DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
In the communication dated July 2, 2026, claims 1-6, 8-9, and 11-20 are pending. Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 13-15 and 17-19 are amended and claims 7 and 10 are presently cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1, 13 and 17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Although Qahouq has been previously cited in the action dated 4/3/2026 as a secondary reference, Kim et al. US20190265304A1, as detailed further below, is newly cited.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites “secondary WPT systems comprise the coil and the switch circuit” in lines 3-4, however, in claim 1, lines 7-8 recites “the first WPT system comprising a switch circuit”. It is unclear whether the switch is arranged with the first WPT or the secondary WPT, or whether the switch in claim 2 is different from that of claim 1.
Claim 14 includes similar subject matter and is rejected for the same reasoning and claim 2.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-9, and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qahouq US20200328622A1 in further view of Kim et al. US20190265304A1.
Regarding claim 1. Qahouq discloses a battery system (FIG. 1C/15), comprising:
one or more respective battery packs (FIG. 1C – swappable battery subpack #1-N) each comprising:
at least one battery cell (140);
monitoring circuitry (130);
a slave controller (“control and management” within swapable battery subpack #1); and
a first circuit (102/145), wherein the first circuit comprises a first wireless power transfer (WPT system) (102a) and a first converter circuit (¶16 – wireless power transmission circuits each can include the inverter and converter circuits; FIG. 15 – DC-DC converter) the first WPT system comprising a switch circuit (¶128; FIG. 15 – DC-AC converter with a half or full bridge which is routine to include switches for the bridge circuit) ;
a secondary circuit (110), wherein the secondary circuit comprises secondary WPT systems (103) corresponding to each of the respective battery packs (¶88 – “the wireless power transmission circuit is a transmission coil 102 a (e.g., configured to RF power transmission) configured to transmit power to a receiver coil 103 a”), with each secondary WPT system (103) being configured to wirelessly transmit and receive power to the respective first WPT systems (¶117 – bi-directional wireless power transfer operations) in the one or more respective battery packs (FIG. 1C – swappable battery subpack #1-N) and a second converter circuit (“power electronics” within on-board module 110; ¶16 – “the respective wireless power transmission circuits and the wireless power receiving circuit each can include the inverter and converter circuits”); and
a master controller (135);
wherein the master controller is further configured to control the secondary circuit to adjust a size of power received from the respective first WPT systems based on the switch circuit being turned off (¶93 – control unit 135 configured to calculate an energy management parameter and transmit control commands to the power packs 101, thus, the master controller will adjust the power regardless of the status of the bridge circuit).
Qahouq does not explicitly disclose a master controller configured to generate a control signal based on an abnormal state of one of the at least one battery cell, wherein the slave controller is configured to turn off the switch circuit to block power transmission and reception based on the control signal.
Kim discloses a master controller (200) configured to generate a control signal based on an abnormal state of one of the at least one battery cell (21) (¶45 – each control function is performed by the slave BMS 100 based on the state of the battery module 20 and the command from the master BMS 200; ¶57 – when the voltage is higher than that of another battery, the system requires balancing and thus is considered an abnormal state),.
wherein the slave controller is configured to turn off the switch circuit to block power transmission and reception based on the control signal (¶107 – slave 100 turns off the balancing switch to reduce the cell residual capacity, thus, blocking power transmission to the cell).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 2 and claim 14. Qahouq discloses that the respective first WPT systems (102) comprise a coil (102a) configured for wireless power transmission (WPT Tx coil), and wherein the respective secondary WPT systems (103a) comprise the coil (FIG. 15- WPT RX coils) and the switch circuit (¶88 – transmission circuit is a transmission coil 102a; FIG 15 the WPT Tx coil system uses the DC-AC bridge circuit).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 15 and claim 18. Qahouq discloses that the monitoring circuitry (130) is configured to measure at least one of voltage, current, or temperature of the at least one battery cell (¶91 – measure current and voltage).
Regarding claim 4. Qahouq does not explicitly disclose that the slave controller is configured to determine whether one of the at least one battery cell is in the abnormal state based on at least one of a corresponding voltage, current, or temperature measured by the monitoring circuitry.
Kim discloses that the slave controller (100) is configured to determine whether one of the at least one battery cell (21) is in the abnormal state based on at least one of a corresponding voltage, current, or temperature measured by the monitoring circuitry (¶45 – overall state – voltage, current, temperature – of the battery modules is determined; ¶57 – voltage is compared against other battery cells to determine if the voltage is higher, or abnormal).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 5. Qahouq does not explicitly disclose that the slave controller is configured to, in response to the at least one battery cell being in the abnormal state, transmit the abnormal state to the master controller.
Kim discloses that the slave controller (100) is configured to, in response to the at least one battery cell being in the abnormal state (¶57 – voltage is compared against other battery cells to determine if the voltage is higher, or abnormal), transmit the abnormal state to the master controller (200) (¶62 – state information sent to the master 200).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 6. Qahouq does not explicitly disclose that the master controller is configured to receive an indication that the at least one battery cell is in the abnormal state.
Kim discloses that the master controller (200) is configured to receive an indication that the at least one battery cell (20) is in the abnormal state (¶62 – state information of each battery module sent to the master 200).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 8. Qahouq discloses that the master controller (135) is configured to transmit the control signal to a corresponding battery pack to control the first circuit of the corresponding battery pack (¶92 – “control unit 135 can be further configured to transmit control commands configured to control one or more of the wireless modular power packs 101”).
Regarding claim 9. Although Qahouq discloses that the control module 135 controls the power packs 101 (¶93), Qahouq does not explicitly disclose the details of the control to the controller, thus not explicitly disclosing that the slave controller is configured to receive the control signal to control the first circuit (54) from the master controller.
Kim discloses that the slave controller (100) is configured to receive the control signal to control the first circuit from the master controller (¶70 – “the master control unit 240 may generate information for controlling the charging, discharging and/or balancing of each of the plurality of slave BMSs 100 based on the calculated SOC and/or SOH, and selectively transmit it to at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs 100-1100-3 through the master antenna 221 and the master communication unit 220”).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 11. Qahouq discloses that the master controller (135) is configured to control the secondary circuit (110), to thereby change a connection configuration of the secondary circuit (¶92 “the wireless module power packs 101 can be operably connected to the control unit of the on-board module 110 through any communication link that facilitates data exchange” because the control unit is included in the secondary circuit 110, the controller controls the on-board module 110 to communicate with the power packs 101)
Regarding claim 12 and claim 16. Qahouq discloses that the first circuit and the secondary circuit further each comprise a communication system used for wireless communication (¶91 – wireless power packs 101 and on-board module 110 include a short-range communication unit).
Regarding claim 13. Qahouq discloses a battery pack (24), comprising:
at least one battery cell (140);
monitoring circuitry (130);
a slave controller (“control and management” within swapable battery subpack #1); and
a first circuit (102/145), wherein the first circuit comprises a first wireless power transfer (WPT system) (102a) and a first converter circuit (¶16 – wireless power transmission circuits each can include the inverter and converter circuits; FIG. 15 – DC-DC converter) the first WPT system comprising a switch circuit (¶128; FIG. 15 – DC-AC converter with a half or full bridge which is routine to include switches for the bridge circuit) ;
wherein the first WPT system (102a) is configured to wirelessly transmit and receive power to and from a secondary WPT system (103) corresponding to the battery pack ((¶117 – bi-directional wireless power transfer operations) ;
the secondary WPT system being controlled to adjust a size of the power received from the other first WPT systems based on the switch circuit being turned off (¶93 – control unit 135 configured to calculate an energy management parameter and transmit control commands to the power packs 101, thus, the master controller will adjust the power regardless of the bridge circuit).
Qahouq does not explicitly disclose wherein the slave controller is configured to turn off the switch circuit to block power transmission and reception to and from the secondary WPT system based on the control signal from a master controller, the control signal being generated based on an abnormal state of one of the at least one battery cell,
Kim discloses that the slave controller is configured to turn off the switch circuit to block power transmission and reception to and from the secondary WPT system based on the control signal (¶107 – slave 100 turns off the balancing switch to reduce the cell residual capacity, thus, blocking power transmission to the cell)
the control signal being generated based on an abnormal state of one of the at least one battery cell (21) (¶45 – each control function is performed by the slave BMS 100 based on the state of the battery module 20 and the command from the master BMS 200; ¶57 – when the voltage is higher than that of another battery, the system requires balancing and thus is considered an abnormal state).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 17. Qahouq discloses a method of managing a battery system (FIG. 1C/15), wherein the battery system comprises:
a battery pack (swappable battery subpack #1-N) comprising:
at least one battery cell (140);
monitoring circuitry (130);
a slave controller (“control and management” within swapable battery subpack #1); and
a first circuit (102/145), wherein the first circuit comprises a first wireless power transfer (WPT system) (102a) and a first converter circuit (¶16 – wireless power transmission circuits each can include the inverter and converter circuits; FIG. 15 – DC-DC converter) the first WPT system comprising a switch circuit (¶128; FIG. 15 – DC-AC converter with a half or full bridge which is routine to include switches for the bridge circuit) ;
a secondary circuit (110), wherein the secondary circuit comprises secondary WPT systems (103) corresponding to each of the respective battery packs (¶88 – “the wireless power transmission circuit is a transmission coil 102 a (e.g., configured to RF power transmission) configured to transmit power to a receiver coil 103 a”), with each secondary WPT system (103) being configured to wirelessly transmit and receive power to the respective first WPT systems (¶117 – bi-directional wireless power transfer operations) in the one or more respective battery packs (FIG. 1C – swappable battery subpack #1-N) and a second converter circuit (“power electronics” within on-board module 110; ¶16 – “the respective wireless power transmission circuits and the wireless power receiving circuit each can include the inverter and converter circuits”); and
a master controller (135);
the method comprising transmitting the control signal to the corresponding battery pack (¶37 – “a controller in control circuitry 16 uses power transmitting circuitry 52 to transmit wireless power to power receiving circuitry 54 of device 24”);
wherein the master controller is further configured to control the secondary circuit to adjust a size of power received from the respective first WPT systems based on the switch circuit being turned off (¶93 – control unit 135 configured to calculate an energy management parameter and transmit control commands to the power packs 101, thus, the master controller will adjust the power regardless of the status of the bridge circuit).
Qahouq does not explicitly disclose the method comprises: receiving an indication of an abnormal state of a battery cell from a corresponding battery pack; generating a control signal by the master controller, in response to the indication of the abnormal state, to control the first circuit of the corresponding battery pack; wherein the slave controller is configured to turn off the switch circuit to block power transmission and reception based on the control signal.
Kim discloses receiving an indication of an abnormal state of a battery cell from a corresponding battery pack (FIG. 8 at S307 – slave controller sends signal to the master controller; ¶97);
generating a control signal by the master controller, in response to the indication of the abnormal state, to control the first circuit of the corresponding battery (21) (¶45 – each control function is performed by the slave BMS 100 based on the state of the battery module 20 and the command from the master BMS 200; ¶57 – when the voltage is higher than that of another battery, the system requires balancing and thus is considered an abnormal state),.
wherein the slave controller is configured to turn off the switch circuit to block power transmission and reception based on the control signal (¶107 – slave 100 turns off the balancing switch to reduce the cell residual capacity, thus, blocking power transmission to the cell).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 19. Qahouq does not explicitly disclose that the slave controller is configured to: determine whether one of the at least one battery cell is in the abnormal state based on at least one of a corresponding voltage, current, or temperature measured by the monitoring circuitry; based on the battery cell being in the abnormal state, transmit the abnormal state to the master controller; and control the first circuit based on the control signal from the master controller.
Kim discloses that the slave controller (100) is configured to:
determine whether one of the at least one battery cell is in the abnormal state based on at least one of a corresponding voltage or temperature measured by the monitoring circuitry (¶45 – overall state – voltage, current, temperature – of the battery modules is determined; ¶57 – voltage is compared against other battery cells to determine if the voltage is higher, or abnormal);
based on the battery cell being in the abnormal state, transmit the abnormal state to the master controller (¶62 – state information sent to the master 200); and
control the first circuit based on the control signal from the master controller (¶45 – control function performed based on the state information of the battery module according to the command from the master 200).
It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a residual capacity deviation, or abnormality, as taught by Kim, to the detection of Qahouq in order to enable module balancing that will reduce a deviation between battery modules which is known to cause battery damage and aging (¶21).
Regarding claim 20. Qahouq discloses controlling the secondary circuit to change a connection configuration of the secondary circuit (¶92 “the wireless module power packs 101 can be operably connected to the control unit of the on-board module 110 through any communication link that facilitates data exchange” because the control unit is included in the secondary circuit 110, the controller controls the on-board module 110 to communicate with the power packs 101).
Conclusion
Applicants’ amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAMELA JEPPSON whose telephone number is (571)272-4094. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM..
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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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/PAMELA J JEPPSON/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/DREW A DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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