Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 30, 2026
Application No. 19/035,852

VEHICLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Final Rejection §102§103
Filed
Jan 24, 2025
Priority
Jan 30, 2024 — JP 2024-011615
Examiner
PETTIEGREW, TOYA R
Art Unit
3662
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Toyota Motor Corporation
OA Round
2 (Final)
65%
Grant Probability
Moderate
3-4
OA Rounds
1y 8m
Est. Remaining
83%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 65% of resolved cases
65%
Career Allowance Rate
115 granted / 178 resolved
+12.6% vs TC avg
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
207
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
19.0%
-21.0% vs TC avg
§103
69.3%
+29.3% vs TC avg
§102
4.1%
-35.9% vs TC avg
§112
7.5%
-32.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 178 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
CTNF 19/035,852 CTNF 95647 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. Examiner Note: Cited references are bold italicized . Examiner interpretations are proceeding with an asterisk *. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Yamamoto et al. (US 20250388075 A1; hereinafter Yamamoto) . Regarding claim 1 , Yamamoto teaches a vehicle management system (see at least, [0082] The controller 60 serves as a control unit that controls the operation of each of the various control target devices) comprising: a temperature control device (see at least, Fig 2, [0018] electric control unit of the refrigeration cycle device) configured to cool and control the temperature of a target in-vehicle device that generates heat as a vehicle travels (see at least, [0187] supplies the coolant whose temperature has reached the target temperature to the inverter 35 and the motor-generator 36, making it possible to cool the inverter 35 and the motor-generator 36) ; and a management controller that controls driving of the temperature control device (see at least, [0022] Fig 6, a control routine to be executed by a controller of the refrigeration cycle device) ; wherein the management controller is configured to change a limit threshold value of a control parameter of the temperature control device in a manner to increase a cooling capability when a special mode (see at least, [0231] Upon determining that the selected driving mode is the Sport mode…the controller 60 sets the target temperature for the coolant in the low-temperature coolant circuit 30 to a Sport-mode temperature LT1 that is lower than the Eco-mode temperature) , in which a travel performance is prioritized over a fuel consumption, is set as compared with a case where the special mode is not set (see at least, [0102] Sport mode is a performance-oriented driving mode in which the output of the motor-generator 36 is not restricted for the sake of energy saving). *Examiner interprets the sport mode as a special mode as defined in applicant’s specification as filed, e.g. [0006] when the special mode such as the sports traveling mode is set . 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto et al. (US 20250388075 A1; hereinafter Yamamoto) in view of Li et al. (CN 115503554 A; hereinafter Li) . Regarding claim 2 , Yamamoto teaches the vehicle management system according to claim 1. Yamamoto does not explicitly teach wherein the management controller includes a storage provided inside or outside the vehicle, and the management controller is configured to store a load amount of the temperature control device in the storage when the special mode is set. However, Li teaches this limitation. Li teaches wherein the management controller includes a storage provided inside or outside the vehicle (see at least, [~0022] preset cooling mode threshold mapping table or preset heating mode threshold mapping table, respectively correspondingly executing different battery heat management cooling strategy or different battery heat management heating strategy) , and the management controller is configured to store a load amount of the temperature control device in the storage when the special mode is set (see at least, [~0050] when the vehicle is in the sport mode, the vehicle cooling preset entering temperature threshold value and the preset exit temperature threshold value under the same condition are reduced by 1-2 degrees centigrade…according to the large data statistics can judge the driving habit of the user…the battery management system BMS will self-adaptively match the driving cooling strategy in the sport mode). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filed date of the claimed invention to have modified Yamamoto to include wherein the management controller includes a storage provided inside or outside the vehicle, and the management controller is configured to store a load amount of the temperature control device in the storage when the special mode is set as taught by Li in order to execute an intelligent matching cooling strategy in different modes to improve the driving experience and optimize the vehicle energy consumption. Regarding claim 5 , the combination of Yamamoto and Li teaches the vehicle management system according to claim 2. Li further teaches wherein the management controller is further configured to store the load amount of the target in-vehicle device in the storage when the special mode is set (see at least, claim 8, The electric automobile intelligent battery thermal management control method according to…the battery thermal management mode, and….the battery charge state, preset cooling mode threshold mapping table…executing different battery heat management cooling strategy….matching the battery heat management cooling strategy…in vehicle sport mode) and the management controller is configured to determine a compensation content of the vehicle based on the load amount of the target in-vehicle device (see at least, [~0044], when judging that the driving habit type is the aggressive type, then matching the battery heat management cooling strategy or battery heat management heating strategy in vehicle sport mode). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filed date of the claimed invention to have modified Yamamoto to include wherein the management controller is further configured to store the load amount of the target in-vehicle device in the storage when the special mode is set, and the management controller is configured to determine a compensation content of the vehicle based on the load amount of the target in-vehicle device as taught by Li in order to execute an intelligent matching cooling strategy in different modes to improve the driving experience and optimize the vehicle energy consumption . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto et al. (US 20250388075 A1; hereinafter Yamamoto) in view of Li et al. (CN 115503554 A; hereinafter Li) in further view of Carlson et al. (US 20200343601 A1; hereinafter Carlson) . Regarding claim 3 , the combination of Yamamoto and Li teaches vehicle management system according to claim 2. The combination does not explicitly teach wherein the management controller is configured to: estimate a lifetime of the temperature control device based on the load amount stored in the storage; and correct the limit threshold value of the control parameter of the temperature control device based on the lifetime which is estimated. However, Carlson teaches this limitation. Carlson teaches wherein the management controller is configured to: estimate a lifetime of the temperature control device based on the load amount stored in the storage (see at least, [0002] The system monitors a current battery temperature, and calculates an actual average battery temperature. The system compares the calculated actual average battery temperature to a target lifetime battery temperature) ; and correct the limit threshold value of the control parameter of the temperature control device based on the lifetime which is estimated (see at least, [0008] When the actual average battery temperature is less than the target lifetime battery temperature, and the current battery temperature is greater than the target lifetime battery temperature, the system alters cooling behavior based on the calculated coefficients of performance). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filed date of the claimed invention to have further modified the combination of Yamamoto and Li to include the management controller is configured to: estimate a lifetime of the temperature control device based on the load amount stored in the storage; and correct the limit threshold value of the control parameter of the temperature control device based on the lifetime which is estimated as taught by Carlson in order to actively cool the battery by determining cooling aggressiveness, which may alter the speed/time to the target temperature (Carlson, [0129]). Regarding claim 4 , the combination of Yamamoto and Li and Carlson teaches the vehicle management system according to claim 3. Yamamoto further teaches wherein the load amount includes at least one of the number of times the special mode is turned on and an amount of operation of the temperature control device at a load equal to or higher than a predetermined standard limit threshold value (see at least, [0050] throttle opening, of the refrigerant passage when the pressure of the refrigerant at the outlet side of the first evaporator 14 exceeds the predetermined value) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Peng et al. (CN 117818340 A) discloses a management controller that controls driving of the temperature control device (e.g., [~0007] the cooling loop, the battery loop, the heating loop and the AC refrigerating loop of the electric drive system are controlled by the whole vehicle controller VCU so as to realize the comprehensive thermal management of the whole vehicle) . Rangel et al. (US 20210396437 A1) discloses the management controller is configured to: estimate a lifetime of the temperature control device based on the load amount stored in the storage (e.g., [0043] predicting, at the diagnostic device, remaining lifetime of the climate control device at least partially from a database associating climate control devices with respective lifetime information). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOYA PETTIEGREW whose telephone number is (313)446-6636. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30pm - 5:00pm M-F. 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, Jelani Smith can be reached at 571-270-3969. 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. /TOYA PETTIEGREW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 2 Art Unit: 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 3 Art Unit: 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 4 Art Unit: 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 5 Art Unit: 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 6 Art Unit: 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 7 Art Unit: 3662 Application/Control Number: 19/035,852 Page 8 Art Unit: 3662
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 24, 2025
Application Filed
May 13, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
May 27, 2026
Interview Requested
Jun 02, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Jun 10, 2026
Response Filed
Jun 13, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Aug 25, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
65%
Grant Probability
83%
With Interview (+18.1%)
3y 3m (~1y 8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 178 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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