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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Examiner acknowledges amended Claims 1, 3, 4, 7, and 12 and canceled Claims 2 and 5, 6, in the response filed on 6/30/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 1, 3, 4, and 7-12 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.
Examiner’s Comment
The Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Regarding the limitation(s) “thermal expansion material” in the claim, the Examiner has given the term(s) the broadest reasonable interpretation(s) consistent with the written description in Applicants’ specification as it would be interpreted by one of ordinary skill in the art. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Donaldson Co., Inc., 16 F.3d 1190, 1192-95, 29 USPQ2d 1845, 1848-50 (Fed. Cir. 1994). See MPEP 2111. Due to the broad scope of “thermal expansion material”, the nomenclature does not patentably distinguish over the prior art unless specific properties or materials are addressed in the claim. For the purpose of examination, Examiner interprets that any material is considered to be a thermal expansion material (i.e. any material can expand depending on the amount of heat/thermal energy the material is subjected on).
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, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat. No. 9159970 (“Watanabe et al.”) in view of KR 20210055364 A (“Kim et al.”).
Watanabe et al. discloses a battery pack for electric vehicles comprising a plurality of battery cells housed within a cell holder (30) including a under frame (300) and an upper frame (350) (Fig. 9 and Col. 7: Lines 39-44). The cell holder is considered to correspond to the recited module housing.
The frame section (351) includes exit ports that allow ventilation of coolant and gas from the battery cells to exit from the cells and ventilation spaces (S) from a top passage (TP) formed by the frame section (351) to inside ventilation openings (IP). The gas passes out of the inside ventilation openings (IP) into a gas passage formed by the cell cover (31) and a suspending wall (42) of fixation member main body (40). More particularly, gas leaving the inside ventilation openings (IP) passes through gas guidance sections (311) in the cell cover (31). Accordingly, the cell cover (31) and suspending wall (42) are considered to cooperatively form the recited gas vent with the passage formed by suspending wall (42) corresponding to the recited gas channel.
The openings of the gas guidance sections (311) that align with each of the inside ventilation passages (IP) are considered to correspond to the recited gas inlet, with the sloped section of the gas guidance sections leading away from the cell restriction units (357) are considered to correspond to the recited plurality of gas channels. Regarding the recited gas outlet, Watanabe et al. includes a plurality of ventilation openings (OP or 423) allowing the ventilation of gas having passed across the channel to allow gas out.
As annotated by the Examiner below, Fig. 7 of Watanabe et al. discloses the outlet of a cell receiver, a gas inlet, a gas channel, and a gas outlet are arranged vertically lowest to highest in this order. Please also see Fig. 10 and Col. 11: Lines 31-37.
PNG
media_image1.png
557
922
media_image1.png
Greyscale
The fixation member main body (40) includes two suspending walls (42) extending along both upper side surfaces of the module, such that the fixation member main body (40) and cell cover (31) further form two gas channels. The gas channels are open, thus allowing gas to pass in either direction down the channel, thus they allow gas to flow in different directions down the two channels.
The battery module includes 8 battery cells. A first set of four cells in one end of the module can be considered to correspond to a first battery cell group with the second set of four cells at the opposed end of the module corresponding to a second battery cell group. In between each cell (including the 4th and 5th cells, and thus the first battery cell group and the second cell group) are spacers (305 and 306) to create a space between the first battery cell group and second cell group. The spacers comprise a pair of reinforcing beams that guide the flow of gas, including both cooling gas and any gas venting from inside the cells. Moreover, the gas channels formed by cell cover (31) and the two suspending walls (42) at each upper side of the module (1st side and 2nd side such that the 1st direction extends across the width of the gas channel) extends the full length of the module, including a first channel extending from the space between the first battery cell group and second cell group to the opposed end of the module, and the second channel on the other upper side extending from the first end of the module to the space between the first battery cell group and second cell group. Moreover, there are a plurality of ventilation openings (OP or 423) along the channels, starting at a first end of the module, occurring periodically along the channel to the opposed end of the module, including at midpoint locations associated with spaces between cells (Figs. 3-12, Col. 4: Lines 39-44, Col. 4: Line 60 bridging over to Col. 5: Line 7, Col. 5: Lines 38-43, Col. 6: Lines 23-50, Col. 7: Lines 39-44, Col. 8: Lines 26-67, and Col. 14: Line 62 bridging over to Col. 15: Line 5).
Watanabe et al. does not teach a communication hole through which air is movable between the two battery cells, and an opening/closing member configured to, when gas is discharged from the battery cells, seal the communication hole.
However, Kim et al. teaches a communication hole through which air is movable between at least two battery cells, and an opening/closing member configured to, when gas is discharged from the battery cells, seal the communication hole. Kim et al. further teaches that the opening/closing member is formed of a thermal expansion material (Abstract, Figs. 4-14, and [0022]-[0035]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Watanabe et al.’s battery module comprise a communication hole through which air is movable between its two battery cells, and an opening/closing member configured to, when gas is discharged from the battery cells, seal the communication hole in order to prevent fire or thermal runaway from propagating to other battery cell(s) of the battery module. Accordingly, the safety of the battery module is improved [0035].
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat. No. 9159970 (“Watanabe et al.”) in view of KR 20210055364 A (“Kim et al.”) as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of US Pub. No. 20110200856 (“Yasui et al.”).
Watanabe et al. teaches a battery module as set forth above.
Watanabe et al. does not teach the gas channel comprises a plurality of protrusions that are spaced part from each other at a certain interval to interfere with gas moving in the gas channel.
However, Yasui et al. teaches its gas channel comprising a plurality of protrusions that are spaced part from each other at a certain interval to interfere with gas moving in the gas channel (Fig. 6 and [0080]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Watanabe et al.’s gas channel comprises a plurality of protrusions as claimed in order to further tailor and control the venting of the gas.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LISA CHAU whose telephone number is (571)270-5496. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11 AM-730 PM.
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, Mark Ruthkosky can be reached at (571) 272-1291. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/LC/
Lisa Chau
Art Unit 1785
/Holly Rickman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
Prosecution Insights