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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 March 11, 2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
This office action is in response to the application filed on March 11, 2026. Claims 1-3, 6-7, 9-13, 16-17 and 19-24 were previously pending, of which claims 1 and 11 have been amended, claims 7 and 17 have been cancelled, and claims 25-26 have been newly added. Accordingly, claims 1-3, 6, 9-13, 16 and 19-26 are currently pending and are being examined below.
Response to Arguments
With respect to Applicant's remarks, see pages 8-11, filed March 11, 2026; Applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant’s remarks will be addressed in sequential order as they were presented.
With regard to U.S.C. §103 rejection, Applicant's arguments have been fully considered and they are persuasive. In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., expected availability information for charging equipment at the target roadside charging station, and past operator behavior relating to the electrified vehicle including (i) past behavior of a current operator of the electrified vehicle and (ii) past behavior of a same or similar type of the electrified vehicle, different than the electrified vehicle, by one or more other operators that are different than the current operator) was not clearly defined in the prior art for the rejection in view of the amended/new claims. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, the new limitations were presented from the amended claims but they are not persuasive. Therefore, the rejection is maintained in the Office Action below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 9, 11, 19 and 25-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sherback et al. (US 2019/0157882), hereinafter “Sherback”, in view of Kishiyama et al (US 20150137768A1), hereinafter “Kishiyama” in further view of Holme et el., (WO 2019017991 A1), hereinafter “Holme”.
Regarding Claims 1 and 11, Sherback discloses a charging session optimization system for an electrified vehicle, the charging session optimization system comprising: a set of battery system sensors configured to monitor a high voltage battery system of the electrified vehicle to determine at least its temperature and its state of charge (SOC); See Fig.4, the state of charge (442) and battery temperature (448) further disclosed in [0028].
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the temperature and SOC of the high voltage battery system are part of a set of real-time charging information; In [0028-0029],” the battery management system 332 may receive … battery temperature information 448 … The state of charge information 442 may be derived from information provided by the sensors 334". Note: The state of charge is understood to be updated continuously to provide the accurate operating time based on current use.
a controller configured to: determine a target roadside charging station intended to be used for a future charging session to recharge the high voltage battery system; the charging location (446) process on [0031] where in route charging locations can be obtained.
determine a set of known information relating to the upcoming charging session, the set of known information including at least one vehicle performance parameter, expected availability information for charging equipment at the target roadside charging station, and past operator behavior relating to the electrified vehicle including (i) past behavior of a current operator of the electrified vehicle and See at least Fig.3 and [0024], ” the stored information 336 describes previous user actions that may be used by the controller 112 to predict future user actions … the stored information 336 describes operating characteristics previously experienced by the system 100, such as energy usage rates under specific operating conditions.“ Also [0042], “The battery management system 332 may determine whether a charging operation is likely to occur while system 100 is traveling to a destination … the determination is made based on the availability of charging locations while en route to the intended destination.”
based on at least the temperature and the SOC of the high voltage battery system and the set of known information, determine a See at least [0026],” the battery management system 332 may precondition the battery pack 106 in advance of charging such as by pre-cooling the battery pack 106 while system 100 is en-route to a charging location.”
controlling the thermal preconditioning of the high voltage battery system is performed such that its future temperature and future SOC at an end of the period when the future charging session begins are each within predetermined ranges associated with an optimal rate of recharging. See at least [0038], "The charge preconditioning setting may be a specific value or a range of values. As an example, the charge preconditioning setting may be between twenty-eight and forty-five degrees Celsius, and the thermal regulation system 108 may be operable to achieve a temperature reduction of this magnitude within fifty minutes during operation of the system 100." Also [0042], "Thus, when the state of charge information 442 indicates that the system 100 will be operable for a time or range that is less than a time or range threshold value, the battery management system 332 may determine that charging is likely and modify the target temperature to cool the battery pack 106 prior to charging, such as by changing the target temperature 450 from the nominal setting to the charge preconditioning setting."
Sherback discloses a vehicle charging session optimization system, but does not explicitly disclose the economics of the thermal management system. However, Kishiyama [0023] teaches,” Enhanced charging system 100 is more intelligent and uses available resources more optimally. For example, when user 120 requests (explicitly or implicitly) 80% SOC two hours from the initiation of charging, station control 125 determines, for this particular charging use, an optimal combination of vehicle enhancement (e.g., pre-heating of the battery pack) and lower charge rate to meet the user primary need. This eliminates/minimizes any risk of possible battery life degradation due to this charging cycle. Alternatively, when the secondary consideration is a more economical mode, station control 125 could opt-out of using energy for battery pack pre-heating.”
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback system to include the charging fee consideration disclosed in Kishiyama, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow the user to factor cost effectiveness into the operation of preconditioning the battery pack in Kishiyama [0024].
Sherback discloses a vehicle charging session optimization system with past behavior of the vehicle, but does not explicitly disclose the past behavior of a similar electric vehicle. However, Holme teaches a vehicle battery modeling system including: (ii) past behavior of a same or similar type of the electrified vehicle, different than the electrified vehicle, by one or more other operators that are different than the current operator; In [0012] Holmes teaches inputs include Specific to user (past user behaviors); general to user (demographic info = using other similar users' (other operators) info as part of prediction) / general to vehicle = make/model performs (i.e. the same make/model "past behavior" (how they perform) for that general make/model of vehicle; from applicant's spec "same or similar" vehicles is known to include/be make/model being same/similar); and then [0013]-[0014] teach what the model predicts (future SOC, temperature, voltage, etc of battery); [0014] then says these predictions can be used in making choices about when/where to charge, does the battery need to be preheated, etc.
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback system to include the predictive battery model disclosed in Holme, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would be to create a predictive model that is common to different types of vehicle platforms that share some common characteristics with the battery system, see Holme [0018].
Regarding Claims 9 and 19, Sherback discloses the additional limitations from claims 1 and 11:
wherein the In [0042], “the determination is made based on the availability of charging locations while en route to the intended destination.”
While Sherback discloses availability of a charging station, it does not explicitly disclose expected availability of a charging system at the target roadside charging station at a time of arrival. However, Kishiyama teaches in [0023], “Enhanced charging system 100 is more intelligent and uses available resources more optimally … user 120 requests (explicitly or implicitly) 80% SOC two hours from the initiation of charging, station control 125 determines … charge rate to meet the user primary need.” Note: Expected availability can be determined based on the response from the charging station to the user request.
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback system to include the charging availability disclosed in Kishiyama, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to have an optimized charging profile that meets desired primary and selected secondary considerations in Kishiyama [0026].
Regarding Claims 25 and 26, Sherback discloses a charging session optimization system with past behavior of the vehicle, but does not explicitly disclose the past behavior of a similar electric vehicle. However, Holme teaches a vehicle battery modeling system including: wherein the same or similar type of the electrified vehicle, different than the electrified vehicle, and the electrified vehicle both correspond to a same model electrified vehicle. In [0012]” According to the various embodiments, the PM may make predictions and/or decisions based on data provided by sensors that measure a physical state of the battery, as well as sensor and controller data that monitors or regulates a load current on the battery. The battery sensor data includes such things as a battery's existing temperature, pressure and voltage. The sensor and controller data relates to a vehicle subsystem that draws or pushes current from/to the battery. Additionally, the prediction module makes use of other data, in addition to a battery's present temperature, terminal voltage, and current. Such other data may be classified as: … General to the vehicle, e.g., car make and model, commercial or private use…” The “general to the vehicle” considerations includes predicting/modeling of the battery performance based on the make and model (i.e. how do car(s) (other vehicles) of that model perform). This is considered to read on the claim limitations in light of applicant’s specification [0017] where historical information of similar/same vehicles is/includes the make/model of the vehicle.
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback system to include the predictive battery model disclosed in Holme, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would be to create a predictive model that is common to different types of vehicle platforms that share some common characteristics with the battery system, see Holme [0018].
Claims 2, 3, 6, 12, 13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sherback, in view of Kishiyama, further in view of Holme and further in view of Shaotran et al (US 20230001824 A1), hereinafter “Shaotran”.
Regarding Claim 2 and 12, Sherback does not explicitly disclose powertrain modification limitations from claim 1 and 11. However, Shaotran teaches:
wherein the controller is configured to perform thermal preconditioning of the high voltage battery system by adjusting operation of an electrified powertrain comprising one or more electric motors powered by the high voltage battery system. See at least [0054], “charging controller for the battery 124 configured to charge the battery (thereby increasing its temperature) using a regenerative braking system of the vehicle 120.”
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback system to include the powertrain limitations disclosed in Shaotran, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to implement the built in functionality of the electric powertrain to assist in preconditioning of the battery pack for optimal charging in Shaotran [0002].
Regarding Claim 3 and 13, Sherback discloses the additional limitations of claim 2 and 12:
wherein the controller is configured to perform thermal preconditioning of the high voltage battery system by controlling a thermal management system of the electrified vehicle that is configured to heat/cool the high voltage battery system. See at least [0020], “the thermal regulation system 108 is configured for heat transfer 114 with respect to the battery pack 106 … the thermal regulation system 108 may incorporate electrically operated heating and/or cooling devices.”
Regarding Claim 6 and 16, Sherback does not explicitly disclose the known information of claim 1 and 11. However, Shaotran teaches:
wherein the set of known information includes climate conditions, distance, duration, estimated time of arrival, average and instantaneous vehicle speed, traffic information, and road gradient. See at least [0015], “analyzing the route may include analyzing and/or procuring pre-stored information (e.g., topographical maps based on location, roadway layouts, and so on), as well as on-demand (e.g., Internet-available or streamable) information (e.g., real-time weather updates, traffic, and so on).”
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback device to include the navigation information limitations disclosed in Shaotran, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide the user with the most accurate route planning in order to optimize the battery charging experience in Shaotran [0036].
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sherback, in view of Kishiyama, in further view of Holme, and further in view of Perry et al (US 20180281612 A1), hereinafter “Perry”.
Regarding Claim 10 and 20, Sherback does not explicitly disclose vehicle to everything communication. However, Perry teaches the additional limitations of Claim 1 and 11:
wherein the controller determines the expected availability information for the charging equipment at the target roadside charging station from the target roadside charging station via a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication system. See at least [0019], “EV charging infrastructure 104 can be communicatively coupled to the requesting vehicle 102 via a wireless communication network 110, for example, using vehicle-to-infrastructure (“V2I”) and infrastructure-to-vehicle (“I2V”) communication protocols. The V2I and I2V protocols may be used to convey availability status information for each of the charging stations 106 and 108 to the requesting vehicle 102. For example, the requesting vehicle 102 can include a vehicle telematics unit (such as, e.g., telematics control unit (TCU) 408 shown in FIG. 4) that is configured to facilitate communication with other components of the environment 100 via the wireless communication network 110.“
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback and Perry to include the “V2” limitations disclosed in Perry, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method of determining availability of a vehicle charging station in a vehicle, see Perry [0006].
Claims 22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sherback, in view of Kishiyama, in further view of Holme, and further in view of Tuukkanen et al (US 20230382256 A1), hereinafter “Tuukkanen”.
Regarding Claims 22 and 24, Sherback does not explicitly disclose the charging strategy limitations dependent from claims 1 and 11. However, Tuukkanen teaches:
wherein the controller is further configured to minimize a total stoppage time at the target roadside charging station by accounting for: (i) a particular battery thermal management strategy, chosen before arriving at the target roadside charging station; See at least [0070], “charge point module 305 can determine a temperature regulating time period for the battery, the charge point, or a combination thereof before charging based on the battery temperature, the environmental condition at the charge point, or a combination thereof, and the battery, the charge point, or a combination thereof can be cooled down or heated up to a battery temperature charging range (e.g., 15° C. to 35° C. in FIG. 6B while an ideal temperature of 32° C.) during the temperature regulating time period. The charge point module 305 can then select the charge point (e.g., the charge point 103) by using the battery temperature function to predict that the environmental condition (e.g., environmental conditions 105, such as indoor/outdoor, roofed, sun exposure, wind exposure, etc.) of the charge point (e.g., the charge point 103) is expected to result in the battery temperature being in the battery temperature charging range during or after the temperature regulating time period, in the battery temperature being in the battery temperature operating range (e.g., 15° C. to 35° C. in FIG. 6A while an ideal temperature of 25° C.) during, before, or after the charging time window, or a combination thereof. For instance, the charge point module 305 can guide the electric vehicle 101 to a charge point ready to be used, avoiding waiting for cooling down the battery pack (e.g., to avoid a charge point uphill that will heat up the battery pack even more).”
(ii) a final battery temperature at a completion of the future charging session; and (iii) an SOC range of charging during the future charging session and how the battery system will accept charge across the SOC range and at expected temperatures of the battery system. See at least [0068], “FIGS. 7A-7B are temperature versus time diagrams at a given location within a battery pack, according to example embodiment(s). The temperature results from the developed digital model of the battery pack can be compared to the data obtained from the experiments to validate the digital model. For instance, FIG. 7A shows the temperature change of the battery pack initially at 90% State of Charge (SOC) and 25° C. as the battery pack was discharged at a constant c-rate of 1.5 for 1800 seconds. FIG. 7B presents the change in the temperature of a 10% SOC battery pack charging for 3000 seconds. A maximum difference of 0.7° C. was observed between the digital model and the experimental data.” And [0078], “battery temperature module 303 can determine a current battery temperature (e.g., 38 C) of the battery (e.g., the battery pack 113) at the time of the request, and the charging time window, the charge point, or a combination thereof can be determined by the battery temperature module 303 in conjunction with the charging optimization module 307 based on using the battery temperature function to predict when or where the current battery temperature will be in the battery temperature operating range (e.g., 15° C. to 35° C. in FIG. 6A) during, before, or after the charging time window (e.g., 20 minutes during lunch time or night time).”
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Sherback to include the optimized battery temperature strategy disclosed in Tuukkanen, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide means for determining a battery temperature operating range for the battery, see Tuukkanen [0007].
Claims 21 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sherback in view of Kishiyama, in further view of Holme as applied to claim 1 and 11 above, in further view of Galamb et al., US 2016/0052421 A1 (Hereinafter “Galamb”).
Regarding Claims 21 and 23, Sherback does not explicitly disclose external conditioning limitation(s) dependent on claims 1 and 11. However Kishiyama teaches:
the expected availability information for the charging equipment at the target roadside charging station See at least [0042] as noted in claims 9 and 19.
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the Sherback system to include the charging availability disclosed in Kishiyama, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to have an optimized charging profile that meets desired primary and selected secondary considerations in Kishiyama [0026].
Sherback and Kishiyama do not disclose includes an expected availability of an external thermal battery conditioning system that is separate from the electrified vehicle. However, Galamb teaches in [0040], “FIG. 1 illustrates a charging station 2, which … comprises a cooling body 5 recessed into the ground 7 for the temperature control of a traction battery to be charged and arranged in a vehicle during a charging process at the charging station 2.” Note: While expected availability is not discussed in Galamb, it would be inherent that the charging station taught in Kishiyama would have the same expected availability as the thermal conditioning system if included with the charging equipment in Galamb.
As both are in the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to implement the offboard conditioning (charging station) of Galamb instead of the onboard conditioning disclosed in Kishiyama, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce cost and improve reliability of the vehicle battery in Galamb [0013].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN KEITH PALMARCHUK whose telephone number is (571)272-6261. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7 AM - 5 PM EST.
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/B.K.P./Examiner, Art Unit 3669 /KENNETH M DUNNE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669
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