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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on September 14, 2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JP2023-149539 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55. Note the Priority Document Exchange Failure Status Report dated February 14, 2025.
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) 1 – 4 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kitahara (US 2023/0131436 A1).
As for claim 1, Kitahara et al. disclose an electric work machine having a body in which a first opening part (42P) and a second opening part are provided in an exterior part (paragraph [0053]), the electric work machine comprising: in an inner part of the body, a battery unit (53) for charging power; an electric motor (61) which is driven by the power supplied from the battery unit; a hydraulic pump (71) which is driven by the electric motor to eject hydraulic oil; a heat exchanger (HE) for cooling the hydraulic oil; and a fan (F) which sucks air from the first opening part into the inner part of the body and evacuates the air from the second opening part to an outer part of the body, wherein the first opening part provided in the exterior part is located in a lower position than the electric motor (paragraph [0053]).
As for claims 2 – 4, the first opening part is provided opposite to the electric motor, the battery unit is arranged opposite to the electric motor, and the fan is arranged opposite to a side surface of the battery unit (Fig. 3 4). Note that the claims do not define the direction in which each element is disposed “opposite” another; therefore, the arrangement of Kitahara inherently meets the claim limitations as broadly recited.
As for claim 15, the exterior part includes a hood member (44a) located in a side part of the body, and the second opening part is provided in the hood member (Figs. 1 and 3).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 8 – 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kitahara (US 2023/0131436 A1) alone.
As for claim 8, while Kitahara does not explicitly disclose a duct, the interior of the hood and the other components in the engine room direct air past the battery to the second opening part, and therefore function as a “duct”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a separate duct structure to direct air as desired.
As for claims 9 – 11, Kitahara further discloses a first electrical device (low voltage battery 54) and converter (66). It is noted that the converter is inherently disposed on “one side” with respect to the low voltage battery and the battery unit.
As for claim 12, the electric motor (61) is below at least the top surface of the battery unit.
As for claim 13, an inverter (62) is arranged opposite the motor and a second electrical device (65) is electrically connected to the inverter and disposed opposite to the battery.
As for claim 14, Kitahara at least suggests the first opening part is provided in a body frame in a bottom part of the body. Note that Kitahara disclose that the first opening part admits air “from below the engine room” and shows a body frame (42) below the engine room in Fig. 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 – 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art does not teach or suggest a first fan and a second fan arranged one on top of the other in an up-down direction, in combination with the other claim elements.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Katy M Ebner whose telephone number is (571)272-5830. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, J. Allen Shriver can be reached at (303)297-4337. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Katy M Ebner/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3613
Prosecution Insights