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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 12/12/2022. Claims 1-20 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Examiners notes on claim interpretation.
In regards to claim language “forced battery mode” Based on the specification ([0018]), Examiner will interpret a “forced battery mode” as a mode where the battery is configured to supply power to a load.
Examiner also interprets “detecting whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode” as determining whether the battery voltages is at or above a threshold after the charger has been switched or configured to switch to the forced battery mode, after the battery charger has been configure to supply power to the load, reading a register in the battery charger.
Claim Objections
Claims 6, 13 and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6, 13 and 20 recites “the battery charger is fully drained “. Based on the specification, Examiner will examine/interpret as “the battery is fully drained “ .
Appropriate correction required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (b), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre--AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
As to claims 1 and similarly claims 8 and 15 recites “in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determining the battery charger is connected to a battery; and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger” which is not consistent with the disclosure and is therefore unclear.
However, the specification and Fig. 2 supports:
“[0022] failure conditions associated with battery module 110 can be detected by controller 102 without adding hardware components and without a need to continuously monitor battery voltage.
[0023] To detect failure conditions associated with battery module 110,…Based on whether battery charger 104 switched to forced battery mode or failed to switch to forced battery mode, controller 102 can determine a status of battery module 110 and recites " determine a presence or absence of failure conditions associated with battery module 110… such as battery module 110 is still connected to BGATE. If battery charger 104 failed to switch to forced battery mode, then controller 102 can determine that there may be a failure condition associated with battery module 110, such as a disconnect between battery module 110 and BGATE, and/or battery 108 may be fully drained.
The specification supports determining an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery module 110 and not the battery charger 104 as claimed.
The specification supports determining the switch BGATE or Vsys (and not the battery charger 104 as claimed) is connected to a battery.
Claims 5,6,12, 13 and 19,20 recites “the battery charger being disconnected from the battery”.
The specification recites “[0020] In some aspects, apparatus 100 can encounter various failure conditions associated with battery module 110. For example, battery module 110 can be disconnected from BGATE (or from V sys), or battery 108 can be fully drained without being noticed.
The specification supports determining the switch BGATE or Vsys (and not the battery charger 104 as claimed) is disconnected from the battery.
It is unclear what comprises the claimed battery charger.
It is unclear the if the claim should recite “an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger” or “an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery”.
Claims 2-7,9-14 and 16-20 is/are included in this rejection due to their dependence on claims 1,8, and 15.
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 1-3,5-10,12-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nibir (US 20200295588) in view of Itagaki (US 20140042828).
As to claim 1, Nibir discloses a method for operating a battery charger (Fig. 4), the method comprising: switching an operation mode of a battery charger to a forced battery mode ([0035] FIG. 4-5 shows charger 102 operating in a normal battery only mode in block 502. …the normal battery only mode (i.e. “forced battery mode”) can include normal mode module 422 turning off FETs Q1 402, Q2 403 Q4 407, and Q5 408, turning off the bypass FETs Q6 416 and Q7 418, and turning on the FETs Q3 414 and Q8 426 to … provide the voltage from battery 104 to the output node 410);
Nibir does not disclose/teach detecting whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger; in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determining the battery charger is connected to a battery.
Itagaki teaches detecting whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode (Fig. 4 S203 “Is Abnormal discharging recognized? “Yes” or “No” and S207 “Is difference predetermined value or more” ”Yes” or “no”. Also S207 [0069] [0071] …the electric storage apparatus 1 in the first embodiment can accurately measure the potential between the two points where the latch relay 30 …, and further, can confirm whether or not the open or closed state of the main circuit correctly reflects the control by the protective circuit); and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger (Fig. 4 S203 “Is Abnormal discharging recognized? “Yes and [0069] S207 “Is difference predetermined value or more?”, “Yes” to Step 209 “determine malfunction of latch relay”) in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determining the main circuit is connected to a battery (Fig. 4 203 “No” and 208 “No” and [0057]. If the latch relay 30 is normally held in the closed state, a voltage V1 measured by the battery voltage measuring unit 11 and a voltage V2 measured by the charging/discharging voltage measuring unit 12 are equal to each other. As such the method of Nibir has determined that the latch and the main circuit serving as a charging/discharging path formed between an outside load or a battery charger connected to the electric storage apparatus 1 is connected to the battery).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Nibir to wherein detecting whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger; in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determining the battery charger is connected to a battery in order to enhance the determination accuracy with respect to the switch of the charging/discharging path or the power path and therefore high reliability can be achieved [0036].
As to claim 2, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the method of claim 1 further comprising: detecting an adapter of the battery charger is enabled ([0014] when a power adapter is plugged into port 106, battery charger 102 is configured to charge battery 104); and setting a voltage detection threshold to a minimum system voltage of the battery charger ([0018] of Nibir During this time, charger 102 provides the battery voltage to VSYS/VOUT), wherein switching the operation mode to the forced battery mode is performed in response to setting the voltage detection threshold ([0018] For example, with reference to FIG. 1, charger 102 can be configured to operate in a “battery only” mode …. During this time, charger 102 provides the battery voltage to VSYS/VOUT. As such battery only mode was enabled in response to setting Vsys/Vout).
As to claim 3, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Nibir in view of Itagaki does not disclose/teach wherein switching the battery charger to the forced battery mode comprises modifying a register in the battery charger to switch the operation mode to the forced battery mode.
However Nibir teaches switching from a forced battery mode to another mode through modifying a register ([0037] If EC 112 determines that the threshold discharge level has been reached, in block 506, EC 112 can request that charger 102 transition to reverse boost mode from a normal battery only mode by signaling that reverse boost is enabled. EC 112 can do this by writing certain values to registers via SMBus, for example one or more bits of one or more control registers of charger 102).
Since Nibir teaches switching modes through a register, then it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Nibir to wherein switching the battery charger to the forced battery mode comprises modifying a register in the battery charger to switch the operation mode to the forced battery mode in order to enable fast processing and control of system behavior.
As to claim 5, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the failure condition is at least one of: the battery charger being disconnected from the battery ( [0069] of Itagaki, if the difference is the predetermined value or more (step 208), .. The chive determining unit 15 determines the malfunction of the latch relay 30. [0055]-[0056] [0058] of Itagaki a description will be given of the malfunction of the latch relay 30 ... Even in the state in which the latch relay 30 is closed …, the latch relay 30 may be independently operated so as to be possibly opened. The actual open/closed state of the main circuit by the operation of the latch relay 30 is checked based on the measurement of the voltages at upstream side and downstream side of the latch relay 30 in the main circuit. In the case where a sufficiently large difference between the voltages, i.e., a sufficiently large absolute value |V2-V1| is obtained, …., the main circuit is determined to be open and the malfunction of the latch relay 30 is recognized).
As to claim 6, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the method of claim 1, wherein in response to the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode ([0019] FIG. 2 of Nabir provides two graphs illustrating system operation in such a “battery only” mode).
Nibir does not disclose/teach in response to determining the occurrence of a failure condition, setting a voltage detection threshold to a new voltage level; in response to setting the voltage detection threshold, detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; and in response to the battery charger failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining the battery charger is disconnected from the battery.
Itagaki teaches in response to determining the occurrence of a failure condition ( Fig. 4 S203 “Is Abnormal discharging recognized? “Yes), setting a voltage detection threshold to a new voltage level (Step 207-208 predetermined value) ; in response to setting the voltage detection threshold, detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode (Step 208 “is the difference predetermined value or more?” “ Yes” or “no”); and in response to the battery charger failed to switch to the forced battery mode (s208 “Yes”), determining the main circuit is disconnected from the battery ([0069] S207 “Is difference predetermined value or more” “Yes” to Step 209 “determine malfunction of latch relay”. [0055]-[0056] [0058] of Itagaki a description will be given of the malfunction of the latch relay 30 ... Even in the state in which the latch relay 30 is closed …, the latch relay 30 may be independently operated so as to be possibly opened. The actual open/closed state of the main circuit by the operation of the latch relay 30 is checked based on the measurement of the voltages at upstream side and downstream side of the latch relay 30 in the main circuit. In the case where a sufficiently large difference between the voltages, i.e., a sufficiently large absolute value |V2-V1| is obtained, …., the main circuit is determined to be open and the malfunction of the latch relay 30 is recognized)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Nibir to in response to determining the occurrence of a failure condition, setting a voltage detection threshold to a new voltage level; in response to setting the voltage detection threshold, detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; and in response to the battery charger failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining the battery charger is disconnected from the battery in order to enhance the determination accuracy with respect to the switch of the charging/discharging path or the power path and therefore high reliability can be achieved [0036].
Nibir does not disclose/teach wherein in response to the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode determining the battery charger is fully drained.
However it is old and well known to one of ordinary skill in the art to discover dead or fully drained batteries in response to a battery operated electronic device’s failure to power up or operate (i.e successfully switched to the forced battery mode). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Nabir to wherein in response to the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode determining the battery charger is fully drained in order to replace the batteries with fully charged batteries and continue operation.
As to claim 7, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the new voltage level ([0086] predetermined value of 0V when V2-V1 is substantially the same) is less than a minimum system voltage of the battery charger (V1 when discharging).
As to claims 8 and 15, Nibir discloses an apparatus and a semiconductor device (charger 102 including IC 402 (Fig. 4) and embedded controller (EC) 112.) comprising:
a battery (Fig. 4, 104) ;
a battery charger configured to charge the battery (Fig. 1 and 4;
an integrated circuit (IC 402) configured to control an operation mode of a battery charger (Fig. 4); and a controller (EC 112) configured to: operate the integrated circuit to switch the operation mode to a forced battery mode and switch an operation mode of the battery charger to a forced battery mode ([0032] in a battery only mode (e.g. as communicated to IC 402 by EC 112), [0035] FIG. 4-5 shows charger 102 operating in a normal battery only mode in block 502. …the normal battery only mode (i.e. “forced battery mode”) can include normal mode module 422 turning off FETs Q1 402, Q2 403 Q4 407, and Q5 408, turning off the bypass FETs Q6 416 and Q7 418, and turning on the FETs Q3 414 and Q8 426 to … provide the voltage from battery 104 to the output node 410);
Nibir does not disclose/teach the controller configured to: detect whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determine the battery charger is connected to a battery; and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determine an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger.
Itagaki teaches a controller configured to: detect whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode (Fig. 4 S203 “Is Abnormal discharging recognized? “Yes” or “No” and S207 “Is difference predetermined value or more” ”Yes” or “no”. Also S207 [0069] [0071] …the electric storage apparatus 1 in the first embodiment can accurately measure the potential between the two points where the latch relay 30 …, and further, can confirm whether or not the open or closed state of the main circuit correctly reflects the control by the protective circuit); in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determine the main circuit is connected to a battery (Fig. 4 203 “No” and 208 “No” and [0057]. If the latch relay 30 is normally held in the closed state, a voltage V1 measured by the battery voltage measuring unit 11 and a voltage V2 measured by the charging/discharging voltage measuring unit 12 are equal to each other. As such the method of Nibir has determined that the latch and the main circuit serving as a charging/discharging path formed between an outside load or a battery charger connected to the electric storage apparatus 1 is connected to the battery); and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determine an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger ( Fig. 4 S203 “Is Abnormal discharging recognized? “Yes and [0069] S207 “Is difference predetermined value or more?”, “Yes” to Step 209 “determine malfunction of latch relay”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the controller of Nibir to be configured to: detect whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode, determine the battery charger is connected to a battery; and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determine an occurrence of a failure condition associated with the battery charger in order to enhance the determination accuracy with respect to the switch of the charging/discharging path or the power path and therefore high reliability can be achieved [0036].
As to claims 9 and 16, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the semiconductor device of claim 8 and the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to: detect an adapter of the battery charger is enabled ([0014] when a power adapter is plugged into port 106, battery charger 102 is configured to charge battery 104); and set a voltage detection threshold to a minimum system voltage of the battery charger ([0018] of Nibir During this time, charger 102 provides the battery voltage to VSYS/VOUT), wherein operate the integrated circuit to switch the operation mode to the forced battery mode is performed in response to setting the voltage detection threshold ([0018] For example, with reference to FIG. 1, charger 102 can be configured to operate in a “battery only” mode …. During this time, charger 102 provides the battery voltage to VSYS/VOUT. As such battery only mode was enabled in response to setting Vsys/Vout).
As to claims 10 and 17, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the semiconductor device of claim 8 and the apparatus of claim 15.
Nibir in view of Itagaki does not disclose/teach wherein the controller is configured to modify a register in the integrated circuit to switch the operation mode to the forced battery mode.
However Nibir teaches switching from a forced battery mode to another mode through modifying a register ([0037] If EC 112 determines that the threshold discharge level has been reached, in block 506, EC 112 can request that charger 102 transition to reverse boost mode from a normal battery only mode by signaling that reverse boost is enabled. EC 112 can do this by writing certain values to registers via SMBus, for example one or more bits of one or more control registers of charger 102).
Since Nibir teaches switching modes through a register, then it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the controller of Nibir to be configured to modify a register in the integrated circuit to switch the operation mode to the forced battery mode in order to enable fast processing and control of system behavior.
As to claims 12 and 19, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the semiconductor device of claim 8 and the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the failure condition is at least one of: the battery charger being disconnected from the battery ( [0069] of Itagaki, if the difference is the predetermined value or more (step 208), .. The chive determining unit 15 determines the malfunction of the latch relay 30. [0055]-[0056] [0058] of Itagaki a description will be given of the malfunction of the latch relay 30 ... Even in the state in which the latch relay 30 is closed …, the latch relay 30 may be independently operated so as to be possibly opened. The actual open/closed state of the main circuit by the operation of the latch relay 30 is checked based on the measurement of the voltages at upstream side and downstream side of the latch relay 30 in the main circuit. In the case where a sufficiently large difference between the voltages, i.e., a sufficiently large absolute value |V2-V1| is obtained, …., the main circuit is determined to be open and the malfunction of the latch relay 30 is recognized); and the battery being fully drained.
As to claims 13 and 20, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the semiconductor device of claim 8 and the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to: in response to the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode([0019] FIG. 2 of Nabir provides two graphs illustrating system operation in such a “battery only” mode),
Nibir does not disclose/teach in response to determining the occurrence of a failure condition, set a voltage detection threshold to a new voltage level; in response to setting the voltage detection threshold, detect whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; and in response to the operation mode failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determine the battery charger is disconnected from the battery.
Itagaki teaches in response to determining the occurrence of a failure condition ( Fig. 4 S203 “Is Abnormal discharging recognized? “Yes), setting a voltage detection threshold to a new voltage level (Step 207-208 predetermined value) ; in response to setting the voltage detection threshold, detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode (Step 208 “is the difference predetermined value or more?” “ Yes” or “no”); and in response to the battery charger failed to switch to the forced battery mode (s208 “Yes”), determining the main circuit is disconnected from the battery ([0069] S207 “Is difference predetermined value or more” “Yes” to Step 209 “determine malfunction of latch relay”. [0055]-[0056] [0058] of Itagaki a description will be given of the malfunction of the latch relay 30 ... Even in the state in which the latch relay 30 is closed …, the latch relay 30 may be independently operated so as to be possibly opened. The actual open/closed state of the main circuit by the operation of the latch relay 30 is checked based on the measurement of the voltages at upstream side and downstream side of the latch relay 30 in the main circuit. In the case where a sufficiently large difference between the voltages, i.e., a sufficiently large absolute value |V2-V1| is obtained, …., the main circuit is determined to be open and the malfunction of the latch relay 30 is recognized)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the controller of Nibir to in response to determining the occurrence of a failure condition, setting a voltage detection threshold to a new voltage level; in response to setting the voltage detection threshold, detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode; and in response to the battery charger failed to switch to the forced battery mode, determining the battery charger is disconnected from the battery in order to enhance the determination accuracy with respect to the switch of the charging/discharging path or the power path and therefore high reliability can be achieved [0036].
Nibir does not disclose/teach wherein the controller is further configured to: in response to the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode determining the battery charger is fully drained.
However it is old and well known to one of ordinary skill in the art to discover dead or fully drained batteries in response to a battery operated electronic device’s failure to power up or operate (i.e successfully switched to the forced battery mode). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Nabir to wherein in response to the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode determining the battery charger is fully drained in order to replace the batteries with fully charged batteries and continue operation.
As to claim 14, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the semiconductor device of claim 13, wherein the new voltage level ([0086] predetermined value of 0V when V2-V1 is substantially the same) is less than a minimum system voltage of the battery charger (V1 when discharging).
Claims 4,11 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nibir (US 20200295588) in view of Itagaki (US 20140042828) evident by Mizushima (US 20070253251).
As to claim 4, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the method of claim 3.
Nibir in view of Itagaki does not disclose/teach wherein detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode comprises reading a register in the battery charger.
However, Examiner takes official notice that confirming or not confirming a register setting is old and well known in the art as evident by Mizushima ([0081] The initialization register is read to confirm the completion of the setting (6040)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Nibir to wherein detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode comprises reading a register in the battery charger as it is old and well known method of confirming or not confirming a register setting.
As to claims 11 and 18, Nibir in view of Itagaki teaches the semiconductor device of claim 8 and the apparatus of claim 15.
Nibir in view of Itagaki does not disclose/teach wherein the controller is configured to read a register in the integrated circuit to detect whether the operation mode successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode.
However Examiner takes official notice that confirming or not confirming a register setting is old and well known in the art as evident by Mizushima ([0081] The initialization register is read to confirm the completion of the setting (6040)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the controller of Nibir to be configured to wherein detecting whether the battery charger successfully switched to the forced battery mode or failed to switch to the forced battery mode comprises reading a register in the battery charger as it is old and well known method of confirming or not confirming a register setting.
Conclusion and Related Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yang (US 20240201261) teaches a high-stability, high-accuracy and high-reliability switch damage diagnosing apparatus and a method capable of diagnosing damage to a switch only by measuring voltages in a battery protection circuit even in a state where charging and discharging current does not flow, and a battery management apparatus including the same will be described.
Yasuda US 20190157403 is cited for [0266] When control IC 2a controls a charge current and a discharge current of battery 3, control IC 2a monitors a voltage of common drain terminal 39, and when the voltage deviates from a normal voltage range (a range of 3.5 V to 4.5 V, for example) of battery 3, control IC 2a determines the state as an abnormal state, and stops a charge and discharge operation. Thereby, excessive discharge and excessive charge of battery 3 is prevented.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TYNESE V MCDANIEL whose telephone number is (313)446-6579. The examiner can normally be reached on M to F, 9am to 530pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Taelor Kim can be reached at 571-270-7166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TYNESE V MCDANIEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859