Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 19/202,662

RESERVATION OF ENDURANCE BRAKING ENERGY BUFFER

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
May 08, 2025
Priority
May 15, 2024 — EU 24175905.9
Examiner
DALLO, JOSEPH J
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Volvo Group
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allowance Rate
749 granted / 835 resolved
+29.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 1m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
852
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.8%
-38.2% vs TC avg
§103
52.5%
+12.5% vs TC avg
§102
43.3%
+3.3% vs TC avg
§112
1.7%
-38.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 835 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . 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. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lindberg US 2022/0332194. Regarding claim 1, Lindberg discloses a computer system (see FIG. 2) comprising processing circuitry configured to: determine, by taking into account topography information of a stretch of road to betravelled by a vehicle (see paragraph [0014]), to which extent service braking can be applied before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road (see paragraphs [0011]-[0020]); and to reserve an amount of energy to be stored in an energy storage system, ESS, of the vehicle for allowing endurance braking of the vehicle to avoid causing overheating of the service brake (see paragraphs [0006]-[0015]), wherein the amount of energy being reserved is adapted to the extent to which the service braking is determined to be applied upon the vehicle traveling said stretch of road. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 2, Lindberg discloses the processing circuitry being configured to reserve a greater amount of energy for allowing endurance braking upon said topography information indicating that service braking can be applied to a lesser extent before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road as compared to said topography information indicating that service braking can be applied to a greater extent before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 3, Lindberg discloses the processing circuitry being configured to reserve a greater amount of energy for allowing endurance braking upon said topography information indicating that the stretch of road has greater downhill inclination as compared to said topography information indicating that the stretch of road has lesser downhill inclination. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 4, Lindberg discloses the processing circuitry being configured to reserve a greater amount of energy for allowing endurance braking upon said vehicle travelling at a higher speed on said stretch of road as compared to travelling at a lower speed. See FIG. 5 and 6 and paragraphs [0068]-[0073]. Regarding claim 5, Lindberg discloses wherein the amount of energy not being reserved in the ESS for endurance braking is utilized in the vehicle for purposes other than endurance braking. See paragraphs [0045]-[0059]. Regarding claim 6, Lindberg discloses the processing circuitry being configured to, when performing the determining; acquire a predetermined model which based on topography information of the stretch of road to be travelled by the vehicle indicates to which extent service braking can be applied before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon the vehicle travelling said stretch of road. See paragraph [0052]. Regarding claim 7, Lindberg discloses said model being configured to indicate the extent to which service braking can be applied in the form of a distance that the vehicle can travel along said stretch of road before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 8, Lindberg discloses the model being configured to take into account degree of downhill inclination of the stretch of road to be travelled upon indicating the extent to which service braking can be applied before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 9, Lindberg discloses the model being configured to take into account speed of the vehicle when travelling said stretch of road upon indicating the extent to which service braking can be applied before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 10, Lindberg discloses processing circuitry further being configured to control that the amount of energy reserved in the ESS for endurance braking is not used for purposes other than endurance braking. See paragraphs [0045]-[0059]. Regarding claim 11, Lindberg discloses wherein a service braking threshold temperature is set indicating at which temperature the service brake is considered to be overheated. See paragraphs [0011], [0012], [0020], and [0046]-[0054]. Regarding claim 12, Lindberg discloses the processing circuitry further being configured to harvest energy during the performing of the endurance braking, which harvested energy is restored in the ESS and reserved for endurance braking. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 13, Lindberg discloses the processing circuitry farther being configured to take into account one or more of vehicle-specific information affecting service braking in the form of weight, number of wheel axles, braking system, type of motor, historical braking behavior of a driver of the vehicle, battery health, current traffic information in the form of traffic stockings or weather conditions for determining to which extent service braking can be applied before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 14, Lindberg discloses vehicle comprising the computer system of claim 1. See paragraph [0074]. Regarding claim 15 , Lindberg discloses computer-implemented method, comprising: determining, by taking into account topography information of a stretch of road to be travelled by a vehicle, to which extent service braking can be applied before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road; and reserving an amount of energy to be stored in an energy storage system, ESS, of the vehicle for allowing endurance braking of the vehicle to avoid causing overheating of the service brake, wherein the amount of energy being reserved is adapted to the extent to which the service braking is determined to be applied upon the vehicle traveling said stretch of road. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 16, Lindberg discloses wherein a greater amount of energy is reserved for allowing endurance braking upon said topography information indicating that service braking can be applied to a lesser extent before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road as compared to said topography information indicating that service braking can be applied to a greater extent before the service brake of the vehicle is expected to overheat upon travelling said stretch of road. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 17, Lindberg discloses wherein a greater amount of energy is reserved for allowing endurance braking upon said topography information indicating that the stretch of road has greater downhill inclination as compared to said topography information indicating that the stretch of road has lesser downhill inclination. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 18, Lindberg discloses wherein a greater amount of energy is reserved for allowing endurance braking upon said vehicle travelling at a higher speed on said stretch of road as compared to travelling at a lower speed. See FIG. 2-6 and paragraphs [0041]-[0060]. Regarding claim 19, Lindberg discloses computer program product comprising program code for performing, when executed by the processing circuitry, the method of claim 18. See paragraph [0074]. Regarding claim 20, Lindberg discloses non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which when executed by the processing circuitry cause the processing circuitry to perform the method of claim 18. See paragraph [0074]. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH J DALLO whose telephone number is (313)446-4844. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-7pm ET M-Th. 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, Logan Kraft can be reached at 571-270-5065. 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. /JOSEPH J DALLO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 08, 2025
Application Filed
Jun 16, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+7.1%)
2y 1m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 835 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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