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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 10/06/2023. Claims 1-16 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted 10/6/2023,11/20/2024, and 7/23/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-5,8-13, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung (WO2019017671) in view of Park (US 20200185944).
As to claim 1, Jung discloses a battery management apparatus (Fig. 1 and 3), comprising: a determiner (Fig. 1 and 3, MCU 160 ) configured to determine an off-grid state of a battery pack ([0054]… a battery system for an off-grid power supply device. [0048] the control unit (160) may have the function of checking the respective charge state of … the battery (130) at the start of discharge in discharge mode); and a power controller (control unit (160)) configured to control a discharging power of the battery pack ([0048] and automatically adjusting the amount of current output from … the battery (130) to the discharge control circuit unit (150)
Although Jung teaches the control unit controlling discharging the battery pack in the off grid state ([0048]), Jung does not disclose/teach the control unit controlling a discharging power of the battery pack with a peak power that is greater than a maximum power of the battery pack in the off-grid state of the battery pack.
Park teaches control unit controlling a discharging power of the battery pack with a peak power that is greater than a maximum power of the battery pack (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] if the controller 300 determines that the requested output amount of the vehicle is relatively large when it is normal to continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge and temperature of the battery for a preset amount of time (e.g., A seconds), the controller 300 may change the available discharge power of the high voltage battery 100 to be larger than the maximum available discharge power stored in the storage 200 during a first half period (from 0 second to A/2 seconds) based on the requested output amount changing factor).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the control unit of Jung to control a discharging power of the battery pack with a peak power that is greater than a maximum power of the battery pack in the off-grid state of the battery pack in order to significantly improve the performance of the load ([0067] of Park).
As to claim 2, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power controller is further configured to control the discharging power of the battery pack with the peak power for a preset time (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park… the controller 300 may change the available discharge power of the high voltage battery 100 to be larger than the maximum available discharge power stored in the storage 200 during a first half period (from 0 second to A/2 seconds) based on the requested output amount changing factor).
As to claim 3, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power controller is further configured to control the discharging power of the battery pack with the peak power if a time period during which the battery pack is discharged with the maximum power or less is greater than or equal to a predetermined length of time (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park…when it is normal to continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge and temperature of the battery for a preset amount of time (e.g., A seconds), …).
As to claim 4, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power controller is further configured to control the battery pack not to be discharged with the peak power for a predetermined length of time if the battery pack is discharged with the peak power for a preset time (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park).
As to claim 5, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power controller is further configured to control the discharging power of the battery pack with the peak power if a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack is greater than or equal to a reference value (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park…when it is normal to continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge..).
As to claim 8, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the maximum power and the peak power are values calculated based on a temperature and a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack ([0059][0066] …continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge and temperature).
As to claim 9, Jung discloses a battery management method (Fig. 1 and 3), comprising: determining an off-grid state of a battery pack ([0054]… a battery system for an off-grid power supply device. [0048] the control unit (160) may have the function of checking the respective charge state of … the battery (130) at the start of discharge in discharge mode); and controlling a discharging power of the battery pack ([0048] and automatically adjusting the amount of current output from … the battery (130) to the discharge control circuit unit (150)
Although Jung teaches controlling discharging the battery pack in the off grid state ([0048]), Jung does not disclose/teach controlling discharging the battery pack in the off grid state with a peak power that is greater than a maximum power of the battery pack in the off-grid state of the battery pack.
Park teaches controlling discharging the battery pack in the off grid state with a peak power that is greater than a maximum power of the battery pack in the off-grid state of the battery pack (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] if the controller 300 determines that the requested output amount of the vehicle is relatively large when it is normal to continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge and temperature of the battery for a preset amount of time (e.g., A seconds), the controller 300 may change the available discharge power of the high voltage battery 100 to be larger than the maximum available discharge power stored in the storage 200 during a first half period (from 0 second to A/2 seconds) based on the requested output amount changing factor).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Jung to control discharging the battery pack in the off grid state with a peak power that is greater than a maximum power of the battery pack in the off-grid state of the battery pack in order to significantly improve the performance of the load ([0067] of Park).
As to claim 10, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management method of claim 9, wherein the controlling of the discharging power comprises controlling the discharging power of the battery pack with the peak power for a preset time (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park… the controller 300 may change the available discharge power of the high voltage battery 100 to be larger than the maximum available discharge power stored in the storage 200 during a first half period (from 0 second to A/2 seconds) based on the requested output amount changing factor).
As to claim 11, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management method of claim 9, wherein the controlling of the discharging power comprises controlling the discharging power of the battery pack with the peak power if a time period during which the battery pack is discharged with the maximum power or less is greater than or equal to a predetermined length of time (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park…when it is normal to continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge and temperature of the battery for a preset amount of time (e.g., A seconds), …).
As to claim 12, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management method of claim 9, wherein the controlling of the discharging power comprises controlling the battery pack not to be discharged with the peak power for a predetermined length of time if the battery pack is discharged with the peak power for the preset time (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park).
As to claim 13, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management method of claim 9, wherein the controlling of the discharging power comprises controlling the discharging power of the battery pack with the peak power if a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack is greater than or equal to a reference value (Fig. 6 ,7 and [0066] of Park…when it is normal to continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge..).
As to claim 16, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management method of claim 9, further comprising: calculating the maximum power and the peak power based on a temperature and a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack ([0059][0066] …continuously discharge the maximum available discharge power based on the current state of charge and temperature).
Claims 6-7 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung (WO2019017671) in view of Park (US 20200185944) in view of Rubio (US 20120133282).
As to claims 6 and 14, Jung in view of Park teaches the battery management apparatus and method of claims 1 and 9.
Jung in view of Park does not disclose/teach wherein the determiner is further configured to determine the off-grid state of the battery pack based on an input signal received from an external source.
Rubio teaches wherein the determiner is further configured to determine the off-grid state of the battery pack based on an input signal received from an external source ([0048] Request interface device 310 generates the SOC request in response to a user input).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the battery management apparatus and method of Jung to include wherein the determiner is further configured to determine the off-grid state of the battery pack based on an input signal received from an external source in order to inform the user of the SOC to control discharging.
As to claims 7 and 15 Jung in view of Park in view of Rubio teaches the battery management apparatus and method of claims 6 and 15 wherein the determiner is further configured to determine the off-grid state of the battery pack if the input signal is in a high state ([0048] request from the user interpreted as a “high state”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TYNESE V MCDANIEL whose telephone number is (313)446-6579. The examiner can normally be reached on M to F, 9am to 530pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Drew Dunn can be reached at 571-272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TYNESE V MCDANIEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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