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 .
DETAIL ACTION
Notice to Applicant(s)
This application has been examined. Claims 1-20 are pending.
The prior art submitted on April 15, 2024 has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ogawa (2016/0362098).
As per claim 1, Ogawa discloses an energy consumption optimization system for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) having a hybrid powertrain which includes a set of sensors configured to monitor a plurality of operating parameters of the hybrid powertrain, the hybrid powertrain comprising one or more electric traction motors powered by a battery system and an engine configured to selectively recharge the battery system and drive the HEV; and a control system configured to receive, from the set of sensors, the plurality of operating parameters of the hybrid powertrain (see at least the paragraphs 0025, 0027-0028, 0032, 0035, 0036); obtain trip information indicative of a length or duration of a current trip of the HEV (see at least the powertrain (see at least the abstract; paragraphs 0004, 0007-0009, 0015, 0016); determine, based on the plurality of operating parameters of the hybrid powertrain, a remaining energy in the battery system (see at least paragraphs 0005, 0010, 0015, 0032, 0046); determine, based on the plurality of operating parameters of the hybrid powertrain and the trip information, a trip energy needed for the hybrid powertrain to complete the current trip of the HEV (see at least figures 3, 4; paragraph 0056); compare the remaining energy in the battery system to the trip energy (see at least figures 3 and 4); and control operation of the hybrid powertrain based on the comparison (see at least figure 2).
As per claim 2, Ogawa discloses that when the remaining energy in the battery system is less than the trip energy, the control system is configured to temporarily operate the engine on to drive the HEV and to selectively recharge the battery system while satisfying a driver torque request (see at least figure 3 and 4).
As per claim 3, Ogawa discloses that the control system is configured to utilize a calibrated look-up table or multi-dimensional surface to determine an engine/ZEV split for controlling the hybrid powertrain (see at least figure 2).
As per claim 4, Ogawa discloses that the control system is configured to operate the engine in a maximum efficiency region (see at least paragraphs 0041, 0042, 0046, 0060, 0061).
As per claim 5, Ogawa discloses that the control system is configured to control the one or more electric motors and selectively operate engine on to satisfy the driver torque request based further on a speed of the HEV (see at least paragraphs 0041 and 0042).
As per claim 6, Ogawa discloses that when the remaining energy in the battery system is greater than or equal to the trip energy, the control system is configured to control the hybrid powertrain to satisfy the driver torque request using the battery system and the one or more electric motors and not starting the engine to drive the HEV and to selectively recharge the battery system (see at least figure 3 and 4).
As per claims 7 and 8, Ogawa discloses the limitations of these claims in at least paragraphs 0008, 0009, 0016, 0030, 0034-0036 and 0043.
As per claims 9 and 10, Ogawa discloses the limitations of these claims in at least figure 1, paragraphs 0004, 0025, 0037, 0039 and 0042.
With respect to claims 11-20, the limitations of these claims have been noted in the rejections above. They are therefore considered rejected as set forth above.
Conclusion
All claims are rejected.
The following references are cited as being of general interest: Eto et al. (2021/0253079), Ogawa (2022/0089141), Berney-Dale et al. (2023/0152110), Poll et al. (2022/0176939), Abdulsaid et al. (2025/0145022) and Takagi et al. (2025/0368229).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAN QUANG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-6966. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Thursday from 7:00am to 5:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Nolan, can be reached at 570-270-7016.
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June 18, 2026
/TAN Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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