DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Arguments
Applicant has amended claims 1 and 6 to clarify the condition of “the battery is being charged or discharged” is “in response to the charge or discharge control instruction of the control chip”. Thereby traversing the rejection of claims 1 and 6 under 35 USC 112(b) and 35 USC 112(f). Examiner withdraws the rejections of claims 1 and 6 under 35 USC 112(b) and 35 USC 112(f).
Applicant argues that the combination of Ono modified by Kamijima fails to render obvious independent claim 1.
Regarding Ono, applicant argues “in Ono's invention, the state of not being charged and the state of not being discharged of the battery are not used as a condition for switching protection mode”. Ono FIG 3 shows a scale relating the power modes of a rechargeable battery based on a threshold voltage, wherein at
V
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V
marks the threshold voltage wherein the Over-Discharge Protection Mode ends and the deep-discharge mode begins. This functions similar to the present application’s claim 1 limitation “the electrical capacity of the battery is less than the preset capacity according to whether the voltage of the battery is less than the preset voltage”, and establishes the structure of Ono to be capable of putting the battery into a state of not being charged or discharged.
Ono ¶0044 discloses “over-discharge-protection mode, the battery pack 100 turns off the gauge IC 003 and thus turns off the charge control FET 004 and the discharge control FET 005”, which functionally prevents the battery from charging or discharging. Ono further discloses in ¶0045 “deep-discharge mode is a mode in which the protection IC 002 cuts off current to the fuse 006 to prohibit charging and discharging, and the electronic device 200 is thus not allowed to be started or charged”. Although Ono does not explicitly disclose ceasing communication between electronic device 200 and battery 001, in deep-discharge mode there is not a communication signal which can execute any functions of the electronic device 200.
Applicant further argues “Ono merely teach switching from the over-discharge-protection mode to the deep-discharge mode (interpreted as shutdown mode as claimed) solely based on the remaining capacity of the battery”. However Ono ¶0076 states “communication unit 022 of the battery pack 100 receives a notification indicating the shutdown, that is, switching off of the electronic device 200 from the power controller 017 of the electronic device 200”. As detailed in ¶0051 power controller 017 has a charge controller 019, and ¶0053 states “charge controller 019 controls charging and discharging by controlling the charge control FET 004 and the discharge control FET 005”. Switching the electronic device 200 off from power controller 017 also disconnects it from charge controller 019, without being in communication with charge controller 019 the device is neither actively charging nor actively discharging and communication unit 022 is given a notification indicating shutdown. Shutdown mode of electronic device 200 is confirmed by ¶0076 “detecting the shutdown of the electronic device 200, the battery pack 100 causes the integration unit 018 to measure the voltage value Voff of the rechargeable battery 001 (S002)”. Thereby Ono considers the state of the battery which is not being charged in response to the charge control instruction of charge controller 019, the state of the battery not being discharged in response to the control instruction of charge controller 019, the electrical capacity of the battery is less than a preset capacity Vsd, and the battery pack 100 does not communicate with electronic device 200.
Lastly applicant argues “Ono also does not teach or suggest that the battery pack switch to shutdown mode when the battery does not communicate with the electronic device”. Ono FIG 8 begins with step S001 which detects the shutdown of electronic device 200, described in ¶0076, step S001 receives a signal that indicates that the electronic device 200 is disconnected from power controller 017. As detailed above, this results in battery pack 100 being disconnected from power controller 017 and the battery no longer communicates with the electronic device.
Regarding Kamijima, applicant states “the shutdown operation of the battery as taught by Kamijima is not based on whether "the battery is not being charged and discharged in response to the charge control instruction of the control chip"”. As detailed in the non-final rejection dated 02/05/2026, Kamijima ¶0059 discloses “status information includes an error status indicative of present, and past errors, a status indicative of whether shutting down has been performed, and a status indicative of whether battery 10 is presently being charged or discharged”. Using the status information of Kamijima, including whether battery 10 is presently being charged or discharged, as Ono’s notification indicating shutdown of electronic device 200 results in battery pack 100 entering shutdown mode based on whether the battery is presently being charged or discharged.
Applicant's arguments filed 05/05/2026 have been fully considered and they are not persuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 3, 5-7, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ono et al (US 20160344206 A1) modified by Kamijima et al (US 20180101208 A1)
Regarding claim 1, Ono teaches a battery device, configured to supply electric power to an electronic device, and comprising: a battery; (¶0035 "FIG. 1 illustrates an example hardware configuration of a battery pack 100 and an electronic device 200")
and a control chip, coupled to the battery, (¶0051 "power controller 017 has functions of an integration unit 018, a charge controller 019, a memory unit 020, an input detector 021, and a communication unit 022", ¶0050 “battery pack 100 has functions of a protection controller 016 and a power controller 017”)
and configured to: measure an electrical capacity of the battery by measuring a voltage of the battery, (¶0066 “FIG. 4 illustrates, as the example, a discharge characteristic of the rechargeable battery 001 having a battery capacity… vertical axis of the graph represents a voltage value of the rechargeable battery 001, and the horizontal axis represents a remaining capacity”)
and control the battery device to enter a shutdown mode, (¶0058 “FIG. 3 illustrates example modes related to protection of the rechargeable battery 001”, ¶0062 “deep-discharge mode is a mode in which the protection IC 002 cuts off current to the fuse 006 to prohibit charging and discharging… voltage value leading to the deep-discharge mode is equal to or lower than the voltage value Vsuv (V)”)
wherein the electrical capacity is indicative of a remaining charge of the battery, (¶0066 “FIG. 4 illustrates, as the example, a discharge characteristic of the rechargeable battery 001 having a battery capacity… vertical axis of the graph represents a voltage value of the rechargeable battery 001, and the horizontal axis represents a remaining capacity”)
wherein the control chip controls the battery device to enter the shutdown mode to perform deep discharge protection (¶0076 “[Fig 8] communication unit 022 of the battery pack 100 receives a notification indicating the shutdown, that is, switching off of the electronic device 200 from the power controller 017 of the electronic device 200 and thus detects the shutdown of the electronic device 200 (S001)”)
when [the control chip determines that the battery is not being charged in response to a charge control instruction of the control chip,
the battery is not being discharged in response to a discharge control instruction of the control chip,]
the electrical capacity of the battery is less than a preset capacity corresponding to a preset, (¶0085 “[FIG 8] If it is determined that the measured battery voltage value V of the rechargeable battery 001 is equal to or lower than the deep-discharge-mode start voltage value Vsuv (S011: YES), the mode is changed to the deep-discharge mode (S011)”)
and the battery device does not communicate with the electronic device, (¶0076 “communication unit 022 of the battery pack 100 receives a notification indicating the shutdown, that is, switching off of the electronic device 200 from the power controller 017 of the electronic device 200”)
wherein the control chip continues to measure the electrical capacity of the battery (FIG 8 steps S004, S007, and S010 all read “measure rechargeable battery voltage value V” indicating that the controller 017 is continually measuring the battery voltage and thereby measuring the electrical capacity of the battery)
when the control chip determines that the battery is being charged in response to the charge control instruction of the control chip, (¶0087 “FIG. 10 illustrates a flow of resetting the start voltage values for the respective modes”, ¶0089 “integration unit 018 of the battery pack 100 measures the battery voltage value V of the rechargeable battery 001 to determine whether the battery voltage value V has reached a voltage value higher than the over-discharge-protection-mode start voltage value Vodp (S102)”)
the battery is being discharged in response to the discharge control instruction of the control chip, the electrical capacity of the battery is greater than the preset capacity, (¶0033 “if charging is started and thereafter terminated, the method according to the embodiment based on the voltage value of the rechargeable battery at the time of terminating charging may be used, except that power is being supplied to the electronic device”)
[and wherein in the shutdown mode, the control chip of the battery device is enabled to enter a low energy consumption state, the control chip receives only an operating voltage required for wakeup,]
and total consumption current of the battery is directly decreased to a current corresponding to the deep discharge protection, (¶0061 "over-d ischarge-protection mode is a mode in which discharging of the rechargeable battery 001 is prohibited. In the over-discharge-protection mode, the battery pack 100 turns off the gauge IC 003 and thus turns off the charge control FET 004 and the discharge control FET 005")
wherein the control chip determines whether the electrical capacity of the battery is less than the preset capacity according to whether the voltage of the battery is less than the preset voltage, and when the voltage of the battery decreases to the preset voltage of the battery, the control chip enters the shutdown mode to perform deep discharge protection. (¶0085 “[FIG 8] If it is determined that the measured battery voltage value V of the rechargeable battery 001 is equal to or lower than the deep-discharge-mode start voltage value Vsuv (S011: YES), the mode is changed to the deep-discharge mode (S011)”)
Ono ¶0044 discloses “over-discharge-protection mode, the battery pack 100 turns off the gauge IC 003 and thus turns off the charge control FET 004 and the discharge control FET 005”, which functionally prevents the battery from charging or discharging. Ono further discloses in ¶0045 “deep-discharge mode is a mode in which the protection IC 002 cuts off current to the fuse 006 to prohibit charging and discharging, and the electronic device 200 is thus not allowed to be started or charged”.
Ono does not explicitly disclose when the control chip determines that the battery is not being charged in response to a charge control instruction of the control chip, the battery is not being discharged in response to a discharge control instruction of the control chip, and wherein in the shutdown mode, the control chip of the battery device is enabled to enter a low energy consumption state, the control chip receives only an operating voltage required for wakeup.
Kamijima teaches when the control chip determines that the battery is not being charged in response to a charge control instruction of the control chip, the battery is not being discharged in response to a discharge control instruction of the control chip, (¶0059 "status information includes an error status indicative of present and past errors, a status indicative of whether shutting down has been performed, and a status indicative of whether battery 10 is presently being charged or discharged")
and wherein in the shutdown mode, the control chip of the battery device is enabled to enter a low energy consumption state, (¶0030 "Power supply controlling microcontroller 53 has, as operation modes, a normal mode and a sleep mode at which electric power is less consumed than in the normal mode (low electric power consumption mode)")
the control chip receives only an operating voltage required for wakeup. (¶0046 "[FIG 3] Upon receiving the alarm in the sleep mode, power supply controlling microcontroller 53 wakes up, and returns to the normal mode (S42)")
Therefor it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify the battery device as taught by Ono wherein in the shutdown mode, the control chip of the battery device is enabled to enter a low energy consumption state, the control chip receives only an operating voltage required for wakeup as taught by Kamijima. The battery device as taught by Ono receives a notification from power controller 017 which initiates the battery pack 100 to measure the battery voltage and enter shutdown mode, depicted in Ono FIG 8 and described in Ono ¶0076. Further, Ono FIG 10 illustrates the logic for resetting the start voltage of the battery pack 100 when an adaptor connection is detected. Similar to Ono, Kamijima discloses a battery device which uses a controller to enter multiple battery modes or states to prevent deep-discharging the battery device. Incorporating the status information as taught by Kamijima into the notification received by Ono’s battery pack 100 would result in the claimed invention. The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to minimize battery degradation and maintaining battery state of health to increase safety of use and extend battery lifespan.
Similarly for claim 6 as applied to a battery protection method for a battery device. (Ono FIG 8 and FIG 10)
Regarding claim 3, Ono modified by Kamijima teaches the battery device according to claim 1. Ono modified by Kamijima further teaches further comprising: a power switch, coupled to the battery, the electronic device, and the control chip, (Ono ¶0033 "electric device is switched on and starts to receive power supply from the battery pack before entering the shutdown mode", Ono ¶0037 "battery pack 100 includes a rechargeable battery 001, a protection integrated circuit (IC) 002, a gauge IC 003, a charge control field effect transistor (FET) 004, a discharge control FET 005, and a fuse 006")
wherein the battery supplies the electric power to the electronic device through the power switch, (Ono ¶0033 "electric device is switched on and starts to receive power supply from the battery pack before entering the shutdown mode")
and the control chip disconnects the power switch to enter a low energy consumption state. (Ono ¶0059 "voltage value detected in the rechargeable battery 001 becomes equal to or lower than the shutdown-mode start voltage value Vsd (V), the mode of the battery pack 100 is switched to the shutdown mode")
Similarly for claim 7 as applied to a battery protection method, Ono modified by Kamijima teaches the battery protection method of claim 6.
Regarding claim 5, Ono modified by Kamijima teaches the battery device according to claim 1. Ono modified by Kamijima wherein the battery device communicates with the electronic device through a system bus. (Ono ¶0038 "The data communication terminals 009 of the battery pack 100 are connected to data communication terminals 013 of the electronic device 200, and data communication is performed")
Similarly for claim 9 as applied to a battery protection method, Ono modified by Kamijima teaches the battery protection method of claim 6.
Prior Art Not Relied Upon
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure can be found in the attached PTO-892 Notice of References Cited by Examiner attached to this correspondence.
Chen et al (US 20030117112 A1) discloses a method and apparatus for implementing a smart management of a rechargeable battery which uses battery parameters, such as voltage and battery capacity, to enter different battery modes including a mode for deep discharge protection.
Snyder et al (US 20150180257 A1) discloses a system for controlling battery current which uses an over-discharge protection switch and a wake-up charge detection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 LISA M KOTOWSKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3771. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8a-5p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian Huffman can be reached at (571) 2722147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LISA KOTOWSKI/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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