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 § 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) 1-2, 4-6, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shan et al. (CN 105720315) with publication date: 2016/06/29. Attached is the machine translation, and Keidl et al. (US 5,617,007), herein after Keidl.
Regarding claim 1, Shan discloses an adaptive charging control method (paragraph [0005]-[0009]), comprising:
determining whether a first temperature value of a battery pack in a time interval is greater than or equal to a minimum temperature threshold value (the charging parameter like temperature collected and can compared with the threshold value in the lookup table, paragraph [0015]-[0016], ):
obtaining a second temperature value of the battery pack in the time interval when the first temperature value is greater than or equal to the minimum temperature threshold value, and calculating a temperature difference in the time interval according to the first temperature value and the second temperature value (During the charging process, the dynamic temperature difference changes are monitored in real time, paragraph [0018] the dynamic temperature difference include detection of T1 and T2 and their difference):
comparing whether the temperature difference is greater than a first charging behavior adjustment threshold value, wherein when the temperature difference is greater than the first charging behavior adjustment threshold value, execute a charging current reduction adjustment (If the current temperature difference TUDel (maximum and minimum temperature difference) is greater than TDelMax (maximum temperature difference threshold), the correction parameter TDelThd (temperature difference correction parameter) is 0, paragraph [0018]; The maximum charging current and voltage are adjusted according to the DC charging dynamic voltage correction parameters, paragraph [0044] the correction parameter is calculated based on the temperature difference (explained in paragraph [0018]) and the charging adjustment is carried based on the correction parameter (as explained in paragraph [0044])) algorithm to calculate a gradient of charging current reduction and a first temperature compensation value of charging current, and calculate a new charging current value according to the gradient of charging current reduction and the first temperature compensation value of charging current ((paragraph[0042], [0044], [0045], [0046], [0047]Note: the new maximum charging current is calculated based on the current and preset (lookup table values) temperature and on the temperature difference correction parameter; as the paragraph [0042] shows that the change in temperature cause the change in correction parameter, so that the change in current equated as the gradient of charging current reduction); Although Shan explicitly discloses the parameters to calculate the charging current based on dynamic temperature difference. However, Shan do not explicitly disclose that the new calculated charging current is compared with a minimum charging current value, and adopting the new charging current value to charge the battery pack when the new charging current value is greater than the minimum charging current value.
Keidl discloses a battery charging apparatus/method where the current is controlled to maintained the temperature of the battery (Abstract). Kidle further discloses the applied charging current is compared with a minimum charging current value, and adopting the new charging current value to charge the battery pack when the new charging current value is greater than the minimum charging current value (comparing the battery charging current with a predefined minimum amplitude threshold value; means responsive to a battery charging current equal to said predefined minimum amplitude threshold value for continuing with a third charging phase; and third charging phase means for applying to the battery sequential charging current pulses having said predefined minimum amplitude threshold value; claim 7).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Shan’s charging control method to include a step of comparing the charging current with a predetermined minimum charging current to charge the battery with more than the minimum charging current as taught by Keidl, in order to have a higher current (amperage) with the stable temperature to effectively pumps energy into the battery cells much quicker, reducing overall downtime.
Regarding claim 2, Shan further discloses the adaptive charging control method further comprising: calculating the gradient of charging current reduction according to the temperature difference and a preset temperature gradient: and calculating the first temperature compensation value of charging current according to a present temperature of the battery pack and the minimum temperature threshold value (paragraph [0044], [0046], [0047]Note: the new maximum charging current is calculated based on the current and preset (lookup table values) temperature and on the temperature difference correction parameter).
Regarding claim 4, Shan further discloses the adaptive charging control method further comprising comparing whether the temperature difference in the time interval is less than a second charging behavior adjustment threshold value when the temperature difference is not greater than the first charging behavior adjustment threshold value (if the current temperature difference TUDel (maximum and minimum temperature difference) is less than TDelMin (minimum temperature difference threshold), the correction parameter TDelThd (temperature difference correction parameter) is 1, paragraph [0042]).
Regarding claim 5, Shan further discloses the adaptive charging control method further comprising executing a charging current increment adjustment algorithm when the temperature difference is less than the second charging behavior adjustment threshold value to calculate an gradient of charging current increment and a second temperature compensation value of charging current, and calculating another new charging current value according to the gradient of charging current increment and the second temperature compensation value of charging current ((paragraph [0044], [0046], [0047]Note: the new maximum charging current is calculated based on the current and preset (lookup table values) temperature and on the temperature difference correction parameter. In this case the different values of temperature and correction parameter would result in to new maximum charging current value).
Regarding claim 6, Shan further discloses the adaptive charging control method further comprising comparing whether the another new charging current value is less than a maximum charging current value, and adopting the another new charging current value to charge the battery pack when the another new charging current value is less than the maximum charging current value (paragraph [0016] where the estimated charging current is always less than the safe maximum charging current limit).
Regarding claim 9, Shan discloses an adaptive charging control device (paragraph [0004]), comprising: a battery pack comprising at least one battery (paragraph [0004]); a temperature measuring device connected to the battery pack to measure a temperature value of the battery pack; a current measuring device electrically connected to the battery pack to measure a charging current value of the battery pack ( total voltage and temperature collected from the power battery, and through corresponding processing measures, paragraph [0022]); and a processor electrically connected to the temperature measuring device and the current measuring device, and receiving the temperature value of the battery pack measured by the temperature measuring device and the charging current value of the battery pack measured by the current measuring device to implement the adaptive charging control method of claim 1 (paragraph [0004] see the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 10, Shan further discloses the adaptive charging control device further comprising a communication element communicatively connected to the processor, wherein the processor controls a battery charging system via the communication element to charge the battery pack with the new charging current value (paragraph [0004]Note: the control circuitry inherently has the communication device to communicate with battery and control the battery pack according to measured parameters).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7-8 are 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, none of the prior art alone or in combination discloses adaptive charging control method comprising, “calculating the new charging current value according to a present charging current value, a preset current gradient, the gradient of charging current reduction and the first temperature compensation value of charging current”, along with all the other limitation of the claim.
Regarding claim 7, none of the prior art alone or in combination discloses adaptive charging control method comprising, “calculating the gradient of charging current increment according to the temperature difference and a preset temperature gradient; and calculating the second temperature compensation value of charging current according to a present temperature of the battery pack and a maximum temperature threshold value.”, along with all the other limitation of the claim.
Regarding claim 8, none of the prior art alone or in combination discloses adaptive charging control method comprising, “calculating the another new charging current value according to a present charging current value, a preset current gradient, the gradient of charging current increment and the second temperature compensation value of charging current”, along with all the other limitations of the claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Matsuura et al, (US 2009/0153104).
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SADIA . KOUSAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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