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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 12- 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He (CN213304255).
Regarding claim 1, He teaches a battery box, wherein a housing comprises a frame body and an upper cover body that covers the frame body. A battery fixing seat is formed in the frame body, and battery cells are mounted on the battery fixing seat. A battery management module is arranged in the frame body. A communication modules is arranged outside of the housing. An opening is formed in the upper cover body. A sealing cover and a sealing cover water-resistant block are arranged at the opening, and the sealing cover water-resistant block and the sealing cover are mounted and fixed at the opening and make the opening closed (0024-0029 and figures 1-3).
He does not explicitly teach the housing, the cover body, and a metal plate of the distribution box surrounding the cell, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to placing a battery in a power distribution box and fitting with a metal plate are well known means of assembling a pack and therefore would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan to try without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 2, figures 1-3 of He show the areas of the top surface of the housing and the bottom surface of the housing to be greater than a side surface of the housing, as claimed.
Regarding claim 12, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above. He teaches the cover plate being attached to the housing (0024-0029 and figures 1-3).
He does not explicitly teach the battery the cover body being welded to the housing.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to use welding to attach the cover to the housing as such is a well-known means of attaching and therefore would have been obvious to try without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 13, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above.
He does not explicitly teach the plurality of mounting brackets, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to provide mounting brackets on the outer surface, as claimed, in order to have the ability to mount the battery pack within the vehicle which is clearly the intended end use taught by He.
Regarding claim 14, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above.
He does not explicitly teach the grounding portion, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to include a grounding portion as a safety measure, said measure being well-known and obvious to try without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 15, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above.
He does not explicitly teach shell being a metal material, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to have the shell be made of metal as such is an extremely well known shell material and would have been well within the purview of an ordinarily skilled artisan to use metal as the shell material without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 16, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above.
He does not explicitly teach the thickness of the shell, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to have the shell be any thickness, such as the claimed thickness, dependent upon the desired final product.
Regarding claim 17, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above.
He does not explicitly teach shell being a metal material, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to have the shell be made of metal as such is an extremely well known shell material and would have been well within the purview of an ordinarily skilled artisan to use metal as the shell material without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 18, He teaches a heat dissipation component in contact with the battery cell and is a thermally conductive glue (0007 and 0013).
Regarding claim 19, He teaches the thermally conductive glue is used to replace a heat pad (0017-0018). A heat pad is considered to be a plate, as claimed.
While He does not explicitly teach an embodiment wherein a plate is used, He does teach that a heat pad is a known means of heat exchange and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to utilize a heat pad rather than glue as such is a well-known means of heat exchange, as taught by He.
Regarding claim 20, He teaches a battery box for use in a vehicle (0001-0002), wherein a housing comprises a frame body and an upper cover body that covers the frame body. A battery fixing seat is formed in the frame body, and battery cells are mounted on the battery fixing seat. A battery management module is arranged in the frame body. A communication modules is arranged outside of the housing. An opening is formed in the upper cover body. A sealing cover and a sealing cover water-resistant block are arranged at the opening, and the sealing cover water-resistant block and the sealing cover are mounted and fixed at the opening and make the opening closed (0024-0029 and figures 1-3).
He does not explicitly teach the housing, the cover body, and a metal plate of the distribution box surrounding the cell, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to placing a battery in a power distribution box and fitting with a metal plate are well known means of assembling a pack and therefore would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan to try without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Claim(s) 3-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He (CN213304255) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ji et al (CN106784508).
Regarding claim 3, He teaches the battery pack as discussed above.
He does not explicitly teach the plurality of chambers, as claimed.
Ji teaches a battery assembly for a new energy vehicle wherein the battery assembly comprises a housing, battery cells, and separators which are arranged in the housing and separate a cavity into a plurality of sub-cavities, and the battery assembly further comprising a liner located in each sub-cavity, wherein the battery cells are correspondingly arrange in the liners (claims 1-10 and figures 1-5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to utilize the separation into multiple chambers, as in Ji, with the battery pack of He insofar as this is a well-known configuration to allow for multiple batteries being enclosed in a housing and would have been obvious to try without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 4, He teaches a heat dissipation component in contact with the battery cell and is a thermally conductive glue (0007 and 0013).
Regarding claim 5, Ji teaches a battery assembly for a new energy vehicle wherein the battery assembly comprises a housing, battery cells, and separators which are arranged in the housing and separate a cavity into a plurality of sub-cavities, and the battery assembly further comprising a liner located in each sub-cavity, wherein the battery cells are correspondingly arrange in the liners (claims 1-10 and figures 1-5).
Regarding claim 6, He and Ji teach the battery pack as discussed above.
Neither explicitly teaches the casing being made of the claimed materials.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to utilize aluminum alloy, stainless steel, or magnesium aluminum alloy as all are known materials for casings and would have been obvious to try without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH A SLIFKA whose telephone number is (571)270-5838. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm EST.
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/SARAH A. SLIFKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759 June 5, 2026
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