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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 June 17, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is in response to the abovementioned reply filed on June 17, 2026.
Receipt and entry of the amended abstract and the amended claims filed on June 17, 2026 are acknowledged.
Claims 1, 2, 4 through 14, and 16 through 20 remain pending. Of these claims 1, 2, 4 through 14, 16, and 17 are all as amended directly or indirectly. Claims 3 and 15 have been cancelled, whereas claims 18 through 20 remain withdrawn as noted in greater detail below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments to the claims have obviated the objections to the abstract as set forth by the examiner in the previous Office action.
While applicant’s amendments to the claims have generally obviated the previously set forth indefiniteness rejections of the claims as noted by applicant’s remarks filed on June 17, 2026, the examiner has found that new indefiniteness issues have been introduced into the claims via the amendments. The newly introduced indefiniteness issues are addressed in greater detail by the examiner in the corresponding section of the instant Office action.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art rejections as set forth in the previous Office 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.
Election/Restriction
Claims 18 through 20 remain withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention of Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on November 26, 2024.
Drawings
The replacement drawings were received on April 22, 2025. These drawings are acceptable.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: the last sentence of paragraph [0010] does not appear to be a complete sentence, either due to improper punctuation or due to one or more words having been inadvertently left out.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4 through 14, 16, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With regard to base claim 1 as amended, it is now not entirely clear what is intended to be encompassed by the limitation “under a control of a controller”. This limitation was previously recited as “under the control of a controller” and was not cited by the examiner as having any indefiniteness issues because a controller inherently has corresponding control. However, as amended, it is now not clear which control (i.e., other than the inherent control of the recited controller) is intended to be specifically included thereby, thus rendering indefinite the metes and bounds of protection sought thereby. Reinstatement of the original limitations is respectfully requested for improved clarity.
Claim 1 has been further amended to recite that the first heat exchanger “is configured to condense refrigerant circulating from an outlet of the four-way reversing valve to the first heat exchanger under the control of the controller, and to evaporate refrigerant circulating from the first heat exchanger to an inlet of the four-way reversing valve under the control of the controller”, as well as to recite that the second heat exchanger “is configured to evaporate refrigerant circulating from the first heat exchanger to the second heat exchanger under the control of the controller, and to condense refrigerant circulating from the second heat exchanger to the first heat exchanger under the control of the controller”. However, the configuration of the first heat exchanger per se is the same (as per the original disclosure of the instant application) regardless of whether the first heat exchanger is operated as a condenser or as an evaporator. Similarly, the configuration of the second heat exchanger per se is the same (as per the original disclosure of the instant application) regardless of whether the second heat exchanger is operated as an evaporator or as a condenser. Therefore, the relevance (if any) of the particular structural configuration of each of the first heat exchanger and of the second heat exchanger and the respective heat exchanger’s use as an evaporator or as a condenser is not entirely clear. Furthermore, as written, it is also not entirely clear whether the aforementioned limitations are intended to recite that each of the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger is under the control of the controller or to recite that the four-way reversing valve is under the control of the controller, thus further rendering indefinite the metes and bounds of protection sought by the claims. Note that, if applicant is attempting to clearly recite that the operation each of the two heat exchangers is a result of the control and operation of the four-way reversing valve, then claim 1 should be amended to clearly and specifically recite the same.
Alternately with regard to the limitations as addressed in the immediately previous paragraph, where applicant acts as his or her own lexicographer to specifically define a term of a claim contrary to its ordinary meaning, the written description must clearly redefine the claim term and set forth the uncommon definition so as to put one reasonably skilled in the art on notice that the applicant intended to so redefine that claim term. Process Control Corp. v. HydReclaim Corp., 190 F.3d 1350, 1357, 52 USPQ2d 1029, 1033 (Fed. Cir. 1999). The term “configured” in claim 1 as amended is used by the claim to mean “positioned” or “disposed”, while the accepted meaning is “shaped” or “designed.” The term is indefinite because the specification does not clearly redefine the term.
Any claim not specifically cited is at least rejected as being dependent on a rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
As best can be understood in view of the indefiniteness of the claims, claims 1, 2, and 4 through 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lake al. (U.S. Patent No. 6,082,128).
With regard to base claim 1 of the instant application, Lake et al. (i.e., at least via each of Figures 5 and 14) discloses a heating, ventilation, and air conditioner 50 of an electric vehicle (i.e., see title), the heating, ventilation, and air conditioner 50 comprising: a compressor 76 configured to compress a refrigerant; a four-way reversing valve or switch 78 connected to four flow paths including: a first flow path connected to a discharge end of the compressor 76 and a second flow path connected to a suction end of the compressor 76; a first heat exchanger 88 connected to the four-way reversing valve or switch 78; and a second heat exchanger 80 including: a first end connected to the first heat exchanger 88 and a second end connected to the four-way reversing valve or switch 78, the second heat exchanger 80 configured to operate as a condenser or an evaporator based on the circulation direction of the refrigerant, wherein the four-way reversing valve or switch 78 is configured to circulate refrigerant introduced through the first flow path to the first heat exchanger 88 or the second heat exchanger 80 under a control of a controller 130, wherein the first heat exchanger 88 is configured to condense refrigerant circulating from an outlet of the four-way reversing valve or switch 78 to the first heat exchanger 88 under the control of the controller 130, and to evaporate refrigerant circulating from the first heat exchanger 88 to an inlet of the four-way reversing valve or switch 78 under the control of the controller 130, and wherein the second heat exchanger 80 is configured to evaporate refrigerant circulating from the first heat exchanger 88 to the second heat exchanger 80 under the control of the controller 130, and to condense refrigerant circulating from the second heat exchanger 80 to the first heat exchanger 88 under the control of the controller 130.
With regard to claim 2 of the instant application, Lake et al. discloses the heating, ventilation, and air conditioner of claim 1, wherein the four-way reversing valve or switch 78 circulates the refrigerant introduced from the first heat exchanger 88 or the second heat exchanger 80 through the second flow path connected to the suction end of the compressor 76 under the control of the controller 130.
With regard to claim 4 of the instant application, Lake et al. discloses the heating, ventilation, and air conditioner of claim 1 further comprising: a positive temperature coefficient heater 62 connected to an air flow path within duct 56 from the first heat exchanger 88 (i.e., see Figure 5), wherein the air flow path from the first heat exchanger 88 to the positive temperature coefficient heater 62 is openable and closable via blend door 61.
With regard to claim 5 of the instant application, Lake et al. discloses the heating, ventilation, and air conditioner of claim 2, further comprising: a first control valve configured to open and close a flow path (i.e., shut-off valve 86) from the four-way reversing valve or switch 78 to the first heat exchanger 88 (i.e., given that all of the elements are interconnected directly or indirectly as broadly interpreted as required) under the control of the controller 130 or configured to operate as an expansion valve (i.e., expansion valve 226).
With regard to claim 6 of the instant application, Lake et al. discloses the heating, ventilation, and air conditioner of claim 5, further comprising: a second control valve or expansion valve 226 (i.e., if the first control valve is shut-off valve 86) is provided on a flow path from the first heat exchanger to the second heat exchanger and configured to operate as an expansion valve.
With regard to claim 7 of the instant application, Lake et al. discloses the heating, ventilation, and air conditioner of claim 6, wherein the second heat exchanger 80 exchanges heat (i.e., indirectly, via heat exchanger 228; Figure 14) with cooling water/coolant circulating in a flow path for cooling power electric parts (i.e., battery pack 224) in cooling circuit 220.
The reference thus reads on the claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
As best can be understood in view of the indefiniteness of the claims, claims 8 through 14, 16, and 17 would be allowable if rewritten without patentably significant broadening to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, and under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), fourth paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The additional related and/or prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LJILJANA V CIRIC whose telephone number is (571)272-4909. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Saturday, flexible.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Ljiljana V. Ciric/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
LJILJANA (Lil) V. CIRIC
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3763
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