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. Drawings The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims . Therefore, the “central tendency statistic” of claim 1 , and the recitations of claims 4-5 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Claim Objections Claim s 1, 6-7, and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: In claim 1 , line 8, “a stop voltage” should be changed to --the stop voltage--. In claim 6 , lines 6-7, “the set of battery cells” should be changed to --a set of battery cells--. In claim 7 , line 2, “a battery management system” should be changed to --the battery management system--. In claim 7 , lines 2-3, “a battery pack” should be changed to --the battery pack--. In claim 11 , lines 16-17, “a stop voltage” should be change to --the stop voltage--. 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) 1-4, 6-8, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by VEZZINI (US Pub. No. 2009/0027006) . Regarding claim 1 , VEZZINI discloses a method, comprising: calculating at least a central tendency statistic (e.g., an average) and a variability statistic ( e.g., a standard deviation; ¶ 0009 : said battery monitoring system is able to discern a charge imbalance between the cells of a multicell battery (e.g. discern the lowest cell voltage or when the voltage of one or several cells is below the average voltage of all or when one or more cells are outside a statistical tolerance band given by the standard deviation ) ; ¶ 0018 : A balancing threshold voltage difference o r ∆ U is used to describe the width of a maximum tolerable voltage band in which the voltage of the cells should be. Thereby ∆ U is defined by means of a multivariable function und equals to the tolerable potential difference regarding the cell with the lowest potential and regarding the cell with the highest potential ; ¶ 0027 : Determine a balancing threshold ∆ U dependant on state of battery and other factors. As an example, ∆ U defines a narrow voltage band during charge and gets even closer at the end of charge, whereas ∆ U is higher during discharge, resulting in a wider voltage band. Step: Get balancing threshold. Reference numeral 12. To determine ∆ U one or more possible calculation methods are possible ) describing a set of battery cell voltages for a set of battery cells ( ¶ 0016 : By means of the FIGS. 1 to 3 there is explained a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is a monitoring and balancing device for multicell batteries. Very good results were achieved with a higher number of cells ; ¶ 0019 : A cell voltage or U cell [m] describes the measured voltage of a cell m ; ¶ 0025 : All cells of the battery are monitored by a battery monitoring system 31 ; ¶ 0052 : the voltage of each cell is monitored ) ; and while the variability statistic is greater than a predefined threshold ( ¶ 0009 : said battery monitoring system is able to discern a charge imbalance between the cells of a multicell battery (e.g. discern … when one or more cells are outside a statistical tolerance band given by the standard deviation ) ) and each of the set of battery cell voltages is greater than a stop voltage, draining ones or groups of the set of battery cells (¶ 0037: If U cell [m] > U max is true then enable balancing. Step: Enable balancing of cell m ) according to a predefined set of priority rules (¶ 0046: It is also possible to run the method 10 in a different way. The loop 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 is only effected for cells cell(m) near the upper end of the voltage band. A second slower monitoring circuit looks at the remaining usually uncritical cells and includes them in the method 10 according to FIG. 1 only if their value is approaching the upper or lower voltage band ) until the variability statistic is less than or equal to the predefined threshold (¶ 0009: see above) or any one of the set of battery cells has a cell voltage less than or equal to a stop voltage (¶ 0038: If U cell [m] > U max is false then disable balancing. Step: Disable balancing of cell m ) . Regarding claim 2 , VEZZINI discloses said calculating and said draining are performed automatically by a battery management system associated with a battery pack containing the set of battery cells ( ¶ 0010, 0025, 0033-0041, 0049, 0055 ) . Regarding claim 3 , VEZZINI discloses measuring the set of battery cell voltages repeatedly and automatically at a defined interval, independently of said calculating and said draining (¶ 0025, 0033-0041, 0049) . Regarding claim 4 , VEZZINI discloses the central tendency statistic comprises a mean of the set of battery cell voltages, and the variability statistic comprises a standard deviation of the set of battery cell voltages (¶ 0009) . Regarding claim 6 , VEZZINI discloses a battery management system (¶ 0009: According to invention there is provided a device for balancing a plurality of at least two batteries or cells of a multicell battery comprising a multicell battery and a battery management system with a balancing circuit ) , comprising at least one controller (31, Fig. 3; ¶ 0025: All cells of the battery are monitored by a battery monitoring system 31, shown in FIG. 3, in a continuous manner ) adapted to: measure a set of battery cell voltages ( ¶ 0009 : the monitoring system measures every single cell voltage ; ¶ 0052 : the voltage of each cell is monitored ) from a battery pack (¶ 0010, 0055: these paragraphs disclose the cells are part of a battery pack) ; calculate at least a central tendency statistic (e.g., an average) and a variability statistic ( e.g., a standard deviation; ¶ 0009 : said battery monitoring system is able to discern a charge imbalance between the cells of a multicell battery (e.g. discern the lowest cell voltage or when the voltage of one or several cells is below the average voltage of all or when one or more cells are outside a statistical tolerance band given by the standard deviation ) ; ¶ 0018 : A balancing threshold voltage difference o r ∆U is used to describe the width of a maximum tolerable voltage band in which the voltage of the cells should be. Thereby ∆ U is defined by means of a multivariable function und equals to the tolerable potential difference regarding the cell with the lowest potential and regarding the cell with the highest potential ; ¶ 0027 : Determine a balancing threshold ∆ U dependant on state of battery and other factors. As an example, ∆ U defines a narrow voltage band during charge and gets even closer at the end of charge, whereas ∆ U is higher during discharge, resulting in a wider voltage band. Step: Get balancing threshold. Reference numeral 12. To determine ∆ U one or more possible calculation methods are possible ) describing the set of battery cell voltages ( ¶ 0016 : By means of the FIGS. 1 to 3 there is explained a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is a monitoring and balancing device for multicell batteries. Very good results were achieved with a higher number of cells ; ¶ 0019 : A cell voltage or U cell [m] describes the measured voltage of a cell m ; ¶ 0025 : All cells of the battery are monitored by a battery monitoring system 31 ; ¶ 0052 : the voltage of each cell is monitored ); and while the variability statistic is greater than a predefined threshold ( ¶ 0009 : said battery monitoring system is able to discern a charge imbalance between the cells of a multicell battery (e.g. discern … when one or more cells are outside a statistical tolerance band given by the standard deviation ) ) and each of the set of battery cell voltages is greater than a stop voltage, drain ones or groups of the set of battery cells (¶ 0037: If U cell [m] > U max is true then enable balancing. Step: Enable balancing of cell m ) according to a predefined set of priority rules (¶ 0046: It is also possible to run the method 10 in a different way. The loop 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 is only effected for cells cell(m) near the upper end of the voltage band. A second slower monitoring circuit looks at the remaining usually uncritical cells and includes them in the method 10 according to FIG. 1 only if their value is approaching the upper or lower voltage band ) until the variability statistic is less than or equal to the predefined threshold (¶ 0009: see above) or any one of the set of battery cells has a cell voltage less than or equal to a stop voltage (¶ 0038: If U cell [m] > U max is false then disable balancing. Step: Disable balancing of cell m ). Regarding claim 7 , VEZZINI discloses said calculating and said draining are performed automatically by a battery management system associated with a battery pack containing the set of battery cells (¶ 0010, 0025, 0033-0041, 0049, 0055) . Regarding claim 8 , VEZZINI discloses the central tendency statistic comprises a mean of the set of battery cell voltages, and the variability statistic comprises a standard deviation of the set of battery cell voltages (¶ 0009) . Regarding claim 10 , VEZZINI discloses the controller measures the set of battery cell voltages at a regular, independent interval (¶ 0025, 0033-0041, 0049) . 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claim(s) 5 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VEZZINI as applied to claim s 1-4, 6-8, and 10 above, and further in view of CARRIER ( CN201174408Y ; English Machine translation is included with office action ) . Regarding claim 5 , VEZZINI discloses t he method as applied to claim 4, but fails to disclose the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages. CARRIER discloses the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages (¶ 0009 , 0026, 0125 , 0130 ) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages as disclosed in CARRIER into the method of VEZZINI to produce an expected result of a method including a stop voltage comprising a mean of the set of battery cell voltages . The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to preserve cell energy and/or avoid unnecessary deep discharge during balancing . Regarding claim 9 , VEZZINI discloses t he battery management system as applied to claim 8, but fails to disclose the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages. CARRIER discloses the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages (¶ 0009, 0026, 0125, 0130). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages as disclosed in CARRIER into the battery management system of VEZZINI to produce an expected result of a battery management system including a stop voltage comprising a mean of the set of battery cell voltages. The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to preserve cell energy and/or avoid unnecessary deep discharge during balancing. Claim (s) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VEZZINI (US Pub. No. 2009/0027006) in view of ZHANG (US Pub. No. 2011/0316483) . Regarding claim 11 , VEZZINI discloses a system, comprising: a battery pack (¶ 0010, 0055: these paragraphs disclose the cells are part of a battery pack) including a set of battery cells, the set of battery cells connected together and adapted to produce a collective power (¶ 0010, 0055: these paragraphs disclose the cells are part of a battery pack, and one of ordinary skill would recognize the cells are “connected together” as shown in Fig. 3 to output a “collective power”) , ones of the set of battery cells having power connections to receive and to discharge power individually or in groups (¶ 0016: Such batteries may be used in automotive applications (e.g. Hybrid-cars, fuel-cell cars, EV-cars, utility vehicles, scooters, e-bikes and the like), in mobile power supply applications (e.g. power tools, portable computers, embedded computers, medical equipment), household and industrial power backup supplies etc. ; power connections are implied) , and a set of monitoring terminals (¶ 0025 : All cells of the battery are monitored by a battery monitoring system 31, shown in FIG. 3 ; as shown in Fig. 3, “monitoring terminals” are implied in order to allow the cells to connected to the battery monitoring system 31) ; a controller connected to the set of monitoring terminals (31, Fig. 3; ¶ 0025: All cells of the battery are monitored by a battery monitoring system 31, shown in FIG. 3, in a continuous manner ) , the controller adapted to calculate at least a central tendency statistic (e.g., an average) and a variability statistic ( e.g., a standard deviation; ¶ 0009 : said battery monitoring system is able to discern a charge imbalance between the cells of a multicell battery (e.g. discern the lowest cell voltage or when the voltage of one or several cells is below the average voltage of all or when one or more cells are outside a statistical tolerance band given by the standard deviation ) ; ¶ 0018 : A balancing threshold voltage difference o r ∆U is used to describe the width of a maximum tolerable voltage band in which the voltage of the cells should be. Thereby ∆ U is defined by means of a multivariable function und equals to the tolerable potential difference regarding the cell with the lowest potential and regarding the cell with the highest potential ; ¶ 0027 : Determine a balancing threshold ∆ U dependant on state of battery and other factors. As an example, ∆ U defines a narrow voltage band during charge and gets even closer at the end of charge, whereas ∆ U is higher during discharge, resulting in a wider voltage band. Step: Get balancing threshold. Reference numeral 12. To determine ∆ U one or more possible calculation methods are possible ) describing a set of battery cell voltages for the set of battery cells ( ¶ 0016 : By means of the FIGS. 1 to 3 there is explained a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is a monitoring and balancing device for multicell batteries. Very good results were achieved with a higher number of cells ; ¶ 0019 : A cell voltage or U cell [m] describes the measured voltage of a cell m ; ¶ 0025 : All cells of the battery are monitored by a battery monitoring system 31 ; ¶ 0052 : the voltage of each cell is monitored ) , and while the variability statistic is greater than a predefined threshold ( ¶ 0009 : said battery monitoring system is able to discern a charge imbalance between the cells of a multicell battery (e.g. discern … when one or more cells are outside a statistical tolerance band given by the standard deviation ) ) and each of the set of battery cell voltages is greater than a stop voltage, drain ones or groups of the set of battery cells (¶ 0037: If U cell [m] > U max is true then enable balancing. Step: Enable balancing of cell m ) according to a predefined set of priority rules (¶ 0046: It is also possible to run the method 10 in a different way. The loop 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 is only effected for cells cell(m) near the upper end of the voltage band. A second slower monitoring circuit looks at the remaining usually uncritical cells and includes them in the method 10 according to FIG. 1 only if their value is approaching the upper or lower voltage band ) until the variability statistic is less than or equal to the predefined threshold (¶ 0009: see above) or any one of the set of battery cells has a cell voltage less than or equal to a stop voltage (¶ 0038: If U cell [m] > U max is false then disable balancing. Step: Disable balancing of cell m ) . VEZZINI fails to disclose one or more switching elements connected to the power connections so as to direct power input to and output from the set of battery cells; and the controller connected to the one or more switching elements. ZHANG discloses one or more switching elements (861, 862, Fig. 8) connected to the power connections so as to direct power input to and output from the set of battery cells (¶ 0080: the inter-cell controller 850 can generate a control signal to turn off a discharge switch 861 in the lead-acid battery pack and/or generate a control signal to turn off a charge switch 862 in the lead acid battery pack to terminate discharging or charging of the battery cells 801-812 ) ; and the controller (850, Fig. 8) connected to the one or more switching elements (¶ 0080: see above) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the one or more switching elements of ZHANG into the system of VEZZINI to produce an expected result of a system including one or more switching elements . The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to provide increased control of the battery pack input/ output . Regarding claim 12 , VEZZINI discloses the controller measures the set of battery cell voltages repeatedly and automatically at a defined interval, independently of said calculating and said draining (¶ 0025, 0033-0041, 0049) . Regarding claim 13 , VEZZINI discloses the central tendency statistic comprises a mean of the set of battery cell voltages, and the variability statistic comprises a standard deviation of the set of battery cell voltages (¶ 0009) . Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VEZZINI in view of ZHANG as applied to claim s 11-13 above, and further in view of CARRIER ( CN201174408Y ; English Machine translation is included with office action ) . Regarding claim 14 , VEZZINI as modified by ZHANG teaches t he system as applied to claim 13, but VEZZINI fails to disclose the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages. CARRIER discloses the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages (¶ 0009, 0026, 0125, 0130). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the stop voltage comprises the mean of the set of battery cell voltages as disclosed in CARRIER into the system of VEZZINI to produce an expected result of a system including a stop voltage comprising a mean of the set of battery cell voltages. The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to preserve cell energy and/or avoid unnecessary deep discharge during balancing. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT MANUEL HERNANDEZ whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-7916 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday 9a-5p ET . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Taelor Kim can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571) 270-7166 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Manuel Hernandez/ Examiner, Art Unit 2859 DATE \@ "M/d/yyyy" 3/19/2026 /TAELOR KIM/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859