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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant's request for reconsideration of the finality of the rejection of the last Office action is persuasive and, therefore, the finality of that action is withdrawn. This Office action REPLACES the final Office action of 06/12/2026.
Status of the Claims
The amendment/remarks submitted 06/12/2026 have been entered and fully considered. Claims 3-5, 8-11, 13-16, and 21 are pending. Claims 1-2, 6-7, 12, and 17-20 are cancelled. Claims 8-10, and 14-16 are withdrawn. Claims 3, 8, 11, and 13 are amended. Claims 3-5, 11, 13, and 21 are examined herein.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 21, 3-5, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2018/0157635 A1 (“Miler”). Supporting evidence provided by ASM Specialty Handbook – Stainless Steels (“Davis”).
Regarding claims 21, 3-5, and 13, Miler discloses a battery pack 200 comprising a plurality of battery cells 200, including a first battery cell and a second battery cell.
Miler discloses multiple embodiments that correspond to the claimed divider and cooling plate.
In Figs. 2B and 2C, the combination of a longitudinal member 218 and a first lateral member 224 corresponds to the “divider.” As shown in Figs. 2B and 2C, these are interlockingly coupled. The divider, therefore, extends in a first plane and in a second plane different from the first plane, wherein at least a portion of the divider is positioned between the first battery cell and the second battery cell. A second lateral member 224 corresponds to the “cooling plate” that extends orthogonally from the divider. See annotated Fig. 2B, below.
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Annotated Fig. 2B
In Figs. 2D and 2E, Miler discloses a jacket 242 or sleeve 244 (“divider”) that extends in a first plane and in a second plane different from the first plane, wherein at least a portion of the divider is positioned between the first battery cell and the second battery cell; and a longitudinal member 218 (“cooling plate”) that extends orthogonally from the divider (see annotated Fig. 2D below; [0049]-[0050], [0046]).
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Annotated Fig. 2D
The battery cells have a steel can and the longitudinal member 218, lateral member 224, jacket 242, and sleeve 244 are formed of steel. The steel may be any steel alloy, such as 304, 316, etc. ([0043]-[0044], [0049]-[0050]). Steel is assumed to have an isotropic thermal conductivity and, as shown by Davis, 304 and 316 steel have a thermal conductivity of 14.6 W/m∙K (Table 6).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0157635 A1 (“Miler”) in view of DE 10 2014 008 000 A1 (“Sander” – machine translation cited herein).
Regarding claim 11, Miler discloses the battery subpack of claim 9. Miler is silent regarding each cell of the plurality of cells is a lithium-ion battery.
Sander discloses an accumulator device 10 comprising a plurality of cells (Abstract; Figs. 1, 5). Sander discloses the battery cells are lithium-ion cells ([0009]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use lithium-ion cells as the battery cells in Miler as they are a well-known type of battery as evidenced by Sander. Moreover, one would expect the combination to yield predictable results in view of Sander.
Response to Arguments
In view of the amendment to the claims, cancelling claims 1 and 12 and changing the dependency of claims 3-5, 11, and 13 to claim 21, the rejection of claims 1, 3-5, and 11-13 under 35 USC 102 or 103 as presented in the previous Office action has been withdrawn.
In view of the amendment to claim 13, the rejection of claim 13 under 35 USC 112(b) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pp. 5-6, filed 06/12/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 21 under 35 USC 102 over US 2019/0157635 A1 (“Miler”) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of US 2019/0157635 A1 (“Miler”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2015/0107094 A1 (“Bohman”) discloses a battery system 900 comprising a plurality of battery cells 902 and a housing 700 (Figs. 7-10). The housing 700 comprises a plurality of channels 702, where each channel 702 accommodates one battery cell 902 (Figs. 9-10). The plurality of channels 702 are formed by walls 704, including a plurality of walls 706 and a plurality of walls 708 that meet at substantially right angles (Figs. 7-8; ([0109]). The walls may be formed from a number of materials including steel ([0082]).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert Scott Carrico whose telephone number is (571)270-5504. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:15AM-6PM ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Barbara Gilliam can be reached at 571-272-1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Robert Scott Carrico
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1727
/Robert S Carrico/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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