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
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 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, 2, 6-9, 11, 12, 15-17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Stockstad et al. (US 5,818,201).
Re claim 1, the reference discloses a system (10) having, inter alia, a power source having a first output terminal (20) and a second output terminal (30); a controller (32); and a selective charger coupled to the controller, the selective charger configured to couple, in response to instructions from the controller, the first output terminal of the power source to a first node (17) that is configured to be coupled to a first battery node (17) of a selected battery cell of two or more serially coupled battery cells (12,14,16,18), and couple the second output terminal (30) of the power source to a second node (22) configured to be coupled to a second battery node (22) of the selected battery cell. See figure 1.
Re claim 2, the reference further discloses a first multiplexor (34) configured to selectively, conductively couple the first output terminal to a selected first node; and a second multiplexor (42) configured to selectively, conductively couple the second output terminal to a selected second node. See figure 1.
Re claim 6, the reference further discloses a switch (212,214,216,218) and a resistor (220,222,224,226) in series coupled between a respective first node of three or more nodes and a respective second node of the three or more nodes, wherein the controller (32) controls the switch.
Re claim 7, the reference further discloses a voltage measuring device (52) configured to measure a voltage between each a respective first node of three or more nodes and a respective second node of the three or more nodes.
Re claims 8 and 16, the reference discloses an integrated circuit having, inter alia, two or more battery nodes (17,22) configured to couple to battery cells (12,14,16,18) coupled in series; and a selective charger configured to couple a first output terminal (20) of a power source to a first battery terminal of the two or more battery nodes and to couple a second output terminal (30) of the power source to a second battery node of the two or more battery terminals. Claim 16 is method steps performed by structures of claim 8. See figure 1.
Re claims 9 and 17, the reference further discloses a first multiplexor (34) configured to selectively couple to a first terminal of the power source to a selected first battery node; and a second multiplexor (42) configured to selectively couple a second terminal of the power source to a selected second battery node. See figure 1.
Re claims 11 and 19, the reference further discloses a controller/processor (32) configured to control the selective charger.
Re claim 12, the reference further discloses a switch (212,214,216,218) and a resistor (220,222,224,226) in series coupled between a respective first node of three or more nodes and a respective second node of the three or more nodes, wherein the controller (32) controls the switch.
Re claims 15 and 20, the reference further discloses a voltage measuring device (52) configured to measure a voltage between two battery nodes.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 10, 13, 14 and 18 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.
Art of record does not disclose or make obvious the included power isolators in the circuit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to the Examiner at the below-listed number. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thu from 7:00am-5:00pm.
The Examiner’s SPE is Drew Dunn and he can be reached at 571.272.2312. The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571.273.8300.
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/EDWARD TSO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 571.272.2087
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