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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 4, 2024 and August 20, 2025 was filed is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Mueller Eckhard Dipling (DE 4107391).
Regarding claim 1, Mueller Eckhard Dipling discloses a charging system [see Fig. 2] that boosts a voltage of a power supply [see stationary DC network 21-23 corresponding to the power supply] to charge a battery [see battery 4], the charging system [see Fig. 2] comprising:
an inverter [see 1] including a direct current positive end [see T1, T3, T5], a direct current negative end [see T2, T4, T6], and a plurality of alternating current ends [see 5-6 shown in the inverter 1], the direct current positive end [see T1, T3, T5] and the direct current negative end [see T2, T4, T6] being connected to the battery [see battery 4];
a motor [see 8] including N stator coils [see 9-11] each having a first end connected to a corresponding one of the alternating current ends [see 5-6 shown in the inverter 1] and a second end connected to a neutral point [see neutral point of stator coils 9-11], wherein N is the number of stator coils;
a power receiving terminal including a power receiving positive end [see 21] and a power receiving negative end [see 22] that are configured to be connected to the power supply [see stationary DC network 21-23], the power receiving negative end [see 22] being connected to a battery negative end [see 3] of the battery [see 4]; and
a charging switch [see switch 13 and 14 corresponding to the charging switch] configured to connect the first end of each of one [see only the first end of stator coil 9 shown in the motor 8] or more [see first end of stator coils 9 and 10 shown in the motor 8] and less than N of the stator coils [see all three stator coils 9, 10 and 11 in the motor 8] to the power receiving positive end [see 21].
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jang et al. (US 2025/0033498).
Regarding claim 1, Jang et al. discloses a charging system [see Fig. 1] that boosts a voltage of a power supply [see external charger 10 corresponding to the power supply] to charge a battery [see battery 101], the charging system [see Fig. 1] comprising:
an inverter [see 310] including a direct current positive end [see D1], a direct current negative end [see D2], and a plurality of alternating current ends [see U, V, W shown in the inverter 310], the direct current positive end [see D1] and the direct current negative end [see D2] being connected to the battery [see battery 101];
a motor [see 200] including N stator coils [see C1-C3] each having a first end connected to a corresponding one of the alternating current ends [see either of the U, V, W shown in the inverter 310] and a second end connected to a neutral point [see neutral point N], wherein N is the number of stator coils;
a power receiving terminal including a power receiving positive end [see 11] and a power receiving negative end [see 12] that are configured to be connected to the power supply [see external charger 10], the power receiving negative end [see 11] being connected to a battery negative end of the battery [see 100]; and
a charging switch [see switch 420 and only the two bottom switches in 410 and 500 corresponding to the charging switch] configured to connect the first end of each of one [see only the first end of stator coil C3 shown in the motor 200] or more [see first end of each one or more stator coils C1 and C2 shown in the motor 200] and less than N of the stator coils [see all three stator coils C1, C2, C3 in the motor 200] to the power receiving positive end [see 11].
Regarding claim 4, Jang et al. discloses the charging system according to claim 1, further comprising a sub-inverter [see second inverter 320] whose direct current ends [see D1’ and D2’] are connected to the battery [see battery 100] and whose alternating current ends [see U’, V’ and W’ shown in the second inverter 320] are connected to the second ends of the stator coils [see C1, C2 and C3 shown in the motor 200].
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mueller Eckhard Dipling (DE 4107391) and in view of Huang et al. (US 2022/0169147).
Regarding claim 2, Mueller Eckhard Dipling discloses the charging system [see Fig. 2] according to claim 1, further comprising wherein: the charging switch [see switch 13 and/or 14 corresponding to the charging switch] is configured to connect the first end of one of the stator coils [see either the first end of stator coil 9 or 10 shown in the motor 8] to the power receiving positive end [see 21]; and the stator coil [see stator coil 9 shown in the motor 200] connected to the charging switch [see switch 13 corresponding to the charging switch] is located below a remainder of the stator coils [see stator coils 10 and 11] in a vertical direction.
Mueller Eckhard Dipling does not disclose a cooler configured to cool the stator coil with a liquid cooling medium.
However, Huang et al. in [Fig. 3] discloses a cooler configured to cool the stator coil with a liquid cooling medium [see 0072].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the prior art prior to the filling date of the invention to add a cooler as taught by Huang et al. in the charging system as taught by Mueller Eckhard Dipling in order absorb heat from the stator coils of the motor.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mueller Eckhard Dipling (DE 4107391).
Regarding claim 3, Mueller Eckhard Dipling discloses the charging system according to claim 1 in Fig. 2 embodiment, except for further comprising a direct charging switch configured to connect the power receiving positive end to a battery positive end by bypassing the stator coils.
However, Mueller Eckhard Dipling in [Fig. 7] which is a different embodiment discloses a charging system further comprising a direct charging switch [see switch 27] configured to connect the power receiving positive end [see 17 and 21] to a battery [see 4] positive end [see 2] by bypassing the stator coils [see 9, 10, 11].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the prior art prior to the filling date of the invention to add the direct charging switch as taught by Mueller Eckhard Dipling in Fig. 7 in the charging system first embodiment as taught by Mueller Eckhard Dipling in Fig. 2, in order bypass the stator coils of the motor when the charging voltage provided by the external charging station is greater than the size of the battery voltage, thereby providing a different charging mode of the battery.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang et al. (US 2025/0033498) and in view of Huang et al. (US 2022/0169147).
Regarding claim 2, Jang et al. discloses the charging system according to claim 1, further comprising wherein: the charging switch [see switch 420 and only the two bottom switches in 410 and 500 corresponding to the charging switch] is configured to connect the first end of one of the stator coils [see only the first end of stator coil C3 shown in the motor 200] to the power receiving positive end [see 11]; and the stator coil [see stator coil C3 shown in the motor 200] connected to the charging switch [see switch 420 and only the two bottom switches in 410 and 500 corresponding to the charging switch] is located below a remainder of the stator coils [see stator coils C1 and C2] in a vertical direction.
Jang et al. does not disclose a cooler configured to cool the stator coil with a liquid cooling medium.
However, Huang et al. in [Fig. 3] discloses a cooler configured to cool the stator coil with a liquid cooling medium [see 0072].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the prior art prior to the filling date of the invention to add a cooler as taught by Huang et al. in the charging system as taught by Jang et al. in order absorb heat from the stator coils of the motor.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang et al. (US 2025/0033498) and in view of Mueller Eckhard Dipling (DE 4107391).
Regarding claim 3, Jang et al. discloses the charging system according to claim 1, except further comprising a direct charging switch configured to connect the power receiving positive end to a battery positive end by bypassing the stator coils.
However, Mueller Eckhard Dipling in [Fig. 7] discloses a charging system further comprising a direct charging switch [see switch 27] configured to connect the power receiving positive end [see 17 and 21] to a battery [see 4] positive end [see 2] by bypassing the stator coils [see 9, 10, 11].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the prior art prior to the filling date of the invention to add the direct charging switch as taught by Mueller Eckhard Dipling in the charging system as taught by Jang et al. in order bypass the stator coils of the motor when the charging voltage provided by the external charging station is greater than the size of the battery voltage, thereby providing a different charging mode of the battery.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERRENCE RONIQUE WILLOUGHBY whose telephone number is (571)272-2725. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-5:30pm.
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/TERRENCE R WILLOUGHBY/Examiner, Art Unit 2836 1/24/26
/REXFORD N BARNIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2836