DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
In the amendment dated 2026-03-18, the following has occurred: Claims 9 and 18 have been amended.
Claims 9-18 are pending and are examined herein. This is a Final Rejection.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 9 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hitachi (JP 2012-222913 to Hitachi Ltd., Examiner cites to provided English translation) in view of Farmer (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Farmer et al.) and Butler (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Butler et al.), with reference to Dao (US 2014/0285022 to Dao et al.) for evidence of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 9, Hitachi teaches:
a wireless battery system (lines 150-156) comprising one battery controller 200 which is connected by radio with a plurality of module controllers 20/30 connected to a plurality of battery cells (Fig. 1 =, lines 90-104) (lines 98-107)
a plurality of controllers controlling modules comprised of battery cells, and mounted on the modules, within the broadest reasonable interpretation of the phrase, since it communicates wirelessly with unattached modules
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Hitachi does not explicitly teach that each individual cell has a dedicated cell controller mounted thereon. Nor does Hitachi teach a definite number of batteries in each module, saying only that each module includes a plurality of batteries (p. 1), or that in some embodiments there is a single secondary battery (p. 2 line 47). Providing sub-controllers for individual cells, however, was also known in the art. Farmer, for example, from the same field of invention, regarding a battery pack with a remote battery management system, teaches providing individual sensors on each cell, with an RFID tag mounted on each of the individual cells that is capable of communicating with the main battery management system (columns 9-11 and Figs. 7-9). Farmer is therefore interpreted to teach a controller or sub-controller, because it gathers sense data, receives signals, and transmits data back to the remote controller. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide individual cell controllers, rather than controllers for a plurality of cells, to improve the granularity and/or provide redundancy. One of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the choice of cell group size for individual sub-controllers was a routine engineering decision: a single sub-controller for a an arbitrarily large group of cells can lead to failures for an arbitrarily large number of cells, while providing a sub-controller for each cell introduces greater cost.
Hitachi further teaches:
cell controllers in the art are configured to be powered by receiving power from the cells (page 1 line 27)
wherein the battery controller and the plurality of cell controllers are connected by radio in a daisy chain manner (Figs. 2 and 6)
wherein the one battery controller 200 generates a signal, that functions as a wakeup signal, to send to the first cell controller 71-1 to get it to exit standby mode (page 4 line 132), so that it begins to transmit state information of the battery cells in the battery module, including voltage and temperature (page 6 lines 217-219)
wherein the battery controller signals are time-divided, or broken up into “time intervals” (p. 6, lines 206-209), and wherein certain periods of time are measured and tracked (pp. 8-9), strongly implying an internal clock
the first battery cell controller “takes measurements of the voltage and temperature” and sends them down the daisy chain to a second battery cell controller while simultaneously returning an acknowledge signal to the prior link in the chain, which in the case of the first battery cell controller, is the one battery controller 200 (page 4, lines 132-150, Fig. 2)
wherein the second link in the cell controller chain passively receives the signal from the first cell controller and then adds the battery states of the battery cells connected to the second controller to the incoming data and subsequently transmits the battery states to the third cell controller, while at the same time sending back an acknowledgement to the prior link in the chain (Figs. 2-6, lines 157-162)
Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
passive reception, including envelope demodulation by passive electronic components including a diode, a resistor, and a capacitor, such that power consumption of a wireless circuit is approximated to zero when waiting for reception and when receiving, and a logic circuit turns on and turns off at least some a plurality of circuits within the wireless circuit according to the presence or absence of wireless signal reception
While Hitachi does not explicitly use either the terms “passive” or “active,” regarding the reception of the signals in the controllers, both were well-known forms of radio communication in the art. Farmer, for example, teaches an RFID tag in a “completely passive mode” that “obtains all energy for operation from the antenna” (column 11, lines 24-26). Butler, from an analogous field of invention, regarding the transmission of information along a chain of RFID devices from an RF transmitter (abstract), teaches that the operational circuitry of the RF circuits can operate without an internal power supply, through passive reception, wherein the minute electrical currents induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal may provide just enough power for the RFI tag’s circuitry to power up and operate (column 13 and lines 21-40). Butler further teaches envelope detection and ASK demodulation in the detection circuitry, further including a diode rectifier (column 12, line 4), wherein the circuit can further include conventional resistors and capacitors (column 12, lines 45-57). Farmer and Butler, therefore, render obvious the use of conventionally known, ultra-low power receiver/transmission devices that wait and receive a signal while using approximately zero power, all the energy coming from the transmission itself. It would have been obvious to use a passive RF circuit in order to reduce energy draw from the associated cell. The prior art further renders obvious conventional diode-based receivers, and ASK demodulation, used in the art. See also previously cited Sako US 2015/0022185 for evidence that such circuits typically use capacitors and resistors as claimed.
Moreover, Butler teaches that logic circuits control impedance matching, and can be implemented to operate, or turn on, circuits in response to a received signal (column 9, lines 3-9, 25-35). Network nodes can be switched on or off in response to the need to share power harvested from the signal (column 16, lines 1-32). It would have been obvious to implement logic controllers for prioritizing and distributing the power harvested from the signal to ensure efficient, accurate transmission down the chain.
Insofar as Hitachi does not explicitly teach a “clock generator” on the main battery controller, it strongly implies them by its references to measuring time, waiting periods of time, and sending timed signals. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that a processing unit would have a “clock generator” within the meaning of the claim in order to frame bits, modulate signals, and the like. Even so, the Office points to Dao for ordinary skill in the art. Dao is directed towards a daisy-chained set of controllers, each associated with one battery (¶ 0015), that communicate with each other to transmit battery information, and wherein the controllers have elements to generate clock signals (¶ 0088). It would have been obvious to provide a clock generator in order to collect, order, and send data according to “predetermined times,” as was conventional in the art.
Regarding Claim 15, Hitachi teaches:
using radio wave power as electric power for the controller (page 6 lines 224-226)
See also Butler and Farmer, as described above, using signal reception as a power source.
Regarding Claim 16, Hitachi teaches:
wherein each of the cell controllers controls a bank of cells (Figs., etc.)
Claims 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hitachi (JP 2012-222913 to Hitachi Ltd., Examiner cites to provided English translation) in view of Farmer (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Farmer et al.) and Butler (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Butler et al.), in further view of Kain (US 2017/0346308 to Kain et al.) and Kaneko (US 2010/0286938 to Kaneko), with reference to Dao (US 2014/0285022 to Dao et al.) for evidence of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 10, Hitachi teaches:
that the amount of the data transmitted down the line of cell controllers increases as each cell controller appends new data, such that transmission at each point down the line includes more bits, and the transmission time accordingly increases (Fig. 5)
Hitachi does not explicitly teach a fixed packet length with an interval of unmodulated transmission containing no data transmitted at the end of messages so that all transmission times become equal. Kain teaches that in an ideal situation all commands and responses will have an equal bit length (para 0064) but does not explicitly teach a different interval of unmodulated transmission. Kaneko, also from the same field of invention, teaches a battery pack control system with three or more monitoring devices sending data (abstract), wherein the electric power of transmission is equalized by equalizing the transmission lengths, the equal transmission lengths achieved by appending dummy data having a number of bits required to total up to the fixed packet length of each transmission (see e.g. Fig. 5). Use of a known technique to improve similar devices, methods, or products in the same way, and applying a known technique to a known device, method, or product ready for improvement to yield predictable results has been found to be obvious. See KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007). In the instant case, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide dummy bits, such as bits of all the same amplitude (i.e. unmodulated) with the motivation to equalize transmission energy consumption across subcontrollers, as implied by Kain and taught by Kaneko.
Regarding Claim 11, Hitachi teaches:
temperature and voltage data collection and transmission (p. 6)
While Hitachi does not explicitly teach “periodically” transmitting a wakeup signal, Hitachi appears to render that obvious in view of the ordinary skill in the art, wherein wakeup signals with arbitrary periods were normal to implement around usage schedules for battery packs, or during downtime to monitor battery charge. See also Kikuchi (US 2014/0312913), from the same field of invention, regarding a battery monitoring system, which teaches periodic wakeups to monitor battery state (Fig. 4, paras 0048-0052, etc.).
Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hitachi (JP 2012-222913 to Hitachi Ltd., Examiner cites to provided English translation) in view of Farmer (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Farmer et al.) and Butler (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Butler et al.), in further view of Iwasawa (US 2015/0357685 to Iwasawa et al.), with reference to Dao (US 2014/0285022 to Dao et al.) for evidence of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 17, Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
wherein each antenna has a directionality that is made stronger toward the antenna of the controllers from which to receive data or to which to transmit data
Iwasawa, however, from the same field of invention, regarding a battery management system, teaches wave propagation (Fig. 3) via controller antennae with strong directionality and high gain in the horizontal direction so as to propagate with high efficiency (para 0045). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the to provide such directed antennae in Hitachi with the motivation to enhance the communication efficiency of the system.
Regarding Claim 18, Hitachi teaches:
a plurality of battery cell banks 100, each including a plurality of cells (page 3)
a wireless battery system (lines 150-156) comprising one battery controller 200 which is connected by radio with a plurality of module controllers 20/30 connected to a plurality of battery cells (Fig. 1 =, lines 90-104) (lines 98-107)
a plurality of controllers controlling modules comprised of battery cells, and mounted on the modules, within the broadest reasonable interpretation of the phrase, since it communicates wirelessly with unattached modules
Hitachi does not explicitly teach that each individual cell has a dedicated cell controller mounted thereon. Nor does Hitachi teach a definite number of batteries in each module, saying only that each module includes a plurality of batteries (p. 1), or that in some embodiments there is a single secondary battery (p. 2 line 47). Providing sub-controllers for individual cells, however, was also known in the art. Farmer, for example, from the same field of invention, regarding a battery pack with a remote battery management system, teaches providing individual sensors on each cell, with an RFID tag mounted on each of the individual cells that is capable of communicating with the main battery management system (columns 9-11 and Figs. 7-9). Farmer is therefore interpreted to teach a controller or sub-controller, because it gathers sense data, receives signals, and transmits data back to the remote controller. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide individual cell controllers, rather than controllers for a plurality of cells, to improve the granularity and/or provide redundancy. One of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the choice of cell group size for individual sub-controllers was a routine engineering decision: a single sub-controller for a an arbitrarily large group of cells can lead to failures for an arbitrarily large number of cells, while providing a sub-controller for each cell introduces greater cost.
Hitachi further teaches:
cell controllers in the art are configured to be powered by receiving power from the cells (page 1 line 27)
wherein the battery controller signals are time-divided, or broken up into “time intervals” (p. 6, lines 206-209), and wherein certain periods of time are measured and tracked (pp. 8-9), strongly implying an internal clock
each cell controller and the battery controller have an antenna for transmitting and receiving data and wherein the battery controller and the plurality of cell controllers are connected by radio in a daisy chain manner (Figs. 2 and 6)
Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
wherein each antenna has a directionality that is made stronger toward the antenna of the controllers from which to receive data or to which to transmit data
Iwasawa, however, from the same field of invention, regarding a battery management system, teaches wave propagation (Fig. 3) via controller antennae with strong directionality and high gain in the horizontal direction so as to propagate with high efficiency (para 0045). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the to provide such directed antennae in Hitachi with the motivation to enhance the communication efficiency of the system.
Hitachi further teaches:
wherein the one battery controller 200 generates a signal, that functions as a wakeup signal, to send to the first cell controller 71-1 to get it to exit standby mode (page 4 line 132), so that it begins to transmit state information of the battery cells in the battery module, including voltage and temperature (page 6 lines 217-219)
the first battery cell controller “takes measurements of the voltage and temperature” and sends them down the daisy chain to a second battery cell controller while simultaneously returning an acknowledge signal to the prior link in the chain, which in the case of the first battery cell controller, is the one battery controller 200 (page 4, lines 132-150, Fig. 2)
wherein the second link in the cell controller chain passively receives the signal from the first cell controller and then adds the battery states of the battery cells connected to the second controller to the incoming data and subsequently transmits the battery states to the third cell controller, while at the same time sending back an acknowledgement to the prior link in the chain (Figs. 2-6, lines 157-162)
Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
passive reception, including envelope demodulation by passive electronic components including a diode, a resistor, and a capacitor, such that power consumption of a wireless circuit is approximated to zero when waiting for reception and when receiving, and a logic circuit turns on and turns off at least some a plurality of circuits within the wireless circuit according to the presence or absence of wireless signal reception
While Hitachi does not explicitly use either the terms “passive” or “active,” regarding the reception of the signals in the controllers, both were well-known forms of radio communication in the art. Farmer, for example, teaches an RFID tag in a “completely passive mode” that “obtains all energy for operation from the antenna” (column 11, lines 24-26). Butler, from an analogous field of invention, regarding the transmission of information along a chain of RFID devices from an RF transmitter (abstract), teaches that the operational circuitry of the RF circuits can operate without an internal power supply, through passive reception, wherein the minute electrical currents induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal may provide just enough power for the RFI tag’s circuitry to power up and operate (column 13 and lines 21-40). Butler further teaches envelope detection and ASK demodulation in the detection circuitry, further including a diode rectifier (column 12, line 4), wherein the circuit can further include conventional resistors and capacitors (column 12, lines 45-57). Farmer and Butler, therefore, render obvious the use of conventionally known, ultra-low power receiver/transmission devices that wait and receive a signal while using approximately zero power, all the energy coming from the transmission itself. It would have been obvious to use a passive RF circuit in order to reduce energy draw from the associated cell. The prior art further renders obvious conventional diode-based receivers, and ASK demodulation, used in the art. See also previously cited Sako US 2015/0022185 for evidence that such circuits typically use capacitors and resistors as claimed.
Moreover, Butler teaches that logic circuits control impedance matching, and can be implemented to operate, or turn on, circuits in response to a received signal (column 9, lines 3-9, 25-35). Network nodes can be switched on or off in response to the need to share power harvested from the signal (column 16, lines 1-32). It would have been obvious to implement logic controllers for prioritizing and distributing the power harvested from the signal to ensure efficient, accurate transmission down the chain.
Insofar as Hitachi does not explicitly teach a “clock generator” on the main battery controller, it strongly implies them by its references to measuring time, waiting periods of time, and sending timed signals. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that a processing unit would have a “clock generator” within the meaning of the claim in order to frame bits, modulate signals, and the like. Even so, the Office points to Dao for ordinary skill in the art. Dao is directed towards a daisy-chained set of controllers, each associated with one battery (¶ 0015), that communicate with each other to transmit battery information, and wherein the controllers have elements to generate clock signals (¶ 0088). It would have been obvious to provide a clock generator in order to collect, order, and send data according to “predetermined times,” as was conventional in the art.
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hitachi (JP 2012-222913 to Hitachi Ltd., Examiner cites to provided English translation) in view of Farmer (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Farmer et al.), Butler (US Patent No. 9,267,993 to Butler et al.), Kain (US 2017/0346308 to Kain et al.), and Kaneko (US 2010/0286938 to Kaneko), in further view of Iwasawa (US 2015/0357685 to Iwasawa et al.), with reference to Dao (US 2014/0285022 to Dao et al.) for evidence of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 12, Hitachi teaches:
wherein each cell controller has an antenna for transmitting and receiving data (lines 327-331)
Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
wherein each antenna has a directionality that is made stronger toward the antenna of the controllers from which to receive data or to which to transmit data
Iwasawa, however, from the same field of invention, regarding a battery management system, teaches wave propagation (Fig. 3) via controller antennae with strong directionality and high gain in the horizontal direction so as to propagate with high efficiency (para 0045). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the to provide such directed antennae in Hitachi with the motivation to enhance the communication efficiency of the system.
Regarding Claim 13, Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
continuing to transmit
As discussed above concerning claim 10, Kain and Kaneko teach equalizing transmission times. The cell controllers in Hitachi are capable of transmitting for a predetermined time after completing data transmission to equalize time, and equalizing power draw was a conventionally known solution to a well-known problem.
Regarding Claim 14, Hitachi does not explicitly teach:
wherein the battery controller is alternating by transmitting wakeup signal to one cell controller on either end of the daisy chain, back and forth
Kain, however, from the same field of invention, regarding a battery management system, teaches a reversible system that flips the order of communications in order to balance the power draw in the inter-block communication network (Figs. 5A-B and paras 0021-0022). It therefore would have been obvious to modify the controller in Hitachi to “alternate” the direction of flow in the daisy chain (see para 0022 of Hitachi referring to an “alternating master-on-top and master-on-bottom” setup and para 0050 discussing a particular embodiment as depicted in Figs. 4A-4B), such that a “wakeup signal transmission” as taught in Hitachi will be followed by a receipt of data “from the first cell controller after a second predetermined time from a wakeup signal transmission to the third cell controller,” with the motivation to balance the power being drawn by the blocks of an inter-block communication network (see paras 0021-0022). For further evidence of ordinary skill in the art regarding conventional techniques designed to balance power usage across daisy-chains see Okuda (US 2015/0280463), also from the same field of invention, which teaches a fixed length packet for use in a daisy-chained battery management system (abstract), wherein battery states are appended to the message being transmitted downstream in the chain (Figs. 6A-6B).
Response to Arguments
Applicant has amended the claims to emphasize the truly passive component of reception in the claimed receiving circuit, and argues that Sako teaches active reception. In response to the amendments, the rejections have been modified to rely on Butler which teaches RFID chain-transmission through receiving circuits with passive reception and demodulation. Farmer, previously cited, also teaches passive reception, with the power coming from the signal itself. The Office additionally cites to US Patent No. 9,232,475 for an “ultra low power passive wake-up radio based sensor” as evidence of ordinary skill in the art regarding passive reception and transmission.
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 Michael Dignan, whose telephone number is (571) 272-6425. The examiner can normally be reached from Monday to Friday between 10 AM and 6:30 PM. If any attempt to reach the examiner by telephone is unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tiffany Legette, can be reached at (571)270-7078. Another resource that is available to applicants is the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR). Information regarding the status of an application can be obtained from the (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAX. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, please feel free to contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). Applicants are invited to contact the Office to schedule an in-person interview to discuss and resolve the issues set forth in this Office Action. Although an interview is not required, the Office believes that an interview can be of use to resolve any issues related to a patent application in an efficient and prompt manner.
/MICHAEL L DIGNAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1723