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 1-2, 5-13, and 15 are amended.
Claims 3-4 and 14 are canceled.
Claims 1-2, 5-13, and 15 are pending.
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 management system 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”.
In addition, amended claims 1 and 13 recite “the statistical value is a negative value which is less than the second analysis reference value” however while applicant cites Par. 63-64 for the amended language, specification does not describe the statistical value is a negative value. The specification makes no mention of negative values and looking at the drawings, all the presented values are positive. Notably Par. 64 as cited by applicant refers to the “absolute statistical value” which would be positive.
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 management system (Fig. 26) including a battery diagnosis device, the battery diagnosis device (Fig. 26, 263, 262) 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 a negative value (Par. 83 “V-drop” examiner considers V drop to be said negative value as it represents a decrease, hence, a negative value) which is less than the first analysis reference value and the statistical value is less than the second analysis reference value (Par. 83), wherein the first analysis reference value is a voltage value determined based on a voltage in the rest section (Par. 82 “voltages covering a 30-minute resting period”).
GEUN does not explicitly disclose wherein, based on the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit, the battery management system 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 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, the 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”), determining 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 determining 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 a negative value (Par. 83 “V-drop” examiner considers V drop to be said negative value as it represents a decrease, hence, a negative value) which is less than the second analysis reference value (Par. 83 “estimation error with V-Drop reaches over 70% of absolute SoH value”), and wherein the first analysis reference value is a voltage value determined based on a voltage in the rest section (Par. 82 “voltages covering a 30-minute resting period”).
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 second analysis reference value is 0 (Par. 88 “SoC in the range of 0-70%”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/05/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding applicant’s 112(a) arguments the examiner respectfully disagrees. While Par. 11 and 33-36 describes:
“battery diagnosis device can take appropriate measures for the battery cells”
“a battery module 11 consisting of one or more battery cells and capable of charging and discharging, a switching unit 14 connected in series to the + terminal side or the - terminal side of the battery module 11 to control the charge/discharge current flow of the battery module 11”
“a battery management system 20 for controlling and managing the voltage, current, temperature, and the like of the battery pack 1 to prevent overcharging and overdischarging” (emphasis added)
“the battery management system 20 may control ON/OFF of the switching unit 14, for example, a MOSFET or a relay, and may be connected to the battery module 11 to monitor the state of the battery module 11” (emphasis added)
These do not provide support for said “wherein, based on the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit, the battery management system is configured to control a switch that controls charging or discharging of the battery cell”, (emphasis added) as per the emphasis above, the battery management system controls the on/off of the switching unit to “monitor the state of the battery module” not based on “the type of error determined by the diagnosis circuit” as claimed. Even if the examiner inferred that the “a battery management system 20 for controlling and managing the voltage, current, temperature, and the like of the battery pack 1” was done via controlling a switch, it would still not be done “based on the type of error determined” as claimed as the specification never relates “prevent overcharging and overdischarging” to a type of error. Further Fig. 5 and Par. 90 of applicant’s specification describes type of error being that a fire has occurred, it does not reasonably explain nor would it be reasonable to infer, the battery management system is configured to control a switch that controls charging or discharging of the battery cell based on the type of error is a fire. Looking at the figures and specification, the method/processes stop at the determining a type of error.
Regarding applicant’s 103 arguments on pages 8-10, the examiner respectfully disagrees. As noted above, the specification does not explicitly describe “a negative value” this understood to be the decrease in value, thus as cited is interpreted to be the voltage drop described in GUEN.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 9130379 B2 Integrated Circuit For Controlling Battery Cell And Vehicle Power Supply System; US 20090198399 A1, Battery System For Vehicle, On-Vehicle Battery Module, And Cell Controller.
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.
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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.
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/B.J.B/ Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/SHELBY A TURNER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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