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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed April 18, 202, February 20, 2024, and February 7, 2025 have been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits.
Drawings
The drawings received April 18, 2023 are acceptable.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being rejected by JP 2019129042 (Sakamoto et al.).
As to claim 1, Sakamoto et al. teach a battery pack (battery unit [10]; fig. 2) comprising:
a pack tray (battery case [11]) defining an inner space (battery storage section [13]) (fig. 3);
a plurality of battery modules (modules M, i.e. M1-M10) accommodated in the pack tray (battery case [11]) (fig. 3);
a battery management system (BMS) (control device [ECU], first electric junction box [BOX1], and second electric junction box [BOX2]) accommodated in the pack tray (battery case [11]) (figs. 3-4; para 0026-0027);
a first cable assembly configured to connect the BMS to a first module group from among the plurality of battery modules, the first cable assembly being located adjacent to the first module group (i.e. combination of first electrical cable [33A], second electrical cable [33B], as connected to bus bars the respective applicable bus bars to [BOX1] via connector portion C (figs. 2-5; para 0012, 0026, 0031-0034); additionally, at the very least control line [34] to the voltage sensors [35] (indirect connection to the modules) and [ECU] (figs. 3-5; para 0026, 0029, 0036, 0040, 0062); and
a second cable assembly configured to connect the BMS to a second module group from among the plurality of battery modules, the second cable assembly being located adjacent to the second module group (i.e. combination of first electrical cable [33A], second electrical cable [33B] as connected to bus bars the respective applicable bus bars to [BOX2] via connector portion C (figs. 2-5; para 0012, 0026, 0031-0034); additionally, at the very least control line [34] to the voltage sensors [35] (indirect connection to the modules) and [ECU] (figs. 3-5; para 0026, 0029, 0036, 0040, 0062).
(Note: The first and second module groups are defined by their connection respective [BOX1] and [BOX2]; see para 0020 regarding how the modules are connected to the respective bus bars; i.e. M1 to B1; M2 to B2; M5, M4, M3 to B3; M6, M7, M8 to B4; M9 to B6; M10, B6, as different module groups.)
As to claim 2, Sakamoto et al. teach the pack tray (battery case [11]) comprises: a plurality of partitions (cross members [14A], [14C]) extending in a width direction (three-dimensional figure extends in three directions, one of which is a width direction) of the pack tray (battery case [11]) and dividing the inner space of the pack tray (between M2 and M3 and between M8 and M9) (fig. 3); and
a cross beam (cross member [14B]) extending in a longitudinal direction (direction that is perpendicular both 11RS and 11LS; fig. 3) of the pack tray (battery case [11]) and dividing the inner space of the pack tray (between M5 and M6) (figs. 3, 6; para 0024, 0037).
As to claim 3, Sakamoto et al. teach the first module group (at least one of M1, M2, or M3/M4/M5) is located on a first side of the cross beam (cross member [14B]), and the second module group (at least one of M6/M7/M8, M9, M10) is located on a second side of the cross beam (cross member [14B]) opposite the first side (fig. 3).
As to claim 4, Sakamoto et al. teach each of the plurality of battery modules comprises:
a cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked (para 0007);
a module housing in which the cell stack is accommodated (para 0007);
a sensing line electrically connected to the plurality of battery cells (via voltage sensors [35]) (para 00026; figs. 3-4); and
a module connector connected to the sensing line (control line [34]) (fig. 5; para 0026).
As to claim 5, Sakamoto et al. teach the BMS (control device [ECU], first electric junction box [BOX1], and second electric junction box [BOX2]) comprises a pair of BMS connectors (terminal box 1 [TB1] and terminal box 2 [TB2]) respectively provided at a position corresponding to the first module group at least one of M1, M2, or M3/M4/M5) and a position corresponding to the second module group (at least one of M6/M7/M8, M9, M10) (figs. 2-4; para 0026, 0031-0033).
As to claim 10, the battery pack of claim 1 has been set forth in the rejection to claim 1 above, incorporated herein but not reiterated herein for brevity’s sake. A vehicle with the battery pack can be seen in fig. 1 (see also para 0009).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an Examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: none of the prior art of record, alone or in combination, appears to teach, suggest, or render obvious the invention of at least claim 6.
Claim 6 teaches the battery pack comprising the elements therein. Notably, each of the first cable assembly and the second cable assembly comprises “a sensing cable having a printed circuit pattern; a plurality of first cable connectors connected to the sensing cable and coupled to the module connector; and a second cable connector connected to the sensing cable and coupled to the BMS connector.”
Sakamoto et al.’s structure (seen in figs. 3-5) does not have the claimed structure (no printed circuit sensing cable, no presence of the claimed plurality of first cable connections and second cable connectors in the claimed manner). No motivation exists to alter Sakamoto’s structure to arrive at the claimed invention. Thus, none of the prior art alone or in combination teaches, suggests, or renders obvious the claimed invention. Since claims 7-9 are dependent upon claim 6, they are allowable for the same reason.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. EP 3249717 A1 (Kobayashi et al.) is drawn to teaching wiring connections of batteries (para 0052; figs. 1, 7, 11).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENIA WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4942. The examiner can normally be reached a flex schedule, generally Monday-Thursday 5:30 -7:30(AM) and 9:00-4:30 ET.
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/EUGENIA WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759