DETAILED ACTION
Examiner acknowledges receipt of amendment to application 18/113,578 filed on June 15, 2026. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-12 are still pending, with claims 1, 3 and 10 being currently amended.
Status of Objections and Non-Prior Art Rejections
I. 35 USC § 112 Rejections
Applicant’s amendments to claim 10 are accepted. The 112(b) rejection of claim 10 is therefore withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-12 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
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.
Claim 8 is 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.
In view of the amendments to claim 1, from which claim 8 depends, it is unclear what is meant by “wherein the second portion forms an alternating current to a zero charge current when a temperature of the battery rises about a threshold”. Claim 1 now already claims that the second portion comprises an alternating current, and the portion “to a zero charge current” is unclear. It is unclear if this means the alternating current is centered at 0 amps like in claim 4, whether the alternating current tapers down to zero, or whether the “alternating current” phase is alternated with an “off” phase (zero current). For the purpose of examination, Examiner is interpreting any of these options as valid.
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 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)(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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sun et al. US PGPUB 2019/0027792.
Regarding claim 1, Sun discloses a method of heating a battery [fig. 20] comprising:
generating a repeating signal to apply to a battery [fig. 1 & 19-20; pars. 164-165; the “middle frequency two-way oscillation current” and the “high frequency oscillation current” alternate, thus the two of them for a repeating signal applied to the battery (i.e. 300 in fig. 1)],
the repeating signal comprising a first portion and a second portion over a period [fig. 20; periods T3 and T2 over the combined period formed by their combination; pars. 164-165], the first portion defining a body portion comprising a constant current and terminating at a falling edge [fig. 20, starting from T3, a constant current forms a body portion which terminates at a falling edge leading to the sinusoidal repeating signal forming T2; pars. 164-165],
the first portion defining a first percentage of the period [fig. 20; the percentage represented by T3 of the combination of T3 and T2],
the second portion comprising an alternating current directly following the falling edge of the first portion [fig. 20], the alternating current of the second portion comprising a sinusoidal signal comprising a plurality of oscillations to alternate between charging and discharging the battery [fig. 20; the sinusoidal signal is centered around 0, thus alternating between charging and discharging the battery], the second portion defining a second percentage of the period where the first percentage and the second percentage comprise the period.
Regarding claim 2, Sun discloses wherein the repeating signal is a current signal [fig. 20, the y-axis indicates the signal is a current signal, furthermore it is used to charge the battery; pars. 164-165 & 172-173]
Regarding claim 4, Sun discloses wherein the alternating current is centered at about zero amps [fig. 20, centered at the y-axis around 0].
Regarding claim 5, Sun discloses wherein the alternating current defines a sine wave with a positive current portion and a negative current portion [fig. 20, centered at the y-axis around 0].
Regarding claim 11, Sun discloses wherein the repeating pattern is applied to the battery when the battery temperature is below a threshold [pars. 121, 123, 141 & 172-173; applied when the battery temperature is below 0° C].
Regarding claim 12, Sun discloses further comprising generating an alternating current signal to apply to the battery below a temperature, and then generating the repeating signal comprising the first portion and the second portion when the battery reaches the temperature [fig. 20; pars. 164-165 & 172-173; the alternating current signal of T2 is generated below and above some temperature, including both the first portion and the second portion (alternating portion)].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 3 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. US PGPUB 2019/0027792 in view of Huang et al. US PGPUB 2022/0219568.
Regarding claim 3, Sun does not explicitly disclose wherein the first portion further comprises a sinusoidally shaped leading edge of a first frequency associated with a first harmonic that when applied to the battery has a relatively low impedance as compared to other harmonics.
However, Huang discloses a battery heating system using alternating current wherein the sinusoidally shaped leading edge is of a first frequency associated with a first harmonic that when applied to the battery has a relatively low impedance as compared to other harmonics [pars. 55-57; the sine wave has a first frequency that heats the battery less than the square wave, which is comprised of a plurality of harmonics (par. 55), thus has a relatively lower impedance than other harmonics].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sun to further include wherein the first portion further comprises a sinusoidally shaped leading edge of a first frequency associated with a first harmonic that when applied to the battery has a relatively low impedance as compared to other harmonics for the purpose of improving the heating quality of the battery, as taught by Huang (par. 57).
Regarding claim 8, Sun does not explicitly disclose wherein the second portion forms an alternating current to a zero charge current when a temperature of the battery rises about a threshold.
However, Huang discloses a battery heating system using alternating current wherein the second portion forms an alternating current to a zero charge current when a temperature of the battery rises about a threshold [figs. 3 & 7; when the temperature of the battery rises above some threshold (any arbitrary threshold, Examiner notes that the threshold is not claimed as a stored or fixed value) since the temperature gradient is rising, the alternating signal is changed to a different one, but that also has a zero charge current (figs. 3 & 7)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sun to further include wherein the second portion forms an alternating current to a zero charge current when a temperature of the battery rises about a threshold for the purpose of improving the heating quality of the battery, as taught by Huang (par. 57).
Regarding claim 9, Sun discloses wherein the temperature of the battery is based on a sensed temperature [par. 32].
Regarding claim 10, Sun discloses wherein the temperature of the battery is determined by a time of application of the repeating signal in which the second portion comprises the alternating current [pars. 172-173; the duration of the repeating high frequency oscillation affects the temperature (determines the temperature)].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. US PGPUB 2019/0027792 in view of Rastegar US PGPUB 2021/0307113.
Regarding claim 6, Sun does not explicitly disclose wherein the alternating current is applied with a positive direct current offset.
However, Rastegar discloses a battery heating system [abs.] wherein the alternating current is applied with a positive direct current offset [abs; par. 104, 110, 128 & 164; a DC offset is applied or DC charging can take place with a superimposed AC current for heating the battery (par. 128)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sun to further include wherein the alternating current is applied with a positive direct current offset for the purpose of heating the battery if the temperature drops to an unsafe level while the battery is charging, as taught by Rastegar (par. 128).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. US PGPUB 2019/0027792 in view of Huang et al. US PGPUB 2022/0219568, and further in view of Coe et al. US PGPUB 2010/0201320.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Sun and Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein the sinusoidally shaped leading edge is changed to a second frequency of a second harmonic when the impedance of the second harmonic is lower than the impedance of the first harmonic.
However, Coe discloses a battery charging system wherein the sinusoidally shaped leading edge is changed to a second frequency of a second harmonic when the impedance of the second harmonic is lower than the impedance of the first harmonic [pars. 5, 7, 18, 27 & 34-35; fig. 7B; the sinusoidal pulse (par. 27) can be changed to a different frequency/harmonic to lower the impedance].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Sun and Huang to further include wherein the sinusoidally shaped leading edge is changed to a second frequency of a second harmonic when the impedance of the second harmonic is lower than the impedance of the first harmonic to further include for the purpose of using the optimal frequency, as taught by Coe (pars. 34-35).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID V HENZE whose telephone number is (571)272-3317. The examiner can normally be reached M to F, 9am to 7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian Huffman can be reached at 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID V HENZE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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