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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/19/2026, with respect to the drawing objections have been fully considered. The drawing objection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/19/2026, with respect to the specification objections have been fully considered. The specification objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/19/2026, with respect to the claim objections have been fully considered. The claim objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/19/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 5 and 15 under 35 U.S.C 112 have been fully considered. The rejection of claims 5 and 15 under 35 U.S.C 112 has been withdrawn due to amendments.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/19/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-5, 9, 11-15, and 19 under 35 U.S.C 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of 35 U.S.C 103.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-9, and 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang (US 20130134941 A1) in view of Odeohhara (US 20010005124 A1) further in view of Kamel et al. (US 20240030726 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Jang teaches a battery charging method (Fig. 3) of a battery charging system (Fig. 1) comprising an on-board charger (130) configured to convert an AC voltage from an outside source into a DC voltage (¶[50] “The OBC (130) converts an externally-supplied AC power source to a DC voltage”),
a first battery (110),
and a second battery (120) having a lower rated voltage than that of the first battery (¶[49] “In view of the fact that the electrical loads are generally operated by a low voltage, e.g., 12V or 24V, the low voltage battery (120) is provided as a sub-battery that is separately mounted from the high voltage battery (110) which is a main battery supplying a driving power to the EV”),
the battery charging method comprising:
operating a first charging mode (S33-34 in Fig. 3) of turning on a switch between the on-board charger and the first battery and turning off a switch between the on-board charger and the second battery (¶[59] “The controller (131) may include a switch, where a first terminal of the switch is fixedly connected to AC power source, and a second terminal is selectively connected to the low voltage converter (135) or the high voltage converter”) when a voltage of the second battery exceeds a first threshold value (YES at S32) (¶[60] “If the output voltage level of the low voltage battery (120) is greater than the predetermined voltage level, the second terminal of the switch is connected to the high voltage converter (133) to drive the high voltage converter (133) and to provide a power charging source to the high voltage battery (110)”);
and operating a second charging mode (S35-36 in Fig. 3) when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed the first threshold value (NO at S32) (¶[61] “If the output voltage level of the low voltage battery (120) is less than the predetermined voltage level, the second terminal of the switch is connected to the low voltage converter (135) to drive the low voltage converter (135) and to provide a power charging source to the low voltage battery (120)”).
Jang does not explicitly teach a first switch between the on-board charger and first battery, or a second switch between the on-board charger and the second battery, and
operating a third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed a fourth threshold value.
Odeohhara teaches a first switch (SW1) between the on-board charger (68) and first battery (64A), and a second switch (SW2) between the on-board charger and the second battery (64B).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jang to incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide a first switch between the on-board charger and first battery, and a second switch between the on-board charger and the second battery, in order to selectively charge one battery at a time.
The combination of Jang and Odeohhara does not teach operating a third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed a fourth threshold value.
Kamel teaches operating a third charging mode (Table 1) of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery (¶[40] “According to an exemplary mode, the charger output ports 202 perform charging, in parallel, of the battery packs 215-1 and 215-2 connected in series. In this mode, the position of the switches S, K, Q, P needed to achieve this mode is as shown in Table 1 below”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jang in view of Odeohhara to incorporate the teachings of Kamel to provide operating a third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery, in order to increase the charging efficiency by charging both batteries simultaneously.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel does not explicitly teach when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed a fourth threshold value however it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to not operate the simultaneous charging mode if one of the batteries is almost or fully charged.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 1.
Jang as modified does not explicitly teach wherein the operating of the second charging mode comprises:
determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds a second threshold value
and switching the second charging mode to the first charging mode when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the second threshold value.
Odeohhara teaches wherein the operating of the second charging mode comprises:
determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds a second threshold value (208), and switching the second charging mode to the first charging mode (212) when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the second threshold value. (¶[81] “at step 208, it is determined whether the amount of electric energy in second battery 64B is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. The process goes to step 210 if it is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (positive determination)”; ¶[82] “At step 210, the charge to second battery 64B is stopped by opening the switch SW2 and then, at step 212, the charge to main battery 64A is started (restarted) by closing the switch SW1”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to further incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide wherein the operating of the second charging mode comprises:
determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds a second threshold value
and switching the second charging mode to the first charging mode when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the second threshold value in order to charge the batteries more efficiently (see ¶[81] of Odeohhara).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 2.
Odeohhara further teaches wherein the operating of the second charging mode further comprises maintaining the second charging mode (No at 208) when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed the second threshold value (¶[81] “at step 208, it is determined whether the amount of electric energy in second battery 64B is equal to or greater than a predetermined value … the charge to second battery 64B continues if it is less than the predetermined value (negative determination)”).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 1.
Jang as modified does not teach
determining whether a voltage of the first battery exceeds a third threshold value;
and terminating charging when the voltage of the first battery exceeds the third threshold value.
Odeohhara teaches
determining whether a voltage of the first battery exceeds a third threshold value (¶[83] “at step 214, it is determined whether the amount of electric energy in main battery 64A reaches 100%. The process goes to step 216 if it reaches 100% (positive determination) );
and terminating charging when the voltage of the first battery exceeds the third threshold value (¶[84] “At step 216, the charge to main battery 64A is stopped by opening the switch SW1”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jang in view of Odeohhara to further incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide
determining whether a voltage of the first battery exceeds a third threshold value;
and terminating charging when the voltage of the first battery exceeds the third threshold value in order to prevent the battery from overcharging.
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 4.
Jang further teaches determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the first threshold value (¶[68] “A controller of the OBC first determines an output voltage level of a low voltage battery to drive any one of a high voltage converter or a low voltage converter in response to an output voltage level of the low voltage battery. The controller compares the output voltage of the low voltage battery with a predetermined voltage level (S32)”, the main battery );
and switching to the first charging mode or maintaining the second charging mode according to a result of comparing the voltage of the second battery with the first threshold value (see ¶[68] quoted above).
Jang does not explicitly teach when the voltage of the first battery does not exceed the third threshold value, however it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to not switch the charging mode to the first battery if it is already fully charged.
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 2.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel further teaches, before determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the first threshold value: determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the fourth threshold value; and operating the third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed the fourth threshold value (see rejection for Claim 1).
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 6.
Kamel further teaches wherein, in the third charging mode, the first battery and the second battery are simultaneously charged by controlling a first duty ratio, which is a duty ratio of a primary switch of a DC converter (¶[35] “The conditioner 230 includes a rectifier and a device (e.g., power converter) that performs power factor correction (PFC). The rectifier”; power converters inherently have a switching duty ratio) of the on-board charger, and a second duty ratio, which is a duty ratio between the first switch and the second switch (¶[44] “the various modes or two or more modes may be cycled through (i.e., implemented in turn) based on thermal and current constraints on the charger 130 and battery packs 215. The cycling may facilitate fast charging while meeting hardware limits and obtaining voltage equalization among the battery packs 215. The modes may be changed at a rate of 1 millihertz or less, for example”).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 7.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel further teaches determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the first threshold value when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the fourth threshold value; and operating the first charging mode or the second charging mode according to a result of comparing the voltage of the second battery with the first threshold value (see rejection of Claims 6 and 1).
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 1.
Odeohhara teaches wherein the first battery (64A) and the second battery (64B) mutually share earthing (see Fig. 4, where both batteries are connected to the same ground; ¶[60] “the negative electrodes of main battery 64A and the second battery 64B are both connected to ground (GND)”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to further incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide wherein the first battery and the second battery mutually share earthing in order to minimize the number of connections.
Regarding Claim 11, Jang teaches a battery charging system (Fig. 1) comprising:
an on-board charger (130) configured to convert an AC voltage from an outside source into a DC voltage (¶[50] “The OBC (130) converts an externally-supplied AC power source to a DC voltage”);
a first battery (110);
a second battery (120) having a lower rated voltage than that of the first battery (¶[49] “In view of the fact that the electrical loads are generally operated by a low voltage, e.g., 12V or 24V, the low voltage battery (120) is provided as a sub-battery that is separately mounted from the high voltage battery (110) which is a main battery supplying a driving power to the EV”);
a switch between the on-board charger and the first battery (¶[20] “the controller includes a switch in which a first terminal is fixedly connected to the low voltage battery, and a second terminal is selectively connected to the low voltage converter or the high voltage converter”);
a switch between the on-board charger and the second battery (see ¶[20]);
and a controller configured to selectively operate one of:
(a) a first charging mode (S33-34 in Fig. 3) of turning on a switch between the on-board charger and the first battery and turning off a switch between the on-board charger and the second battery (¶[59] “The controller (131) may include a switch, where a first terminal of the switch is fixedly connected to AC power source, and a second terminal is selectively connected to the low voltage converter (135) or the high voltage converter”) when a voltage of the second battery exceeds a first threshold value (YES at S32) (¶[60] “If the output voltage level of the low voltage battery (120) is greater than the predetermined voltage level, the second terminal of the switch is connected to the high voltage converter (133) to drive the high voltage converter (133) and to provide a power charging source to the high voltage battery (110)”);
(b) a second charging mode (S35-36 in Fig. 3) when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed the first threshold value (NO at S32) (¶[61] “If the output voltage level of the low voltage battery (120) is less than the predetermined voltage level, the second terminal of the switch is connected to the low voltage converter (135) to drive the low voltage converter (135) and to provide a power charging source to the low voltage battery (120)”).
Jang does not explicitly teach a first switch between the on-board charger and first battery, or a second switch between the on-board charger and the second battery, or
(c) a third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed a fourth threshold.
Odeohhara teaches a first switch (SW1) between the on-board charger (68) and first battery (64A), and a second switch (SW2) between the on-board charger and the second battery (64B).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jang to incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide a first switch between the on-board charger and first battery, and a second switch between the on-board charger and the second battery, in order to selectively charge one battery at a time.
The combination of Jang and Odeohhara does not teach (c) a third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed a fourth threshold.
Kamel teaches (c) a third charging mode (Table 1) of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery (¶[40] “According to an exemplary mode, the charger output ports 202 perform charging, in parallel, of the battery packs 215-1 and 215-2 connected in series. In this mode, the position of the switches S, K, Q, P needed to achieve this mode is as shown in Table 1 below”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jang in view of Odeohhara to incorporate the teachings of Kamel to provide operating a third charging mode (Table 1) of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery, in order to increase the charging efficiency by charging both batteries simultaneously.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel does not explicitly teach when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed a fourth threshold value however it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to not operate the simultaneous charging mode if one of the batteries is almost or fully charged.
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 11.
Jang as modified does not explicitly teach wherein, in the second charging mode, the controller determines whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds a second threshold value, and switches to the first charging mode when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the second threshold value.
Odeohhara teaches wherein, in the second charging mode (206), the controller determines whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds a second threshold value (208), and switches to the first charging mode (212) when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the second threshold value. (¶[81] “at step 208, it is determined whether the amount of electric energy in second battery 64B is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. The process goes to step 210 if it is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (positive determination)”; ¶[82] “At step 210, the charge to second battery 64B is stopped by opening the switch SW2 and then, at step 212, the charge to main battery 64A is started (restarted) by closing the switch SW1”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to further incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide wherein, in the second charging mode, the controller determines whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds a second threshold value, and switches to the first charging mode when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the second threshold value in order to charge the batteries more efficiently (see ¶[81] of Odeohhara).
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 12.
Odeohhara further teaches wherein, in the second charging mode, the controller maintains the second charging mode (No at 208) when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed the second threshold value (¶[81] “at step 208, it is determined whether the amount of electric energy in second battery 64B is equal to or greater than a predetermined value … the charge to second battery 64B continues if it is less than the predetermined value (negative determination)”).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 11,
Jang as modified does not teach the controller determines whether a voltage of the first battery exceeds a third threshold value, and terminates charging when the voltage of the first battery exceeds the third threshold value.
Odeohhara teaches the controller determines whether a voltage of the first battery exceeds a third threshold value (¶[83] “at step 214, it is determined whether the amount of electric energy in main battery 64A reaches 100%. The process goes to step 216 if it reaches 100% (positive determination) ),
and terminates charging when the voltage of the first battery exceeds the third threshold value (¶[84] “At step 216, the charge to main battery 64A is stopped by opening the switch SW1”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to further incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide the controller determines whether a voltage of the first battery exceeds a third threshold value, and terminates charging when the voltage of the first battery exceeds the third threshold value in order to prevent the battery from overcharging.
Regarding Claim 15, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 14.
Jang further teaches the controller determines whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the first threshold value (¶[68] “A controller of the OBC first determines an output voltage level of a low voltage battery to drive any one of a high voltage converter or a low voltage converter in response to an output voltage level of the low voltage battery. The controller compares the output voltage of the low voltage battery with a predetermined voltage level (S32)”, the main battery ),
and switches to the first charging mode or maintaining the second charging mode according to a result of comparing the voltage of the second battery with the first threshold value (see ¶[68] quoted above).
Jang does not explicitly teach when the voltage of the first battery does not exceed the third threshold value, however it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to not switch the charging mode to the first battery if it is already fully charged.
Regarding Claim 19, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 11.
Jang as modified does not explicitly teach wherein the first battery and the second battery mutually share earthing.
Odeohhara teaches wherein the first battery (64A) and the second battery (64B) mutually share earthing (see Fig. 4, where both batteries are connected to the same ground; ¶[60] “the negative electrodes of main battery 64A and the second battery 64B are both connected to ground (GND)”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to further incorporate the teachings of Odeohhara to provide wherein the first battery and the second battery mutually share earthing in order to minimize the number of connections.
Regarding Claim 16, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 12.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel further teaches wherein, before determining whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the first threshold value, the controller determines whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the fourth threshold value, and operates the third charging mode of simultaneously charging the first battery and the second battery when the voltage of the second battery does not exceed the fourth threshold value (see rejection for Claim 11).
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 16.
Kamel further teaches wherein, in the third charging mode, the controller simultaneously charges the first battery and the second battery by controlling a first duty ratio, which is a duty ratio of a primary switch of a DC converter (¶[35] “The conditioner 230 includes a rectifier and a device (e.g., power converter) that performs power factor correction (PFC). The rectifier”; power converters inherently have a switching duty ratio) of the on-board charger, and a second duty ratio, which is a duty ratio between the first switch and the second switch (¶[44] “the various modes or two or more modes may be cycled through (i.e., implemented in turn) based on thermal and current constraints on the charger 130 and battery packs 215. The cycling may facilitate fast charging while meeting hardware limits and obtaining voltage equalization among the battery packs 215. The modes may be changed at a rate of 1 millihertz or less, for example”).
Regarding Claim 18, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 16.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel further teaches wherein the controller determines whether the voltage of the second battery exceeds the first threshold value when the voltage of the second battery exceeds the fourth threshold value, and operates the first charging mode or the second charging mode according to a result of comparing the voltage of the second battery with the first threshold value (see rejections of Claims 16 and 11).
Claim(s) 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang (US 20130134941 A1) in view of Odeohhara (US 20010005124 A1) further in view of Kamel et al. (US 20240030726 A1), and further in view of Zhang (WO 2018120236 A1)
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging method of claim 6.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel does not explicitly teach wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value, and the fourth threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value.
Zhang teaches wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value, and the fourth threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value (¶[21] “the first threshold is the voltage value corresponding to 95% of the amount of power when the battery is fully charged, and the second voltage threshold is less than or equal to the voltage value corresponding to 50% of the amount of power when the battery is fully charged”, the second threshold value may be fully charged, meaning 100%).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to incorporate the teachings of Zhang to provide wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value, and the fourth threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value in order to prevent overcharging of the battery if it is already close to fully charged.
Regarding Claim 20, the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel teaches the battery charging system of claim 16.
The combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel does not explicitly teach wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value, and the fourth threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value.
Zhang teaches wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value, and the fourth threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value (¶[21] “the first threshold is the voltage value corresponding to 95% of the amount of power when the battery is fully charged, and the second voltage threshold is less than or equal to the voltage value corresponding to 50% of the amount of power when the battery is fully charged”, the second threshold value may be fully charged, meaning 100%).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Jang, Odeohhara, and Kamel to incorporate the teachings of Zhang to provide wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value, and the fourth threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value in order to prevent overcharging of the battery if it is already close to fully charged.
Conclusion
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.
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/A.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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