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 .
Status of Application
Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. As of the date of this communication, no Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) has been filed with this application.
Drawings
Figure 1-2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Publication Number 2021/0257694 A1 to Kim in view of US Patent Number 8,042,637 B2 to Nagata.
A) As per Claims 1 & 15, Kim teaches a vehicle (Kim: Figure 1) comprising:
a vehicle body (Kim: Figure 1, at least Item 10);
a battery module assembly coupled to the vehicle body and comprising a module case (Kim: Figure 1, Item 20) configured to package battery cells (Kim: Figure 1, Item 21);
an inlet duct (Kim: Figure 1, Item 30) coupled to the module case and configured to introduce cooling air into a cooling path between the battery cells packaged by the module case to cool the battery cells with the cooling air, wherein the inlet duct is disposed at a lower portion of the front seat; and
an outlet duct (Kim: Figure 1, Item 40) coupled to the module case and configured to discharge the cooling air heat-exchanged with the battery cells by passing through the battery module assembly, wherein the outlet duct is disposed at a lower portion of a rear seat.
Kim does not teach a driver’s seat and a front passenger seat each mounted in a cabin of the vehicle;
the inlet duct is disposed at a lower portion of the front passenger seat;
the outlet duct is disposed at a lower portion of the driver’s seat.
However, Nagata teaches a driver’s seat and a front passenger seat each mounted in a cabin of the vehicle;
the inlet duct is disposed at a lower portion of the front passenger seat;
the outlet duct is disposed at a lower portion of the driver’s seat (Nagata: Figure 6, inlet Item 45 at lower portion of Item 12 and Item 110 is disposed at a lower portion of Item 11).
At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the teachings of Kim by having the system extend from the passenger to driver side, as taught by Nagata, with a reasonable expectation of success of arriving at the claimed invention. At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kim with these aforementioned teachings of Nagata since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself- that is in the substitution of the duct routing direction of Nagata for the duct routing direction of Kim.
Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious.
B) As per Claims 2 & 16, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the inlet duct is inserted into the module case and covers an upper portion of the battery module assembly (Kim: Figure 1, Item 30).
C) As per Claims 3 & 17, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the inlet duct comprises:
an inlet introduction portion exposed to an outside of the module case (Kim: Figure 4, Item 31) and configured to receive the cooling air;
an inlet communication portion (Kim: Figure 4, Item 30a) connected to the inlet introduction portion, extending into an inside of the module case, and configured to transmit the cooling air to the inside of the module case; and
an inlet discharge portion (Kim: Figure 4, bottom of Item 30 connected to Item 22 shown in Figure 10) connected to the inlet communication portion and configured to discharge the cooling air to the upper portion of the battery module assembly.
D) As per Claim 4, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the inlet introduction portion is water-tightly coupled to the module case by an inlet water-tight member (Kim: Figure 10, Item 16).
E) As per Claims 5 & 18, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the inlet introduction portion is disposed to protrude to a position higher than a vehicle body at a bottom of the front passenger seat and to be in communication with a cabin of the vehicle (Kim: best shown in Figure 2, Item 30).
F) As per Claim 6, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the inlet introduction portion comprises a net-shaped opening or a grill-shaped opening (Kim: Figure 4, Item 31).
G) As per Claim 7, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that an edge of the inlet discharge portion is bolt-coupled and fixed to an upper surface of the module case (Kim: Paragraph 0042).
H) As per Claims 8 & 19, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the outlet duct comprises:
an outlet introduction portion (Kim: Figure 2, portion of Item 40 connected to Item 20) connected to the module case and configured to receive the heat-exchanged air after passing through the battery module assembly;
an outlet communication portion (Kim: Figure 2, Item 40) connected to the outlet introduction portion, extending to an outside, and configured to transmit the heat-exchanged air; and
an outlet discharge portion connected to the outlet communication portion and configured to discharge the heat-exchanged air to the outside (Kim: Figure 1, Item 13).
I) As per Claim 9, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the outlet introduction portion is water-tightly coupled to the module case by an outlet water-tight member (Kim: Figure 10, Item 17).
J) As per Claim 10, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the outlet communication portion extends in a width direction of the driver seat (Nagata: Figure 6, Item 100).
K) As per Claim 11, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the outlet communication portion is bent to be higher than a horizontal height of the outlet introduction portion and the outlet discharge portion (Kim: figure 1, upper point of Item 40 is higher than all parts of 13 extending rearward).
L) As per Claims 12 & 20, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that the outlet discharge portion is disposed toward a lower portion of the vehicle at a position lower than a vehicle body at a bottom of the driver seat (Kim: Figure 1, Item 13 is lower than top of Item 10).
M) As per Claim 13, Kim in view of Nagata teaches that an edge of the outlet duct is bolt-coupled and fixed to a lower surface of a vehicle body of the vehicle (Kim: Paragraph 0042).
N) As per Claim 14, Kim in view of Nagata teaches a noise reduction pad coupled to an upper surface of the outlet duct coupled to the vehicle body (Kim: Figure 7, Item 70).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
A) US Patent Number 9,751,383 B2 to Robinet
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLEN SCHULT whose telephone number is (571)272-8511. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM.
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/Allen R. B. Schult/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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