CTFR 18/830,945 CTFR 94623 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 12-151 AIA 26-51 12-51 Status of Claims This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s amendments and remarks filed 28 January 2026. The Applicant has amended claims 1-2, 4-9, 11 and canceled claim 12. Claims 1-11 are presently pending and are presented for examination. Reply to Applicant’s Remarks Applicant’s remarks filed 28 January 2026have been fully considered and are addressed as follows: Objection to Drawings: Applicant’s amendment to the Drawings filed 28 January 2026 has overcome the Objections to Drawings previously set forth. Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101: Applicant’s amendment to the claims filed 28 January 2026 has overcome the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections previously set forth. Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112: Applicant’s amendment to the claims filed 28 January 2026 has overcome the 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and 112(b) rejections previously set forth. Claims Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102/103: Applicant’s arguments, see Arguments/Remarks, filed 28 January 2026, with regard to the rejections of claims 1-11 under 35 U.S.C. 102/103 have been fully considered. Applicant’s argument is moot because the argument is directed toward new limitations that have not been previously considered. As such, Applicant’s amendment has necessitated a new ground of rejection set forth in this office action. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA 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. 07-34-01 AIA Claim s 1-11 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites “a thermal management mode” in line 2-3 and further recites “a thermal management mode” in line 4. It is not clear if the “thermal management mode” of line 4 is the same “thermal management mode” in lines 2-3. Therefore, the claim is indefinite and rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b). The claim has been interpreted as best understood by the examiner. Claim 11 recites similar language as claim 1 and is rejected for similar reasons above. Claims 2-10 are rejected by virtue of the dependency on previously rejected claims. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-20-02-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co. , 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-3 and 6-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US20230127005) in view of Konishi (US20220247001) . As to claims 1, 11 and 12 , Chen teaches a method of vehicle thermal management, an apparatus for vehicle thermal management, comprising: acquiring an ambient temperature ( Chen para 0093, para 0116: ambient temperature ) and an upper temperature limit and a lower temperature limit of a thermal management component in the thermal management mode ( Chen para 0034: …a thermal management element or circuit may be controlled according to a heating or cooling requirement of the target device, such that the target device works within a suitable temperature range… ), and estimating a remaining traveling distance and/or a remaining traveling time of a vehicle from a destination responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode ( Chen para 0087-0089: A passenger sets a predicted driving route, and when a vehicle travels for a period of time, thermal management is started. When the passenger determines a driving destination, the predicted driving route is a driving route set by the passenger according to the destination…Obtain a predicted driving route; para 0041: …the road condition parameter of the predicted driving route may be: an average travel speed ( excluding a parking phase), an average travel time ( excluding a parking phase), and an average parking time; also see para 0085, para 0100-0103, para 0107, Fig. 4, Fig5 ); and thermally managing the thermal management component of the vehicle in accordance with the acquired ambient temperature, using the upper temperature limit and the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, and for the estimated remaining traveling distance and/or remaining traveling time responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode ( Chen para …para 0034: …a thermal management element or circuit may be controlled according to a heating or cooling requirement of the target device, such that the target device works within a suitable temperature range…; para 0091-0095: Determine a predicted heat production value of a target device according to the driving parameter, the road condition parameter, and a second vehicle parameter…Obtain a predicted temperature of the target device according to the predicted heat production value of the target device, a current temperature of the target device, an ambient temperature, and a third vehicle parameter… Give a control instruction according to the predicted temperature, to switch a thermal management mode, also see para 0098-0116, Fig. 4, Fig5 ). Chen does not explicitly teach determining that a vehicle traveling mode complies with a requirement of a thermal management mode according to vehicle navigation data and/or a vehicle traveling state, wherein the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of a thermal management mode because it is determined the thermal management mode is able to be implemented in the vehicle traveling mode; responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode. Konishi is directed to a battery control device. Konishi teaches …selecting an operation route based on a travel distance corresponding to a low-temperature state-of-charge upper limit as an operation route of the commercial motor-driven vehicle in which the state-of-charge upper limit is set to the low-temperature state-of-charge upper limit using the battery control method... ( see at least Konishi claim 11, also see para 0013, Fig. 6, Fig. 7 ) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen so as to include determining that a vehicle traveling mode complies with a requirement of a thermal management mode according to vehicle navigation data and/or a vehicle traveling state, wherein the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of a thermal management mode because it is determined the thermal management mode is able to be implemented in the vehicle traveling mode; responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode in view of Konishi et al. with a reasonable expectation of success. Those having ordinary skill in the art would understand that selecting a route based on state of charge of the battery being in a predetermined management range…under predetermined outside air temperature of Konishi used in Chen, as required by the claim. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine Chen and Konishi because this would have achieved the desirable result of providing a method to determine a route based on the thermal management of the battery by considering factors such as ambient temperature. As to claim 2 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode according to the vehicle navigation data and/or the vehicle traveling state comprises: responsive to the remaining traveling distance and/or the remaining traveling time of the vehicle from the destination being able to be estimated according to the vehicle navigation data ( Chen para 0087-0089: A passenger sets a predicted driving route, and when a vehicle travels for a period of time, thermal management is started. When the passenger determines a driving destination, the predicted driving route is a driving route set by the passenger according to the destination…Obtain a predicted driving route; para 0041: …the road condition parameter of the predicted driving route may be: an average travel speed ( excluding a parking phase), an average travel time ( excluding a parking phase), and an average parking time; also see para 0085, para 0101-0103; Fig. 4, Fig5 ). As to claim 3 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: acquiring one or more fixed traveling trajectories of the vehicle according to an analysis of a plurality of historical traveling trajectories of the vehicle, constructing a corresponding fixed traveling trajectory model of the vehicle for each of the one or more fixed traveling trajectories ( Chen para 0039: …the most possible driving route is selected as the predicted driving route according to a common route for the vehicle owner that is recorded by the cloud platform, also see para 0101 ). As to claim 6 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein thermally managing the thermal management component of the vehicle in the acquired ambient temperature, using the upper temperature limit and the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, and for the estimated remaining traveling distance and/or remaining traveling time responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode comprises: responsive to the ambient temperature being greater than the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component, starting cooling responsive to the temperature of the thermal management component being higher than the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component, and stopping cooling responsive to the temperature of the thermal management component being cooled to the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component ( Chen para 0034: a thermal management element or circuit may be controlled according to a heating or cooling requirement of the target device, such that the target device works within a suitable temperature range…the thermal management mode may include: when a motor needs a cooling mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that a water cooling system of the motor starts to work; when a battery needs a cooling mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that a water cooling system of the battery starts to work; and when a motor needs a cooling mode and a battery needs a heating mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that water cooling systems of the motor and the battery work simultaneously, and a coolant of the motor is used to heat the battery ). As to claim 7 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein thermally managing the thermal management component of the vehicle in the acquired ambient temperature, the upper temperature limit and the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, and for the estimated remaining traveling distance and/or remaining traveling time responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode comprises: adjusting the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component to the ambient temperature responsive to the ambient temperature being less than or equal to the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component and greater than or equal to the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, starting cooling the thermal management component responsive to the temperature of the thermal management component being greater than the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component, and stopping cooling the thermal management component responsive to the temperature of the thermal management component being cooled to the ambient temperature ( Chen para 0034: a thermal management element or circuit may be controlled according to a heating or cooling requirement of the target device, such that the target device works within a suitable temperature range…the thermal management mode may include: when a motor needs a cooling mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that a water cooling system of the motor starts to work; when a battery needs a cooling mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that a water cooling system of the battery starts to work; and when a motor needs a cooling mode and a battery needs a heating mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that water cooling systems of the motor and the battery work simultaneously, and a coolant of the motor is used to heat the battery ). As to claim 8 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein thermally managing the thermal management component of the vehicle in the acquired ambient temperature, the upper temperature limit and the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, and for the estimated remaining traveling distance and/or remaining traveling time responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode comprises: adjusting the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component to be equal to the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component responsive to the ambient temperature being less than the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, starting cooling the thermal management component responsive to the temperature of the thermal management component being greater than the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component, and stopping cooling the thermal management component responsive to the temperature of the thermal management component being cooled to the upper temperature limit of the thermal management component ( Chen para 0034: a thermal management element or circuit may be controlled according to a heating or cooling requirement of the target device, such that the target device works within a suitable temperature range…the thermal management mode may include: when a motor needs a cooling mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that a water cooling system of the motor starts to work; when a battery needs a cooling mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that a water cooling system of the battery starts to work; and when a motor needs a cooling mode and a battery needs a heating mode, in this case, the thermal management mode is set as that water cooling systems of the motor and the battery work simultaneously, and a coolant of the motor is used to heat the battery ). As to claim 9 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein thermally managing the thermal management component of the vehicle in the acquired ambient temperature, the upper temperature limit and the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, and for the estimated remaining traveling distance and/or remaining traveling time responsive to determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode further comprises: responsive to the estimated remaining traveling distance being less than a preset distance threshold, and/or the remaining traveling time being less than a preset time threshold, further adjusting the upper temperature limit and/or the lower temperature limit of the thermal management component, and thermally managing the thermal management component ( Chen para 0034: a thermal management element or circuit may be controlled according to a heating or cooling requirement of the target device, such that the target device works within a suitable temperature range… ). As to claim 10 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the thermal management component is a power battery and/or a cockpit ( Chen para 0028, para 0074-0077 ) . 07-22-aia AIA Claim s 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen in view of Konishi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sharma (US20210080269) . As to claim 4 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 3. Chen in view of Konishi does not teach wherein acquiring one or more fixed traveling trajectories of the vehicle according to the analysis of a plurality of historical traveling trajectories of the vehicle comprises: comparing start points, end points, and/or traveling trajectories of the plurality of historical traveling trajectories, responsive to a comparison result showing that a similarity of at least two historical traveling trajectories exceeds a similarity threshold, and acquiring the one or more fixed traveling trajectories according to the at least two historical traveling trajectories. However, in the same field of endeavor, Sharma teaches …determine a level of similarity between the previous transportation routes, and the initial route prediction, and may select the previous transportation routes with a similarity measure above a certain threshold as the similar previous transportation routes ( see at least Sharma, para 0073 ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen so as to include comparing start points, end points, and/or traveling trajectories of the plurality of historical traveling trajectories, when a comparison result shows that a similarity of at least two historical traveling trajectories exceeds a similarity threshold, acquiring the fixed traveling trajectories according to the at least two historical traveling trajectories in view of Sharma et al. with a reasonable expectation of success. Those having ordinary skill in the art would understand that selecting the previous transportation routes with a similarity measure above a certain threshold as the similar previous transportation routes of Sharma used in Chen, as required by the claim. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine Chen and Sharma because this would have achieved the desirable result of providing a method to determine a route based on historical trajectories adopted by more than one vehicle so that the determined route has higher probability of being an optimized route. As to claim 5 , Chen in view of Konishi teaches the method of claim 3. Sharma further teaches wherein determining whether the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode according to the vehicle navigation data and/or the vehicle traveling state comprises: comparing the vehicle navigation data and/or the vehicle traveling state with the fixed traveling trajectory model of the vehicle, and determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode responsive to a likelihood of the vehicle navigation data and/or the vehicle traveling state complying with the fixed traveling trajectory model of the vehicle exceeding a likelihood threshold ( see at least Sharma, para 0073:…determine a level of similarity between the previous transportation routes, and the initial route prediction, and may select the previous transportation routes with a similarity measure above a certain threshold as the similar previous transportation routes ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Chen so as to include comparing the vehicle navigation data and/or the vehicle traveling state with the fixed traveling trajectory model of the vehicle, determining that the vehicle traveling mode complies with the requirement of the thermal management mode when a likelihood of the vehicle navigation data and/or the vehicle traveling state complying with the fixed traveling trajectory model of the vehicle exceeds a likelihood threshold in view of Sharma et al. with a reasonable expectation of success. Those having ordinary skill in the art would understand that selecting the previous transportation routes with a similarity measure above a certain threshold as the similar previous transportation routes of Sharma used in Chen, as required by the claim. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine Chen and Sharma because this would have achieved the desirable result of providing a method to determine a route based on historical trajectories adopted by more than one vehicle so that the determined route has higher probability of being an optimized route. Conclusion 07-40 AIA Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL . See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Examiner’s Notes Examiner has cited particular columns/paragraph and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention. This will assist in expediting compact prosecution. MPEP 714.02 recites: “Applicant should also specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure. See MPEP §2163.06. An amendment which does not comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.121(b), (c), (d), and (h) may be held not fully responsive. See MPEP § 714.” Amendments not pointing to specific support in the disclosure may be deemed as not complying with provisions of 37 C.F.R. 1.131(b), (c), (d), and (h) and therefore held not fully responsive. Generic statements such as "Applicants believe no new matter has been introduced" may be deemed insufficient. Inquiry Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HONGYE LIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5410. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm. 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, Rachid Bendidi can be reached on 571-272-4896. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HONGYE LIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 2 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 3 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 4 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 5 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 6 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 7 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 8 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 9 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 10 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 11 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 12 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 13 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 14 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 15 Art Unit: 3664 Application/Control Number: 18/830,945 Page 16 Art Unit: 3664
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