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
The Amendment filed 3/31/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-19 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the Specification and Claims have overcome every drawing and specification objection rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 1/9/2026. The new grounds of rejection presented below are necessitated by the amendments. Accordingly, this Office Action is made Final.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/31/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant submits on page 7 of Remarks that Ogawa fails to disclose the following limitation present in claims 1, 7, and 13, “an impedance value of the battery unit with a target impedance value to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit.”
In [0040] of Ogawa (also referring to FIG. 6 of Ogawa), it is stated that: "The upper right area (601) relative to the resistance switching boundary (600) of the heater 12 is an area in which the voltage drop of the battery 10 is comparatively small. The lower left area (602) is an area in which the voltage drop of the battery 10 is comparatively large". That is, Ogawa's resistance switching boundary (600) is used to analyze the magnitude of the voltage drop of the battery (10). The upper right area (601) of the resistance switching boundary (600) in FIG. 6 indicates that the voltage drop of the battery (10) is small, and the lower left area (602) of the resistance switching boundary (600) indicates that the voltage drop of the battery (10) is large.
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Ogawa's resistance switching boundary (600) is only used to analyze the magnitude of the voltage drop of the battery (10). However, Ogawa does NOT mention the resistance switching boundary (600) can be used to control the drive current of the heater (12).
That is, Ogawa merely utilizes the resistance switching boundary (600) to analyze the voltage drop of the battery, but that is done here. Ogawa does NOT further utilize the analysis result to control or adjust the drive current of Ogawa's heater.
The examiner submits that as Ogawa teaches in [0041-0042] that the switching boundary 600 acts as a constraint for controlling the resistance of heater 12 to produce a desirable heater output. Through Ohm’s law (V=IR), modifying resistance in effect modifies current, and therefore the driving current of the heater is being adjusted. Further, in [0043-0044] and Figs. 5 and 8, steps S12-S17, for starting the ON/OFF control of the heater, the controller 11 checks the temperature and the SOC of the battery 10 on whether they exceed or do not exceed a minimum start condition 400, which corresponds closely to the switching boundary 600 in Fig. 6. The examiner submits that Ogawa discloses “an impedance value of the battery unit with a target impedance value to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit.”
Claim Objections
Claims 2-4, 8-10, and 14-16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 2-4, 8-10, and 14-16 recite “an impedance value” instead of “the impedance value.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ogawa (US 20180261896 A1), as evidenced by
Electrical 4 U (“Voltage Drop Formula & Example Calculation” Electrical 4 U, < https://www.electrical4u.com/voltage-drop-calculation/ > Posted online 2/24/2012), and
StackExchange (“How to calculate voltage drop with internal resistance and load values” Electrical Engineering < https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/517902/how-to-calculate-voltage-drop-with-internal-resistance-and-load-values > Posted online 8/22/2020).
Regarding independent claim 1, Ogawa discloses a battery module (Fig. 1 and ¶[20]: battery pack 1), comprising:
a battery unit (Fig. 1 and ¶[20]: battery 10);
a heating unit (Fig. 1 and ¶[20]: heater 12);
a detection unit (Fig. 1: measuring device 14) coupled to the battery unit and configured to obtain a voltage value and a current value of the battery unit (¶[21] and Figs. 1, 9: measuring device 14 has a voltmeter and ammeter measuring the input/output voltage and input/output current of the battery 10);
a drive control unit (Fig. 1: controller 11) coupled to the detection unit and the heating unit and configured to drive the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value (¶[24]: controller 11 controls heater 12 based on the state of the battery 10. The state of the battery is monitored based on the voltage and current measurement results), and configured to compare an impedance value of the battery unit with a target impedance value to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: the examiner interprets target impedance value as comparable to the resistance switching boundary 600 for the heater 12, which is set based on the voltage drop mapping data. The proportional relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding independent claim 7, Ogawa discloses a circuit board (Figs. 1 and 9: battery device 1 and vehicle body 2), comprising:
a battery slot configured to arrange a battery unit (Figs. 1 and 9: battery 10 arranged in the battery device 1);
a heating unit (Figs. 1 and 9: heater 12);
a detection unit (Fig. 1: measuring device 14) configured to obtain a voltage value and a current value of the battery unit (¶[21] and Figs. 1, 9: measuring device 14 has a voltmeter and ammeter measuring the input/output voltage and input/output current of the battery 10);
a drive control unit (Fig. 1: controller 11) coupled to the detection unit and the heating unit and configured to drive the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value (¶[24]: controller 11 controls heater 12 based on the state of the battery 10. The state of the battery is monitored based on the voltage and current measurement results), and configured to compare an impedance value of the battery unit with a target impedance value to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: the examiner interprets target impedance value as comparable to the resistance switching boundary 600 for the heater 12, which is set based on the voltage drop mapping data. The proportional relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding independent claim 13, Ogawa discloses a battery power optimization method, comprising:
activating a battery unit to cause the battery unit to discharge (¶[26] and Fig. 3: high current is supplied from battery 10 in accordance with a discharge operation);
obtaining a voltage value and a current value of the battery unit (¶[21] and Figs. 1, 9: measuring device 14 has a voltmeter and ammeter measuring the input/output voltage and input/output current of the battery 10); and
driving a heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value (¶[24]: controller 11 controls heater 12 based on the state of the battery 10. The state of the battery is monitored based on the voltage and current measurement results), and configured to compare an impedance value of the battery unit with a target impedance value to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: the examiner interprets target impedance value as comparable to the resistance switching boundary 600 for the heater 12, which is set based on the voltage drop mapping data. The proportional relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 2, Ogawa discloses the battery module according to claim 1, wherein the drive control unit calculates an impedance value of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value and drive the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the impedance value (¶[34-39, 41, 52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop data is recorded and used for turning on and off the heater. The proportional relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 3, Ogawa discloses the battery module according to claim 1, wherein the drive control unit stores a conversion table (¶[52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop mapping data); the drive control unit obtains an impedance value (¶[52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop value) of the battery unit by looking up the conversion table according to the voltage value and the current value and drives the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the impedance value (¶[58] and Fig. 9: controller 25 prepares voltage drop mapping data, executes analysis processing, and supplies control signals turning heater 12 on or off through controller 11. The proportional relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 4, Ogawa discloses the battery module according to claim 1, wherein the drive control unit determines a impedance value (¶[52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop value) of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value and compares the a impedance value with an upper limit and a lower limit to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit (¶[36-37, 40] and Fig. 6: a resistance switching boundary 600 for powering the heater 12 is set between the upper right area 601 in Fig. 6 where battery voltage drop is comparatively small and the lower left area 602 where the battery voltage drop is comparatively large. The examiner interprets the large and small voltage drops respectively as upper and lower limits comparable to the impedance of the claimed invention).
Regarding claim 5, Ogawa discloses the battery module according to claim 4, wherein the drive control unit records a usage state of the battery unit and adjusts the upper limit and the lower limit according to the usage state (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: resistance switching boundary 600 is set between large and small voltage drops, which vary depending on ambient temperature and SOC of the battery 10).
Regarding claim 6, Ogawa discloses the battery module according to claim 1, wherein the drive control unit determines the impedance value of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: the examiner interprets target impedance value as comparable to the resistance switching boundary 600 for the heater 12, which is set based on the voltage drop mapping data. The proportional relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 8, Ogawa discloses the circuit board according to claim 7, wherein the drive control unit calculates an impedance value of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value and drives the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the impedance value (¶[34-39, 41, 52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop data is recorded and used for turning on and off the heater. The close relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 9, Ogawa discloses the circuit board according to claim 7, wherein the drive control unit stores a conversion table (¶[52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop mapping data); the drive control unit obtains an impedance value of the battery unit by looking up the conversion table according to the voltage value and the current value and drives the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the impedance value (¶[58] and Fig. 9: controller 25 prepares voltage drop mapping data, executes analysis processing, and supplies control signals turning heater 12 on or off through controller 11. The close relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 10, Ogawa discloses the circuit board according to claim 7, wherein the drive control unit determines an impedance value (voltage drop value) of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value and compares the voltage drop value with an upper limit and a lower limit to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit (¶[36-37, 40] and Fig. 6: a resistance switching boundary 600 for powering the heater 12 is set between the upper right area 601 in Fig. 6 where battery voltage drop is comparatively small and the lower left area 602 where the battery voltage drop is comparatively large. The examiner interprets the large and small voltage drops respectively as upper and lower limits comparable to the impedance of the claimed invention).
Regarding claim 11, Ogawa discloses the circuit board according to claim 10, wherein the drive control unit records a usage state of the battery unit and adjusts the upper limit and the lower limit according to the usage state (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: resistance switching boundary 600 is set between large and small voltage drops, which vary depending on ambient temperature and SOC of the battery 10).
Regarding claim 12, Ogawa discloses the circuit board according to claim 7, wherein the drive control unit determines the impedance value of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: the examiner interprets target impedance value as comparable to the resistance switching boundary 600 for the heater 12, which is set based on the voltage drop mapping data. The close relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 14, Ogawa discloses the battery power optimization method according to claim 13, wherein the step of driving a heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value comprises:
obtaining an impedance value of the battery unit by looking up table according to the voltage value and the current value; and driving the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the impedance value (¶[58] and Fig. 9: controller 25 prepares voltage drop mapping data, executes analysis processing, and supplies control signals turning heater 12 on or off through controller 11. The close relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 15, Ogawa discloses the battery power optimization method according to claim 13, wherein the step of driving a heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value comprises:
calculating an impedance value of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value; and
driving the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the impedance value
(¶[34-39, 41, 52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop data is recorded and used for turning on and off the heater. The close relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 16, Ogawa discloses the battery power optimization method according to claim 13, wherein the step of driving a heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value comprises:
obtaining an impedance value (¶[52] and Fig. 6: voltage drop value) of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value; and
comparing the impedance value with an upper limit and a lower limit to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit (¶[36-37, 40] and Fig. 6: a resistance switching boundary 600 of the heater 12 is set between the upper right area 601 in Fig. 6 where battery voltage drop is comparatively small and the lower left area 602 where the battery voltage drop is comparatively large. The examiner interprets the large and small voltage drops respectively as upper and lower limits comparable to the impedance of the claimed invention).
Regarding claim 17, Ogawa discloses the battery power optimization method according to claim 16, further comprising:
recording a usage state of the battery unit (Fig. 6); and
adjusting the upper limit and the lower limit according to the usage state (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: resistance switching boundary 600 is set between large and small voltage drops, which vary depending on ambient temperature and SOC of the battery 10).
Regarding claim 18, Ogawa discloses the battery power optimization method according to claim 13, wherein the step of driving a heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value comprises:
obtaining an impedance value of the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value; and
comparing the impedance value with a target impedance value to determine a driving current value for driving the heating unit
(¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: the examiner interprets target impedance value as comparable to the resistance switching boundary 600 for the heater 12, which is set based on the voltage drop mapping data. The close relationship between the voltage drop and internal impedance through V=IR is evidenced by Electrical 4 U and StackExchange).
Regarding claim 19, Ogawa discloses the battery power optimization method according to claim 18, further comprising:
recording a usage state of the battery unit; and
adjusting the target impedance value according to the usage state (¶[36-37] and Fig. 6: see rejection for claim 18).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Haga et al. (US 20190064282 A1) discloses a battery module (Fig. 1 and ¶[46]: vehicle 1), comprising:
a battery unit (battery 10);
a heating unit (¶[104]: heating apparatus is provided in battery 10);
a detection unit (Fig. 1 and ¶[46]: monitoring unit 20) coupled to the battery unit and configured to obtain a voltage value and a current value of the battery unit (¶[52] and Figs. 1, 2: voltage sensor 21 and current sensor in monitoring unit 20 respectively measure voltage and current of the battery 10);
Haga does not disclose a drive control unit coupled to the detection unit and the heating unit and configured to drive the heating unit to heat the battery unit according to the voltage value and the current value.
Seo (US 20210103001 A1) discloses calculating resistance by dV/dI repeatedly on a periodic basis and stores resistance values in memory.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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.
To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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 May 24, 2026
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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