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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-10 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/30/2025.
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.
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang et. al. (CN106601958A, as cited in the IDS dated 12/21/23, reference made to English translation).
Regarding claim 1, Yang discloses a battery module (10), comprising a casing (i.e. battery box) and a cell assembly (i.e. individual batteries) disposed in the casing (¶[0027]), wherein the casing comprises two side plates (30) opposite to each other(Fig. 1),
each of the side plates comprises a side plate body(31), a protruding rib portion(32), and lifting lugs(20), the protruding rib portion is disposed on an outer side surface of the side plate body and extends in a length direction of the side plate body(Fig. 4), the protruding rib portion comprises a protruding rib and a notch(323), the protruding rib and the notch are adjacent to each other in an extending direction of the protruding rib portion(Fig. 6), the notch is provided on at least one end of the protruding rib portion in the extending direction(see notches at ends as well as in central area, Fig. 6), and the lifting lugs are disposed on the protruding rib at intervals in the extending direction of the protruding rib portion(Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 5, Yang discloses the battery module according to claim 1, wherein: the casing further comprises two end plates opposite to each other, and the two side plates and the two end plates are connected at intervals to form the casing in a horizontal direction(Fig. 1, (¶[0012] see side and end plates which are fixed together at at least two edges).
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 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et. al. (CN106601958A, as cited in the IDS dated 12/21/23, reference made to English translation) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yukun et. al. (CN209071471U, as cited in the IDS dated 12/21/23, reference made to English translation).
Regarding claim 2, Yang discloses the battery module according to claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein: the notch is disposed in the middle of the protruding rib portion in the extending direction.
Yukun, related to battery modules, teaches a battery module with multiple mounting parts attached to a rib shaped mounting portion with at least 1 disposed in the middle of the rib in the extending direction(Fig. 1, ¶[0009]) in order to improve force distribution(¶[0007]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized placing a lug and the corresponding notch in the rib of Yang in the middle as described by Yukun would have better balanced the force distribution.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to have placed the notch Yang in the middle of the rib to better balance the force distribution.
Regarding claim 3, modified Yang discloses the battery module according to claim 2, Yukun further teaches wherein: a plurality of the protruding rib portions arranged at intervals in a height direction of the side plate body are provided, and the lifting lugs are arranged on the protruding rib of the lowermost protruding rib portion(Fig. 1). One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the positions of the notches of the protruding rib portions are correspondingly arranged to the lifting lugs positions.
Regarding claim 4, modified Yang discloses the battery module according to claim 3, Yang further discloses wherein: each of the lifting lugs is provided with mounting holes (211, Fig. 7, ¶[0028]).
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et. al. (CN106601958A, as cited in the IDS dated 12/21/23, reference made to English translation) in view of Yukun et. al. (CN209071471U, as cited in the IDS dated 12/21/23, reference made to English translation) and further in view of Xianyu et. al. (CN214280062U, reference made to attached English translation).
Regarding claim 6, modified Yang discloses the battery module according to claim 5, and Yang further discloses a cover plate (see top of battery box which contains the cel assembly in Fig. 1) but does not disclose a cooling plate.
Xianyu, related to battery modules, teaches a battery housing 1 including a cover and a liquid cooling plate 11 as a base plate (¶[n0025]) wherein the cooling plate is fixedly connected via adhesive 4 where the cell assembly(i.e. battery module 2)(¶[0041]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized adding the cooling plate of Xianyu to the battery module of Yang would have resulted in improved heat dissipation efficiency(¶[n0002]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to have added the cooling plate of Xianyu to the battery module of Yang to improve heat dissipation efficiency.
Regarding claim 7, modified Yang discloses the battery module according to claim 6, and Xianyu further discloses the liquid cooling plate and the end plates are fixedly connected(see all four sides are connected to cooling plate 11, Fig. 2).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREN J. ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (703)756-1243. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10 am-6 pm EST.
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, Jeffrey Barton can be reached at (571) 272-1307. 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.
/K.J.A./Examiner, Art Unit 1726 /RYAN S CANNON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726