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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/4/24 has been considered by the examiner.
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 11-30 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.
The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors.
Claim 11 recites “at least one at least releasable inlet opening” and “at least one at least releasable outlet opening”, which is indefinite. Examiner suggest “at least one at least” be replaced with “at least one”. Furthermore, it is unclear how the openings are each “releasable”.
Claim 11 recites “is designed in such a way” and “can be”, which are indefinite. The claim should clearly recite the structure of the cell degassing channel arrangement.
Claim 11 recites “at least one component for gas cooling that is different from a cooling device for cooling the battery”, which is indefinite. It is unclear what Applicant is intending to claim. It is unclear what encompasses “different from a cooling device for cooling the battery”.
Claim 11 recites multiple terms that lack proper antecedent basis such as “at least one inlet opening”, “the channel”, “the at least one outlet opening”, “a gas” and “the component”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. All claims (11-30) should be carefully reviewed to ensure all of these limitations have proper antecedent basis.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "a coolant" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 13 recites “at the latest”, which is indefinite. Examiner suggests “at the latest” be deleted from the claim.
Claim 16 recites the guiding structure “comprises or represents” the component for gas cooling, which is indefinite. A single term should be used to represent each claimed element.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the gas guiding structure" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 17 recites the limitation "the interior". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 17 recites the limitation "the flow channels". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. See also claim 18.
The term “preferably” in claim 17 is indefinite as it is unclear if what follows “preferably” is part of the claimed invention. See also “and/or” of claim 17 and claim 18.
Claim 18 recites “in a main direction”, which is indefinite as it is unclear what encompasses “a main direction” and how the main direction “corresponds to a first direction”. See also “in its course in the main direction” and “with respect to a second direction perpendicular to the first”.
Claim 18 recites the limitation "plate" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner suggests “the at least one perforated plate”.
Claims 20-30 are similarly rejected as indefinite as the claims recite the same elements rejected to above regarding claims 11-19. All claims require correction.
To the extent the claims are understood in view of the 35 USC 112 rejections above, note the following prior art rejections.
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.
Claim(s) 11-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee, US 2021/0021002 A1.
Lee teaches an energy storage system includes a module stack having a plurality of battery modules stacked vertically; a venting detecting unit configured to detect a venting when the venting occurs in at least a part of the plurality of battery modules; and a coolant supplying unit configured to supply a coolant to a battery module at which a venting occurs when the venting of the battery module is detected by the venting detecting unit (abstract). See at least Figures 1, 6 and 7.
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The figures of Lee depict a cell degassing channel arrangement with a cell degassing channel 30 and a collection channel 40. The channel 30 comprises coolant guides 31 (at least one component) wherein coolant flow through as shown by at least Figure 7. Figure 1 shows a first connection duct 50 and a second connection duct 60 as well as a venting detection unit 70 which may be a sensor for detecting gas [0051]. If venting of some battery modules 10 is detected by the venting detecting unit 70, the coolant is supplied into the battery modules 10 where the venting occurs, to prevent the temperature of the battery modules 10 from rising [0041].The coolant supplying unit 20 may have a driving device such as a pumping motor therein for supplying and recovering the coolant [0044]. See also [0041]-[0050].
At least Figures 6 and 7 show the channel includes a channel wall which separators an interior of the channel and a gas guiding structure 31 is provided. At least two coolant guides are shown in the figures. The coolant guides 31 have an inclined structure. See also [0049].
Thus, the claims are anticipated. Note the limitations “actively cooled” and “not actively cooled” do not impart structure to the claimed cell degassing channel arrangement. The energy storage system of Lee is capable of “actively cooling” and “not actively cooling”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shimizu et al. (US2016/0204404A1) teaches a battery module includes: a plurality of battery cells and a case for housing the plurality of battery cells. The case has a plurality of through-holes which are provided to a wall part forming an outer face of the battery module and via which gas ejected from at least one of the plurality of battery cells is discharged in a dispersed manner (abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACY DOVE whose telephone number is (571)272-1285. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-3:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Buie-Hatcher can be reached at 571-270-3879. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TRACY M DOVE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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