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 .
1. Acknowledgement is made to the preliminary amendment, filed 7/24/2023. Claims 1-12 have been canceled. Claims 13-24, 26-32, & 35 have been newly added. Claims 13-24, 26-32, & 35 are pending.
Priority
2. The instant application is a 371 of PCT/EP2022/051054, filed 1/19/2022. Acknowledgement is made to Applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgement is made to the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 7/24/2023, 9/19/2023, 8/1/2025, 2/20/2026, & 4/24/2026. The information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
4. Applicant is advised that should claim 21 be found allowable, claim 31 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim 35 is objected to because of the following informalities, which appear to be minor draft errors including grammatical and/or lack of antecedent basis problems.
With respect to claim 35, the claim appears to be misnumbered as it appears after claim 24 and before claim 26.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
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.
5. Claims 13-24, 26-32, & 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nϋßle (DE 10 2010 013 017 A1), the examiner referencing the machine translation, in view of McMillen (US 2015/0331512 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Nϋßle discloses an underbody element for a traction battery of a motor vehicle [0001], the underbody element comprising
at least one sensor device [0015 & 0016],
a sensor device of the at least one sensor device including, at least one electrically conductive sensor wire [0015 & 0016],
the sensor device configured to measure a voltage applied to the sensor wire and to determine a deformation of the sensor wire in dependence on a measured change of the voltage [0015, 0016, & 0019].
Regarding claim 22, Nϋßle discloses a motor vehicle including an underbody element for a traction battery of the motor vehicle [0001], the motor vehicle comprising:
at least one sensor device [0015 & 0016],
a sensor device of the at least one sensor device including, at least one electrically conductive sensor wire [0015 & 0016],
the sensor device configured to measure a voltage applied to the sensor wire and to determine a deformation of the sensor wire in dependence on a measured change of the voltage [0015, 0016, & 0019].
Regarding claim 32, Nϋßle discloses a method determining an intrusion into a traction battery of a motor vehicle [0001] including an underbody element for the traction battery, the method comprising:
installing a sensor device for the underbody element, the sensor device including at least one electrically conductive sensor wire [0015 & 0016],
measuring a voltage applied to the sensor wire, and determining in dependence on a measured change of the voltage, a deformation of the sensor wire and thus an intrusion into the traction battery [0015, 0016, & 0019].
With respect to claims 13, 22, & 32, the teachings of Nϋßle have been discussed above.
Nϋßle teaches protecting the conductive wires by forming a sealing layer [0020], but is silent with respect to explicitly disclosing the sensor wire being integrated into a laminar textile material, as recited in claims 13, 22, & 32.
McMillen teaches, regarding claims 13, 22, & 32, the sensor wire being integrated into a laminar textile material [0018-0020].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to further employ the textile material features of McMillen within the system of Nϋßle for at least the benefit of providing for sensors and/or sensor arrays that can be adapted to fit any arbitrary shape or volume [0019].
Regarding claim 14, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the sensor wire is integrated in meandering form into the laminar textile material [0023 & 0024].
Regarding claim 15, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the sensor wire is formed of a carbon fiber or a metal-coated plastic filament [0018-0020].
Regarding claim 16, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the sensor wire is configured so that an electric resistance of the sensor wire is changeable in case of a deformation of the sensor wire [0021-0026].
Regarding claim 17, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the sensor device is configured to generate a warning signal in case the measured change of the voltage is above a voltage threshold value [0026-0029].
Regarding claim 18, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is arranged on a surface of the underbody element in a direction of the motor vehicle when the underbody element is installed on the motor vehicle [0021-0024].
Regarding claim 19, McMillen, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the underbody element comprises a foam inlay as a bending-resistant intermediate layer between at least two cover layers , wherein the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is arranged between the foam inlay and one cover layer of the at least two cover layers [0021-0026 & 0044-0048].
Regarding claim 20, McMillen, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 13, wherein the underbody element comprises a foam inlay as a bending-resistant intermediate layer between at least two cover layers, wherein the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is integrated into the foam inlay [0021-0026 & 0044-0048].
Regarding claim 21, McMillen, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 20, wherein a respective end of the sensor wire is connected to a plug unit that is integrated into the foam inlay , wherein the plug unit is capable of being coupled via an exposed opening through at least one cover layer of the two cover layers and the foam inlay by a plug into an evaluation unit of the sensor device [0021-0026 & 0044-0048].
Regarding claim 23, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the motor vehicle according to claim 22, wherein the underbody element comprises chambers for arrangement of battery cells of the traction battery, and the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is arranged in a laminar way in regions of the chambers on or in the underbody element [0018-0020, 0023 & 0024].
Regarding claim 24, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the sensor wire is integrated in meandering form into the laminar textile material [0023 & 0024].
Regarding claim 35, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the sensor wire is formed of a carbon fiber or a metal-coated plastic filament [0018-0020].
Regarding claim 26, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the sensor wire is configured so that an electric resistance of the sensor wire is changeable in case of a deformation of the sensor wire [0021-0026].
Regarding claim 27, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the sensor device is configured to generate a warning signal in case the measured change of the voltage is above a voltage threshold value [0026-0029].
Regarding claim 28, Nϋßle, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is arranged on a surface of the underbody element in a direction of the motor vehicle when the underbody element is installed on the motor vehicle [0021-0024].
Regarding claim 29, McMillen, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the underbody element comprises a foam inlay as a bending-resistant intermediate layer between at least two cover layers, wherein the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is arranged between the foam inlay and one cover layer of the at least two cover layers [0021-0026 & 0044-0048].
Regarding claim 30, McMillen, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 22, wherein the underbody element comprises a foam inlay as a bending-resistant intermediate layer between at least two cover layers, wherein the laminar textile material with the sensor wire is integrated into the foam inlay [0021-0026 & 0044-0048].
Regarding claim 31, McMillen, as modified above, discloses the underbody element according to claim 20, wherein a respective end of the sensor wire is connected to a plug unit that is integrated into the foam inlay , wherein the plug unit is capable of being coupled via an exposed opening through at least one cover layer of the at least two cover layers and the foam inlay by a plug into an evaluation unit of the sensor device [0021-0026 & 0044-0048].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAULTEP SAVUSDIPHOL whose telephone number is (571)270-1301. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F,7-3 EST. If the examiner cannot be reached by telephone, he can be reached through the following email address: paultep.savusdiphol@uspto.gov
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone and email are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael G. Lee can be reached on (571) 272-2398. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAULTEP SAVUSDIPHOL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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