DETAILED ACTION
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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/16/2025 has been entered.
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.
Claims 8 and 13 are 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.
-Claims 8 and 13 recite the limitation “wherein the enumerated state is a type of shift signal…..”. The addition of the word “type” to an otherwise definite expression extends the scope of the expression so as to render it indefinite, MPEP 2173.05(b)(E). Note: The limitation “type of shift” was deleted per examiner’s amendment in the office action filed 9/17/25.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meyer et al 20180244169 in view of EP 3604011 (both previously cited). As to claim 1, Meyer discloses a mild hybrid electric vehicle, comprising: an engine (110); a low voltage electric starter/generator motor (142) of a belt-driven starter/generator (via 231) unit connected to a crankshaft (40B) of the engine; a hybrid dual clutch transmission (125; Figure 3) coupled to an output of the engine and having: a first sub-transmission associated with a first clutch (126) and a first synchronizer (370, 374); a second sub-transmission associated with a second clutch (127) and a second synchronizer (380, 384); and a high voltage electric traction motor (120) rotationally coupled (via 129) to the second sub-transmission, the electric traction motor electrically coupled to an AC/DC converter (134, 152), a unidirectional DC/DC boost converter (153) and a high voltage battery system (132); and a control system (12) configured to control the engine, the dual clutch hybrid transmission and the electric traction motor to charge the high voltage battery system while i) the vehicle is in a standstill condition or a neutral gear state, and ii) the low voltage motor of the BSG unit is not used to charge the high voltage battery (as shown in Figure 4, 421, 424 to Figure 5 and Figure 16; [0110], [0119]-[0129]). However, Meyer doesn’t disclose that the electric starter/generator motor is powered by a low voltage battery system as recited.
EP discloses a mild hybrid electric vehicle, comprising: an engine (1); a low voltage electric starter/generator motor (5) of a belt-driven starter/generator (as shown in Figure 2b) unit connected to a crankshaft (via 1) of the engine; a high voltage electric traction motor (2) rotationally coupled to a transmission (92) and electrically coupled to an AC/DC converter (44), a unidirectional DC/DC boost converter (4) and a high voltage battery system (3) wherein EP shows that it is well known in the art to have the electric starter/generator motor powered by a low voltage battery system (20).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the BSG in Meyer powered by a low voltage battery system in view of EP to provide power for essential low voltage electrical systems in vehicle when the high voltage battery system is inoperable to increase operating efficiency of vehicle.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meyer in view of EP as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of DE102016200819 (all previously cited). As to claim 2, Meyer in view of EP discloses the first and second synchronizers controlled by the control system to couple and decouple the respective first and second sub-transmissions within the driveline; and wherein the first and second clutches are controlled by the control system to couple and decouple the respective first and second sub-transmissions to/from the engine. However, Meyer in view of EP doesn’t explicitly disclose that the first and second sub-transmissions are coupled and decoupled to/from the driveline as recited.
DE discloses a dual clutch transmission (2) coupled to an output of an engine (1) and having: a first sub-transmission associated with a first clutch (5a) and a first synchronizer (6a); a second sub-transmission associated with a second clutch (5b) and a second synchronizer (6b) and shows that it is well known in the art to use the synchronizers for coupling and decoupling the first and second transmissions to/from the driveline.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the synchronizers of Meyer in view of EP couple and decouple the first and second transmissions to/from the driveline further in view of DE to prevent speed output from one of the decoupled transmissions causing drag torque during speed output from coupled transmission to maintain increased output efficiency of vehicle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-14 are objected to (via prior art purposes only) 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record doesn’t disclose or render obvious a motivation to provide for:
-(as to claim 3 in combination with claims 1 and 2)……... wherein the electric traction motor is coupled to the second sub-transmission downstream of the second clutch and upstream of the second synchronizer.
-(as to claim 6 in combination with claims 1, 2 and 3)……... wherein the control system controlling the engine, the dual clutch hybrid transmission and the electric traction motor to charge the high voltage battery system includes the control system: receiving a charging request for the high voltage battery; controlling the second synchronizer to an open state thereby disconnecting the second sub-transmission from the wheels; controlling the second clutch to a closed or engaged position thereby rotatably connecting the engine to the second sub-transmission; and controlling the engine to output an amount of engine torque equal to or substantially equal to a corresponding amount of negative torque applied to the electric traction motor to use the electric traction motor to charge the high voltage battery system while the vehicle is at the standstill condition.
Conclusion
There is no additional prior art made of record and relied upon as the examiner considers the prior art used in previous rejections (and previously cited) the most pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TISHA D LEWIS whose telephone number is (571)272-7093. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 8:30am to 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna M Momper can be reached at 571-270-5788. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Tdl
/TISHA D LEWIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619 February 2, 2026