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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 5 March 2025, 28 February 2026, and 26 June 2026 were considered by the examiner.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The busbar 62, cited in paragraphs 17, 56, and 57 is not found in any of the drawings.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities: The acronym "CCS" is not defined in the claim. For the purposes of examination, the definition "cell contacting system" will be used. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The language “both ends of each of the reinforcement beams are fixedly connected to two of the side beams, and/or both ends of each of the liquid cooling plates are fixedly connected to two of the side beams.” And “both ends of the cross beam are in contact with two of the side beams” from claims 2 and 5 respectively are interpreted by the examiner to mean that each end of each mentioned structure (reinforcement beam, liquid cooling plate, cross beam) is connected to a separate side beam than the other end of that same structure. In other words, a total of two side beams are connected to each structure with one side beam on each end of the structure. This interpretation is based on the instant specification and drawings.
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 (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 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 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 4184686A1 (Yang).
Considering claim 1, Yang teaches a battery pack 10 including a plurality of battery cells 150 arranged in two directions (X and Y), a cell accommodation unit 400 comprising accommodation members, and a plurality of cooling units 300 that include cooling water [0059, 0125, 0151, Fig 2]. The cooling units are arranged to be between the accommodation members of the cell accommodation unit, and the cooling unit and cell accommodation unit partition the plurality of battery cells [0012, 0152].
Considering claim 19, the battery pack of claim 19 follows the same limitations as the battery pack of claim 1. Yang teaches that the battery pack described in the rejection of claim 1 may be provided in an electric vehicle as an energy source [0058].
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2-5, 10, 13-15, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 4184686A1 (Yang) in view of CN 115084708A (Liu) with reference to the Liu English translation provided in the Official Correspondance.
Considering claim 2, Yang teaches the battery pack as described in the rejection of claim 1 above. Additionally, the battery pack includes a positive electrode busbar 210 and a negative electrode busbar 220 that are positioned at opposite outer sides of the battery pack [0100, Fig 5, Fig 12]. These electrode busbars are considered to be analogous to the side beams of the instant claim. A filling member 500 may be used in the space between the cooling unit 300 and the battery cells 150 and filled to fully cover the cell accommodation unit 400 and the busbar assembly 200 without discontinuity [0159, 0174, Fig 12]. The ends of the accommodation members and/or the ends of the cooling units would be connected to the two electrode busbars mentioned above through the filling member. However, Yang is silent to explicitly teach the battery pack being disposed in an accommodating cavity within a box body.
In the same field of endeavor of power storage, Liu teaches a honeycomb liquid-cooled battery module structure that includes battery cells with liquid-cooled flat tubes disposed between the battery cells [0006]. The module is encased by mica sheets 1 on the upper and lower outer sides, aluminum side plates 2 on the left and right outer sides, and plastic end plates 10 on the front and rear end surfaces [0031, 0038, Fig 2]. The mica sheets, aluminum side plates, and plastic end plates form the box body structure and accommodating cavity of the instant claim. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the battery pack of Yang to include a body that encloses the battery module as taught by Liu in order to prevent short circuits between adjacent modules caused by the explosion of battery cells [0032].
Considering claim 3, Yang teaches that the accommodation member covers at least one side of the battery cells and has a shape corresponding to the outer surface of the battery cells [0150]. Similarly, the cooling units are in contact with the battery cells and are formed in a shape corresponding to the outer surface of the battery cells [0122, 0127].
Considering claim 4, Yang teaches an embodiment of the invention in which cylindrical secondary batteries define the plurality of battery cells within the battery pack [0059]. Additionally, the accommodation members 450 seen in Fig 9 and the cooling member 300 seen in Fig 7 both embody the serpentine corrugated structure described by the instant claim [Fig 7, Fig 9]. The matching of the accommodation members and cooling units to the surfaces of the cells was addressed in the rejection of claim 3 above.
Considering claim 5, any of the accommodation members or cooling units taught by Yang could be considered a cross beam according to the broadest reasonable interpretation of the limitations set forth by the instant claim. The rejection of claim 2 describes how each of the accommodation members and cooling units are connected to two bus bars, which are analogous to side beams. Alternatively, Liu teaches a plastic side plate 9, shown to be in parallel with the liquid-cooled flat tubes 3 and connected to the two plastic end plates 10 [Fig 1, Fig 2]. The plastic side plate carries the same limitations as the cross beam of the instant claim as the plastic end plates function as the side beams of the instant claim. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the battery pack of Yang to include the plastic side plate as taught by Liu in order to reinforce the structure of the battery pack [0037].
Considering claim 10, Yang teaches a filling member that may include glass bubble, filled to cover the battery cells [0167, 0177]. The inclusion of glass bubble in the filling member satisfies the colloidal limitation and by covering the cells, the filling member effectively forms a sleeve.
Considering claim 13, Yang teaches a cell support unit 600 that connects to the cell accommodation unit 400 via the filling member 500, but is silent to explicitly teach the support unit being connected to a bottom plate and the support unit containing installation slots [0175, Fig 12].
Liu teaches the honeycomb liquid-cooled battery module structure to include a plastic base plate 8 that is positioned between the lower mica sheet 1 and the battery cells 4 [Fig 2]. The plastic base plate 8 includes cell embedding grooves 81 configured for each of the battery cells [Fig 6]. The cell embedding grooves have a depth less than the thickness of the plastic base plate, with a modified Liu Fig 6 produced for clarity. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the battery pack of Yang to include cell embedding grooves in the cell support unit in order to ensure the reliability of the cell fixing structure [0042].
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Considering claim 14, Liu teaches the plastic base plate 8 to include reinforcing ribs that create a venting space at the bottom of the module [0042, Fig 6]. Based on the orientation of the parts seen in Fig 2, the venting space created by the reinforcing ribs is positioned between the lower mica sheet 1, the plastic base plate 8, the aluminum side plates 2, and the plastic end plates 10 [Fig 2]. Each embedding grove 81 includes a large-hole design that exposes a part of the bottom of the battery cell to the venting space [0042, Fig 6].
Considering claim 15, Yang teaches an embodiment of the invention where the cell support unit 605 includes insertion grooves 655 in which the bottom of the cell accommodation unit 400 is inserted and fixed stably [0190, Fig 11]. This is considered to be analogous to the fixing holes and protrusions of the instant claim.
Considering claim 17, Yang teaches a busbar assembly 200 on the battery cell assembly 100 in the positive Z direction, electrically connecting the plurality of battery cells 150 [0095, Fig 2]. Yang is silent to explicitly teach a fixing frame with installation holes included in the busbar assembly.
Liu teaches a current collector 6 and plastic cover plate 7 as part of the module [Fig 2]. The current collector includes fusible aluminum tabs that are fixed to each of the battery cells to achieve an electrical connection [0034]. The plastic cover plate 7 includes connecting hole grooves 71 through which the aluminum electrode tabs are welded to the battery cells [0039, Fig 5]. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the busbar assembly of Yang to include a plate with connecting hole grooves as taught by Liu in order to strengthen the structure of the module while still allowing connection between the busbar assembly and the battery cells [0044].
Claims 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 4184686A1 (Yang) in view of CN 115084708A (Liu) with reference to the Liu English translation provided in the Official Correspondance as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of KR 101016596 B1 (Kang) with reference to the Kang English translation provided in the Official Correspondence.
Considering claim 6, in the same field of endeavor of power storage, Kang teaches a cell cartridge containing a plurality of unit cells within a case [0001]. Included in the cell cartridge is a spacing member 150 which has a structure of concave seating portions 151 that sides of the batteries 10 are seated in and that is interposed between the batteries 10 [0012, Fig 7]. These spacing members are considered to be analogous to the cell accommodation members taught by Yang and the reinforcement beams of the instant claim. The spacing members may be fixed to the case body by a protrusion-groove fitting method and may be fixed to side portions of the case body [0012]. When applying these teachings to the cell accommodation members, cooling units, and busbars of Yang, a plurality of grooves corresponding to protrusions on the cell accommodation members and a plurality of grooves corresponding to protrusions on the cooling units would be present on the busbars, acting to fix in place each cell accommodation member and cooling unit. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the battery pack of Yang and Liu to include the groove/protrusion fitting method for members interposed between batteries as taught by Kang in order to ensure a certain spacing within the case body [0012].
Considering claim 8, the groove/protrusion fitting method taught by Kang may be considered to be opposite the embodiment described in the rejection of claim 6. The grooves may instead be on the spacing members and the protrusions on the side portions of the case body. Therefore, on the cell accommodation members and cooling units may include grooves and the busbars may include protrusion when applying this embodiment to the teachings of Yang. The reason for including the groove/protrusion fitting method is the same as described above.
Claims 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 4184686A1 (Yang) in view of CN 115084708A (Liu) and KR 101016596 B1 (Kang) with reference to the Liu and Kang English translations provided in the Official Correspondence as applied to claims 6 and 8 above, and further in view of EP 4064431 A1 (Choi).
Considering claim 7, in the same field of endeavor of power storage, Choi teaches a battery pack including a plurality of battery cells accommodated in a pack housing and a reinforcing member fixed within the pack housing [0012, 0018]. The reinforcing member is considered to be analogous to the cell accommodation members taught by Yang and the spacing members taught by Kang. The reinforcing member 220 may be fixed to an inner surface of the pack housing 214b by welding in an example [0069, Fig 8]. Applying this method of welding to the rejection of claim 6 above would involve welding the groove and protrusion to each other when fixing the cell accommodation members and cooling units to the busbars of Yang for example. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the fitting method of Yang, Liu, and Kang to include welding as taught by Choi in order to more firmly fix the reinforcing member to the pack housing.
Considering claim 9, the method of welding of the second plug-in parts to the second recesses as specified by the instant claim is considered to be identical to the method of welding specified by claim 7. Therefore, the reasoning for the rejection of claim 7 above may be applied here as well with reference to the rejection of claim 8 instead of claim 6.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 4184686A1 (Yang) in view of CN 115084708A (Liu) with reference to the Liu English translation provided in the Official Correspondance as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of EP 4156392 A1 (Hadler).
Considering claim 11, the filling member taught by Yang as described in the rejection of claim 10 above will inherently have openings corresponding to each of the battery cells as covering the battery will create an opening in which the battery resides. Furthermore, Yang teaches that the filling member may act as an adhesive when applied to the battery cells, thereby satisfying the limitation of an inner wall of the filling member being bonded to the outer surface of the battery cell [0157]. Yang includes that the filling member may include a material that has high heat resistance performance to prevent thermal runaway to adjacent battery cells when a thermal event occurs in at least one battery cell, but is silent to explicitly teach the filling member comprising a foam rubber.
In the same field of endeavor of power storage, Hadler teaches a battery cell holder for transport of battery cells that includes a plate which has a plurality of holes in which at least a portion of each battery cell is inserted into a corresponding hole [ABS]. The plate is a foam plate and may be made of a foam rubber [0015]. This foam rubber plate containing a plurality of holes in which a plurality of batteries fit is analogous to the fitting member of Yang. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the filling member of Yang to be made of a foam rubber as taught by Hadler in order to protect and stabilize the battery cells as the foam rubber absorbs vibration and shocks [0015].
Considering claim 12, Yang teaches that the filling member may be continuously filled in the battery cells and the cell support unit 600 [0176]. The cell support unit is considered to be a bottom plate in this instance. The battery cells are thus connected to the cell support unit via the filling member. Filling in the battery cells is considered to be filling in any gaps between battery cells.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 4184686A1 (Yang) in view of CN 115084708A (Liu) with reference to the Liu English translation provided in the Official Correspondance as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of CN 114447498 A (Tan) with reference to the Tan English translation provided in the Official Correspondence.
Considering claim 16, in the same field of endeavor of power storage, Tan teaches a battery pack including a battery cells, a base plate to support the battery cells, and a mounting beam placed between the battery cells [n0006, n0013]. The mounting beam includes a bottom beam that has a groove which overlaps and is welded with the base plate [n0074]. With the base plate acting as the support frame of the instant claim, the mounting beam, which may be considered the reinforcement beam of the instant claim, is welded on a grooved portion. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the fitting method of the cell support unit and cell accommodation unit of Yang and Liu to include welding at the grooved portions as taught by Tan, in order to provide a fixed connection between the support plate and the groove [n0073]. It is of note that the Tan English translation includes a “settling groove 424” and a “settling tank 424”. This is likely a translation error, and these are both assumed to mean settling groove 424 as it is defined in paragraph n0038.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 4184686A1 (Yang) in view of CN 115084708A (Liu) with reference to the Liu English translation provided in the Official Correspondance as applied to claim 17 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0111495 (Jung).
Considering claim 18, in the same field of endeavor of power storage, Jung teaches a battery pack that includes a plurality of battery cells and a bus bar assembly that is electrically connected to the plurality of battery cells [ABS]. The bus bar assembly includes sub bus bars 250, which each include a bus bar bridge 252, a positive electrode connection portion 254, and a negative electrode connection portion 256 [0125, Fig 11]. The bus bar assembly further comprises positive electrode bus bar holes 242 in which the positive electrode connection portion 254 is electrically connected to a positive electrode of a battery cell, and negative electrode bus bar holes 244 in which the negative electrode connection portion 256 is electrically connected to a negative electrode of a battery cell [0129, 0131, Fig 11]. Additionally, the bus bar assembly includes a pair of bus bar covers 240 in between which the sub bus bars 250 are inserted [0114, Fig 10]. The bus bar covers act as the connecting arms of the instant claim. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the busbar assembly of Yang and Liu to include a structure having positive and negative electrode holes through which positive and negative bus bar portions connect to positive and negative electrodes of battery cells as taught by Jung, in order to more efficiently guide the electrical connections between the bus bar connection portions and the electrode terminals of battery cells [0117, 0120].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Elliott H Clark whose telephone number is (571)272-0154. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 7:30-5:00.
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/E.H.C./ Examiner, Art Unit 1784
/HUMERA N. SHEIKH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1784
