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 .
Continuation Data
2. This application claims priority to PCT/JP2022/007204, filed February 22, 2022.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The Information Disclosure Statements filed on September 12, 2023 and September 23, 2024 have been considered. Initialed copies of the Form 1449 are enclosed herewith.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
6. Claims 1-10 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Nec (JP 2007-033108) in view of Matsushita (JP 2002-325363).
With respect to claims 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 13, Nec teaches a secondary battery pack in which a switching circuit is connected in series between a secondary battery and an output terminal, the secondary battery pack comprising a protection circuit for controlling the switching circuit to be off when detecting an abnormal event including overcharge, overdischarge, and overcurrent of the secondary battery, wherein, in the battery pack, a switching circuit 3 (corresponding to the switching element) for turning on/ off charging/discharging is inserted and connected in series between a secondary battery 1 such as a lithium-ion secondary battery and an output terminal, and a protection circuit 2 is configured to turn off the switching circuit 3 with a circuit breaker instruction signal when the protection circuit detects an abnormal event, the battery pack comprises a test control circuit 5 for testing whether the protection function of the protection circuit 2 is working normally, a switching circuit 6, and a constant voltage generation circuit 7, the protection circuit 2 monitors charging voltage of the secondary battery 1 with a voltage detection terminal V, monitors a charge/discharge current with a current detection terminal I, and detects an overcharge state, an over-discharge state, and an overcurrent state as abnormal events (corresponding to being an overcurrent detection circuit), the constant voltage generation circuit 7 (corresponding to the overcurrent simulation circuit) generates a plurality of test voltages for testing whether the protection function of the protection circuit 2, which controls the switching circuit 3 to be off when detecting an abnormal event including overcharge, over-discharge, and overcurrent of the secondary battery 1, is operating normally ( corresponding to inputting an overcurrent diagnostic signal), the switching circuit 6 is a means for switching whether the output of the secondary battery 1 is connected to the voltage detection terminal V of the protection circuit 2 as a signal for detecting an abnormal event, or whether the output of the constant voltage generation circuit 7 is connected, and the test control circuit 5 (corresponding to the diagnostic circuit) controls the constant voltage generation circuit 7 and the switching circuit 6 in accordance with a test mode of the protection function for controlling the switching circuit 3 to be off when detecting an abnormal event including overcharge, over-discharge, and overcurrent, and confirms the operation of the protection function of each (paragraphs [0001], [0007], [0010][0021], fig. 1).
With respect to claims 2, 3, 9, and 10, Nec teaches the test control circuit 5 is realized by a micro-computer or the like. Furthermore, when testing whether the protection function of the protection circuit 2 is working normally, the switching circuit 6 is controlled to switch the connection of a voltage input unit of the protection circuit 2 from the output of the secondary battery 1 to the output of the constant voltage generation circuit 7, and in this state, the protection circuit 2 cannot detect an abnormal state such as overcharge, over-discharge, or overcurrent of the secondary battery 1, and thus it is obvious that the test of whether the protection function of the protection circuit 2 is working normally is performed when the secondary battery 1 is not being used (corresponding to determining failure of the overcurrent detection circuit in a non-usage state where the battery unit is not charged/discharged).
With respect to claim 6, Nec’s secondary battery pack comprising the protection circuit is a circuit which operates by a direct-current power supply. The overcurrent diagnostic signal is a pulse signal of an overcurrent diagnostic voltage having a predetermined pulse width.
Nec’s teachings fail to specifically teach comparing a detection signal of a current detection element to a threshold value, and determining an overcurrent if the detection signal is an overcurrent value exceeding the threshold value.
With respect to claims 1 and 8, Matsushita discloses a battery pack that, in addition to overcurrent protection, integrates charging capacity to determine whether charging capacity is abnormal, self-diagnoses a failure of the battery pack and stops charging, and can maintain a system or battery pack in a safe state, wherein a current detecting resistor 10 (corresponding to the current detection element) detects charge/ discharge current flowing to a secondary battery 2, a current detection means 11 receives a signal from the current detecting resistor 10, and a signal of charge/discharge current flowing to the battery pack 2 is output to a self-diagnosis means 12, the self-diagnosis means 12a receives signal input from the current detection means 11, and performs comparison with a reference value by a comparator (corresponding to the comparator) for diagnosis on whether overcurrent occurs or not (corresponding to comparing the detection signal of the current detection element with a threshold value, and determining overcurrent when the detection signal is an overcurrent value exceeding the threshold value) (paragraphs [0001], [0009], [0018]-[0046], fig. 1).
In view of Matsushita’s teachings, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to compare a detection signal of a current detection element to a threshold value, and determining an overcurrent if the detection signal is an overcurrent value exceeding the threshold value as is taught by Matsushita, in the method of diagnosing a failure of a battery pack taught by Nec. One would be motivated to compare using this method as it provides a fast, reliable, and adjustable way to identify when current exceeds safe or normal operating limits.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 11, 12, and 14 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 an examiner’s reason for allowance: Although Nec in combination with Matsushita teach a method of diagnosing a failure of a battery pack including an overcurrent detection circuit, the above identified prior art of record, taken alone, or in combination with any other prior art, fails to teach or fairly suggest the specific features of claims 11, 12, and 14 of the present claimed invention. Specifically, prior art fails to teach the claimed battery pack, wherein the current detection element is a current detection resistor, and the overcurrent detection circuit includes: a voltage amplifier circuit configured to amplify a voltage of the current detection resistor; and a determination circuit configured to compare an output voltage of the voltage amplifier circuit with a threshold value to determine the overcurrent and further fails to teach the battery pack, wherein the pulse generation circuit is configured to output the overcurrent diagnostic signal to the overcurrent detection circuit for diagnosis, the overcurrent diagnostic signal having a pulse waveform with a pulse width 0.1 μsec or longer and 1 sec or shorter. The above limitations are not disclosed in prior art and moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art would not have been motivated to come to the claimed invention.
Conclusion
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: See attached PTO form 892, Refence Cited.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Allyson N. Trail whose telephone number is (571) 272-2406. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 7:30AM to 4:00PM Monday thru Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael G. Lee, can be reached on (571) 272-2398. The fax phone number for this Group is (571) 273-8300.
Communications via Internet e-mail regarding this application, other than those under 35 U.S.C. 132 or which otherwise require a signature, may be used by the applicant and should be addressed to [allyson.trail@uspto.gov].
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/ALLYSON N TRAIL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
May 29, 2026
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