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 § 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.
Claim 38 is 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 38 recites “the DC-DC converter” without antecedent basis.
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(s) 21-34, 36, 37, 39, and 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0105001 to Gallegos (“Gallegos”). Gallegos is applied to the claims in two ways. First, with respect to claims 21-28, 31-34, 36, 39 and 40, Gallegos discloses a battery system for powering an electric vehicle. Regarding claims 21-28, 31, and 32, in one embodiment, the battery system includes a first battery and a second battery, where if the voltage of the first battery and second battery are sufficiently similar, they are both connected to the DC bus powering the vehicle. When one battery has a sufficiently lower voltage than the other battery, however, a group of controllers ensures that only the battery having the higher voltage is switchably connected to the DC bus powering the vehicle warning the driver that the vehicle is operating in a lower power mode ensuring that the battery of lower voltage is switchably disconnected from the DC bus powering the vehicle. After operating in this state for sufficient period of time for the voltage of the battery connected to the DC bus driving the vehicle motor for its voltage to match that of the lower-voltage battery, the controllers then switchably connect the second battery back to the DC bus powering the vehicle, such that the two batteries can interface together to power the vehicle in the higher power mode. Gallego at paragraph [0059]. Various communications ports and connections are used for the various controllers to communicate when one or both batteries should be connected, and for the switchable contactors to be open or closed, are used in this process.
Further regarding claims 33, 36, 39, and 40, the Office notes that the term “converter” used in claim 33 is broad, and appears to cover any method of converting the voltage of a battery. Thus, the system of connecting a battery to the motor-driving DC bus via the switchable contactor to lower its voltage is considered to correspond to the broadly recited converter.
Further regarding claim 34, the Office notes that the first and second battery in some embodiments are wired in parallel, such that when connected to an external charger, they will be connected in parallel for charging via the DC charging bus of the battery system.
Turning to a second application with respect to claims 21, 29, 30, 33, 35, and 37, Galaegos discloses a second embodiment involving balancing the charge of two cells of its battery system. Both cells are mounted in the vehicle and various controllers are configured to cause charge from one or more higher-charged cells to discharge into a lower-charged cell in order to ensure the charge of all cells is balanced before connecting all cells together as part of the single battery module DC output bus of the module. Regarding claims 21 and 29, in a first balancing approach, one ore more cells of higher power are switchably connected via transistors (contactors) to a DC-bus for charging a capacitor. This is considered to correspond to the recited pre-charging of an intermediate bus. A second cell of lower power is then interfaced with the intermediate bus to receive charge from the capacitor. Galegos at paragraph [0031]
Regarding claims 21, 30, 37, In a first approach, a first cell of higher voltage is connected via transistors (switchable contactors) to a DC bus connected to one side of a DC-DC converter, and a second cell of lower voltage is connected via transistors (swicthable contactors) to a second DC bus connected to the other side of a DC-DC converter such that the battery of lower voltage can receive charge from the first cell. Id.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 35 is 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. Galego fails to disclose a scenario where a battery of lower voltage is used to charge a battery of higher voltage.
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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