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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/21/2025 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1-7 and 9-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassanpour et al. (“A Series Partial Power Converter Based on Dual Active Converter for Residential Battery Energy Storage System”, of record and hereinafter “Hassanpour”) in view of Agamy et al. (WO 2018/222672 A1, of record and hereinafter “Agamy”) and Izumi et al. (US 11,984,746, of record and hereinafter “Izumi”).
Claim 1: Hassanpour discloses a power converting apparatus (Fig.1(a)), comprising:
a set of batteries (providing VB; see pg.3, section III: “the number of battery cells must be selected in a way that the following criteria will be fulfilled”); and
a DC/DC converter (DC-DC converter shown in Fig.1(a)) including an input (positive input of VConv) connected to an output of the set of batteries (see Fig.1(a)),
wherein a positive output terminal of the DC/DC converter (positive voltage of VC) is connected to a load (VDC-, which receives current IDC during “discharge mode”, thus has an associated load), wherein a negative output terminal of the DC/DC converter (negative terminal of VC) is connected to a positive terminal of the set of batteries (see Fig.1(a)), and wherein a negative terminal of the set of batteries is connected to the load (negative terminal of VDC).
Regarding claim 9, Hassanpour discloses an energy storage system (see Fig.1(a) and title), comprising:
a power converting apparatus (Fig.1(a)) including a set of batteries (providing VB; see pg.3, section III: “the number of battery cells must be selected in a way that the following criteria will be fulfilled”) and a DC/DC converter (shown in Fig.1(a)) including an input (positive input of VConv) connected to an output of the set of batteries (see Fig.1(a)); and
a load (VDC-, which receives current IDC during “discharge mode”, thus has an associated load) wherein a positive output terminal of the DC/DC converter (positive voltage of VC) is connected to a load (VDC-, which receives current IDC during “discharge mode”, thus has an associated load), wherein a negative output terminal of the DC/DC converter (negative terminal of VC) is connected to a positive terminal of the set of batteries (see Fig.1(a)), and wherein a negative terminal of the set of batteries is connected to the load (negative terminal of VDC).
Hassanpour does not disclose further context as to the specific application of the power converting apparatus. Therefore, Hassanpour does not disclose “a battery management system connected to the set of batteries and configured to monitor conditions of the set of batteries and control charging and discharging of the set of batteries; a battery section controller coupled to the battery management system and configured to monitor and control the conditions of the set of batteries; a power conversion system connected to the DC/DC converter and configured to control power to and from the DC/DC converter and configured to control charging and discharging of the set of batteries; and a site controller coupled to the battery section controller and the power conversion system” of claims 1 and 9 and/or “power conversion system connected to the power converting apparatus and a load and configured to convert a DC output from the power converting apparatus into an AC output in accordance with the load; a battery management system coupled to the set of batteries and configured to monitor conditions of the set of batteries and control charging and discharging of the set of batteries; a battery section controller coupled to the battery management system and configured to monitor and control the conditions of the set of batteries; and a site controller coupled to the battery section controller and the power conversion system” of claim 9. Hassanpour further does not disclose the recited “second set of batteries”, “third set of batteries”, second DC/DC converter”, “third DC/DC converter”, “second battery management system”, and “third battery management system”.
Agamy discloses that an energy storage system (Fig.1) including batteries (104) and a DC-DC converter (106) may include a power conversion system (a DC-AC converter; see [0013] or grid-tied inverter 112; see [0014]) in order to provide power to an AC load (see [0013], [0014]) and to control power to and from the DC/DC converter and configured to control charging and discharging of the set of batteries (see [0013], [0014]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have provided a power conversion system in the form of a DC-AC converter/inverter between the DC bus of Hassanpour and loads in order to have provided AC power to AC loads.
Agamy further discloses that a battery system (104) may be duplicated with at least three batteries (corresponding to the “sets of batteries” of Hassanpour) and at least three corresponding DC/DC converters (each Power Converter 106 connected between the battery system and DC bus; see Fig.1 and [0005]). Agamy discloses that multiple batteries and corresponding DC/DC converters are useful in providing adequate storage for mitigating power variability of renewable energy sources (see [0004]). Therefore, it further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have provided second and third sets of batteries each respectively connected to second and third DC/DC converters, as disclosed by Agamy, in order to have provided adequate storage for mitigating power variability of renewable energy sources in a grid-scale energy storage system.
Agamy, however, does not explicitly disclose the particular monitoring and control structure including the recited battery management system connected to the set of batteries and configured to monitor conditions of the set of batteries and control charging and discharging of the set of batteries, a battery section control … and a site controller”. Izumi discloses a similar power supply system (2 of Fig.1) including similar power conversion systems to control charging/discharging of batteries (50, 60, 70; col.7,58-col.8,9), battery management systems for each battery system (BS, Fig.2, which may be a BMS; see col.5,26-35, as is provided for each respective set of batteries B) connected to a set of batteries (B, which is shown as multiple cells in series; see Fig.2) and configured to monitor conditions of the set of batteries (col.5,26-35) to control charging and discharging of the set of batteries (the state is output to the GCU 100, which controls charging and discharging of battery banks, thus an implied relationship between the data from monitoring and charging/discharging; see col.7,58-col.8,6); a battery section controller (SCU, which controls a string of batteries; see Figs.1, 2, and col.4,28-42) coupled to the battery management system (see Fig.2, where the SCU is connected to each BS) and configured to monitor and control the conditions of the set of batteries (see col.5,43-26, where the detection result of BS is provided to the SCU, thus the SCU monitors the conditions of the batteries, and col.6,27-34, where the SCU generates gate signals to control charging/discharging of the battery modules); and a site controller (100) coupled to the battery section controller (see col.6,27-28) and the power conversion system (via the SCU; see col.5,38-39). Izumi discloses that such hierarchal control including individual BMS, a section controller, and a site controller provides suitable management between a server via the site controller (col.10-10-16), to groups of batteries via a string controller (D1-D3; col.10,55-67), to the monitoring of the conditions of individual sets of batteries via each BMS (col.5,23-39). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have provided the hierarchal control architecture of Izumi, including a BMS for each set of batteries, including the second and third set of batteries of Agamy, a battery section controller controlling multiple sets, and a site controller controlling multiple sections, in order to have provided suitable control of a large scale energy storage system between commands sent from a server to the individual monitoring of battery cells.
Claim 2: Hassanpour discloses wherein a sum of a first output of the DC/DC converter and a second output of the set of batteries is input to the load (see pg.2, equation 1).
Claim 3: Hassanpour discloses wherein the sum of the first output and the second output is equal to a target power required by the load (during discharge mode; see pg.2, equations 1 and 2).
Claim 4: Hassanpour discloses wherein the DC/DC converter is configured to perform a DC/DC conversion of a voltage input from the set of batteries and to boost the voltage input to a target voltage level to obtain the first output (see pg.2, section II: “Based on the sign of the output voltage of the DC-DC converter (VC), the S-PPC can be buck or boost converter”).
Claim 5: Hassanpour discloses a capacitor connected between the positive output terminal and the negative output terminal of the DC/DC converter to accumulate at least one charge flowing in the DC/DC converter (capacitor C, which is between the positive and negative output terminals of the DC/DC in Fig.1(a), which thus accumulates charge flowing in the DC/DC converter IC).
Claim 6: Hassanpour discloses wherein a battery included in the set of batteries includes one of a battery pack, a battery rack, and a battery cell (battery cells; see pg.3, section III).
Claim 7: the combination discloses wherein the load is the power conversion system (e.g. the inverter of Agamy and Izumi used to provide power to the connected grid).
Claims 10-14: see the discussion of claims 2-6 above.
Claim 15: the combination discloses wherein the load is the power conversion system (corresponding to a power conversion, i.e. DC/AC converter/inverter of Agamy connected to the DC-DC converter in the same manner of the instant invention).
Claim 16: see the discussion of claim 17 above.
Claim 17: Hassanpour discloses the positive output terminal of the DC/DC converter is connected to a positive input terminal of the load, and the negative terminal of the set of batteries is connected to a negative input terminal of the load (see Fig.1(a)).
Claims 18 and 20: the combination further discloses a second set of batteries (e.g. 202B of Agamy); a second DC/DC converter connected to the second set of batteries (e.g. 212B of Agamy); and a second battery management system connected to the second set of batteries (BS in each battery module, shown in Fig.2 of Izumi), wherein: the battery section controller is coupled to the battery management system and the second battery management system and is configured to monitor and control the conditions of the set of batteries and conditions of the second set of batteries (i.e. the battery group of Agamy of Fig.2 being controlled by group controller, corresponding to SCU of Izumi); and the power conversion system is connected to the DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter, is configured to control power to and from the DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter (see [0013] and [0014] of Agamy), and is configured to control charging and discharging of the set of batteries and the second set of batteries (see [0013] and [0014] of Agamy).
Claims 19 and 21: the combination discloses the conditions of the set of batteries comprise a current, a voltage, and a temperature (see col.5,23-39 of Izumi); the battery management system is configured to monitor the current, the voltage, and the temperature of the set of batteries and configured to calculate a status of charge of the set of batteries based on a monitoring result to control charging and discharging (see col.5,23-39 of Izumi); the battery section controller is configured to monitor and control the current, the voltage, and the temperature (the monitoring results are provided to the SCU; see col.5,23-26); and the DC/DC converter, the battery management system, the battery section controller, and the power conversion system are different from one another (see Figs.2 of Agamy and Fig.2 of Izumi, where each component is shown as different from one another). Although Hassanpour and Agamy do not disclose the recited circuit breakers, Izumi further discloses the battery section controller is further configured to monitor and control a circuit breaker (col.5,1-22) in order to provide user control to battery modules or allow a user to remove a battery module (see col.4,5-18). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have provided the monitoring and control of a circuit breaker via the battery section controller, as further disclosed by Izumi, in order to have provided user control to battery modules or the ability of a user to remove a battery module.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/21/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant first argues:
The Office Action is understood to equate Agamy's power converter 106 to the claimed "DC/DC converter". Even if assuming arguendo the above contention could be applied, to which Applicant does not acquiesce, Agamy is not understood to disclose or teach the battery management systems, the battery section controller, and the interactions between the DC/DC converters, as recited in claim 1, nor all of the features of claim 1, as recited above.
While the examiner agrees that Agamy does not disclose the recited battery management systems, Izumi discloses providing a battery management system (BS) for each set of batteries (B) in a similar system. Agamy discloses providing first, second, and third sets of batteries (see 104 of Fig.1) and first, second, and third DC/DC converters each connected to the batteries (see 106 of Fig.1). Therefore, the combination of Hassanpour, Agamy, and Izumi disclose the recited sets of batteries (104 of Agamy), the first through third DC/DC converters (106 of Agamy), and first through third BMS (BS of Izumi, provided to each of 104 of Agamy), where the DC/DC converters correspond to Fig.1a of Hassanpour.
Applicant next argues:
Referring to Izumi's figures 1 and 2, the Office Action is understood to equate: Izumi's top BS (of figure 2) to the claimed "battery management system"; Izumi's middle BS to the claimed "second battery management system"; and Izumi's SCU to the claimed "battery section controller". Even if assuming arguendo the above contention could be applied, to which Applicant does not acquiesce, Izumi is not understood to disclose or teach all of the features of claim 1, as recited above.
The examiner respectfully disagrees, as Agamy discloses providing at least three sets of batteries, while Izumi discloses providing a BMS to each set of batteries (B). Therefore, in the combination of Hassanpour, Agamy, and Izumi, one of ordinary skill in the art would have naturally provided a corresponding BMS to each of the duplicated parallel battery systems shown in Fig.1 of Agamy, each corresponding to the battery and DC/DC converter shown in Fig.1a of Hassanpour.
Conclusion
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/RYAN JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2849