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 is amended.
Claim 2-3 is canceled.
Claims 4-11 are as previously presented.
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 and 4-11 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 “charging the battery to a target SOC level corresponding to the SOC section and discharging the battery to measure a discharge capacity for estimating the SOH” (emphasis added). While the specification does describe a SOC setpoint, the later claims claim said setpoint, thus it the “target SOC level” is not the SOC setpoint. It is not clear what is being referred to and claimed by the “target SOC level” and where the support for said limitations is.
Claims 4-11 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, 4-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tenmyo (US 20150293183 A1) in view of Shoa Hassani Lashidani (US 20190170827 A1) hence forth Shoa.
In claim 1, Tenmyo discloses method for estimating a state of health (SOH) (Par. 8, “SOH”) of a battery (Par. 8 “battery”), the method comprising: determining by an apparatus (Fig. 1) including a state of charge (SOC) change amount calculator (Fig. 1, 53), a slope calculator (Fig. 1 and 2, 51/52/53 Par. 27, 34, 39), and a memory (Fig. 1, 60), a state of charge (SOC)-open circuit voltage (OCV) lookup table (Fig. 1, 61, Fig. 4) according to an SOH of at least one battery cell (Par. 39 “SOH of the battery cells”); determining by the SOC change amount calculator of the apparatus (Par. 34, 39-40, 51-53), a first SOC change amount (Par. 33 “difference”) based on a diagnosis time (See Fig. 2, time) for diagnosing a current state of the battery (Par. 33 “SOC” Fig. 2, SOC%) and a current rate at which the battery is discharged (Par. 35, “discharge” Fig. 2, current, current integration), upon receipt of the diagnosis time and the current rate; determining by the slope calculator of the apparatus (Fig. 1 and 2, 51/52/53 Par. 27, 34, 39), a first slope of SOC-OCV graph for each SOC section in the SOC-OCV lookup table corresponding to the first SOC change amount according to the SOH in the SOC-OCV lookup table in the memory (See Fig. 2, Fig. 3, OCV method Par. 39, 64, “variation value of the SOC employed by SOC determination unit 53 and the integrated current value in the time period” and Par. 30 “SOC determination unit 53 employs the SOC estimated by current-integration estimation unit 51 without change, or employs an SOC obtained by correcting the former SOC using the SOC estimated by open-circuit voltage estimation unit 52”); and determining, by the apparatus (Fig. 1), based on the first slope, first SOC sections having a predetermined diagnostic accuracy in the SOC-OCV lookup table (Fig. 4, Par. 36 Δd); wherein the determining of the first slope for each SOC section comprises calculating an OCV change amount corresponding to the first SOC change amount (Par. 29 “two SOCs corresponding to two OCVs before and after the calculated OCV, and performs linear interpolation”), and calculating the first slope by dividing the OCV change amount by the first SOC change amount (Par. 29 “Linear interpolation” Examiner notes the formula for linear interpolation is “y = y1 + ((x - x1) * (y2 - y1)) / (x2 - x1)” where y2 and y1 are the OCVs and X2 and X1 are the SOCs); wherein the determining of the first sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy comprises determining, based on a deviation of the first slope (Par. 39 “SOH of battery cells S1 to Sn, on the basis of the variation value of the SOC employed by SOC determination unit 53 and the integrated current value in the time period”) for each of a plurality of SOH values (Par. 39 “SOH of battery cells S1 to Sn”) in a same SOC section (Par. 39 “time period”), whether a corresponding SOC section includes a diagnosable SOH (Fig. 5, S32-S33 Par. 52 “When variation amount ΔSOC of the SOC arrives at the set value (Y in S32), SOH estimation unit 54 estimates the SOH and FCC (S33)”); and performing, by the apparatus, a battery diagnosis using the SOC section determined to include the diagnosable SOH (Fig. 5, S33, Par. 51-52), the battery diagnosis comprising charging the battery (Fig. 2, examiner considers the upward slope to be said charging, Par. 54 “As section capacity Qt, charge capacity from the start of the charge to the completion of the charge”) and discharging the battery to measure a discharge capacity for estimating the SOH (Par. 39-40 “discharge capacity”, “ΔSOC”).
Tenmyo does not explicitly disclose the battery diagnosis comprising charging the battery to a target SOC level corresponding to the SOC section and discharging the battery to measure a discharge capacity for estimating the SOH (emphasis added).
Shoa teaches the battery diagnosis comprising charging the battery to a target SOC level corresponding to the SOC section (Fig. 5, 52-56, Par. 59-60 examiner considers the predicted state of charge to be said SOC level) and discharging the battery to measure a discharge capacity for estimating the SOH (Par. 69, 89).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time the invention was filed to have the battery diagnosis comprising charging the battery to a target SOC level corresponding to the SOC section and discharging the battery to measure a discharge capacity for estimating the SOH as taught by Shoa in Tenmyo in order to reduce the error in measurements (Shoa Par. 69), thus leading to a more accurate method.
In claim 3, Tenmyo discloses wherein the determining of the first sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy comprises determining, based on a deviation of the first slope for each of a plurality of SOH values in a same SOC section (Par. 33 and 41), whether a corresponding SOC section includes a diagnosable SOH (Par. 41 and 55).
In claim 4, Tenmyo discloses obtaining, by the apparatus, a current SOC corresponding to an OCV of at least one waste battery cell included in a waste battery (Par. 25, 39 Eq. 4 and 5, applicants specification Par. 63 describes “a waste battery may be generated due to a case in which a battery of a vehicle has reached the end of a lifespan” thus considers a battery cell of a battery with a low SOH to be a waste battery) from an SOC-OCV lookup table of a battery having a SOH of 100 (Eq. 4); and calculating, by the apparatus, a SOH of the at least one waste battery cell using the first sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Eq. 4 See Fig. 3 Par. 41).
In claim 5, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 4. Tenmyo further discloses wherein the calculating of the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell comprises: searching the SOC-OCV lookup table for a section closest to the current SOC within a predetermined SOC range among the first sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29); outputting, as an SOC setting point (Par. 36, 52 “set value”), a first SOC among SOCs included in the section in a case that the section closest to the current SOC exists in the SOC-OCV lookup table (Par. 29, Fig. 2); obtaining a discharge capacity (Par. 11, 40, Fig. 3) when the at least one waste battery cell is discharged up to the first SOC change amount after the at least one waste battery cell is charged up to the SOC setting point (Fig. 3 Par. 40); and calculating, based on the discharge capacity, the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell (Par. 41).
In claim 6, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 5. Tenmyo further discloses wherein the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell is expressed as:
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54
336
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Greyscale
where ΔSOC refers to a first SOC change amount, the measured capacity refers to the discharge capacity, and a beginning of life (BOL) capacity refers to an initial capacity of the at least one waste battery cell (Par. 39, Eq. 4 and 5: SOH=FCC/Cd×100; FCC=(Qt/ΔSOC)×100; thus SOH= Qt/(ΔSOC*Cd) examiner notes that the x100 is simply to turn the decimal into a percentage).
In claim 7, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 5. Tenmyo further discloses calculating a second SOC change amount by adjusting the first SOC change amount in a case that no section closest to the current SOC exists in the SOC-OCV lookup table (Fig. 5, S31); calculating a second slope for each SOC section corresponding to the second SOC change amount in the SOC-OCV lookup table according to the SOH (Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); and determining, based on the second slope, second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy in the SOC-OCV lookup table (Par. 36).
In claim 8, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 7. Tenmyo further discloses calculating a third SOC change amount by adjusting the first SOC change amount (Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); calculating a third slope for each SOC section corresponding to the third SOC change amount in the SOC-OCV lookup table according to the SOH (Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); and determining, based on the third slope, third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy in the SOC-OCV lookup table (Par. 36).
In claim 9, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 8. Tenmyo further discloses calculating the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell (Par. 25, 39 Eq. 4 and 5, applicants specification Par. 63 describes “a waste battery may be generated due to a case in which a battery of a vehicle has reached the end of a lifespan” thus considers a battery cell of a battery with a low SOH to be a waste battery) using the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy and the third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Par. 36, Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop).
In claim 10, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 9. Tenmyo further discloses wherein the calculating of the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell comprises: searching the SOC-OCV lookup table for a section closest to the current SOC within a predetermined first SOC range among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29-31; Fig. 4 62b; Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); searching the SOC-OCV lookup table for a section closest to the current SOC within a predetermined second SOC range among the third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29-31; Fig. 4 62b; Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); outputting, as an SOC setting point (Par. 36, 52 “set value”), a first SOC among SOCs included in the section closest to the current SOC among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29) in a case that the section closest to the current SOC exists among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Par. 29, Fig. 2) and no section closest to the current SOC exists among the third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 5, S31); obtaining a discharge capacity when the at least one waste battery cell is discharged up to the first SOC change amount after the at least one waste battery cell is charged up to the SOC setting point (Fig. 3 Par. 40); and calculating, based on the discharge capacity, the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell (Par. 41).
In claim 11, Tenmyo discloses all of claim 9. Tenmyo further discloses wherein the calculating of the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell comprises: searching the SOC-OCV lookup table for a section closest to the current SOC within a predetermined first SOC range among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29-31; Fig. 4 62b; Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); searching the SOC-OCV lookup table for a section closest to the current SOC within a predetermined second SOC range among the third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29-31; Fig. 4 62b; Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); outputting, as an SOC setting point (Par. 36, 52 “set value”), a first SOC among SOCs included in the section closest to the current SOC among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29) in a case that the section closest to the current SOC exists among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Par. 29, Fig. 2), the section closest to the current SOC exists among the third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Fig. 1, 61; Fig. 2; Par. 29), and a slope deviation of the section closest to the current SOC among the second sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy is less than a slope deviation of the section closest to the current SOC among the third sections having the predetermined diagnostic accuracy (Par. 33, 54, Fig. 2, Fig. 5, loop); obtaining a discharge capacity when the at least one waste battery cell is discharged up to the first SOC change amount after the at least one waste battery cell is charged up to the SOC setting point (Fig. 3 Par. 40); and calculating, based on the discharge capacity, the SOH of the at least one waste battery cell (Par. 41).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The previous 101 rejections are withdrawn based on the amendments. Regarding the 102 arguments on pages 14-17, the rejection has been updated to a 103 rejection to reflect the amended claims. The examiner notes that regarding applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “it does not disclose determining differences across multiple SOH values in a range of the SOC values to identify an SOH range”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US 20190033385 A1, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING A STATE OF CHARGE OF A DISCONNECTED BATTERY.
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