DETAILED ACTION
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 statements filed on 4/8/2025 and 11/13/2025 have been fully considered.
Priority
The foreign priority claim to JP2024-085603 filed on 5/27/2024 is acknowledged.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toda (US 20220314771 A1) in view of Simon (US 20230173903 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Toda teaches a battery electric vehicle, comprising:
a battery (50 “a plurality of batteries” taught by figures 2-4);
a drive wheel configured to be driven by electricity stored in the battery (taught by figure 1 and paragraph 35 “the motor vehicle 1 may also be a 4-wheel drive vehicle that drives four wheels”);
an electric device configured to operate using the electricity stored in the battery (M “traction motor” taught by figure 1 and claim 1 “batteries that supply electric power to the traction motor”);
a passenger compartment (R “vehicle interior” taught by figure 1); and
a driver's seat and a front passenger seat installed in the passenger compartment (8 “driver seat” and 9 “passenger seat taught by figures 1-2, and 7 and paragraph 38 “While the driver seat 8 is provided on the right side of a center portion of the vehicle interior R in the right-left direction, a passenger seat 9 (shown in FIG. 1) is provided on the left side of the center portion of the vehicle interior R in the right-left direction”), wherein
the battery includes:
an intermediate section that houses multiple battery cells and is disposed between the driver's seat and the front passenger seat so as to extend from a front end to a rear end of the passenger compartment (30c “floor tunnel portion” and 51 “first battery arrangement portion” taught by figures 2, 4, and 7-8);
a front section disposed forward of the intermediate section, the front section being filled with multiple battery cells (52 “second battery arrangement portion” taught by figures 2, 4, and 8); and
a rear section disposed rearward of the intermediate section, the driver's seat, and the front passenger seat, multiple battery cells being stacked in the rear section so as to be higher than the intermediate section (53 “rear battery arrangement portion” taught by figures 2, and 8), and
the electric device is disposed above the front section (M “traction motor” taught within S “power house” in paragraph 34 “In the power house S, a power train (not shown) including a traction motor M etc. is stored,” and taught in figures 1-4).
However, Toda does not teach an upper end of the rear section is positioned higher than the electric device.
Simon teaches an upper end of the rear section (134 “space” taught by figure 2a and paragraph 92 “The lateral module of the battery pack is configured in a void, or space 134”) is positioned higher than the electric device (102 “election traction motor” taught by figure 2a).
Therefore, 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 the upper end of the rear section of Toda to be higher than the electric device with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because increasing the height of the rear section would allow more battery cells to be stored, and thus more charge to be stored in the vehicle.
Regarding claim 2, Toda in view of Simon teaches the battery electric vehicle according to claim 1, as set forth in the obviousness rejection above.
Toda does not teach wherein the electric device is a power supply device, and the power supply device is configured to distribute and supply power from the battery to each device connected to the power supply device.
Simon teaches a power supply device, and the power supply device is configured to distribute and supply power from the battery to each device connected to the power supply device (106 “energy conversion module” taught by paragraph 81 “wherein the electric device is a power supply device, and the power supply device is configured to distribute and supply power from the battery to each device connected to the power supply device”).
Therefore, 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 the electric device of Toda to include a power supply device as taught by Simon, with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the inclusion of the power supply device would allow the batteries to be charged from an external electrical source and allow the batteries to power multiple traction motors, including four in wheel electric motors.
Regarding claim 4, Toda in view of Simon teaches the battery electric vehicle according to claim 1, as set forth in the obviousness rejection above.
Toda also teaches wherein the drive wheel is at least one of a front wheel and a rear wheel (taught by figure 1 and paragraph 35 “the motor vehicle 1 may also be a 4-wheel drive vehicle that drives four wheels”), the front section is disposed rearward of a rotation axis of the front wheel, and the rear section is disposed forward of a rotation axis of the rear wheel (taught by figures 1-2).
Regarding claim 5, Toda in view of Simon teaches the battery electric vehicle according to claim 1, as set forth in the obviousness rejection above.
Toda also teaches wherein the drive wheel is a rear wheel, and a number of the battery cells included in the rear section is larger than a number of the battery cells included in the front section (taught by figure 7).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toda (US 20220314771 A1) in view of Simon (US 20230173903 A1) and in further view of Wei (US 12728714 B2).
Regarding claim 3, Toda in view of Simon teaches the battery electric vehicle according to claim 1, as set forth in the obviousness rejection above.
Toda also teaches wherein the drive wheel is at least one of a front wheel and a rear wheel (taught by figure 1 and paragraph 35 “the motor vehicle 1 may also be a 4-wheel drive vehicle that drives four wheels”).
However, neither Toda nor Simon teach that each of the front wheel and the rear wheel is provided with a brake caliper, the brake caliper installed on the front wheel is disposed at a rear portion of a front brake disc, and the brake caliper installed on the rear wheel is disposed at a front portion of a rear brake disc.
Wei teaches that each of the front wheel and the rear wheel is provided with a brake caliper (195 “front brake caliper” taught by figures 1 and 46, and 172 “rear brake caliper” taught by figures 1 and 40-41), the brake caliper installed on the front wheel is disposed at a rear portion of a front brake disc (190 “front brake plate” taught by figures 1 and 45-46), and the brake caliper installed on the rear wheel is disposed at a front portion of a rear brake disc (168 “rear brake disc” taught by figures 40-41).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have incorporated the brake calipers and discs of Wei onto the drive wheels of Simon, with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this incorporations because brakes allow a user to efficiently and safely stop a vehicle in motion.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS KANDAS whose telephone number is (571)272-5628. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri.
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/NICHOLAS R. KANDAS/Examiner, Art Unit 3613
/JAMES A SHRIVER II/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3613
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