DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This action is in response to the application No. 19/280779 filed on 7/25/2025. Claims 1-5 are pending 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 .
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
-an external charging device;
-a power storage device;
-a cooling device; and
-a control device in claim 1
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vuylsteke et al. US 2024/0413424 (“Vuylsteke”) in view of Twarog et al. US 2015/0066837 (“Twarog”).
As to claim 1, Vuylsteke discloses a vehicle that is chargeable by connection to an external charging device, the vehicle comprising:
a navigation system in which a destination of the vehicle is set (see at least [0025]; [0032]: The vehicle travel route information may include, but is not limited to starting location, ending location, road elevation, road grade, vehicle speed limit, traffic signal/sign locations, and road surface type. The vehicle travel route information may be acquired at a beginning of a travel route before the vehicle begins to travel via input to a navigation system or via a record of prior trip history that may be stored in controller memory);
a power storage device that stores electric power that is supplied from the external charging device (see at least [0019]: Electric energy storage device 132 may be a battery (e.g., a traction battery that provides energy to propel a vehicle), capacitor, inductor, or other electric energy storage device);
a cooling device that cools the power storage device (see at least Fig 2; [0029]: Battery thermal management system 216 may include one or more heat exchangers 217, adjustable valves 219, coolant, actuators (e.g., fan 220 and pump 222), temperature sensors, and a temperature controller 218 to adjust a temperature of a traction battery); and
a control device that controls the cooling device (see at least Fig 2, elements 250, 218), wherein
when the external charging device is set as the destination in the navigation system, the control device
acquires a maximum current of the external charging device from the navigation system (see at least [0039]: when the vehicle is known to be on-route to a DCFC station (e.g. next destination is a battery charger with maximum charging power above 40 kW)),
calculates a prediction value of what a state of charge (SOC) of the power storage device will be when the vehicle reaches the destination (see at least [0062]-[0066]: the post-DCFC battery temperature may be predicted using a combination of ambient temperature, post-DCFC SOC, post-DCFC delta SOC; it is understood from the algorithm that the predicted pre-charging SOC is used in order to predict the temperature change over the charging duration, which is ultimately used to dictate the amount of pre-cooling needed by the system), and
when the maximum current exceeds a current threshold value and also the prediction value is equal to or less than a first SOC threshold value, operates the cooling device before the vehicle reaches the destination (see at least Fig 3; [0042]: method 300 indicates that there is a high possibility of electric energy device temperature exceeding the threshold temperature, such that the level of opportunity (e.g., two) to control cooling of the electric energy device so that the electric energy device temperature exceeds the threshold temperature is high. Method 300 requests taking control actions (e.g., adjusting a cooling valve position or a fan speed) before the battery temperature exceeds the threshold temperature since the opportunity level is high and taking preemptive control actions may allow the battery thermal management system to maintain battery temperature below the threshold temperature even though the battery thermal management system may dissipate less thermal energy that the battery may generate in a short period of time).
Vuylsteke fails to explicitly disclose wherein the predicted SOC is based on navigation information from the navigation system. However, Twarog teaches wherein the predicted SOC is based on navigation information from the navigation system (see at least [0038]: an algorithm that takes into account the distance (or range) to the charging station at which the future charging process is to be performed and certain battery-related information from the drive history of the vehicle (e.g., the amount of battery energy consumed over a certain amount of distance traveled (e.g., the most recent past 50 miles)) may be employed to predict what the SOC of the battery will be when the vehicle arrives at the charging station).
Thus, Vuylsteke discloses a system and method for operating the pre-cooling of an electric vehicle prior to arriving at a DC fast charger based on predicted SOC and charging/temperature deltas and Twarog teaches to predict the SOC at the arrival at a charging station based on information from the navigation system. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the system disclsoed by Vuylsteke, with the SOC prediction taught by Twarog, with reasonable expectation of success, because it would allow the system to more accurately predict the pre-cooling or otherwise preconditioning demand for the battery prior to arrival at the charging station.
As to claim 2, Vuylsteke discloses wherein, when the maximum current does not exceed the current threshold value, the control device does not operate the cooling device before the vehicle reaches the destination (see at least [0039]: when the vehicle is known to be on-route to a DCFC station (e.g. next destination is a battery charger with maximum charging power above 40 kW)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including 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 THOMAS P INGRAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7864. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fadey Jabr can be reached at 571-272-1516. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Thomas Ingram/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
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