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 .
Specification
The specification is objected to because in par. 26 numeral “110” is used to designate as both signal generator and charge signal shaping circuit.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-15, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a2) as being anticipated by Kessner (US 20220209562)
Kessner discloses
1. A battery charging method comprising:
generating a series of charge signals (208), each charge signal at a period T and each charge signal including a shaped leading edge and a body portion delivering charge energy to a battery (Fig. 2, par. 32, 35: charge signal 208’s shape is controlled … based on battery characteristics of battery cell 204); and
altering a duty cycle of the charge signals (208) to alter an average charge current delivered by the combination of the shaped leading edge and the body portion (Fig. 2-3, par. 33-34, 39: the signal at node 336 may be a series of pulses between 0 volts and the about the rail voltage, e.g., the voltage at node 334 provided by the power supply 302. The pulses at node 336 may be of varying duty cycle and may be generated at varying frequency; varying the duty cycle of the charge pulses inherently changes the average charge current delivered by the pulse)
2.1 further comprising: shaping the shaped leading edge corresponding to a frequency and an impedance at the battery to the frequency (Fig. 2-3, par. 30, 32, 39: "battery cell characteristics may be measured as part of a routine that applies a signal with varying frequency attributes to generate a range of battery cell characteristic values associated with the different frequency attributes to characterize the cell … the charge signal shaping circuit 110 may alter energy from the power source 118 to generate a charge signal that is shaped based on charge conditions at the battery 104, such as a charge signal that at least partially corresponds to a harmonic or harmonics based on the impedance when a signal comprising the harmonic or attributes of the harmonic is applied to the battery 104.").
4.1 wherein altering the duty cycle is responsive to a battery voltage (par. 30: “In some instances, the charge signal shaping circuit 110 may alter energy from the power source 118 to generate a charge signal that is shaped based on charge conditions at the battery 104 … the circuit 100 may include a battery measurement circuit 116 connected to the battery 104 lo measure cell voltage and/or charge current, as well as other battery attributes like temperature and measure or calculate the impedance the battery 104").
5.1 wherein altering the duty cycle is responsive to state of charge (par. 35, 43: "As the characteristics of the battery 104 may change due to state of charge, temperature, and other factors, the shape of the charge signal 208 may also be changed over time").
6.1 wherein altering the duty cycle is responsive to battery temperature (par. 30, 35, 43).
7.1 wherein the shaped leading edge and the body portion are followed by a rest period within the period T, the rest period of a lesser maximum current than a maximum current during the body portion (FIG. 2, par. 32: each pulse 208 is followed by a rest period 210 where none or minimum current is applied).
8.1 wherein the charge energy is sourced from a capacitor (par. 40: some of the energy required for a charge waveform may be provided).
9. A method for charging an electrochemical device, the method comprising:
generating a charge signal (208) comprising a shaped leading edge and a body portion delivering charge energy to a battery, the charge signal having a first duty cycle over a signal period T and corresponding to a first average current (Fig. 2, par. 32-34, 42); and
altering, after a first period of time, the first duty cycle of the charge signal to a second duty cycle over the signal period T, the second duty cycle corresponding to a second average current of the charge signal, the second average current different than the first average current over the signal period T (Fig. 2, par. 39, 63: pulses at node 336 of varying duty cycle and generated at varying frequency, width and frequency of pulses needed to produce a charge signal of the variety of shapes desired , and the value of the shape at a very particular point in time, may vary across a nearly infinite combination of pulses).
10.9, wherein altering the first duty cycle of the charge signal to the second duty cycle causes the second duty cycle to be less than the first duty cycle, the second average current less than the first average current over the signal period T in response to the altering of the first duty cycle (par. 39: the duty cycle of pulses of the charge signal can be varied; as seen in Fig. 2, if the duty cycle is reduced, i.e. to 25% from 100%, the average current in the period that the charging is on or active is inherently less than the current at full duty cycle).
11.9 wherein altering the first duty cycle of the charge signal to the second duty cycle causes the second duty cycle to be more than the first duty cycle, the second average current more than the first average current over the signal period T in response to the altering of the first duty cycle (par. 39: the duty cycle of pulses of the charge signal can be varied; as seen in Fig. 2, if the duty cycle is increase, i.e. to 100% from 25%, the average current in the period that the charging is on or active is inherently greater than the current at 25% duty cycle).
12.9 wherein altering the first duty cycle of the charge signal to the second duty cycle is in response to a voltage of the battery (par. 29, 31, 35, 37, 42: charge signal shape based on measured, characterized and/or estimated charging conditions of the battery 104 ... the charge signal does not conform to a traditionally repeating charge signal … in response to some change or some metric (e.g. , change in terminal voltage, state of charge, temperature).
13.9 wherein altering the first duty cycle of the charge signal to the second duty cycle is in response to a state of charge of the battery (par. 35, 42).
14.9 wherein altering the first duty cycle of the charge signal to the second duty cycle is in response to a temperature of the battery (par. 35, 42).
15.9, further comprising: altering, after a second period of time, the second duty cycle of the charge signal to a third duty cycle over the signal period T, the third duty cycle corresponding to a third average current of the charge signal (par. 39: the duty cycle of pulses of the charge signal can be varied; Fig. 2 shows the charge signal includes multiple pulses 208a-n).
21.9, wherein the shaped leading edge and the body portion are followed by a rest period within the period T, the rest period of a lesser maximum current than a maximum current during the body portion (par. 32: rest period 210).
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.
Claim(s) 3, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kessner (US 20220209562) in view of Maluf (US 20150377976)
Re claim 3.1 Kessner is silent to wherein a maximum current of the charge signals is unaltered when altering the duty cycle of the charge signals to alter the average current.
Maluf discloses a method that alters its charging signals to be within a constant maximum current (FIG. 32-33, par. 59-60: "FIG. 32 illustrates a battery/cell current and voltages at the terminals as a function of time depicting a condition under which the maximum current in the charge packets is adapted/controlled such that the voltage at the terminals of the battery/cell is less than a predetermined voltage (illustrated as Vmax), according to certain aspects of the present inventions; in this exemplary embodiment, the voltage at the terminals of the battery/cell generally increases according to a predetermined rate and/or pattern-in this exemplary embodiment, asymptotically; FIGS. 33A-33C are flowcharts of exemplary processes of determining, detecting, calculating, estimating, and/or measuring a peak or maximum current (for a given duration and shape of current pulse(s)) that may be applied to the battery/cell before the terminal voltage of the battery/cell meets and/or exceeds the predetermined voltage").
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teachings of Maluf for the benefit of reducing charging time.
20.9, further comprising: adjusting a duration of the period T, wherein the second average current corresponds to the adjusting of the duration of the period T (Maluf, par. 4, 23-24, 30-31, 133-134: charging and rest periods can be changed)
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kessner (US 20220209562) in view of Konopka (US 20210328448)
Re claim 16.9, Kessner is silent to further comprising: maintaining a voltage of the charge signal during the first period of time, the first average current decreasing in response to the maintained voltage of the charge signal.
Konopka discloses "As also shown in FIG. 12B, the current 1210 at the battery cell 404 may lag behind controlled voltage 1208, illustrating the calculation of the current following the control of the voltage 1208. Through control of the voltage signal 1208, the current 1210 may return to zero amps before an additional charge pulse is provided to the battery cell 404 in a similar manner" (Figs. 12, par. 99, 101).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Konopka to improve charging efficiency (par. 99: More particularly and as shown in FIG. 12A, the current 1210 at the battery may take some time to return to zero after the voltage 1208 to the battery is removed. This delay in the current at the battery returning to zero may add additional inefficiencies to the charge pulse. Therefore, in some implementations and as shown in the plot 1222 of FIG. 12B, the voltage 1208 of the charge signal may be controlled to drive the voltage below a transition voltage corresponding to a zero current, represented in the plot 1222 of FIG. 12B as line 1206).
Claim(s) 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kessner (US 20220209562) in view of Imanaga (US 5777453)
Re claim 17.9, Kessner discloses that rapid charging introduces high harmonics resulting in high impedance which may then result in many inefficiencies and degradation of the battery, including capacity losses, heat generation, and imbalance in electro - kinetic activity throughout the battery, undesirable electro - chemical response at the charge boundary, and degradation to the materials within the battery that may damage the battery and degrade the life of the battery (par. 34). It is also possible to momentarily drive the charge current below zero between charge signals ... charging signal shape may change at various times or responsive to changes in temperature (par. 34, 42, 48, 53, 63).
Kessner is silent to further comprising: altering the charge signal to provide a near zero average current to the battery for a period of time to reduce a temperature of the battery
Imanaga discloses “the battery temperature is monitored by a temperature detection device that is incorporated in the battery, and the charging is halted when the internal battery temperature reaches a predetermined level. With this method, the heat that is detected is generated as the result of a reaction when gas that occurs at the last stage of the charging is absorbed by the anode. This method is easily affected by the ambient temperature, so that excessive charging tends to be performed when there is a low ambient temperature, while insufficient charging tends to be performed when there is a high ambient temperature. Essentially, since the rise in the temperature that is due to overcharging is detected, this often results in the deterioration of the battery” (c3: 28-50).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Imanaga to protect the battery and host vehicle or tools from damage.
18.17 wherein altering the charge signal to provide the near zero average current to the battery is responsive to a temperature of the battery (see discussion regarding claim 17 above).
19.17 wherein altering the first duty cycle of the charge signal to provide the near zero average current to the battery is responsive to a state of charge of the battery (Imanaga, “as it is possible to perform the charging in a short time and as the state of the battery is constantly monitored, an extreme rise in the temperature and overcharging will not occur and the service life of the battery can be extended”).
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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