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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/25/2023, 05/31/2023, 11/08/2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 11-12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 11, line 2, delete “circuitry.” and replace with “circuitry”
Claim 12 is objected for the reasons as claim 11 from which it depends.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 13-16, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hoff et al. US Pub 2013/0009602 (hereinafter Hoff).
Regarding claim 13, Hoff teaches a method comprising:
measuring a temperature of a first battery and a temperature of a second battery (¶¶ 0037, 0050 and see fig. 1; the system controller 130 receives data about the individual batteries…in form of temperature);
identifying whether at least one reference condition is satisfied, based on the measured temperature of the first battery and the measured temperature of the second battery (¶ 0050; to achieve a desired battery temperature);
controlling (claim 1; each temperature control module capable of independent operation for individually controlling the temperature of each said battery) a first discharge current of the first battery, when the at least one reference condition is satisfied; and controlling a second discharge current of the second battery, when the at least one reference condition is satisfied (claims 10-11, 16-17; increasing dissipation of heat or lowering the temperature of the battery increases the current value for the battery; decreasing the dissipation of heat or raising the temperature of the battery decreases the current value for the battery).
Regarding claim 14, Hoff teaches a method wherein the identifying of whether the at least one reference condition is satisfied comprises:
calculating a difference value between the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery to identify whether the difference value exceeds a configured reference value (¶ 0042; if one cell is 15 C, and one cell is heated on 35 C… and therefore the current carried by the cell is more than the system average, e.g., about 7.8%);
identifying whether at least one of the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery exceeds a configured absolute reference value (¶ 0042; more than the system average); and
identifying that the at least one reference condition is satisfied, in case that the difference value exceeds the reference value or at least one of the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery exceeds the absolute reference value (¶ 0042; the temperature of cells R1 and R15 differ from the average cell temperature by about 15 C).
Regarding claim 15, Hoff teaches a method further comprising: in case that the at least one reference condition is identified as having been satisfied, identifying a battery of which a temperature has risen relatively higher among the first battery and the second battery (Hoff discloses third battery to N battery, when the average temperature of other batteries are higher than first battery and second battery. The temperature of the first battery and the second battery can be increased after the temperature-controlled current balancing process as suggested in ¶ 0042); and configuring a discharge current of the identified battery to be low (¶¶ 0033, 0042; after the temperature controlled parallel balancing process).
Regarding claim 16, Hoff teaches a method further comprising:
configuring the first discharge current of the first battery to be low, in a case that the temperature of the first battery has risen higher than the temperature of the second battery and thus the difference value exceeds the configured reference value (claim 11 and ¶ 0042); and
configuring the second discharge current of the second battery to be high, in a case that the temperature of the first battery has risen higher than the temperature of the second battery and thus the difference value exceeds the configured reference value (claim 10 and ¶ 0042).
Regarding claim 19, Hoff teaches a method further comprising: identifying a total amount of current supplied to a system of an electronic device, based on the first discharge current and the second discharge current; and at least partially limiting a function of the system, based on the identified total amount of current (¶¶ 0034, 0046 and fig. 5-7).
Regarding claim 20, Hoff teaches a method further comprises:
measuring the residual capacity of the first battery by using a first battery capacity measurement module comprising circuitry (¶¶ 0019, 0045-0047; measured and calculated by the same control system); and
determining the first discharge current of the first battery by using the first current control module (claims 16 and 17), based on a measured residual capacity of the first battery (¶¶ 0019, 0045-0047).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-12, 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoff et al. US Pub 2013/0009602 (hereinafter Hoff).
Regarding claim 1, Hoff discloses an electronic device comprising:
a first battery (fig. 1, element 100-1);
a second battery (fig. 2, element 100-2) connected in parallel with the first battery (¶¶ 0036, 0040; parallel batteries);
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a first current control module (120-1), comprising circuitry, configured to control a first discharge current of the first battery (¶ 0043 and claims 10-11; the temperature control system reduces the charging and discharging of one of the batteries);
a second current control module (120-2), comprising circuitry, configured to control a second discharge current of the second battery (¶ 0043 and claims 10-11; individually operable temperature control units 120-1, 120-2…);
a sensor module, comprising at least one sensor, configured to sense a temperature of the first battery and a temperature of the second battery (¶ 0037; the system controller 130 receives data about the individual batteries…in form of temperature);
a memory (¶ 0060; microprocessor or FPGA includes a memory); and a processor (¶ 0060; can be microprocessor or FPGA) operatively connected (¶ 0037 and claims 1, 10, 11, 17) to the first current control module (120-1), the second current control module (120-2), the sensor module (130), and the memory (all the elements must be operatively connected), wherein the processor is configured to:
measure the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery via at least the sensor module (¶¶ 0037, 0050; the system controller 130 receives data about the individual batteries…in form of temperature);
identify whether at least one reference condition is satisfied, based on the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery (¶ 0050; to achieve a desired battery temperature); and
based on the at least one reference condition being satisfied (claim 17: if the SOH of the particular battery is less dependent on the watt hours (WH)), control the first discharge current of the first battery via the first current control module, and control the second discharge current of the second battery via the second current control module (claims 10-11, 16-17; increasing dissipation of heat or lowering the temperature of the battery increases the current value for the battery; decreasing the dissipation of heat or raising the temperature of the battery decreases the current value for the battery).
Although the prior art does not expressly disclose a sensor module, the prior art does disclose the system controller receives data about the batteries in the form of temperature. One skilled in the art would recognize that the system of Hoff must include at least one temperature sense in the batteries requires only routine skill.
Regarding claim 2, Hoff discloses wherein the processor is configured to:
calculate a difference value between the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery, at least to identify whether the difference value exceeds a configured reference value (¶ 0042; if one cell is 15 C, and one cell is heated on 35 C… and therefore the current carried by the cell is more than the system average, e.g., about 7.8%), and/or (interpret as OR)
identify whether at least one of the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery exceeds a configured absolute reference value; and
identify that the at least one reference condition is satisfied, based on the difference value exceeding the reference value and/or (interpret as OR) at least one of the temperature of the first battery and the temperature of the second battery exceeding the absolute reference value (¶ 0042; the temperature of cells R1 and R15 differ from the average cell temperature by about 15 C).
Regarding claim 3, Hoff discloses wherein the processor is configured to:
based on the at least one reference condition being identified as having been satisfied, identify a battery of which a temperature has risen relatively higher among the first battery and the second battery (Hoff discloses third battery to N battery, when the average temperature of other batteries are higher than first battery and second battery. The temperature of the first battery and the second battery can be increased after the temperature-controlled current balancing process as suggested in ¶ 0042); and
configure a discharge current of the identified battery to be low, via a current control module, comprising circuitry, corresponding to the identified battery (¶¶ 0033, 0042; after the temperature controlled parallel balancing process).
Regarding claim 4, Hoff discloses wherein the processor is configured to:
configure the first discharge current of the first battery to be low via the first current control module, when the temperature of the first battery has risen higher than the temperature of the second battery and thus the difference value exceeds the configured reference value (claim 11 and ¶ 0042); and
configure the second discharge current of the second battery to be high via the second current control module, when the temperature of the first battery has risen higher than the temperature of the second battery and thus the difference value exceeds the configured reference value (claim 10 and ¶ 0042).
Regarding claim 5, Hoff discloses wherein the processor is configured to configure the second discharge current of the second battery to a current value supportable by the second battery (claims 1 and 17; the temperature control system increases the charging and discharge of a particular battery, and the current value must be supportable by the particular battery).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Hoff discloses wherein the reference value comprises a first reference value and a second reference value (¶ 0042; system average),
wherein the absolute reference value comprises a first absolute reference value and a second absolute reference value (¶ 0042; the first absolute reference value is same as the second absolute reference value).
The prior art fails to teach wherein the second reference value is relatively greater than the first reference value, and the second absolute reference value is relatively greater than the first absolute reference value. However, to choose the second reference value is relatively greater than the first reference value, and the second absolute reference value is relatively greater than the first absolute reference value, absent any criticality, is only considered to be the “optimum” value of the reference value and the absolute reference value, as stated above, that a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been able to determine using routine experimentation based, among other things, on the desired accuracy and since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980) and MPEP 2144.04 and 2144.05.
Regarding claims 7 and 18, Hoff discloses wherein a discharge current of the first battery when the difference value exceeds the first reference value in a situation in which the temperature of the first battery is relatively higher than the temperature of the second battery, is greater than a discharge current of the first battery when the difference value exceeds the second reference value (¶¶ 0041-0042; the discharge and charge currents of the battery will vary by as much as positive or negative 22%).
Regarding claim 8, Hoff discloses wherein a discharge current determined based on the first absolute reference value is greater than a discharge current determined based on the second absolute reference value (claims 16-17; based more/less dependent on the watt hours throughput than the other batteries in the parallel battery system).
Regarding claim 9, Hoff discloses wherein the processor is configured to:
identify a total amount of current supplied to a system of the electronic device, based on the first discharge current and the second discharge current; and at least partially limit a function of the system, based on the identified total amount of current (¶¶ 0034, 0046 and fig. 5-7).
Regarding claim 10, Hoff discloses wherein the sensor module comprises a first temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of the first battery and a second temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of the second battery (fig. 1, element 124; T1…Tn), and
wherein the processor is configured to:
measure the temperature of the first battery via the first temperature sensor (¶ 0014; temperature); and
individually measure the temperature of the second battery via the second temperature sensor (¶ 0037 and fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Hoff discloses wherein the first current control module comprises a first battery capacity measurement module (¶ 0045; measured in AH), comprising circuitry configured to measure a residual capacity of the first battery (¶ 0045), and wherein the second current control module comprises a second battery capacity measurement module, comprising circuitry, configured to measure a residual capacity of the second battery (¶¶ 0019, 0045-0047; measured and calculated by the same control system).
Regarding claim 12, Hoff discloses wherein the processor is configured to:
measure the residual capacity of the first battery via the first battery capacity measurement module (¶¶ 0019, 0045-0047; measured and calculated by the same control system);
determine the first discharge current of the first battery via the first current control module, based on the measured residual capacity of the first battery (claims 16 and 17);
measure the residual capacity of the second battery via the second battery capacity measurement module (¶¶ 0019, 0045-0047); and
determine the second discharge current of the second battery via the second current control module, based on the measured residual capacity of the second battery (claims 16-17).
Conclusion
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/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 02/05/2026