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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 5-8, 11-13 and 15 are amended.
Claims 3-4 and 14 are canceled.
Claims 1-2, 5-13, and 15 are pending.
The amendment to the specification is accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-13, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 recites “wherein, based on the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit, the battery diagnosis device is configured to control a switch that controls charging or discharging of the battery cell” and claim 13 recites “controlling a switch configured to control charging or discharging of the battery cell based on the diagnosed type of error”. While applicant asserts the amendments are supported by previous claims 4 and 14, the claims did not recite these limitations. Nor upon review of the drawings and specification does there appear to be support for said limitations. Notably while Par. 33-36 describe a switch and controlling said switch, it does not describe doing so “based on the type of error determined”.
Claims 2, 5-12, and 15 are rejected based on their inherited deficiencies.
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) 1-2, 5-13, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GEUN (WO 2018195049 A1) in view of Barrella (US 4871956 A).
In claim 1 GEUN discloses a battery diagnosis device (Fig. 26) comprising: a voltage measurement circuit (Fig. 26, 262) configured to periodically measure voltages (Par. 92 “measure the voltage”) at both ends of a battery cell (Par. 92 “cells” Fig. 4A) in a rest section (Fig. 4A Par. 19); a data processing circuit (Fig. 26, 263 Par. 92) configured to derive a statistical value indicating a state of the battery cell (Par. 95 “SOC” “SOH”) based on difference values between voltage values measured by the voltage measurement circuit and fitting values calculated based on the measured voltage values (Par. 67); and a diagnosis circuit (Fig. 26, 264) configured to determine whether an error has occurred in the battery cell (Par. 83) based on statistical values in a plurality of rest sections (Par. 83 “in terms of the 5th and 95th percentiles of estimation errors”, Par. 82 “30-minute resting period”), and determine whether the type of error is a first type in which the battery cell is unstable (Par. 95 “thermal runaway and even battery explosion”), a second type in which the voltage of the battery cell temporarily rises (Par. 79, 85-86, 91 “sudden increase/drop of battery voltage indicates the triggering/stopping of trickle charging” “relaxation may not be available due to trickle charging”), or a third type in which the voltage of the battery cell temporarily drops based on a cumulative statistical value in which an absolute values of the statistical values are accumulated and the statistical value in a first rest section among the plurality of rest sections (Par. 83 “estimation error with V-Drop reaches over 70% of absolute SoH value”), wherein the plurality of rest sections comprise the rest section and one or more rest sections before the first rest section (Fig. 18, Par. 77); wherein the diagnosis circuit determines that the type of error is the first type if the cumulative statistical value is greater than a first analysis reference value (Par. 95-96, Fig. 22), determines that the type of error is the second type when the cumulative statistical value is less than the first analysis reference value and the statistical value is greater than a second analysis reference value (Par. 88), and determines that the type of error is the third type when the cumulative statistical value is less than the first analysis reference value and the statistical value is less than the second analysis reference value (Par. 83).
GEUN does not explicitly disclose wherein, based on the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit, the battery diagnosis device is configured to control a switch that controls charging or discharging of the battery cell.
Barrella teaches wherein, based on the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit (Column 3 Lines 30-47 “error detection circuit 37 will be "HIGH" indicating that the cell is a problem cell signifying a fault condition”), the battery diagnosis device is configured to control a switch that controls charging or discharging of the battery cell (Column 3 Lines 30-47 “activating the fault discharge switching circuit 11, the load switch circuit 39 and the bad cell indication circuit 43”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to have wherein, based on the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit, the battery diagnosis device is configured to control a switch that controls charging or discharging of the battery cell as taught by Barrella in order to safely discharge bad cells (Barrella Column 3 Lines 30-47) thus improving safety of the device.
In claim 2 GEUN further discloses wherein each of the plurality of rest sections is a section from after charging the battery cell is completed to before starting discharging or a section from after discharging the battery cell is completed to before charging is started (See Fig. 4, 18).
In claim 5 GEUN discloses all of claim 1. GEUN further discloses wherein the first analysis reference value is related to a voltage in the rest section (Par. 96 “Charge/rest/discharge”), and wherein the second analysis reference value is 0 (Par. 88 “SoC in the range of 0-70%”).
In claim 6 GEUN further discloses wherein if the type of error is the first type, a voltage in the rest section increases for a longer time section than when the type of error is the second type (Par. 95-96 Fig. 22) or decreases for a longer time section than when the type of error is the third type (Par. 77-78, 82-83 Fig. 12 and 18).
In claim 7 GEUN further discloses wherein the diagnosis circuit determines whether the error has occurred in the battery cell based on the accumulated statistical value when the absolute value of the statistical value is greater than a first absolute reference value and less than or equal to a second absolute reference value (Par. 83), determines that a different type of error more fatal than the error has occurred in the battery cell when the absolute value is greater than the second absolute reference value (Par. 83), and determines that the error does not occur in the battery cell when the absolute value is less than the first absolute reference value (Par. 83).
In claim 8 GEUN discloses all of claim 7. GEUN further discloses herein the first absolute reference value is related to an error tolerance range of the absolute value (Par. 83), and wherein the second absolute reference value is related to a fatal error (Par. 95-96).
In claim 9 GEUN further discloses wherein the battery cell is a first battery cell among a plurality of battery cells in a battery (Par. 92 “cells” Fig. 2), wherein the data processing circuit calculates a relative reference value based on the statistical values of the plurality of battery cells (Par. 83 95-96, Fig. 22), and wherein the diagnosis circuit determines whether the error has occurred in the first battery cell based on the cumulative statistical value when the absolute value of the statistical value is greater than the relative reference value (Par. 83, 88), and determines that no error has occurred in the first battery cell when the absolute value of the statistical value is less than the relative reference value (Par. 83).
In claim 10 GEUN discloses all of claim 9. GEUN further discloses wherein the data processing circuit sets an 'n' sigma value of the statistical values of the plurality of battery cells as the relative reference value, where 'n' is a positive number (Par. 59).
In claim 11 GEUN further discloses wherein the data processing circuit calculates a standard deviation value of the statistical values in the plurality of rest sections (Par. 11, 66, 68 “moving average smoother is then used again to smooth the remaining valid relaxing”), and wherein the diagnosis circuit determines whether the error has occurred in the battery cell based on the statistical value when the standard deviation value is greater than a reference deviation value and the cumulative statistical value is greater than a cumulative reference value (Par. 83), and determines that the error does not occur in the battery cell when the standard deviation value is less than the reference deviation value or the cumulative statistical value is less than the cumulative reference value (Par. 83).
In claim 12 GEUN discloses all of claim 11. GEUN further discloses wherein the battery cell is a first battery cell among a plurality of battery cells in a battery (Par. 92 “cells” Fig. 2), and wherein the cumulative reference value is corresponding to a top 'm'% of the accumulative statistic values in which absolute values of the statistic values of the plurality of battery cells are accumulated, where 'm' is a positive number (See Fig. 11, Par. 59 71-73).
In claim 13 GEUN discloses a battery diagnosing method (Fig. 5, Fig. 26) comprising: a first step of periodically measuring a voltage (Par. 92 “measure the voltage”) at both ends of a battery cell (Par. 92 “cells” Fig. 4A) in a rest section (Fig. 4A Par. 19) by a battery diagnosis device (Fig. 26); a second step of calculating a statistical value representing a state of the battery cell (Par. 95 “SOC” “SOH”) based on difference values between voltage values measured by the battery diagnosis device and fitting values calculated based on the measured voltage values (Par. 67); a third step of determining whether an error has occurred in the battery cell (Par. 83) based on statistical values in a plurality of rest sections (Par. 83 “in terms of the 5th and 95th percentiles of estimation errors”, Par. 82 “30-minute resting period”); and a fourth step of diagnosing the type of error based on a first comparison result of comparing the cumulative statistical value accumulated with an absolute values of the statistical values with a first analysis reference value (Par. 95 “thermal runaway and even battery explosion”), and a second comparison result of comparing the statistical value with a second analysis reference value (Par. 79, 85-86, 91 “sudden increase/drop of battery voltage indicates the triggering/stopping of trickle charging” “relaxation may not be available due to trickle charging”), wherein the plurality of rest sections comprise a first rest section and one or more rest sections before the first rest section (Fig. 18, Par. 77); wherein determining the type of error includes determining that the type of error is a first type in which the battery cell is unstable when the cumulative statistical value is greater than a first analysis reference value (Par. 95 “thermal runaway and even battery explosion”), determines that the type of error is a second type in which the voltage of the battery cell temporarily rises when the cumulative statistical value is less than the first analysis reference value and the statistical value is greater than a second analysis reference value (Par. 79, 85-86, 91 “sudden increase/drop of battery voltage indicates the triggering/stopping of trickle charging” “relaxation may not be available due to trickle charging”), and determines that the type of error is a third type in which the voltage of the battery cell temporarily drops when the cumulative statistical value is less than the first analysis reference value and the statistical value is less than the second analysis reference value (Par. 83 “estimation error with V-Drop reaches over 70% of absolute SoH value”).
GEUN does not explicitly disclose controlling a switch configured to control charging or discharging of the battery cell based on the diagnosed type of error.
Barrella teaches controlling a switch configured to control charging or discharging of the battery cell (Column 3 Lines 30-47 “activating the fault discharge switching circuit 11, the load switch circuit 39 and the bad cell indication circuit 43”) based on the diagnosed type of error (Column 3 Lines 30-47 “error detection circuit 37 will be "HIGH" indicating that the cell is a problem cell signifying a fault condition”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to perform controlling a switch configured to control charging or discharging of the battery cell based on the diagnosed type of error as taught by Barrella in order to safely discharge bad cells (Barrella Column 3 Lines 30-47) thus improving safety of the method.
In claim 15 GEUN discloses all of claim 13. GEUN further discloses wherein the first analysis reference value is related to the voltage in the rest section (Par. 96 “Charge/rest/discharge”), and wherein the second analysis reference value is 0 (Par. 88 “SoC in the range of 0-70%”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/31/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Examiner notes that the 101 arguments are withdrawn based on the amended language but could reappear with the removal of the designated new matter. Regarding applicant’s 102 arguments, the examiner respectfully disagrees, as GEUN does disclose the bolded section of the amended claims as cited above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20120229078 A1, Energy Store Method And Charging Method; US 20140377594 A1 BATTERY UNIT.
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 BRANDON J BECKER whose telephone number is (571)431-0689. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-5:30.
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, Shelby Turner can be reached at (571) 272-6334. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/B.J.B/ Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/SHELBY A TURNER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2857