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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 09/01/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 11-14 are currently amended. By this amendment, claims 1-16 are still pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by An US 2020/0355747 A1
Regarding claim 11: An at least discloses and shows in Fig. 7: An apparatus (battery management apparatus; see Fig. 7)comprising: a monitor circuit(110) having a first battery terminal(11a), a second battery terminal(11b), a bus bar terminal(bus var 20 has terminals, see Figs. 6-7)(S1 is connected to positive terminal of bus bar 20 if switch 123 is closed and Switch 124” is opened and S1 is connected to negative terminal of bus bar 20 if switch 123 is opened and switch 124” is closed; see [0066]-[0067]), a first selection input, a second selection input(via measurement target changing unit 120/120”)(see Figs. 4-5 and 7 and [0055],[0062], [0093] and [0094]), a first measurement output(as output at S1), and a second measurement output(as output at S2), the monitor circuit(110) configurable(see [0057]-[0061]) to(depending of selection of measurement channels S1…Sn+1): provide a first signal at the first measurement output(first measurement line 121) responsive to a state of the first selection input based on a voltage difference between the first and second battery terminals(11a and 11b)(see Fig. 6 and [0075]-[0077])as a first battery voltage; and provide a second signal(second measurement line 122) at the second measurement output responsive to a state of the second selection input based on a voltage difference between the second battery terminal and the bus bar terminal as a second battery voltage(see [0063]-[0064],[0070],[0075]-[0079],[0083],[0087])(note-when the second switch 123 is closed, on the second measurement line 122 is provided a second voltage that includes voltage of the bus bar 20 + the voltage of the battery 11; see Fig. 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 are allowed over the prior art of record.
The prior art of record either taken alone or in combination thereof cannot be reasonably construed as adequately teaching or suggesting the combination of elements and features arranged, disposed, or provided in the manner as claimed by the applicants, most particularly, as in claim 1, a system, comprising: a first multiplexer having first and second inputs and an output; a second multiplexer having first and second inputs and an output; a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having first and second inputs, the first input of the first ADC coupled to the output of the first multiplexer; a second ADC having first and second inputs, the first input of the second ADC coupled to the output of the second multiplexer; a first terminal coupled to the first input of the first multiplexer and to the second input of the second ADC; and a second terminal coupled to the second input of the first multiplexer and to the first input of the second multiplexer.
Claims 2-10 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1 and thus are also allowed for the same reasons.
Claims 12-16 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.
Regarding claim 12, patentability exists at least in part with the claimed limitations of, “…wherein the monitor circuit includes: a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having first and second inputs and the first measurement output, the first input of the first ADC coupled to the first battery terminal, and the first ADC configurable to provide the first signal at the first measurement output; a second ADC having first and second inputs and an the second measurement output, the first input of the second ADC coupled to the second battery terminal, and the second ADC configurable to provide the second signal at the second measurement output; a first multiplexer having first and second inputs and an output, the first input of the first multiplexer coupled to the second battery terminal, the second input of the first multiplexer coupled to the bus bar terminal, and the output of the first multiplexer coupled to the second input of the first ADC; and a second multiplexer having first and second inputs and an output, the first input of the second multiplexer coupled to the bus bar terminal, and the output of the second multiplexer coupled to the second input of the second ADC.
Claims 13-16 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 12 and thus are also allowed for the same reasons.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/01/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s representative argues that:
An's switching arrangement selectively applies individual point voltages to a measurement channel. It does not provide, at first and second measurement outputs, separate signals responsive to respective first and second selection inputs and based on the two claimed voltage differences.
Examiner respectfully disagrees and submits that An’s switching arrangement does provide a first…to n measurements outputs, separate signals(since switch S1 is selected once at a time because after the operation state of the first switching element 123 is controlled into a turn-on state, the processor 130 calculates the cell voltage of each of battery cells C12, . . . , C1n other than the first battery cell C11 among the plurality of battery cells C11, . . . , C1n based on the voltage applied to measurement channels S2, . . . , Sn+1 other than the first measurement channel S1 and after that in a state where the operation state of the first switching element 123 is controlled into a turn-on state, the processor 130 calculates a first voltage difference between the voltage applied to the first measurement channel S1 and the voltage applied to the second measurement channel S2 electrically connected to the negative electrode terminal of the first battery cell C11 and afterwards the processor 130 calculates a bus bar voltage by using the calculated first voltage difference and the cell voltage(see [0075]-[0077] and [0083]-[0088]).
Therefore, rejection has been maintained where arguments were found less persuasive.
Conclusion
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M'BAYE DIAO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2859
/M BAYE DIAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 September 14, 2026
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