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 .
Non-Final Office Action (2nd)
DETAILED ACTION
Examiner’s Notes
(a) Claim date: 04/05/2026 (2nd non-final).
(b) Claims 10–20 have been canceled and require no response.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC 102
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.Claims 1-9, 21-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Lee (US 10,358,041 B2).
(As to claim 1, Lee discloses)
1. (Original) A vehicle comprising:
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a connection port designed to interface with a charger [FIG. 1: vehicle 100 includes a charging socket 104 that connects to a charging connector 152]
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a vehicle battery [FIG. 3: high-voltage battery 102]
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a vehicle battery management unit configured to control a current and a voltage of charging and output by detecting a temperature, a current, and a voltage in each module of the vehicle battery [FIG. 2: controller 210 control a current and a voltage of charging and output by detecting temperature, current, and voltage in each module of the vehicle battery];
a power conversion unit comprising a motor and an inverter and configured to convert a voltage received at the connection port to a magnitude of voltage that charges the vehicle battery [Col. 8–9, FIG. 9: motor 212 and the inverter 206 installed in the electric vehicle 100 operate as a converter to boost a DC voltage of 400V,]; and
a charging management unit coupled to the vehicle battery management unit and the power conversion unit [Col. 5, FIG. 2–3: on-board charger (OBC) 302 that is coupled to both the controller 210 (vehicle battery management unit)].
(As to claim 2, and 3 Lee discloses)
2. (Currently amended) A system comprising:
a vehicle comprising of a vehicle connection port designed to interface with a charger; a vehicle battery; a vehicle battery management unit configured to control a current and a voltage of charging and output by detecting a temperature, a current, and a voltage in each module of the vehicle battery [Col. 5, FIG. 2: controller 210 control a current and a voltage of charging and output by detecting temperature, current, and voltage in each module of the vehicle battery];
a power conversion unit comprising a motor and an inverter and configured to convert a voltage received at the vehicle connection port to a magnitude of voltage that charges the vehicle battery; and a charging management unit coupled to the vehicle battery management unit and the power conversion unit [Col. 5, FIG. 2–3, FIG. 9: as discussed above for claim 1, the full vehicle sub-combination including the connection port 104, high-voltage battery 102, controller 210 (battery management unit), motor 212 and inverter 206 (power conversion unit performing 400V→800V boost), and OBC 302 (charging management unit), disclosing the vehicle portion of claim 2];
a mobile charger comprising a charger connection port designed to interface with the vehicle connection port of the vehicle and a mobile charger battery, wherein the mobile charger does not include any power conversion unit such that a voltage that can be output by the mobile charger has the same magnitude as a voltage of the mobile charger battery [FIG. 3, Col. 6: first rapid charger 352 providing DC 800V that interfaces with the vehicle connection port 104 and supplies power at its own output voltage directly to the high-voltage battery 102 without any voltage conversion step in the charger itself]
(As to claim 4, Lee discloses)
4. (Original) The system of claim 3, wherein
the mobile charger further comprises a mode switch configured to switch an operating mode between a charging mode and discharging mode [Col. 5, FIG. 7: Lee discloses that the rapid charging switch 702 configured with relays R1, R2, and R3 selectively enables either boosted charging (second rapid charger, 400V) or direct charging (first rapid charger, 800V), and the relays are selectively turned on and off in a charging mode].
(As to claim 5, Lee discloses)
5. (Original) The system of claim 4, wherein
the controller is configured to: determine whether a control pilot pulse width modulation (CP PWM) duty cycle is 5% when the operating mode is the charging mode; and perform charging of the mobile charger when the CP PWM duty cycle is 5% [FIG. 3, Col. 5–6: charging of the vehicle using external chargers via the charging socket 104; the control pilot (CP) PWM signaling at 5% duty cycle is the standard IEC 61851/J1772 protocol signal used to indicate that an EV is ready to accept charging power from an EVSE]
(As to claim 6, Lee discloses)
6. (Currently amended) The system of claim 3, wherein
a charger connection port of the mobile charger comprises a charging port configured to connect with a bidirectional charging cable [FIG. 1, FIG. 3, Col. 5: the charging connector 152 connects the charging socket 104 of the electric vehicle 100 to an external charging facility; bidirectional charging cables enabling V2V or vehicle-to-grid power flow were well-known in the art at the time of the invention].
(As to claim 7, Lee discloses)
7. (Original) The system of claim 3, wherein
the mobile charger further comprises an insulation checking unit configured to check an insulation of a charging cable [FIG. 3, Col. 5: the charging connector 152 connects the external charger to the vehicle charging socket 104 over a charging cable; insulation resistance checking of a charging cable prior to initiating high-voltage DC charging was a well-known and standard safety practice in the EV charging art at the time of the invention].
(As to claim 8, Lee discloses)
8. (Original) The system of claim 7, wherein
the mobile charger further comprises a relay configured to turn on or off a power that is supplied to the insulation checking unit [FIG. 7, FIG. 8, Col. 7: the rapid charging switches 702/802 comprise relays R1, R2, R3 that selectively turn on and off power paths in the charging system].
(As to claim 9, Lee discloses)
9. (Original) The system of claim 8, wherein
when a cable of the mobile charger is connected to the vehicle, the mobile charger is configured to turn the relay on and the insulation checking unit is configured to check the insulation of the charging cable, and after the insulation of the charging cable is checked, the mobile charger is configured to charge the vehicle [Col. 7–8, FIG. 7: when the second rapid charger 354 is connected to the converter 304, the relays R2 and R3 of the rapid charging switch 702 are turned on and the charging operation commences; the sequential logic of turning on the relay upon cable connection before initiating the charging process corresponds to the recited sequence of turning the relay on upon cable connection to enable insulation checking and then charging].
(As to claim 21, Lee discloses)
21. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, wherein
the motor and the inverter are configured to perform DC-DC conversion without a separate power conversion device [Col. 8–9, FIG. 9: explicitly discloses that the charging apparatus of FIG. 9 “boost[s] a DC voltage of 400V to 800V by using the motor 212 and the inverter 206 installed in the electric vehicle 100 as a converter, without including the converter 304,” and further states “since the charging apparatus shown in FIG. 9 requires no converter].
(As to claim 22, Lee discloses)
22. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, wherein
the power conversion unit comprises a microcontroller unit (MCU), the motor, and the inverter, and the power conversion unit is configured to operate as a DC-DC converter [Col. 5, Col. 8–9, FIG. 2, FIG. 9–10: discloses that the power conversion unit comprises the controller 210 (MCU), the motor 212, and the inverter 206, and that the motor 212 and inverter 206 operate as a DC-DC converter to boost 400V to 800V].
(As to claim 23, Lee discloses)
23. (New) The vehicle of claim 22, wherein
the power conversion unit is configured to convert a voltage from 400 V to 800 V [Col. 8–9, FIG. 9: “a DC voltage of 400V provided from the second rapid charger 354 may be boosted to a DC voltage of 800V” using the motor 212 and inverter 206 as a converter, directly disclosing that the power conversion unit converts a voltage from 400V to 800V].
(As to claim 24, Lee discloses)
24. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising
a first capacitor configured to charge a voltage provided from a mobile charger and a second capacitor configured to charge a voltage converted from the power conversion unit [FIG. 4, FIG. 10, Col. 5, row 20-25: a capacitor C connected in parallel to the input terminals of the converter 304 configured to remove ripples of a DC voltage that is input (first capacitor, charging voltage provided from the external charger);].
(As to claim 25, Lee discloses)
25. (New) The vehicle of claim 24, wherein
the first capacitor is configured to be charged by a voltage of 400 V, and the second capacitor is configured to be charged by a voltage of 800 V [FIG. 4, Col. 5: the capacitor C at the input of the converter 304, the first capacitor is charged by 400V and the second capacitor is charged by 800V]
(As to claim 26, Lee discloses)
26. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, wherein
the power conversion unit is configured to convert a voltage from 400 V to 800 V [Col. 8–9, FIG. 9: as discussed above for claim 23, Lee explicitly discloses that the motor 212 and inverter 206 boost a DC voltage of 400V to 800V, disclosing that the power conversion unit is configured to convert a voltage from 400V to 800V]
(As to claim 27, Lee discloses)
27. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising
a vehicle charging management system (VCMS) configured to manage charging of the vehicle [ FIG. 2: the controller 210 constitutes a vehicle charging management system (VCMS) configured to manage charging of the vehicle, disclosing a VCMS configured to manage charging of the vehicle]
(As to claim 28, Lee discloses)
28. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, wherein
the vehicle battery is configured with a plurality of battery modules storing electrical energy for driving the vehicle [FIG. 2: 102 is a large-capacity lithium battery storing electrical energy that drives the motor 212 to generate power].
(As to claim 29, Lee discloses)
29. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, wherein
the connection port is configured to connect with a bidirectional charging cable [FIG. 1, Col. 5: charging socket 104 connects to a charging connector 152 installed in an external charging facility via a charging cable; bidirectional charging cables enabling both charging and discharging (V2G/V2L)].
(As to claim 30, Lee discloses)
30. (New) The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising
a link capacitor configured to charge a power supplied from the charger, wherein the link capacitor is configured to be charged by a voltage of 800 V [FIG. 4, FIG. 7, Col. 6: capacitor C in the boost circuit context explicitly provides a link capacitor charged by the 800V output voltage, disclosing a link capacitor configured to charge a power supplied from the charger wherein the link capacitor is configured to be charged by a voltage of 800V].
(As to claim 31, Lee discloses)
31. (New) The system of claim 2, wherein
the motor and the inverter are configured to perform DC-DC conversion without a separate power conversion device [FIG. 9, claim 21, motor 212 and inverter 206 perform DC-DC conversion (400V to 800V) without including the separate converter 304, directly disclosing that the motor and inverter are configured to perform DC-DC conversion without a separate power conversion device]
Conclusion
The prior art made of record in the form PTO-892 are not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.Contact information:Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED ALAM whose telephone number is (571) 270-1507, email address: [mohammed.alam@uspto.gov] and fax number (571) 270-2507. The examiner can normally be reached on 10AM to 4PM (EST), Monday to Friday. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's Supervisor, JACK CHIANG can be reached on (571) 272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300./Mohammed Alam/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
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