DETAILED ACTION
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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more (See 2019 Update: Eligibility Guidance).
Independent Claim(s) 1, 8, 15 recites
processing an electric vehicle (EV) battery pack,
comprising:
determining a structure of the battery pack and a state of health (SOH) of the battery pack;
for the SOH of the battery pack being within a first range of the viable range:
determining a posterior distribution of viable cell count for the battery pack from the structure of the battery pack, the SOH of the battery pack, and a prior probability distribution of the SOH of cells in the battery pack;
and
providing
the posterior distribution of viable cell count
and
instructions to refurbish;
and
for the SOH of the battery pack being within a second range of the viable range,
the second range being higher than the first range:
determining a posterior distribution of viable module count for the battery pack from the structure of the battery pack, the SOH of the battery pack, and a prior probability distribution of the SOH of modules in the battery pack;
and
providing
the posterior distribution of viable module count
and
instructions to repurpose
[Mathematical Concepts – mathematical relationships; mathematical formulas or equations or mathematical calculation] and/or [Mental Processes - concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion)].
In combination with Independent Claim(s) 1, 8, Claim(s) 2-7, 9-14 recite(s)
for the SOH of the battery pack being below the viable range,
providing instructions to recycle the battery pack.
for the SOH of the battery pack being above the viable range,
providing instructions to
reuse the battery pack
and
an estimated end of life.
the determining the posterior distribution of viable cell count and the determining the posterior distribution of viable module count
is determined from
a discrete representation of the distribution of viable cell count and the distribution of viable module count based on the structure of the battery pack, the SOH of the battery pack, and the prior probability distribution of the SOH of the cells or the modules in the battery pack.
the determining the posterior distribution of viable cell count and the determining the posterior distribution of viable module count
is conducted from
an inductive process
that
determines
probability of viability of the cells in the battery pack from the prior probability distributions of the SOH of the cells and the SOH of the battery pack,
probability of viability of the modules in the battery pack from the prior probability distributions of the SOH of the modules and the SOH of the battery pack,
the inductive process being based on the structure of the battery pack.
wherein
the determining the posterior distribution of viable cell count and the determining the posterior distribution of viable module count
is determined from
a tensor formulation with the distribution of viable cell count and the distribution of viable module count being in a form of vectors,
with nodes of a tensor graph of the tensor formulation representing tensor operators that operate on the vectors and matrix representations of the
(a) probability distribution of the SOH of the cells, the modules, and other substructures in the battery pack
and
(b) expected viable cell count or viable module count in substructures of the battery pack.
the determining the posterior distribution of viable cell count and the determining the posterior distribution of viable module count
is conducted through
a dynamic programming process comprising:
initializing a module with a cell;
adding a cell to the module in series to formulate a new larger module
and
computing statistics for the new module given the state of health and statistics for the cell until a defined number of cells is reached;
initializing the battery pack with a module having the probability distribution of the SOH of the module and the expected viable cell count in the module;
adding a module to the battery pack in parallel to formulate a new larger battery pack
and
computing statistics for the new battery pack given the state of health and statistics for the module and for the new larger battery pack until a defined number of modules is reached
[Mathematical Concepts – mathematical relationships; mathematical formulas or equations or mathematical calculation] and/or [Mental Processes - concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion)].
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. Limitations that are not indicative of integration into a practical application:
Adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP § 2106.05(f)) (i.e. instructions to refurbish; instructions to repurpose; instructions to recycle the battery pack; instructions to reuse the battery pack);
Adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (see MPEP § 2106.05(g)); or
Generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use (MPEP § 2106.05(h)) (i.e. an electric vehicle (EV) battery pack; instructions to refurbish; instructions to repurpose; instructions to recycle the battery pack; instructions to reuse the battery pack).
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because looking at the additional elements as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology. The additional elements simply append well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to the judicial exception, e.g., a claim to an abstract idea requiring no more than a generic computer to perform generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine and conventional activities previously known to the industry, as discussed in Alice Corp., 134 S. Ct. at 2359-60, 110 USPQ2d at 1984 (see MPEP § 2106.05(d)) (i.e. See Alice Corp. and cited references for evidence of additional elements (i.e., generic computer structure)).
Allowable Subject Matter (over prior art)
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter over prior art:
Examiner’s closest prior art to the claimed subject matter:
HOWEY ET AL. (US 20240230783 A1) teaches a posterior predictive distribution of a health metric and a posterior estimate of hyperparameters of the overall kernel, which may be used in the derivation of the health metric (See, e.g., ¶ 0028);
LI ET AL. (US 20240125865 A1) teaches utilizing a naïve Bayes equation to calculate a posterior probability for each class (See, e.g., ¶ 0046);
GANESAN ET AL. (US 20170108553 A1) teaches capacity fade estimation is performed by a post-characterization analysis (See, e.g., ¶ 0059);
HU ET AL (US 20150349385 A1) teaches posterior probability distribution functions (See, e.g., ¶ 0014).
None of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to explicitly teach:
processing an electric vehicle (EV) battery pack,
comprising:
determining a structure of the battery pack and a state of health (SOH) of the battery pack;
for the SOH of the battery pack being within a first range of the viable range:
determining a posterior distribution of viable cell count for the battery pack from the structure of the battery pack, the SOH of the battery pack, and a prior probability distribution of the SOH of cells in the battery pack;
and
providing
the posterior distribution of viable cell count
and
instructions to refurbish;
and
for the SOH of the battery pack being within a second range of the viable range,
the second range being higher than the first range:
determining a posterior distribution of viable module count for the battery pack from the structure of the battery pack, the SOH of the battery pack, and a prior probability distribution of the SOH of modules in the battery pack;
and
providing
the posterior distribution of viable module count
and
instructions to repurpose
of claim(s) 1, 8, 15 (including dependent claim(s)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYMOND NIMOX whose telephone number is (469)295-9226. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 10am-8pm CT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ANDREW SCHECHTER can be reached at (571) 272-2302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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RAYMOND NIMOX
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2857
/RAYMOND L NIMOX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit