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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 10 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Seon et al. (US 2021/0068033).
Regarding claims 1 and 17, Seon et al. disclose an apparatus (Figures 1 and 3-5, manager node 100) and a method comprising:
interface circuitry (Figure 5, first and second wireless communication units 110 and 120); and
programmable circuitry (Figure 5, manager storage 130 with manager controller 140) configured to:
transmit a first schedule to a set of battery modules (Figure 3 and paragraph 71, manager node transmits assignment information to monitor nodes 200-N in operation S315, the monitor nodes 200-N being equipped in one or more battery modules each including a set of battery cells according to paragraph 46), the first schedule to assign transmission slots to one or more of the set of battery modules (Paragraph 71, manager node 100 may transmit assignment information including dedicated slot information and a communication ID to a corresponding monitor node 200-N in operation S315. The manager node 100 may add a start point and an end point of a dedicated slot assigned to the corresponding monitor node 200-N in the dedicated slot information, or may add the number of divisions of a transmission slot and assignment position (for example, an n.sup.th position) of dedicated slot assigned to the corresponding monitor node 200-N in the dedicated slot information) for a first communication period (Figure 2, Tms Interval);
create a second schedule different from the first schedule (Paragraph 164, manager node 100 adjusts dedicated slot because a new monitor node 200-N joins in a short-range wireless network or a previous monitor node 200-N withdraws from the short-range wireless network…received dedicated slot information differs from dedicated slot information stored); and
transmit the second schedule to the set of battery modules (Paragraph 164, the wireless communication unit 210 may receive the adjusted dedicated slot information), the second schedule to assign transmission slots to one or more of the set of battery modules (Paragraph 164, adjusted dedicated slot for monitor node 200-N) for a second communication period (Paragraphs 54 and 83, periodic [multiple communication periods encompassing first and second communication periods] battery data collection with the manager node 100 requesting report data from monitor nodes 200-N and the monitor nodes 200-N collecting and transmitting the battery data to the manager node 100; Paragraphs 123 and 162, periodic [multiple communication periods encompassing first and second communication periods] changing of network configuration and joining information, which adjusts dedicated slots of monitor node 200-N).
Regarding claim 2, Seon et al. disclose wherein the second schedule is based on a transmission request sent by a first battery module within the set (Paragraph 164, the manager node 100 adjusts dedicated slot [second schedule] because a new monitor node 200-N joins [request] in a short-range wireless network or a previous monitor node 200-N withdraws [request] from the short-range wireless network, the wireless communication unit 210 may receive the adjusted dedicated slot information, and the monitor controller 240 may check that the joining information is changed because the received dedicated slot information differs from dedicated slot information stored).
Regarding claim 3, Seon et al. disclose wherein the second schedule is based on a policy implemented by the programmable circuitry (Paragraphs 123 and 162, periodic changing [policy] of network configuration and joining information, which adjusts dedicated slots of monitor node 200-N; Paragraph 164, the manager node 100 adjusts dedicated slot [second schedule] because a new monitor node 200-N joins in a short-range wireless network or a previous monitor node 200-N withdraws from the short-range wireless network, the wireless communication unit 210 may receive the adjusted dedicated slot information, and the monitor controller 240 may check that the joining information is changed because the received dedicated slot information differs from dedicated slot information stored).
Regarding claim 10, Seon et al. disclose wherein the programmable circuitry is configured to: receive, during a transmission slot within the second communication period (Paragraphs 123 and 162, periodic changing encompasses second communication period; Paragraph 164, adjusted dedicated slot [transmission slot]), an uplink message from a battery module in the set (Paragraph 56, The transmission slot may be a time slot where battery data is transmitted and may be divided into a plurality of dedicated slots so as to be respectively assigned to the monitor nodes 200-N); and perform an action based on the uplink message (Paragraph 47, The manager node 100 may receive battery data including one or more of a current, a voltage, a temperature, and self-diagnosis data from each of the monitor nodes 200-N and may analyze [perform an action] the received battery data to monitor a state of each battery module or a state of a battery pack. The manager node 100 may analyze [perform an action] the battery data of each battery module received from each of the monitor nodes 200-N to estimate the state [perform an action]…of each battery module and a whole state of the battery pack).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 11 and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seon et al. in view of Aijaz et al. (US 2021/0084675, IDS Reference).
Regarding claim 11, Seon et al. disclose an apparatus (Figure 1, 3, 4, 10, monitor node 200-N) comprising:
interface circuitry (Figure 10, wireless communication unit 210); and
programmable circuitry (Figure 10, monitor storage 220 with monitor controller 240) configured to:
receive a schedule from the controller (Figure 3 and paragraph 71, manager node transmits assignment information to monitor nodes 200-N in operation S315, the monitor nodes 200-N being equipped in one or more battery modules each including a set of battery cells according to paragraph 46), the schedule to assign transmission slots (Paragraph 71, manager node 100 may transmit assignment information including dedicated slot information and a communication ID to a corresponding monitor node 200-N in operation S315. The manager node 100 may add a start point and an end point of a dedicated slot assigned to the corresponding monitor node 200-N in the dedicated slot information, or may add the number of divisions of a transmission slot and assignment position (for example, an n.sup.th position) of dedicated slot assigned to the corresponding monitor node 200-N in the dedicated slot information) within a first communication period (Figure 2, Tms Interval) to a set of devices (Paragraph 71, dedicated slots assigned to monitor nodes 200-N), the set including the apparatus (Figure 1, monitor nodes 200-N);
transmit, based on the schedule, data (Paragraph 56, The transmission slot may be a time slot where battery data is transmitted and may be divided into a plurality of dedicated slots so as to be respectively assigned to the monitor nodes 200-N. The transmission slot may be equally divided into slots equal to the number of monitor nodes joining in the short-range wireless network (i.e., the number of monitor nodes which is communicating with the manager node), and a divided transmission slot (i.e., a dedicated slot) may be assigned for a specific monitor node 200-N); and
determine, after the first communication period (Paragraphs 54 and 83, periodic [multiple communication periods encompassing first and second communication periods] battery data collection with the manager node 100 requesting report data from monitor nodes 200-N and the monitor nodes 200-N collecting and transmitting the battery data to the manager node 100; Paragraphs 123 and 162, periodic [multiple communication periods encompassing first and second communication periods] changing of network configuration and joining information, which adjusts dedicated slots of monitor node 200-N), a second transmission requirement corresponding to a second communication period (Paragraph 164, manager node 100 adjusts dedicated slot [second transmission requirement] because a new monitor node 200-N joins in a short-range wireless network or a previous monitor node 200-N withdraws from the short-range wireless network…received dedicated slot information differs from dedicated slot information stored; Paragraph 164, adjusted dedicated slot [second transmission requirement] for monitor node 200-N; Paragraphs 54 and 83, periodic [multiple communication periods encompassing first and second communication periods] battery data collection with the manager node 100 requesting report data from monitor nodes 200-N and the monitor nodes 200-N collecting and transmitting the battery data to the manager node 100; Paragraphs 123 and 162, periodic [encompasses multiple communication periods] changing of network configuration and joining information [corresponding to second communication period], which adjusts dedicated slots of monitor node 200-N), the second transmission requirement different than a first transmission requirement (Paragraph 164, the received dedicated slot information differs from dedicated slot information stored).
Seon et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Aijaz et al.: determine a first transmission requirement (Aijaz et al., Paragraph 106, A Request-for-Slots (RFS) message is used by a node to request resources on either the uplink or the downlink communication schedule. Each message contains an indication of the timeslot requested for communications; Paragraph 116, RFS-U messages for requesting uplink resources; Paragraphs 137 and 147, a node determines a number of timeslots [transmission requirement] such that the node may request two or three timeslots for uplink transmission); send the first transmission requirement to a controller (Aijaz et al., Paragraphs 106, 116, 137, 147, RFS-U comprising requested timeslots for in the uplink schedule for uplink communication); transmit the data corresponding to the first transmission requirement (Aijaz et al., Paragraph 106, An Assignment (ASG) message is used by a parent node to allocate resources in the uplink or downlink schedule in response to receiving a Request-for-Slots (RFS) message; Aijaz et al., Paragraphs 192-193, timeslots allocated to a node are used to communicate data generated by that node).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Seon et al. with the cited disclosure from Aijaz et al. in order to select uplink resource allocation that reduces collision in an uplink schedule (Aijaz et al., Paragraph 170).
Regarding claim 14, Aijaz et al. disclose wherein: the first transmission requirement corresponds to a request for two transmission slots (Paragraph 137, the fourth node 304 requests two timeslots in the uplink schedule for uplink communication from the fourth node 304…the fourth node 304 requests resources in the uplink communications schedule at timeslot t0 and t1); and the programmable circuitry is configured to transmit, based on the schedule, in two consecutive transmission slots during the first communication period (Paragraph 139, the second node 302 confirms the resource request by transmitting an ASG message; Paragraph 65, each node transmits: a first uplink communication comprising data via the first/second uplink schedule; and a second uplink communication comprising forward error correction via the first/second redundant uplink schedule).
Regarding claim 15, Aijaz et al. disclose wherein: the first transmission requirement corresponds to a request for more than one transmission slots (Paragraph 137, the fourth node 304 requests two timeslots in the uplink schedule for uplink communication from the fourth node 304); and the programmable circuitry is configured to transmit, based on the schedule, more than one non-consecutive transmission slots during the first communication period (Figure 6, uplink schedule 1 602 with fourth node 304 transmitting at timeslots -t0 and t5 as non-consecutive slots).
Regarding claim 16, Seon et al. and Aijaz et al. disclose wherein the data transmitted by the apparatus during the first communication period includes a status update (Seon et al., Paragraph 47, state of each battery module…estimate state…whole state; Aijaz et al., Paragraph 65, transmitting data via the uplink schedule), an error code (Aijaz et al., Paragraph 65, a second uplink communication comprising forward error correction via the first/second redundant uplink schedule), a renegotiation, or a performance metric (Seon et al., Paragraph 47, The manager node 100 may receive battery data including one or more of a current, a voltage, a temperature, and self-diagnosis data from each of the monitor nodes 200-N).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-9, 12, 13, and 18-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 4 and 18, the prior art Aijaz et al. discloses explicit transmission requests but does not disclose or adequately suggest creation of a second schedule, for a second communication period, based on the explicit requests, the second schedule only assigning slots to battery modules that sent explicit requests;
Regarding claims 5 and 19, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest creation of the second schedule based on implicit transmission requests, the second schedule assigning a first slot to a battery module that sent a transmission request and assigning a second transmission slot to a battery module that did not send a transmission request;
Regarding claims 6 and 20, the prior art Aijaz et al. discloses capability for a battery module to request two transmission slots, and prior art Seon et al. discloses ordered listing of battery modules, the number of slots equaling the number of battery modules, but the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest that after the first communication period, a battery module requests two transmission slots and creating the second schedule such that there are two consecutive slots assigned to the requesting battery module and no transmission slots assigned to the second battery module;
Regarding claim 7, the prior art Aijaz et al. discloses capability for a battery module to request multiple transmission slots, and prior art Seon et al. discloses ordered listing of battery modules, the number of slots equaling the number of battery modules, but the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest that after the first communication period, a battery module requests multiple transmission slots and creating the second schedule such that the multiple slots assigned to the requesting battery module and no transmission slots assigned to the second battery module;
Regarding claim 8 (with further dependent claim 9), the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest the second schedule including an ordered listing of battery modules, obtaining transmission requests for slots from first and second battery modules after the first communication period, determining a third battery module in the ordered list has lower priority than the second battery module, and creating the second schedule such that two transmission slots are assigned to the first battery module, one transmission slot is assigned to the second battery module, and no transmission slots are assigned to the third battery module;
Regarding claim 12, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest implicit scheduling such that the first transmission requirement is sent after determining that a default schedule would not satisfy the first transmission requirement;
Regarding claim 13, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest implicit scheduling such that after the first communication period, determining that a default schedule would satisfy the second transmission requirement and waiting to receiving the schedule without sending the second transmission requirement.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OTIS L THOMPSON, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 7:00pm.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 June 9, 2026
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