DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-14 of U.S. Application No. 19055938 filed on 02/18/2025 are presented for examination.
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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/18/2025, and 11/25/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The term “closely” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “closely” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is not clear what is the maximum distance that If the converter housing surpasses from the drive system, it will be considered no longer “closely” joined. Therefore, failing to set the metes and bounds of the claims. Claims 2-14 are rejected for depending on claim 1.
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.
Claims 1, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi et al. (WO 2023/054439, and its equivalent US 2024/0399883 is used herein solely for English translation purposes; Hereinafter, “Takahashi”) in view of Kanazawa et al. (WO 2014/188803; Hereinafter, “Kanazawa”).
Regarding claim 1: Takahashi discloses a vehicle powertrain (fig. 1) structure comprising: a drive system (10) that has a motor (motors 1, and 2) as a drive source for travel of a vehicle (para [0015]) and a drive system housing (11-12) and accommodating at least the motor (1-2);
a battery as a power source of the motor (abstract, last 4 lines); and a power converter (4; para [0020]) that has a circuit section (DC circuit) interposed between the motor (1-2) and the battery (through junction box 30) and converting power between the motor and the battery (DC to AC) and a converter housing (14) and accommodating the circuit section (6, and 7), wherein the converter housing (14) is closely joined (see fig. 3, the converter housing 14 seems to be close enough to housing 11-2) to the drive system housing (motors 1-2) or integrally provided with the drive system housing (11-12), and in the drive system housing (11-12), a direct current (DC) connector (see the connector at the end of the PN wire 9 to be connected to the bus-bar; fig. 6), to which a wire (9) extending from the battery (via box 30) is connected, is disposed in a wall portion (the wall of the lower case 16), and a DC wire (20, 22) for connecting the circuit section of the power converter to the DC connector and a noise filter (17) inserted in the DC wire are accommodated (fig. 6-7).
Takahashi does not specifically specify a drive system housing formed by using a conductive material, a converter housing formed by using a conductive material.
Kanazawa teaches forming the drive system housing (motor housing 201) by using a conductive material (meta), a converter housing (inverter metal housing 313) formed by using a conductive material (metal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed the drive system housing and the converter housing of a conductive material as taught by Kanazawa since such material could be grounded thus increase the safety of the device, easy to manufacture, and good in heat dissipation.
Regarding claim 11/1: Takahashi in view Kanazawa disclose the limitations of claim 1 and Takahashi further discloses that the drive system (1-2) and the power converter (4) are mounted in a powertrain compartment that is provided in a front portion of the vehicle, the battery is mounted in a portion of the vehicle on a rear side of the powertrain compartment (see in fig. 2, the batter which connected with box 30 are in rear side with respect to the drive system), and the DC connector (at the end of wire 9) is disposed in the wall portion on a rear side of the drive system housing (fig. 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10,12-14 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED ELNAKIB whose telephone number is (571)270-0638. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00AM-4:00PM.
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/AHMED ELNAKIB/Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2834
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