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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I and Species I (Figs. 1-2), claims 1-6 and 8-13 in the reply filed on 01/30/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 7 and 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention and Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Additionally, claim 8 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention because of its dependency on claim 7, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claims 1-6 and 9-13 are examined.
The applicant failed to mention whether the election was made with or without traverse. By default, the election is treated as Election made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/30/2026.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 5-6, 9, and 12-13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding Claim 1:
The recitation “to discharge oxygen” (l. 5) is believed to be in error for – to discharge the oxygen –.
Regarding Claim 5:
The recitation “of oxygen” (l. 2) is believed to be in error for – of said oxygen –.
Regarding Claim 6:
The recitation “of oxygen” (l. 3) is believed to be in error for – of said oxygen –.
Regarding Claim 9:
The recitation “amount of oxygen” (l. 3 & l. 5) is believed to be in error for – amount of said oxygen –.
The recitation “control an opening of the valve” (l. 6) is believed to be in error for – control the opening of the valve –.
Regarding Claim 12:
The recitation “amount of oxygen” (l. 4) is believed to be in error for – amount of said oxygen –.
Regarding Claim 13:
The recitation “interior space or is less than a threshold” (l. 5) is believed to be in error for – interior space is less than a threshold –.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sandahl 2022/0407174.
Regarding Claim 1, Sandahl teaches a vehicle fire prevention system 100, 800 (100 in Figs. 1-3, 800 in Fig. 5) comprising:
a gas sensor 24a (gas sensor … includes an oxygen sensor) configured to detect a current amount of oxygen in an interior space (at the monitored areas of vehicle - battery rack 16 reads as an interior space of vehicle 11 in which sensor 24a is located) of a vehicle 11 ([0037-39; Figs. 1-2. [0039] teaches vehicle 11 is an off-road vehicle or locomotive);
a fire detector 30 configured to detect a possibility of fire occurrence of the vehicle 11 ([0072]; Figs. 1-2);
a gas tank 20, 822 (apparatus20 includes a tank, in Figs. 1-2; 822 in Fig. 5) mounted in the vehicle 11 (seen in schematic drawing in Figs. 1-2) and filled with a gas (inert gas, ideal gas, etc.) configured to discharge oxygen (oxygen via sensor 24a) present in the interior space (at the monitored areas of vehicle - battery rack 16 reads as an interior space of vehicle 11 in which sensor 24a is located) to an outside of the vehicle 11 ([0045; 0095]; Figs. 1 & 5. [0045] teaches the entire fire suppressant agent, the expellant gas, is an inert or ideal gas, which flooding entire battery rack and therefore, the oxygen present in the interior space is discharged to outside as claimed.);
a valve 836 (836 is valve in Fig. 5) connected to an outlet of the gas tank 20, 822 and configured open (open automatically) or close (prevents – is read as closing) the outlet (seen in Fig. 5) of the gas tank 20, 822 ([0097]; Figs. 1-2 & 5);
a gas supply line 834, 840 connected between the outlet of the gas tank (seen in Fig. 5) and the interior space (other areas of interest of vehicle – this reads as interior space of vehicle) [0045; 0096-98]; Fig. 5);
and a controller 12, 856 (12 in Figs. 1-3; 856 in Fig. 5) configured to control opening (open automatically) and closing (prevents – is read as closing) of the valve 836 based on a detection signal of the gas sensor 24a and a detection signal of the fire detector 30 ([0045; 0050; 0054; 0071, 0097; 0100]; Figs. 1-2 & 5).
Regarding Claim 2, Sandahl teaches the invention as claimed and as discussed above for claim 1, and Sandahl further teaches
the interior space of the vehicle 11 (other areas of interest of vehicle – this reads as interior space of vehicle) includes a passenger compartment (inherent) or an engine compartment (inherent) ([0033-34; 0039; 0045]; Figs. 1-2. [0039] teaches vehicle 11 is an off-road vehicle or locomotive. Therefore, it is inherent that the interior space of the vehicle that is monitored by sensors, is inherently a passenger compartment where sensors are located, or engine compartment where the battery pack 16 is located along with sensors, as claimed, and schematically seen in Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 3, Sandahl teaches the invention as claimed and as discussed above for claim 1, and Sandahl further teaches
the fire detector 30 includes a temperature sensor (temperature sensor) configured to detect a temperature of the interior space (monitored / any areas of vehicle 11 – this reads as interior space of vehicle) ([0034, 0072-73]).
Regarding Claim 4, Sandahl teaches the invention as claimed and as discussed above for claim 1, and Sandahl further teaches
the fire detector 30 includes a light intensity sensor (light intensity) configured to detect a light intensity (light intensity of any areas of vehicle) of the interior space (monitored / any areas of vehicle 11 – this reads as interior space of vehicle) ([0034, 0072-73]).
Regarding Claim 5, Sandahl teaches the invention as claimed and as discussed above for claim 1, and Sandahl further teaches
the gas (expellant gas is carbon dioxide) has a molecular weight greater than that of oxygen (oxygen) ([0032, 0037; 0095]. It is inherent that carbon dioxide CO2 has a greater molecular weight than oxygen O2 because of carbon atom’s molecular weight).
Regarding Claim 6, Sandahl teaches the invention as claimed and as discussed above for claim 1, and Sandahl further teaches
the gas includes one of or any combination of carbon dioxide (expellant gas is carbon dioxide), an inert gas (expellant gas may be inert gas), an odorous substance gas, and an aromatic substance gas, and the gas (expellant gas is carbon dioxide) has a molecular weight greater than that of oxygen (oxygen) ([0032, 0037; 0077, 0095]. It is inherent that carbon dioxide CO2 has a greater molecular weight than oxygen O2 because of carbon atom’s molecular weight).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-13 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art does not teach in combination with the other limitations of dependent claim 9, “compare the current amount of oxygen detected by the gas sensor with a threshold combustion oxygen demand for the interior space, and, in response to the current amount of oxygen being greater than the threshold combustion oxygen demand, control an opening of the valve to supply the gas into the interior space” disclosed in the specification [0028] and Figs. 1-2 & 5.
Prior art does not teach in combination with the other limitations of dependent claim 10, “the threshold combustion oxygen demand is set based on a size and a material content of the interior space of the vehicle” disclosed in the specification [0059].
Prior art does not teach in combination with the other limitations of the dependent claims 11, “an odor sensor configured to: detect odor in the interior space, and transmit an odor detection signal to the controller” disclosed in the specification [00063] and Figs. 1-2 & 6.
Prior art does not teach in combination with the other limitations of the dependent claims 12, “compare the current amount of oxygen detected by the gas sensor with a threshold combustion oxygen demand for the interior space, and, in response to the current amount of oxygen being greater than the threshold combustion oxygen demand, control an opening of the valve to supply the gas into the interior space” disclosed in the specification [0064] and Figs. 1-2 & 6.
Prior art does not teach in combination with the other limitations of the dependent claims 13, “determine, when an odor concentration indicated by the odor detection signal from the odor sensor after the gas is supplied into the interior space is equal to or greater than a reference odor value, that the current amount of oxygen in the interior space or is less than a threshold combustion oxygen demand for the interior space, and perform control for closing the valve” disclosed in the specification [0065] and Figs. 1-2 & 6.
Closest prior art of Tanaka 2020/0191716 teaches (in [0081-85, 00096]; Figs. 8-9) that when oxygen threshold is detected to be equal or greater it signals that fire is present and continues to burn, and if its less than the threshold the fire is dying down, and alerts are sent out. However, there is no action by controller to put the fire out or take corrective actions.
Closest prior art of Toland 2018/0050230 teaches (in [0019]; Fig. 6) that a gas sensor can detect odor. However, the gas sensor is for a plug outlet in a home and not a vehicle, and the odor is not explained as being of gas that relates to a fire or batteries
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/JACEK LISOWSKI/Examiner, Art Unit 3741
/PHUTTHIWAT WONGWIAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3741