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 § 102
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baarman et al (USPUB 2021/0159713).
As to Claim 1, Baarman discloses an Internet-of-Things battery shunt device, comprising: a shunt member and an outer housing, the shunt member having two protruding wings each having respective annular opening through which battery wires may be passed, and the outer housing comprising (Figure 2, V+ and V-): a circuit board comprising: an analog-to-digital converter circuit for converting an analog signal to a current measured in amperage; a thermal resistor circuit for measuring a temperature (Paragraph 44); an analog-to-digital converter circuit for measuring a voltage at rest and a voltage at load; and a header for transmitting the current, the temperature and the voltage (Paragraphs 47 and 51).
Claims 3-6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aquila et al (USPUB 2020/0160622).
As to Claim 3, Aquila discloses an Internet-of-Things gateway device, comprising: a circuit board comprising: one or more microcontroller units; one or more inter-integrated circuit interfaces for receiving information; and a memory having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more microcontroller units, cause the IoT gateway device to: receive, via the one or more microcontroller units, at least one set of one or more electro-physical measurements from at least one sensor via at least one of the inter-integrated circuit interfaces; process the electro-physical measurements; and transmit the electro-physical measurements to a remote computing device via an electronic network (Figure 3, Paragraphs 7, 22, 26-27, 29, and 45).
As to Claim 4, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 3, wherein the electro-physical measurements include at least voltage and current (Paragraph 22).
As to Claim 5, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 4, wherein the electro-physical measurements further include at least temperature (Paragraph 22).
As to Claim 6, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 3, the memory having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more microcontroller units, cause the IoT gateway device to: in response to determining that the remote computing device is not reachable via the electronic network, cache the electro-physical measurements in the memory for transmission at a later time (Paragraph 45).
As to Claim 8, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 3, wherein at least one of the microcontroller units includes one or both of (i) a Wi-Fi controller, and (ii) a Bluetooth controller (Paragraph 7).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baarman et al.
As to Claim 2, Barrman discloses the Internet-of-Things battery shunt device of claim 1, but does not expressly disclose further comprising: a 12-volt to 5-volt power conversion circuit. However, the Examiner takes official notice that power conversion is well known in the art, and one having routine skill in the art would look to reduce the voltage in order to power lower voltage devices or components.
Claims 7, and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aquila et al.
As to Claim 7, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 3, the memory having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more microcontroller units, cause the IoT gateway device to: transmit the electro-physical measurements (Paragraph 19). Aqulia does not expressly disclose this is preformed via MQTT. However, the Examiner takes official notice that MQTT is an internet of things protocol, and it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use this protocol for an internet of things device.
As to Claim 9, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 6, wherein the at least one of the microcontroller units, but does not expressly disclose it is an ESP32 microcontroller unit. However, the Examiner takes official notice that ESP32 is an internet of things microcontroller unit, and it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use this microcontroller for an internet of things device, as it is designed for an internet of things system.
As to Claim 10, Aquila discloses the Internet-of-Things gateway device of claim 3, but does not expressly disclose wherein the microcontroller units, inter-integrated circuit interfaces, and memory are stored in a pressure-tested waterproof housing. However, the Examiner takes official notice that waterproof housings are well known in the art, and one having ordinary skill in the art would incorporate a waterproof housing to the device of Aquila, as it would protect the device from water intrusion and potential damage.
Claims 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aquila in view of Baarman.
As to Claim 11, Aquila discloses a computing system for collecting state of health and/or state of charge of one or more vehicle batteries, comprising: a remote computing device; an electronic network; an Internet-of-Things gateway device comprising at least one microcontroller unit and one or more memories; and one or more Internet-of-Things battery devices, wherein each Internet-of-Things battery device is communicatively coupled to the Internet-of-Things gateway device via a respective annular opening in a housing of the Internet-of-Things gateway device, and wherein each Internet-of-Things battery device is communicatively coupled to a respective one of the vehicle batteries; wherein the one or more memories of the Internet-of-Things gateway device include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one microcontroller unit of the Internet-of-Things gateway device, cause the Internet-of-Things gateway device to: receive, from the Internet-of-Things gateway device via the electronic network, physical data from at least one of the Internet-of-Things battery devices; process, via the at least one microcontroller unit, the physical data; and transmit, via the electronic network, the physical data to the remote computing device (Figure 3, Paragraphs 7, 22, 26-27, 29, and 45). Aquila does not expressly disclose a shunt device. Baarman discloses a shunt device (Figure 2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of this invention to take the teachings of Baarman’s shunt, and add it to the device of Aquila, in order to shunt the battery.
As to Claim 12, Aquila and Baarman disclose the computing system of claim 11, wherein the electronic network is a cellular network (Aqulia Paragraph 7).
As to Claim 13, Aquila and Baarman discloses the computing system of claim 11, wherein the physical data of at least one of the Internet-of-Things battery shunt devices includes at least voltage physical data, current physical data and temperature physical data (Baarman Paragraph 8).
As to Claim 14, Aquila and Baarman discloses the computing system of claim 13, wherein the voltage physical data includes voltage at rest and voltage under load (Baarman Paragraph 51).
As to Claim 15, Aquila discloses a computer-implemented method for collecting state of health and/or state of charge of one or more vehicle batteries, comprising: receiving, in an Internet-of-Things gateway device via an electronic network, physical data from at least one of a plurality of Internet-of-Things battery devices; processing, via at least one microcontroller unit, the physical data; and transmitting, via the electronic network, the physical data to a remote computing device (Figure 3, Paragraphs 7, 22, 26-27, 29, and 45). Aquila does not expressly disclose a shunt device. Baarman discloses a shunt device (Figure 2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of this invention to take the teachings of Baarman’s shunt, and add it to the device of Aquila, in order to shunt the battery.
As to Claim 16, Aquila and Baarman discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the electronic network is a cellular network (Aquila Paragraph 7).
As to Claim 17, Aquila and Baarman discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the physical data of at least one of the Internet-of-Things battery shunt devices includes at least voltage physical data, current physical data and temperature physical data (Baarman Paragraph 8).
As to Claim 18, Aquila and Baarman discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the voltage physical data includes voltage at rest and voltage under load (Baarman Paragraph 51).
As to Claim 19, Aquila discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to: receive, from an Internet-of-Things gateway device via an electronic network, physical data from at least one of a plurality of Internet-of-Things battery devices; process, via at least one microcontroller unit, the physical data; and transmit, via the electronic network, the physical data to a remote computing device (Figure 3, Paragraphs 7, 22, 26-27, 29, and 45). Aquila does not expressly disclose a shunt device. Baarman discloses a shunt device (Figure 2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of this invention to take the teachings of Baarman’s shunt, and add it to the device of Aquila, in order to shunt the battery.
As to Claim 20, Aquila and Baarman disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the electronic network is a cellular network (Aquila Paragraph 7).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT J GRANT whose telephone number is (571)270-5820. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am - 5:30pm.
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/ROBERT GRANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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