in order to prevent overheating of the system.
Claims 6 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Long et al. US 20200168393 in view of Pharand et al. US 20130069449 further in view of Umeno et al. US 6000128.
With regards to claims 6 and 15, Long in view of Pharand disclose, wherein each of the first coil board and the second coil board (Long Figs. 7-10 and Pharand Fig. 1a).
Long in view of Pharand fail to disclose, a plurality of positioning holes, and wherein the insert board comprises a plurality of positioning pins configured to mechanically engage with the plurality of positioning holes in each of the first coil board and the second coil board to assist alignment of the first and second coil boards.
Umeno discloses, a plurality of positioning holes (Fig. 14 holes 8 and Figs. 22a-c through-holes 23), and wherein the insert board comprises a plurality of positioning pins (Fig. 14 pins 9 and Figs. 22a-c pin terminals 24 and ¶35 “FIGS. 22A, 22B and 22C, which are respectively a plane view, a front view and a side view showing a finished assembly, the substrate 21 and the bases 25 are positioned by aid of a jig such that the through-holes 23 of the substrate 21 and the pin terminals 24 on the bases are aligned”) configured to mechanically engage with the plurality of positioning holes in each of the first coil board and the second coil board to assist alignment of the first and second coil boards (Figs. 14 and 22a-c disclose the alignment of the boards consisting of pins and holes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine the stacked coil structure of Long in view of Pharand with the pin/hole alignment arrangement of Umeno in order to ensure precise alignment of the stack. Where the claimed use of the pins on the insert board represents a simple substitution of a known alignment feature to perform its established function of board alignment in a similar context, producing predictable results (See MPEP §2143(I)(B)).
Claim 15 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 6 above, a detailed discussion is avoided for brevity.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Long et al. US 20200168393 in view of Pharand et al. US 20130069449 further in view of Yuasa US 20180374624 further in view of Umeno et al. US 6000128 further in view of Widmer et al. US 20200200937.
With regards to claim 20 the combination of Long, Pharand, and Yuasa disclose, the electric vehicle inductive charging apparatus [Long Figs. 7-10 where Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional representation of a vehicle side transfer coil assembly],
wherein the cooling system further comprises one or more thermal sensors [Pharand Fig. 1a and ¶47 “If desired or required, the coil module 10 can include one or more magnetic-field sensors and/or one or more temperature sensors (not shown)”] and
a pump [Pharand ¶52 “Coolant flow to the coolant plates of a module can be controlled using solenoid-actuated valves having respective flow rates that are controlled using pulse-height and/or pulse-width modulation, for example. Coolant flow to the STC plate 26 can be controlled in a similar manner” which reasonably discloses a pump to provide the coolant flow as certain paths/modules can be closed off via the valves which would require some type of pump to move the fluid throughout the microchannels of the cooling conduit].
Long in view of Pharand and Yuasa fail to disclose wherein the plurality of coil boards includes a number of coil boards to provide a power level selected from power levels of approximately 3kW, 7kW or 11kW.
However, Widmer discloses, an object detection circuit for an inductive wireless charging device [¶3 “In an inductive wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC) system, magnetic flux densities above a transmit coil (e.g., a primary coil) can be at relatively high levels to allow for sufficient power transfer (e.g., for a WEVC system power may be transferred on the order of kilowatts—e.g., 3.3 kW, 11 kW, and the like”] which comprises the electric vehicle inductive charging apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of coil boards includes a number of coil boards to provide a power level selected from power levels of approximately 3kW, 7kW, or 11kW.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the combination of Long (in view of Pharand and Yuasa) with Widmer to support the disclosed power levels of between 3kW and 11kW in order to accommodate different vehicle charging requirements.
Long in view of Pharand and Yuasa further fail to disclose wherein each of the coil boards further comprises a plurality of positioning holes, and wherein each respective insert board comprises a plurality of positioning pins configured to mechanically engage with the plurality of positioning holes in each of the respective two coil boards adjacent to the respective insert board to assist alignment of the coil boards.
However, Umeno discloses, wherein each of the coil boards further comprises a plurality of positioning holes [Fig. 14 holes 8 and Figs. 22a-c through-holes 23], and
wherein each respective insert board comprises a plurality of positioning pins [Fig. 14 pins 9 and Figs. 22a-c pin terminals 24 and ¶35 “FIGS. 22A, 22B and 22C, which are respectively a plane view, a front view and a side view showing a finished assembly, the substrate 21 and the bases 25 are positioned by aid of a jig such that the through-holes 23 of the substrate 21 and the pin terminals 24 on the bases are aligned”] configured to mechanically engage with the plurality of positioning holes in each of the respective two coil boards adjacent to the respective insert board to assist alignment of the coil boards [Figs. 14 and 22a-c disclose the alignment of the boards consisting of pins and holes].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine the stacked coil structure of Long (in view of Pharand and Yuasa) with the pin/hole alignment arrangement of Umeno in order to ensure precise alignment of the stack. Where the claimed use of the pins on the insert board represents a simple substitution of a known alignment feature to perform its established function of board alignment in a similar context, producing predictable results (See MPEP §2143(I)(B)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nathan Instone whose telephone number is (571)272-1563. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4 EST.
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/NATHAN J INSTONE/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859