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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/7/22 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the references given in the IDS are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 82-83, 94, 96, and 99 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 82, 96 and 99 recite on the last line, "the analysis." It is not clear whether the analysis refers to an analysis of the message comprising charging time and state of health of the battery, the correlation of charging time with state-of-health information of the battery, or both. The examiner suggests rewriting “the analysis” as “an analysis of the message comprising charging time and state of health of the battery and/or the correlation of charging time with state-of-health information of the battery.”
Claim 83 recites "plurality of charging time" instead of "plurality of charging times," and "plurality of charging sequence" instead of "plurality of charging sequences"
Claim 94 recites "modifying a charging sequence" instead of "modify a charging sequence"
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 80-81, 84-86, 91, 93-95, and 97 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchida (US 20090326749 A1) in view of Ricci (US 20170136892 A1).
Regarding independent claim 80, Uchida discloses a system comprising:
a charging station (Fig. 1: 30) configured to charge an electric vehicle (10), wherein the charging station comprises
a control unit (Fig. 1: assessment device 32) configured to
receive a message comprising a charging time (¶[67] and Fig. 2: data acquisition unit 52 in assessment device 32 activates flag FLG that is output via connection cable 20 to vehicle 10 for a specified period from the time when charging is started to the time after a specified time from the start of charging) and state-of-health information (various data for assessing the degradation state of the power storage device on vehicle 10 is collected) of a battery pack;
compute a charging sequence based on the charging time and the state-of-health information (¶[36]: the user selects a charge mode for charging the power storage device from a power supply outside the vehicle, in consideration of the degradation state of the secondary battery); and
determine amount of power to provide a maximum charging to the battery pack during the charging time (¶[67] collected data includes voltage Vb and charging current Ib used during the charging of the power storage device mounted on vehicle 10) ([153]: quick charge rate is set in advance. The examiner interprets quick charge rate as maximum charging).
Uchida does not disclose wherein the state-of-health information comprises a first state-of-health information that corresponds to a first portion of the battery pack, a second state-of-health information that corresponds to a second portion of the battery pack, and a third state-of-health information that corresponds to a third portion of the battery pack.
Ricci discloses wherein the state-of-health information comprises a first state-of-health information that corresponds to a first portion of the battery pack, a second state-of-health information that corresponds to a second portion of the battery pack, and a third state-of-health information that corresponds to a third portion of the battery pack (Fig. 13 and ¶[104]: a charge controller 1324 is configured to monitor a health of the power source 1308, e.g., one or more cells, portions, etc.).
Uchida and Ricci disclose charging stations for charging batteries in electric vehicles. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate health information corresponding to different portions of the battery in the vehicle of Ricci into the vehicle of Uchida to monitor the health of independent portions of the battery and charge them according to their health thereby increasing their lifetime.
Regarding independent claim 94, Uchida discloses a system comprising:
a charging station (Fig. 1: 30) configured to charge an electric vehicle (10), wherein the charging station comprises a control unit (Fig. 1: assessment device 32) configured to
establish a bidirectional communication link between the charging station and a vehicle computer system (¶[63] and Fig. 2: connection cable 20 is used as a data communication medium between charge station 30 and vehicle 10);
receive a message comprising an update to at least one of a charging time and state-of- health information of a battery pack from the vehicle computer system (¶[64-65]: “While vehicle 10 is charged from charge station 30, degradation assessment device 32 assesses the degradation state of the power storage device of vehicle 10 using various data collected from current sensor 34, voltage sensor 36 and vehicle 10.” Data includes degradation state of the power storage device of the vehicle);
modifying a charging sequence based on the update to at least one of the charging time (¶[67] and Fig. 2: data acquisition unit 52 in assessment device 32 activates flag FLG that is output via connection cable 20 to vehicle 10 for a specified period from the time when charging is started to the time after a specified time from the start of charging) and the state-of-health information (¶[36]: the user selects a charge mode for charging the power storage device from a power supply outside the vehicle, in consideration of the degradation state of the secondary battery); and
determine amount of power to provide maximum charge to the battery pack during the charging time (¶[67] collected data includes voltage Vb and charging current Ib used during the charging of the power storage device mounted on vehicle 10) (¶([153]: quick charge rate is set in advance. The examiner interprets quick charge rate as maximum charging)).
Uchida does not disclose wherein the state-of-health information comprises a first state-of-health information that corresponds to a first portion of the battery pack, a second state-of-health information that corresponds to a second portion of the battery pack, and a third state-of-health information that corresponds to a third portion of the battery pack.
Ricci discloses wherein the state-of-health information comprises a first state-of-health information that corresponds to a first portion of the battery pack, a second state-of-health information that corresponds to a second portion of the battery pack, and a third state-of-health information that corresponds to a third portion of the battery pack (Fig. 13 and ¶[104]: a charge controller 1324 is configured to monitor a health of the power source 1308, e.g., one or more cells, portions, etc.).
Uchida and Ricci disclose charging stations for charging batteries in electric vehicles. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate health information corresponding to different portions of the battery in the vehicle of Ricci into the vehicle of Uchida to monitor the health of independent portions of the battery and charge them according to their health thereby increasing their lifetime.
Regarding independent claim 97, Uchida discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a charging station, a message comprising a charging time (¶[67] and Fig. 2: data acquisition unit 52 in assessment device 32 activates flag FLG that is output via connection cable 20 to vehicle 10 for a specified period from the time when charging is started to the time after a specified time from the start of charging) and state-of-health information of a battery pack from a vehicle computer system (¶[64-65]: “While vehicle 10 is charged from charge station 30, degradation assessment device 32 assesses the degradation state of the power storage device of vehicle 10 using various data collected from current sensor 34, voltage sensor 36 and vehicle 10.” Data includes degradation state of the power storage device of the vehicle);
determining, by the charging station, a charging sequence based on the charging time and the state-of-health information (¶[36]: the user selects a charge mode for charging the power storage device from a power supply outside the vehicle, in consideration of the degradation state of the secondary battery); and
determining, by the charging station, amount of power to provide maximum charge to the battery pack during the charging time (¶[67] collected data includes voltage Vb and charging current Ib used during the charging of the power storage device mounted on vehicle 10) ([153]: quick charge rate is set in advance. The examiner interprets quick charge rate as maximum charging)
.
Uchida does not disclose wherein the state-of-health information comprises a first state-of-health information that corresponds to a first portion of the battery pack, a second state-of-health information that corresponds to a second portion of the battery pack, and a third state-of-health information that corresponds to a third portion of the battery pack.
Ricci discloses wherein the state-of-health information comprises a first state-of-health information that corresponds to a first portion of the battery pack, a second state-of-health information that corresponds to a second portion of the battery pack, and a third state-of-health information that corresponds to a third portion of the battery pack (Fig. 13 and ¶[104]: a charge controller 1324 is configured to monitor a health of the power source 1308, e.g., one or more cells, portions, etc.).
Uchida and Ricci disclose charging stations for charging batteries in electric vehicles. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate health information corresponding to different portions of the battery in the vehicle of Ricci into the vehicle of Uchida to monitor the health of independent portions of the battery and charge them according to their health thereby increasing their lifetime.
Regarding claim 81, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the charging station further comprises:
a charger unit (Uchida - Fig. 1: 30);
a charger point (Uchida - charging cable 20);
a power distribution network (Ricci - Fig. 2: multiple charging stations); and
an artificial intelligence unit (Uchida - server 40).
Regarding claim 95, Uchida in view of Ricci discloses the system of claim 94, wherein the charging station further comprises:
a charger unit (Uchida - Fig. 1: 30);
a charger point (Uchida - charging cable 20);
a power distribution network (Ricci - Fig. 2: multiple charging stations); and
an artificial intelligence unit (Uchida - server 40).
Regarding claim 84, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the control unit is configured to communicate a signal to a charger unit to supply the amount of power determined (¶[63] and Fig. 2: connection cable 20 is used as a data communication medium between charge station 30 and vehicle 10 in order to charge the power storage device on the vehicle).
Regarding claim 85, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the charging sequence comprises a combination of at least one of a level 1 charging, a level 2 charging, and a level 3 charging (¶[16]: normal charge mode, quick charge mode).
Regarding claim 86, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the charging sequence comprises a combination of at least one of a level 1 charging that corresponds to the first portion of the battery pack (¶[30, 35]), a level 2 charging that corresponds to the second portion of the battery pack, and a level 3 charging that corresponds to the third portion of the battery pack (alternative claim language used).
Regarding claim 91, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the charging time comprises combination of at least one of a first charging time segment, a second charging time segment, and a third charging time segment (¶[67] and Fig. 2: data acquisition unit 52 in assessment device 32 activates flag FLG that is output via connection cable 20 to vehicle 10 for a specified period from the time when charging is started to the time after a specified time from the start of charging. The examiner interprets the first charging time segment as the same as the specified time period).
Regarding claim 93, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the control unit is configured to receive the message comprising the charging time and the state-of-health information of the battery pack from a vehicle computer system (¶[67] and Fig. 2).
Claims 82-83, 96, and 99 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchida in view of Ricci, and further in view of Tae et al. (US 20080054850 A1), hereinafter referred to as Tae.
Regarding claim 82, Uchida discloses the system of claim 81, wherein the artificial intelligence unit (Fig. 1: server 40) is configured to
analyze the message comprising the state-of-health information of the battery pack (Fig. 12: and ¶[79]: Steps S30-S60, data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40, data including degradation state of the power storage device of vehicle 10);
correlate the state-of-health information of the battery pack with a previous history of the battery pack (Fig. 12: and ¶[79]: Steps S30-S60); and
communicate a recommendation of the charging sequence to the control unit based on the analysis (¶[80] and Fig. 12: step S70, after data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40, transition of the degradation state of the power storage device is indicated to a user).
Uchida does disclose analyzing or correlating charging time of the battery pack with a previous history.
Naito discloses analyzing and correlating charging time of the battery pack with a previous history (Figs. 2 and 3 and ¶[79, 87]: a set of allowable times with prices is compared for the user to decide what to prioritize).
Uchida and Naito disclose systems for charging batteries. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate the time analysis of Naito into the system of Uchida to allow the user prioritize either reduced charging time or reduced charge price (abstract).
Regarding claim 83, Uchida in view of Naito discloses the system of claim 82, wherein the previous history of the battery pack comprises a plurality of charging time of the battery pack (Naito - Fig. 3), a plurality of state-of-health information of the battery pack (Uchida - (¶[80] and Fig. 12: data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40) and a plurality of charging sequence that the battery pack has undergone charging (Uchida - (¶[80] and Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 96, Uchida discloses the system of claim 95, wherein the artificial intelligence unit (Fig. 1: server 40) is configured to
analyze the message comprising the update to the state-of-health information of the battery pack (Fig. 12: and ¶[79]: Steps S30-S60, data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40, data including degradation state of the power storage device of vehicle 10);
correlate the update to the state-of-health information of the battery pack with a previous history of the battery pack (Fig. 12: and ¶[79]: Steps S30-S60); and
communicate a recommendation of the charging sequence to the control unit based on the analysis (¶[80] and Fig. 12: step S70, after data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40, transition of the degradation state of the power storage device is indicated to a user).
Uchida does disclose analyzing or correlating charging time of the battery pack with a previous history.
Naito discloses analyzing and correlating charging time of the battery pack with a previous history (Figs. 2 and 3 and ¶[79, 87]: a set of allowable times with prices is compared for the user to decide what to prioritize).
Uchida and Naito disclose systems for charging batteries. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate the time analysis of Naito into the system of Uchida to allow the user prioritize either reduced charging time or reduced charge price (abstract).
Regarding claim 99, Uchida discloses the method of claim 97, further comprising:
analyzing the message comprising the state-of-health information of the battery pack (Fig. 12: and ¶[79]: Steps S30-S60, data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40, data including degradation state of the power storage device of vehicle 10);
correlating the state-of-health information of the battery pack with a previous history of the battery pack (Fig. 12: and ¶[79]: Steps S30-S60); and
communicating a recommendation of the charging sequence to a control unit based on the analysis (¶[80] and Fig. 12: step S70, after data is collected and compared with assessment data acquired from server 40, transition of the degradation state of the power storage device is indicated to a user).
Uchida does disclose analyzing or correlating charging time of the battery pack with a previous history.
Naito discloses analyzing and correlating charging time of the battery pack with a previous history (Figs. 2 and 3 and ¶[79, 87]: a set of allowable times with prices is compared for the user to decide what to prioritize).
Uchida and Naito disclose systems for charging batteries. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate the time analysis of Naito into the system of Uchida to allow the user prioritize either reduced charging time or reduced charge price (abstract).
Claims 87-90 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchida in view of Ricci, and further in view of Naito et al. (US 20130346308 A1).
Regarding claim 87, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80.
Uchida does not explicitly disclose wherein the battery pack comprises a plurality of cells.
Tae discloses a battery pack (Fig. 1: 2) comprising a plurality of cells (¶[43]: subpacks 2a to 2h, in which a plurality of cells are coupled in series).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate the subpacks and plurality of cells in each subpack of the invention of Tae into the battery of Uchida to improve thermal management and increase charging and discharging efficiency.
Regarding claim 88, Tae discloses the system of claim 87, wherein the first portion of the battery pack comprises a first plurality of cells among the plurality of cells of the battery pack (Fig. 1 and ¶[43]).
Regarding claim 89, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80,
Uchida does not disclose wherein the battery pack comprises at least one of a first battery, a second battery, and a third battery.
Tae discloses the system of claim 80, wherein the battery pack (Fig. 1 and ¶[43]: 2 )comprises at least one of a first battery, a second battery, and a third battery (Fig. 1: multiple battery cells).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate the subpacks and plurality of cells in each subpack of the invention of Tae into the battery of Uchida to improve thermal management and increase charging and discharging efficiency.
Regarding claim 90, Tae discloses the system of claim 89, wherein the first portion of the battery pack comprises a plurality of first cells from a combination of at least one of the first battery, the second battery, and the third battery (Fig. 1).
Claims 92 and 98 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchida in view of Ricci, and further in view of Hartnagel et al. (US 20220194255 A1), hereinafter referred to as Hart.
Regarding claim 92, Uchida discloses the system of claim 80.
Uchida does not disclose wherein the control unit is configured to determine the amount of power to prevent damage to the battery pack and to provide the maximum charging to the battery pack during the charging time.
Hart disclose a control unit configured to determine an amount of power to prevent damage to a battery pack and to provide the maximum charging to the battery pack during a charging time (¶[25, 27] and Fig. 3: Steps 312, 314, 316, 318; EVSE 138 obtains maximum charging power from vehicle 112 via charging controller 252. Vehicle battery is charged at an adjusted maximum charging power to preserve the lifespan of the battery. EVSE outputs a message including estimated time to finish charging).
Uchida and Hart disclose systems for charging batteries in vehicles. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate limiting the maximum power to battery in the system of Hart into the system Uchida to preserve the lifespan of the battery (¶0025).
Regarding claim 98, Uchida discloses the method of claim 97
Uchida does not disclose determining the charging time based on the state-of-health information of the battery pack.
Hart discloses determining the charging time based on the state-of-health information of the battery pack (¶[25, 27]: message from EVSE includes estimated time to finish charging where charging of the battery is conducted to preserve the lifespan of the battery).
Uchida and Hart disclose systems for charging batteries in vehicles. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate charging time data in the system of Hart into the system Uchida to notify the user when charging will be finished and the vehicle ready for use (¶0027).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kim et al. (US 20130063088 A1) discloses a charging power supply module 110 automatically controlling the amount of the charging power to the maximum charging power of the battery pack mounted in the vehicle.
Tsuda (US 20120053742 A1)
Jikihira (US 20130285608 A1)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ryu-Sung Peter Weinmann whose telephone number is (703)756-5964. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm ET.
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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) 272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/Ryu-Sung P. Weinmann/Examiner, Art Unit 2859 October 16, 2025
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859