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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103:
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.
Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. (US 2023/0226877, herein “Hu”) in view of Doke (US 2024/0391356).
Regarding claim 1, Hu discloses:
a vehicle temperature control system (fig. 7A) used in an electric vehicle [par. 0002],
the vehicle temperature control system comprising:
a reserve tank (26) configured to store a temperature control liquid (fig. 7A);
a cooling circuit (tank 26-port b27-port b29-cooler-electrical driver-tank 26) configured to circulate the temperature control liquid in an order of the reserve tank (26), a first cooling unit (“cooler”) configured to cool the temperature control liquid, and an object to be cooled (“electrical driver”) provided in the electric vehicle (fig. 7A),
a heater circuit (tank 26-port b27-port b21-water heater-heater core-port b24-port b28-tank 26) configured to circulate the temperature control liquid in an order of the reserve tank (26), a heater (“water heater”) configured to heat the temperature control liquid, and an object to be heated (“heater core”) provided in the electric vehicle (fig. 7A),
a temperature control circuit including
(i) a heating flow path (port b24-port b26-battery-port b25) connected to the heater circuit (at port b24) and configured to allow the temperature control liquid heated by the heater (“water heater”) to flow from the reserve tank (26) to a battery (“battery”) for driving provided in the electric vehicle (see annotated fig. 7A-HU, page 3),
(ii) a cooling flow path configured to allow the cooled temperature control liquid to flow from the reserve tank (26) toward the battery (“battery”) and a charging unit configured to charge the battery (“battery”) (see annotated fig. 7A-HU, below); and
(iii) a recovery flow path configured to allow the temperature control liquid to flow from the heating flow path and the cooling flow path (both at b25) toward the reserve tank (26) (see annotated fig. 7A-HU, below); and
a first valve (“nine-way valve”) configured to open and close the heating flow path (see annotated fig. 7A-HU, below).
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MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 1 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding:
the “a reserve tank (26) configured to store a temperature control liquid,”
the “a cooling circuit configured to circulate the temperature control liquid in an order of the reserve tank (26), a first cooling unit (“cooler”) configured to cool the temperature control liquid, and an object to be cooled (“electrical driver”) provided in the electric vehicle,”
the “a heater circuit configured to circulate the temperature control liquid in an order of the reserve tank (26), a heater (“water heater”) configured to heat the temperature control liquid, and an object to be heated (“heater core”) provided in the electric vehicle,”
the “a heating flow path…configured to allow the temperature control liquid heated by the heater (“water heater”) to flow from the reserve tank (26) to a battery (“battery”) for driving provided in the electric vehicle,”
the “a cooling flow path configured to allow the cooled temperature control liquid to flow from the reserve tank (26) toward the battery (“battery”) and a charging unit configured to charge the battery (“battery”),” and
the “a recovery flow path configured to allow the temperature control liquid to flow from the heating flow path and the cooling flow path (both at b25) toward the reserve tank (26)”
limitations, the invention as taught by Hu is deemed fully capable of performing the afore mentioned functions by operating the nine-way valve. Please refer to annotated fig. 7A-HU, page 3.
(it is noted, Hu does not specifically disclose a charging unit configured to charge the battery. However, it is known in the art that electric vehicles like the one disclosed by Hu require on-board charging units. Further, Doke, also directed to a temperature control system for an electric vehicle [par. 0021], teaches that it is also known in the art of electric vehicles to have a charging unit (SPU 132) [par. 0032] arranged on the same coolant path as a motor generator (PCU 133, 134) [par. 0032] (seen in fig. 1) that are supplied with electric power from a battery (200) [par. 0032].
It would have been obvious to one of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into Hu the teachings of Doke to have a charging unit arranged on Hu’s cooling flow path for the purpose of optimizing performance of the electric vehicle by thermal controlling Hu’s charging unit.
Regarding claim 8, Hu discloses:
the object to be cooled (“electrical driver”) includes a motor [par. 0082] that is supplied with electric power from the battery (“battery”) and is used to drive the electric vehicle (known in the art) [par. 0082], and
wherein the object to be heated (“heater core”) includes a heater core used to heat a vehicle interior of the electric vehicle (fig. 7A) [par. 0087].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA whose telephone number is (571)272-6018. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
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/GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/LEN TRAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763