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) 1-2, 11-14, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Isaksson (CN 112513651).
Regarding to claims 1, 11, 12:
Isaksson discloses a method for checking an insulation state of at least one of: a battery and or a battery system comprising at least two batteries (FIG. 1, element 2), comprising the following steps:
measuring a voltage between a connection element of the battery and a ground over a predefined time (FIG. 1: The voltage meter (22, 23) measures the voltage between the connection point 7 and ground);
evaluating the measured voltage and determining whether a change in the measured voltage is present at a time point that corresponds to a predefined temporal threshold value (FIGs. 2-3: T3 reads on the temporal threshold value. At T3, if there is no voltage change/difference in the voltage lines 24-25, it is fault-free as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, there is a change/difference in the voltage of the voltage lines 24-25 at time T3, it indicates an insulating fault); and
outputting a safety signal characterizing the insulation state on the basis of the
determined result (page 4, 6th paragraph: The test data can be used for determining the severity and type of the insulating fault detected).
Regarding to claims 2, 13: wherein at least two connection elements are provided and the method is carried out for each connection element of the battery, further comprising a high-voltage
switching device that is configured to connect each battery on the basis of a safety signal
output by the checking module (FIG. 1: Two witch connections 7-8).
Regarding to claims 14, 18: wherein the at least two batteries comprise at least one of: a high-voltage battery and a high-voltage battery system for use as at least one of: a traction battery of an electric vehicle and in static storage applications (Abstract).
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.
Claim(s) 3-10, 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isaksson (CN 112513651) in view of Takumi (JP 2003274504).
Isaksson discloses the claimed invention as discussed above except wherein characterized
in that the temporal threshold value is defined by a parasitic capacitance of at least one of: the battery and the battery system and a resistance of at least one of: the battery and the or battery system, wherein the parasitic capacitance is defined in a battery-specific manner, wherein the parasitic capacitance is at least one of: measured and computed for at least one of: the battery and the battery system.
Takumi et al. discloses a ground fault detecting circuit in battery-powered vehicles that detects a ground fault based on a change in the voltage at the battery terminals (Abstract), wherein the voltage change in time relates to the parasitic capacitance and the resistance of the battery (page 3, 1st paragraph).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Isaksson’s method to relate the time threshold to the parasitic capacitance and the resistance of the battery to gain the accuracy in the ground fault detection as taught by Takumi et al. page 3, 1st paragraph).
Regarding to claim 7: wherein characterized in that the resistance is at least one of: a predefined starting resistance and or a nominal resistance (Takumi et al.: FIG. 1, element 14).
Regarding to claim 16: In addition, Takumi et al. even though teaches about the resistance, but does not teach wherein the resistance is between 50 kOhm and 250 kOhm, preferably between 75 kOhm and 175 kOhm. It would have been obvious however to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to set the resistance in the range as claimed, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F. 2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Regarding to claims 8-9, 17: wherein the voltage change is determined for at least one of:
the last two to five measurement points when this has at least one predefined minimum magnitude, wherein the safety signal is furthermore output on the basis of an absolute voltage value measured at the time point (Isaksson: FIG. 1 shows at least two measurement points and the change/difference of the voltages on the voltage curves 24-25 at time T3 (FIGs. 2-3) is considered in an absolute value).
Regarding to claim 10: wherein in the event of a voltage change determined at the time point, the safety signal comprises at least one of: an actuation signal for a high-voltage switching device and, in the absence of a voltage change, a further insulation check (Isaksson: Page 4, last paragraph: The voltage contactors are closed or not depending on the insulating fault detection).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 is 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 primary reasons for the indication of the allowability of the claim is the inclusions therein, in combination as currently claimed, of the limitation that wherein the parasitic capacitance is preferably increased by a predefined safety factor for determining the temporal threshold value is neither disclosed nor taught by the cited prior art of record, alone or in combination.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAM S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2151.
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/LAM S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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