BATTERY PRESERVATION AMID TRANSPORT DISUSE

Application No. 19/296,018

• Filed: Aug 11, 2025
• Priority: Mar 05, 2021 — continuation of 17/193,194
• Examiner: ALSOMAIRY, IBRAHIM ABDOALATIF
• Art Unit: 3667
• Tech Center: 3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
• Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• OA Round: 2 (Final)

Office Action

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 .
This is a Final Action on the Merits. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and addressed below.

Response to Amendments
The amendment filed on July 13th, 2026 has been considered and entered. Accordingly, claims 1, 3, 6-8, 10, 13, 15, 17, and 20 have been amended.

Response to Arguments
The previous rejection of claims 6, 13, and 20 under 35 USC 112(b) has been overcome due to the applicant’s amendments.
The applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the newly formulated grounds of rejections necessitated by the applicant’s amendments.

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.

The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 6-8, 13-15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohta (US 20210023959 A1) (“Ohta”) in view of Beaty (US 20060033469 A1) (“Beaty”) in view of Heinemann (DE 102019212784 B3) (“Heinemann”) (Translation Attached).

With respect to claim 1, Ohta teaches a method, comprising:
determining a period of disuse during which the transport is not going to be used and modified an amount of charge included in the rechargable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse (See at least Ohta FIGS. 4-6 and Paragraphs 36-37 “Next, the parking period acquisition unit 12 acquires a parking period of the vehicle 20 based on the boarding information pieces collected by the information collection unit 11 (Step S102). After that, the determination unit 13 determines a timing at which the battery 21 mounted on the vehicle 20 is charged and discharged based on the parking period acquired by the parking period acquisition unit 12 (Step S103).”).
Ohta, however, fails to explicitly disclose establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport and iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, wherein the iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse.
Beaty teaches establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport (See at least Beaty FIG. 3A-3C and Paragraphs 22-23 “A method of operating the battery control system 10 according to an embodiment present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. In an embodiment, a vehicle operating state or an intended vehicle operating state is determined at step S40. If it is determined that the vehicle is operating in a mobile vehicle operating state (S42), then it is determined whether or not a stationary vehicle operating state is anticipated (S44). If a stationary vehicle operating state is not anticipated, then the target SOC level may be set at a normal SOC level at step S46 (see, e.g., FIG. 3A which illustrates a normal SOC level in the range of about 30-70%), which facilitates extended battery life under the relatively high charge and discharge currents required by the drive motor and leaves room for additional energy recovery during the mobile vehicle operating state. However, if a stationary vehicle operating state is anticipated, then the target SOC level may be set at a modified SOC level at step S48 (see, e.g., FIG. 3B which illustrates a modified SOC level in the range of about 30-100%). Alternatively, if it is determined that the vehicle is not operating in a mobile vehicle operating state (S42), then the target SOC level is set at a modified SOC level at step S50 (see, e.g., FIG. 3C which illustrates a modified SOC level up to 100% for a stationary vehicle operating state). As noted above, this feature enables more electrical energy to be stored in and discharged from a given size battery, and reduces the need to start the internal combustion engine to drive the motor-generator 26 to charge battery 12.”).
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 method of Ohta to include establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport, as taught by Kurimoto as disclosed above, in order to ensure battery health of the vehicle (Beaty Paragraph 2 “The present invention relates generally to hybrid motor vehicles and, more particularly, to a battery control system for controlling the state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery”).
Ohta in view of Beaty fail to explicitly disclose iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, wherein the iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse.
Heinemann teaches iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse (See at least Heinemann FIGS. 4 and 6 and Paragraph 63 “Furthermore, a planned departure time t_A is recorded. The departure time or departure point t_A is set by the vehicle user, for example, using the display control unit 18. Based on the desired or set departure time t_A, an end time t_E is determined at which the charging process of the vehicle battery 4 is completed.” | Paragraphs 72-78 “The diagram of Fig. 4 has two horizontally arranged sections 36, 38. Each section shows a (partial) diagram in which a time t is plotted horizontally, that is, along the abscissa (X-axis). The diagram shown in section 36 is a state-of-charge-time diagram, which means that along the vertical ordinate axis (Y-axis) the state of charge SOC of the vehicle battery 4, for example in percent (%), is plotted. Section 38 shows a battery management system temperature-time diagram or, correspondingly, a battery temperature-time diagram, where, along the vertical ordinate axis, the battery management system temperature T_NER39 or the battery temperature T_NER40 is shown, for example, in degrees Celsius (°C) … In the Fig. 4 The charging process shown has a charging time duration t_L divided into three charging phases LP₁, LP₂, LP₃, each of which is separated or interrupted by an unspecified charging pause. The vehicle battery 4 is thus successively or stepwise charged in the three charging phases LP₁, LP₂, LP₃ from the state of charge value SOC₀ to a final state of discharge or state of charge value SOC₃, which essentially corresponds to the full state of charge, i.e. a state of charge value of 100%. The first charging phase LP₁ takes place in a period between time t₀ and time t₁. During the charging phase LP₁, the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle battery 4 is essentially continuously increased by the injection of the charging current 12 up to a state of charge value SOC₁, for example to 50%. The charging current 12 causes ohmic losses in the battery modules 6, which cause a heating of the vehicle battery 4, i.e. an increase in the battery temperature T_Bator the battery management system temperature T_BMSfrom the temperature value T₀ to a temperature value T₁ that is higher than this. The temperature profile during the charging phase LP₁ essentially corresponds to a first calculated charging curve LK₁. During the period between times t₁and t₂the charging process is interrupted, in other words there is a charging pause during which no charging current 12 is fed into the vehicle battery 4. This keeps the state of charge (SOC) constant at the state of charge value SOC₁. During this charging break, the vehicle battery 4 or the BMS 14 cools down, causing the battery or battery management system temperature T_Bat, T_BMS to drop from the temperature value T₁ to a reduced temperature value T₂. This cooling or heat dissipation corresponds to the first calculated cooling curve AK₁. At time t_NER73, the second charging phase LP_NER74 is started, in which the state of charge SOC is increased from the state of charge value SOC_NER75 to a higher state of charge value SOC2, for example to 80%. During the charging phase LP_NER76, the vehicle battery 4 or the BMS 14 is heated, so that the temperature value T_NER77 increases steadily to the temperature value T_NER78 according to the second calculated charging curve LK_NER79 until the end of the charging phase LP_NER80 at a time t_NER81. During the time period between times t₃and t₄, the charging process is interrupted again, so that the state of charge SOC remains constant at the state of charge value SOC₂. As a result, the battery or battery management system temperature T_Bat, T_BMS drops from the temperature value T₃ to a temperature value T₄ that is reduced compared to this, according to a second calculated cooling curve AK₂.”).
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 method of Ohta in view of Beaty to include iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, as taught by Heinemann as disclosed above, such that wherein iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse, in order to ensure optimal charge of the vehicle battery at the end of the time of disuse (Heinemann Paragraph 17 “The invention is based on the objective of providing a particularly suitable method for charging a vehicle battery of an electrically powered or motorized motor vehicle. In particular, the charging process should enable suitable temperature control of the vehicle battery, which ensures the highest possible power output at the time of departure. The invention further aims to provide a particularly suitable vehicle battery and a particularly suitable software for carrying out the method.”).

With respect to claim 6, and similarly claims 13 and 20, Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann teach that the charging point comprises a bi-directional charging point that is configured to transfer and receive electricity from the rechargeable battery of the transport (See at least Ohta Paragraph 47 “At this time, the determination unit 13 may store the remaining amount of the charge of the battery 21, which is mounted on the vehicle 20 selected as the discharging vehicle, before discharging and thereby determine the amount of charge to be charged to the battery 21 so that the amount of the charge of the battery 21 returns to the remaining amount of the charge thereof before discharging. In this case, the determination unit 13 may notify the charging and discharging equipment 30 of the determined amount of charge in association with the determined timing at which the battery 21 is charged and the number of the vehicle 20. The charging and discharging equipment 30 identifies the vehicle 20 by the number of the vehicle 20 and charges the battery 21 mounted on the identified vehicle 20 at the timing and with the amount it has been notified about in association with the number of the vehicle 20.”).

With respect to claim 7, and similarly claim 14, Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann teach that the iteratively modifying comprises receiving an instruction from a server to transfer a determined amount of energy to the charging point (See at least Ohta Paragraph 47 “At this time, the determination unit 13 may store the remaining amount of the charge of the battery 21, which is mounted on the vehicle 20 selected as the discharging vehicle, before discharging and thereby determine the amount of charge to be charged to the battery 21 so that the amount of the charge of the battery 21 returns to the remaining amount of the charge thereof before discharging. In this case, the determination unit 13 may notify the charging and discharging equipment 30 of the determined amount of charge in association with the determined timing at which the battery 21 is charged and the number of the vehicle 20. The charging and discharging equipment 30 identifies the vehicle 20 by the number of the vehicle 20 and charges the battery 21 mounted on the identified vehicle 20 at the timing and with the amount it has been notified about in association with the number of the vehicle 20.”).

With respect to claim 8, Ohta teaches a system comprising: a memory; and a processor communicably coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
determining a period of disuse during which the transport is not going to be used and modified an amount of charge included in the rechargable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse (See at least Ohta FIGS. 4-6 and Paragraphs 36-37 “Next, the parking period acquisition unit 12 acquires a parking period of the vehicle 20 based on the boarding information pieces collected by the information collection unit 11 (Step S102). After that, the determination unit 13 determines a timing at which the battery 21 mounted on the vehicle 20 is charged and discharged based on the parking period acquired by the parking period acquisition unit 12 (Step S103).”).
Ohta, however, fails to explicitly disclose establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport and iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, wherein the iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse.
Beaty teaches establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport (See at least Beaty FIG. 3A-3C and Paragraphs 22-23 “A method of operating the battery control system 10 according to an embodiment present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. In an embodiment, a vehicle operating state or an intended vehicle operating state is determined at step S40. If it is determined that the vehicle is operating in a mobile vehicle operating state (S42), then it is determined whether or not a stationary vehicle operating state is anticipated (S44). If a stationary vehicle operating state is not anticipated, then the target SOC level may be set at a normal SOC level at step S46 (see, e.g., FIG. 3A which illustrates a normal SOC level in the range of about 30-70%), which facilitates extended battery life under the relatively high charge and discharge currents required by the drive motor and leaves room for additional energy recovery during the mobile vehicle operating state. However, if a stationary vehicle operating state is anticipated, then the target SOC level may be set at a modified SOC level at step S48 (see, e.g., FIG. 3B which illustrates a modified SOC level in the range of about 30-100%). Alternatively, if it is determined that the vehicle is not operating in a mobile vehicle operating state (S42), then the target SOC level is set at a modified SOC level at step S50 (see, e.g., FIG. 3C which illustrates a modified SOC level up to 100% for a stationary vehicle operating state). As noted above, this feature enables more electrical energy to be stored in and discharged from a given size battery, and reduces the need to start the internal combustion engine to drive the motor-generator 26 to charge battery 12.”).
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 method of Ohta to include establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport, as taught by Kurimoto as disclosed above, in order to ensure battery health of the vehicle (Beaty Paragraph 2 “The present invention relates generally to hybrid motor vehicles and, more particularly, to a battery control system for controlling the state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery”).
Ohta in view of Beaty fail to explicitly disclose iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, wherein the iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse.
Heinemann teaches iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse (See at least Heinemann FIGS. 4 and 6 and Paragraph 63 “Furthermore, a planned departure time t_A is recorded. The departure time or departure point t_A is set by the vehicle user, for example, using the display control unit 18. Based on the desired or set departure time t_A, an end time t_E is determined at which the charging process of the vehicle battery 4 is completed.” | Paragraphs 72-78 “The diagram of Fig. 4 has two horizontally arranged sections 36, 38. Each section shows a (partial) diagram in which a time t is plotted horizontally, that is, along the abscissa (X-axis). The diagram shown in section 36 is a state-of-charge-time diagram, which means that along the vertical ordinate axis (Y-axis) the state of charge SOC of the vehicle battery 4, for example in percent (%), is plotted. Section 38 shows a battery management system temperature-time diagram or, correspondingly, a battery temperature-time diagram, where, along the vertical ordinate axis, the battery management system temperature T_NER39 or the battery temperature T_NER40 is shown, for example, in degrees Celsius (°C) … In the Fig. 4 The charging process shown has a charging time duration t_L divided into three charging phases LP₁, LP₂, LP₃, each of which is separated or interrupted by an unspecified charging pause. The vehicle battery 4 is thus successively or stepwise charged in the three charging phases LP₁, LP₂, LP₃ from the state of charge value SOC₀ to a final state of discharge or state of charge value SOC₃, which essentially corresponds to the full state of charge, i.e. a state of charge value of 100%. The first charging phase LP₁ takes place in a period between time t₀ and time t₁. During the charging phase LP₁, the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle battery 4 is essentially continuously increased by the injection of the charging current 12 up to a state of charge value SOC₁, for example to 50%. The charging current 12 causes ohmic losses in the battery modules 6, which cause a heating of the vehicle battery 4, i.e. an increase in the battery temperature T_Bator the battery management system temperature T_BMSfrom the temperature value T₀ to a temperature value T₁ that is higher than this. The temperature profile during the charging phase LP₁ essentially corresponds to a first calculated charging curve LK₁. During the period between times t₁and t₂the charging process is interrupted, in other words there is a charging pause during which no charging current 12 is fed into the vehicle battery 4. This keeps the state of charge (SOC) constant at the state of charge value SOC₁. During this charging break, the vehicle battery 4 or the BMS 14 cools down, causing the battery or battery management system temperature T_Bat, T_BMS to drop from the temperature value T₁ to a reduced temperature value T₂. This cooling or heat dissipation corresponds to the first calculated cooling curve AK₁. At time t_NER73, the second charging phase LP_NER74 is started, in which the state of charge SOC is increased from the state of charge value SOC_NER75 to a higher state of charge value SOC2, for example to 80%. During the charging phase LP_NER76, the vehicle battery 4 or the BMS 14 is heated, so that the temperature value T_NER77 increases steadily to the temperature value T_NER78 according to the second calculated charging curve LK_NER79 until the end of the charging phase LP_NER80 at a time t_NER81. During the time period between times t₃and t₄, the charging process is interrupted again, so that the state of charge SOC remains constant at the state of charge value SOC₂. As a result, the battery or battery management system temperature T_Bat, T_BMS drops from the temperature value T₃ to a temperature value T₄ that is reduced compared to this, according to a second calculated cooling curve AK₂.”).
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 method of Ohta in view of Beaty to include iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, as taught by Heinemann as disclosed above, such that wherein iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse, in order to ensure optimal charge of the vehicle battery at the end of the time of disuse (Heinemann Paragraph 17 “The invention is based on the objective of providing a particularly suitable method for charging a vehicle battery of an electrically powered or motorized motor vehicle. In particular, the charging process should enable suitable temperature control of the vehicle battery, which ensures the highest possible power output at the time of departure. The invention further aims to provide a particularly suitable vehicle battery and a particularly suitable software for carrying out the method.”).

With respect to claim 15, Ohta teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, that when read by a processor, cause the processor to perform:
determining a period of disuse during which the transport is not going to be used and modified an amount of charge included in the rechargable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse (See at least Ohta FIGS. 4-6 and Paragraphs 36-37 “Next, the parking period acquisition unit 12 acquires a parking period of the vehicle 20 based on the boarding information pieces collected by the information collection unit 11 (Step S102). After that, the determination unit 13 determines a timing at which the battery 21 mounted on the vehicle 20 is charged and discharged based on the parking period acquired by the parking period acquisition unit 12 (Step S103).”).
Ohta, however, fails to explicitly disclose establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport and iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, wherein the iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse.
Beaty teaches establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport (See at least Beaty FIG. 3A-3C and Paragraphs 22-23 “A method of operating the battery control system 10 according to an embodiment present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. In an embodiment, a vehicle operating state or an intended vehicle operating state is determined at step S40. If it is determined that the vehicle is operating in a mobile vehicle operating state (S42), then it is determined whether or not a stationary vehicle operating state is anticipated (S44). If a stationary vehicle operating state is not anticipated, then the target SOC level may be set at a normal SOC level at step S46 (see, e.g., FIG. 3A which illustrates a normal SOC level in the range of about 30-70%), which facilitates extended battery life under the relatively high charge and discharge currents required by the drive motor and leaves room for additional energy recovery during the mobile vehicle operating state. However, if a stationary vehicle operating state is anticipated, then the target SOC level may be set at a modified SOC level at step S48 (see, e.g., FIG. 3B which illustrates a modified SOC level in the range of about 30-100%). Alternatively, if it is determined that the vehicle is not operating in a mobile vehicle operating state (S42), then the target SOC level is set at a modified SOC level at step S50 (see, e.g., FIG. 3C which illustrates a modified SOC level up to 100% for a stationary vehicle operating state). As noted above, this feature enables more electrical energy to be stored in and discharged from a given size battery, and reduces the need to start the internal combustion engine to drive the motor-generator 26 to charge battery 12.”).
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 method of Ohta to include establishing a range of charge between a low threshold of charge that does not completely drain charge from a rechargeable battery on a transport and a high threshold of charge that does not fully charge the rechargeable battery through a software application of the transport, as taught by Kurimoto as disclosed above, in order to ensure battery health of the vehicle (Beaty Paragraph 2 “The present invention relates generally to hybrid motor vehicles and, more particularly, to a battery control system for controlling the state of charge of a hybrid vehicle battery”).
Ohta in view of Beaty fail to explicitly disclose iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, wherein the iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse.
Heinemann teaches iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse (See at least Heinemann FIGS. 4 and 6 and Paragraph 63 “Furthermore, a planned departure time t_A is recorded. The departure time or departure point t_A is set by the vehicle user, for example, using the display control unit 18. Based on the desired or set departure time t_A, an end time t_E is determined at which the charging process of the vehicle battery 4 is completed.” | Paragraphs 72-78 “The diagram of Fig. 4 has two horizontally arranged sections 36, 38. Each section shows a (partial) diagram in which a time t is plotted horizontally, that is, along the abscissa (X-axis). The diagram shown in section 36 is a state-of-charge-time diagram, which means that along the vertical ordinate axis (Y-axis) the state of charge SOC of the vehicle battery 4, for example in percent (%), is plotted. Section 38 shows a battery management system temperature-time diagram or, correspondingly, a battery temperature-time diagram, where, along the vertical ordinate axis, the battery management system temperature T_NER39 or the battery temperature T_NER40 is shown, for example, in degrees Celsius (°C) … In the Fig. 4 The charging process shown has a charging time duration t_L divided into three charging phases LP₁, LP₂, LP₃, each of which is separated or interrupted by an unspecified charging pause. The vehicle battery 4 is thus successively or stepwise charged in the three charging phases LP₁, LP₂, LP₃ from the state of charge value SOC₀ to a final state of discharge or state of charge value SOC₃, which essentially corresponds to the full state of charge, i.e. a state of charge value of 100%. The first charging phase LP₁ takes place in a period between time t₀ and time t₁. During the charging phase LP₁, the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle battery 4 is essentially continuously increased by the injection of the charging current 12 up to a state of charge value SOC₁, for example to 50%. The charging current 12 causes ohmic losses in the battery modules 6, which cause a heating of the vehicle battery 4, i.e. an increase in the battery temperature T_Bator the battery management system temperature T_BMSfrom the temperature value T₀ to a temperature value T₁ that is higher than this. The temperature profile during the charging phase LP₁ essentially corresponds to a first calculated charging curve LK₁. During the period between times t₁and t₂the charging process is interrupted, in other words there is a charging pause during which no charging current 12 is fed into the vehicle battery 4. This keeps the state of charge (SOC) constant at the state of charge value SOC₁. During this charging break, the vehicle battery 4 or the BMS 14 cools down, causing the battery or battery management system temperature T_Bat, T_BMS to drop from the temperature value T₁ to a reduced temperature value T₂. This cooling or heat dissipation corresponds to the first calculated cooling curve AK₁. At time t_NER73, the second charging phase LP_NER74 is started, in which the state of charge SOC is increased from the state of charge value SOC_NER75 to a higher state of charge value SOC2, for example to 80%. During the charging phase LP_NER76, the vehicle battery 4 or the BMS 14 is heated, so that the temperature value T_NER77 increases steadily to the temperature value T_NER78 according to the second calculated charging curve LK_NER79 until the end of the charging phase LP_NER80 at a time t_NER81. During the time period between times t₃and t₄, the charging process is interrupted again, so that the state of charge SOC remains constant at the state of charge value SOC₂. As a result, the battery or battery management system temperature T_Bat, T_BMS drops from the temperature value T₃ to a temperature value T₄ that is reduced compared to this, according to a second calculated cooling curve AK₂.”).
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 method of Ohta in view of Beaty to include iteratively modifying an amount of charge included in the rechargeable battery via a charging point coupled to the transport during the period of disuse, as taught by Heinemann as disclosed above, such that wherein iteratively modifying maintains the amount of charge of the rechargeable battery within the range of charge during an entirety of the period of disuse, in order to ensure optimal charge of the vehicle battery at the end of the time of disuse (Heinemann Paragraph 17 “The invention is based on the objective of providing a particularly suitable method for charging a vehicle battery of an electrically powered or motorized motor vehicle. In particular, the charging process should enable suitable temperature control of the vehicle battery, which ensures the highest possible power output at the time of departure. The invention further aims to provide a particularly suitable vehicle battery and a particularly suitable software for carrying out the method.”).

Claims 2-3, 9-10, and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohta (US 20210023959 A1) (“Ohta”) in view of Beaty (US 20060033469 A1) (“Beaty”) in view of Heinemann (DE 102019212784 B3) (“Heinemann”) (Translation Attached) further in view of Loghavi (US 20200254897 A1) (“Loghavi”).

With respect to claim 2, and similarly claims 9 and 16, Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann fail to explicitly disclose that the low threshold comprises a ratio of charge that is below a ratio of charge of the high threshold.
Loghavi, however, teaches that the low threshold comprises a ratio of charge that is below a ratio of charge of the high threshold (See at least Loghavi Paragraph 76 “In this case, according to the instruction of the supply location Pr, the travel route, and the energy supply and the determination of conditional parking that are notified and displayed on at least one of the display unit Vm of the vehicle V and the mobile terminal M, the occupant of the vehicle V drives the vehicle V to park the vehicle V at the designated supply location Pr of the parking lot PA, and supplies energy by supplying fuel to the vehicle V or charging the battery. In this manner, the vehicle V can be parked at the supply location Pr where the vehicle V can enter with the remaining amount of energy Er, and the vehicle V can exit after supplying energy by the energy supply facility E. Therefore, a situation in which the vehicle V becomes stuck in the parking lot PA to interfere with the entry and exit of other vehicles is prevented.”).
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 method of Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann to include the low threshold comprises a ratio of charge that is below a ratio of charge of the high threshold, as taught by Loghavi as disclosed above, in order to ensure safe vehicle charging and discharging (Loghavi Paragraph 1 “This application generally relates to managing charging for a fleet of battery-electric vehicles.”).

With respect to claim 3, and similarly claims 10 and 17, Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann fail to explicitly disclose that the modifying the amount of charge comprises beginning to receive the charge from the charging point at a time prior to a time of next use.
Loghavi, however, teaches that the modifying the amount of charge comprises beginning to receive the charge from the charging point at a time prior to a time of next use (See at least Loghavi Paragraphs 46-50 “If the vehicle 20 which has been selected as the discharging vehicle is among the vehicles 20 parked in the parking lot in the airport (Yes in Step S301), the determination unit 13 determines a predetermined time before the time when the parking period of the vehicle 20 expires to be the timing at which the battery 21 mounted on the vehicle 20 is charged (Step S302) … By this configuration, it is possible to determine a timing at which the vehicle 20 is charged and discharged in accordance with the parking period of the vehicle 20 parked in a parking lot in an airport, and thus it is possible to more efficiently charge and discharge the vehicle 20 parked in the parking lot in the airport”).
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 method of Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann to include that the modifying the amount of charge comprises beginning to receive the charge from the charging point at a time prior to a time of next use, as taught by Loghavi as disclosed above, in order to ensure safe vehicle charging and discharging (Loghavi Paragraph 1 “This application generally relates to managing charging for a fleet of battery-electric vehicles.”).

Claims 4, 11, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohta (US 20210023959 A1) (“Ohta”) in view of Beaty (US 20060033469 A1) (“Beaty”) in view of Heinemann (DE 102019212784 B3) (“Heinemann”) (Translation Attached) further in view of Kishiyama (US 20110156652 A1) (“Kishiyama”).

With respect to claim 4, and similarly claims 11 and 18. Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann fail to explicitly disclose executing actions1 via the transport to deplete a portion of a remaining charge included in the rechargeable battery.
Kishiyama, however, teaches executing actions via the transport to deplete a portion of a remaining charge included in the rechargeable battery (See at least Kishiyama FIG. 3 and Paragraphs 46-47 “Step 315, following step 310, establishes a discharging/charging plan for the battery cell pack once the optimized SOC range is known. The discharging/charging plan determines the SOC starting point and the SOC ending point for the life-cycle optimized SOC determined in step 310. Because reduction in life-cycle impact of charging may actually have an SOC starting point lower than the current SOC, in appropriate instances the discharging/charging plan includes one or more discharging stages in addition to one or more charging stages. Step 320 applies the discharging/charging plan established in step 315 to the battery cell pack. The number and type of discharging/charging profiles used are modeled in step 315 so step 320 may implement conventional charging, fast-charging, or other charging profiles as specified by the discharging/charging plan”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann to include executing actions via the transport to deplete a portion of a remaining charge included in the rechargeable battery, as taught by Kishiyama as disclosed above, in order to ensure safe operations of the battery of the transport (Kishiyama Paragraph 2 “The present invention relates generally to rechargeable lithium-ion-type chemistry batteries, and more specifically to improving battery pack life of automotive Li-ion battery packs”).

Claims 5, 12, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohta (US 20210023959 A1) (“Ohta”) in view of Beaty (US 20060033469 A1) (“Beaty”) in view of Heinemann (DE 102019212784 B3) (“Heinemann”) (Translation Attached) further in view of Jenkins (US 20190378359 A1) (“Jenkins”).

With respect to claim 5, and similarly claims 12 and 19, Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann fail to explicitly disclose capturing sensor data about a performance2 of the transport as it is travelling, and providing the sensor data to the server.
Jenkins teaches capturing sensor data about a performance of the transport as it is travelling, and providing the sensor data to the server (See at least Jenkins Paragraph 22 “In yet another additional embodiment of the invention, the method further includes obtaining vehicle sensor data from the vehicle telematics device using a remote server system including a processor and a memory, obtaining vehicle identification data from the vehicle telematics device using the remote server system, calculating resultant change data based on the obtained sensor data and the vehicle identification data using the remote server system”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Ohta in view of Beaty in view of Heinemann to include capturing sensor data about a performance of the transport as it is travelling, and providing the sensor data to the server, as taught by Jenkins as disclosed above, in order to ensure safe travels of the transport (Jenkins Paragraph 2 “The present invention relates to determining vehicle operational status and more specifically to determining if a vehicle has been involved in an accident.”).

Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IBRAHIM ABDOALATIF ALSOMAIRY whose telephone number is [phone]. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:30.
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, Faris Almatrahi can be reached at 313-446-4821. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IBRAHIM ABDOALATIF ALSOMAIRY/Examiner, Art Unit 3667 /KENNETH J MALKOWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667

1 There is no limiting definition of an action
2 There is no limiting definition as to what constitutes “performance” of the transport

Prosecution Timeline

• Aug 11, 2025: Application Filed
• Apr 20, 2026: Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
• Jul 13, 2026: Response Filed
• Oct 05, 2026: Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)