DETAILED ACTION
The present office action is in response to claims filed on 11/20/2023. Claims 1 – 10 are pending in the application.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 3 recites “a front seat” in line 2 and “a rear seat” in line 8. It is noted “the front seat” is referenced in lines 4, 5, and 7-8 of the claim. This yields the claim indefinite.
Claim 3 depends from Claim 2.
Claim 2 recites “a front side seat” in line 2 and “a rear side seat” in line 4.
It is unclear if “a front seat” in line 2 of Claim 3 is “the front side seat” of Claim 2 or an additional front seat. Similarly, it is unclear if “a rear seat” in line 8 of Claim 3 is “the rear side seat” of Claim 2 or an additional rear seat.
This yields the claim indefinite as one of ordinary skill cannot ascertain the metes and bounds of the claim.
For purposes of interpretation, the Examiner interprets “a/the front seat” in Claim 3 to be “the front side seat” and “a rear seat” to be “the rear side seat” .
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 of this title, 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 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Masuyama et al. (U.S. Patent No. 5,392,873) in view of Uto et al. (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2021/0210811).
Regarding Claim 1, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 - 13):
A duct apparatus (duct apparatus illustrated in Figure 9) for a mobility vehicle (200), comprising:
a body floor (300) on which a plurality of seats (plurality of seats illustrated in Figure 8) are provided;
a battery case (234) provided under (as illustrated in Figure 8) the body floor (300), having a built-in battery module (232), and including an air inlet (the air inlet of 234 to which 236 is connected, as illustrated in Figure 10) through which air (air entering 240a/b) is sucked (via 248) and an air outlet (246a/b) through which the air (air entering 240a/b that is drawn through 230 and discharged through 246a/b) is discharged (via 248);
a suction duct (236) communicatively connected to (as illustrated in Figure 10) the air inlet (the air inlet of 234 to which 236 is connected, as illustrated in Figure 10);
a discharge duct (250a/b) communicatively connected to (as illustrated in Figure 10) the air outlet (246a/b) and configured to extend along (as illustrated in Figure 10, 246a/b extends along 3000) the body floor (300); and
an air-conditioning duct (208, 212b) configured to extend along (as illustrated in Figures 8 and 9) the body floor (300), wherein a portion (212b) of the air-conditioning duct (208, 212b) is configured to extend to vertically overlap (as illustrated in Figures 9 and 10, 212b vertically overlaps 250a/b) the discharge duct (250a/b).
However, Masuyama lacks showing the air inlet openings (H1) of the air-conditioning duct (208) is connected to an air conditioner.
In the same field of endeavor of vehicle battery cooling devices, Uto teaches (Figure 1):
It is known in the vehicle battery cooling device art for the air inlet opening (the opening of 7 at 14) of the air-conditioning duct (4/12/6/7) supplying air to the battery (2) to be connected to an air conditioner (5).
Further, “a device for cooling the battery is required in order to prevent performance reduction and degradation process due to the temperature rise of the battery”, Paragraph 0003.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the air inlet openings of the air-conditioning duct shown by Masuyama to be connected to an air conditioner, as taught by Uto, to prevent performance reduction and degradation process of the battery due to the temperature rise of the battery by cooling the supplied air with an air conditioner device.
Regarding Claim 2, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 - 13):
The suction duct (236) is positioned under (as illustrated in Figure 8) a front side seat (the left seat in Figure 8), and
the discharge duct (250a/b) is formed to extend downward or laterally from (as illustrated in Figure 8, the outlet to the inlet of 250a/b extends downwardly from the rear seat) a rear side seat (the right seat in Figure 8).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Masuyama (Figures 8 - 13) and Uto (Figure 1) teaches:
The air-conditioning duct (Masuyama: 208, 212b) includes:
an inlet part (Masuyama: H1) connected to (Masuyama, as modified in view of Uto in Claim 1 above) the air conditioner (Uto: 5), and
a plurality of outlet parts (Masuyama: 210a/b, 212a/b) branched off to both sides of (Masuyama: as illustrated in Figure 9) the suction duct (Masuyama: 236), and wherein
a first outlet part (Masuyama: 212b) among the plurality of outlet parts (Masuyama: 210a/b, 212a/b) is configured to extend to vertically overlap (Masuyama: as illustrated in Figure 10) the discharge duct (Masuyama: 250a/b).
Regarding Claim 5, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 - 13):
The first outlet part (212b) of the air-conditioning duct (208, 212b) is positioned above (as illustrated in Figure 10) the discharge duct (250a/b).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Masuyama (Figures 8 - 13) and Uto (Figure 1) teaches:
The air-conditioning duct (Masuyama: 208, 212b) includes:
an inlet part (Masuyama: H1) connected to (Masuyama, as modified in view of Uto in Claim 1 above) the air conditioner (Uto: 5), and
a plurality of outlet parts (Masuyama: 210a/b, 212a/b) branched off to both sides of (Masuyama: as illustrated in Figure 9) the suction duct (Masuyama: 236), and wherein
among the plurality of outlet parts (Masuyama: 210a/b, 212a/b), a first outlet part (Masuyama: 212a) is configured to extend up to (Masuyama: as illustrated in Figure 8) the front side seat (Masuyama: the left seat in Figure 8), and a second outlet part (Masuyama: 212b) is configured to extend up to (Masuyama: as illustrated in Figure 8) the rear side seat (Masuyama: the right seat in Figure 8).
Regarding Claim 7, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 - 13):
The second outlet part (212b) is formed to overlap (as illustrated in Figure 10) the discharge duct (250a/b).
Regarding Claim 8, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 - 13):
The battery case (234) is disposed between (as illustrated in Figure 9, 234 extends to on either side of the center of 200) between a center (the center of 200) of the mobility vehicle (200) and an outside of (the exterior of 200) of the mobility vehicle (200), and a portion (the portion of overlap surrounding 212b) in which the discharge duct (250a/b) and the air-conditioning duct (208, 212b) overlap each other is provided between (as illustrated in Figure 8, 212b is provided between 236 and the exterior to the rear of the vehicle in the front to rear direction of the vehicle) the outside (the exterior of 200) of the mobility vehicle (200) and the suction duct (236).
Regarding Claim 9, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 - 13):
The suction duct (236), the discharge duct (250a/b) and the air-conditioning duct (208, 212b) are provided between (as illustrated in Figure 9, 236, 250a/b and portions of 208, 212b are located in the center of 200 and therefore between the pair of side rails supporting the left and right seats) a pair of seat rails (the seat rails supporting the left seat and the seat rails supporting the right seat) under a seat (seat illustrated in Figure 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding Claim 3, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 – 13):
The battery case (234) is provided under (as illustrated in Figure 8) a front seat (the left seat as illustrated in Figure 8) on the body floor (300), the suction duct (236) is provided under (as illustrated in Figure 8) the front side seat (the left seat as illustrated in Figure 8).
However, Masuyama lacks showing the discharge duct is provided under the front side seat and in front of the suction duct, and the discharge duct is configured to extend from the front side seat toward the rear side seat.
Modifying Masuyama accordingly teaches away from the principle operation of Masuyama.
Claim 10 is objected to as being dependent on 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.
Regarding Claim 10, Masuyama shows (Figures 8 – 13):
The suction duct (236), the discharge duct (250a/b) and the air-conditioning duct (208, 212b) are disposed between (as illustrated in Figure 9, 236, 250a/b and portions of 208, 212b are located in the center of 200 and therefore between the pair of side rails supporting the left and right seats) first (seat rails of the left seat) and second (seat rails of the right seat).
However, Masuyama lacks showing in the order of the first seat rail, the air-conditioning duct, the suction duct, the discharge duct, and the second seat rail from an inside to an outside of the mobility vehicle.
Modifying Masuyama accordingly requires impermissible hindsight.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is provided in the Notice of References Cited.
The following prior art teaches related vehicle battery cooling systems:
Kim et al. (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2021/0257694): see Figure 1
Murata et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,770,961): see Figure 1
Kosaki et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,627,721): see Figure 1
Fujii et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,160,042): see Figure 1
Koike et al. (U.S. Patent No. 7,654,351): see Figure 1
Tajiri et al. (U.S. Patent No. 5,490,572): see Figure 1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANA K TIGHE whose telephone number is (571)272-9476. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8:00 - 4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steve McAllister, can be reached on 571-272-6785. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANA K TIGHE/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/STEVEN B MCALLISTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762