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 .
Election/Restriction
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-10, drawn to an apparatus for predicting damage to a battery cell, classified in H01M 10/4285.
II. Claims 11-20, drawn to a method of predicting damage to a battery cell, classified in G01R 31/367.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because:
Inventions I and II are related as process and apparatus for its practice. The inventions are distinct if it can be shown that either: (1) the process as claimed can be practiced by another and materially different apparatus or by hand, or (2) the apparatus as claimed can be used to practice another and materially different process. (MPEP § 806.05(e)). In this case the method need not utilize a contactor that connects the battery modules but instead can be a disconnect device alone.
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply:
The inventions have acquired a separate status in the art in view of their different classification.
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of an invention to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected invention.
The election of an invention may be made with or without traverse. To reserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
During a telephone conversation with Abazar Mireshghi on 6/16/26 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group I, claims 1-10. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
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)(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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Skroski (US 2023/0155194 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Skroski discloses an apparatus comprising: a battery module comprising a plurality of battery cells 120a-d (paragraph 25); a voltage sensor 508 configured to measure a voltage of the battery cell (paragraph 50); a temperature sensor 136 configured to measure a temperature of the battery cell (paragraph 35); a contactor 128 configured to selectively connect or disconnect the battery module (paragraph 27); and a processor configured to, in response to at least one of the voltage and the temperature being within a cell damage range for the battery cell, control the contactor to disconnect the battery module and calculate a weighting to determine a degree of damage to the battery cell based on the at least one of the voltage and the temperature (paragraph 33).
Regarding claim 2, Skroski discloses utilizing machine learning (paragraph 33).
Regarding claim 3, Skroski discloses that the processor can block the contactor upon reaching a predetermined value (claim 1).
Regarding claim 4, Skroski discloses that the processor can calculate a variable weighting in response to the temperature being greater than or equal to a first reference temperature and less than a second reference temperature; and calculate a maximum weighting in response to the temperature being greater than or equal to the second reference temperature (paragraphs 49 and claim 1).
Regarding claim 5, Skroski discloses that the processor can set a maximum weighting in response to the voltage being less than a first reference voltage; and set a variable weighting in response to the voltage being greater than or equal to the first reference voltage and less than a second reference voltage (paragraph 27 and claim 1).
Regarding claim 6, Skroski discloses that the processor can divide the cell damage range into a plurality of levels and to calculate the weighting variably according to a level of the plurality of levels to which the temperature or the voltage belongs (paragraph 51).
Regarding claims 7-10, Skroski discloses that the processor can calculate the weighting by setting a time unit, a permissible number, and a maximum allowable time for each section variably based on the level and disconnect at fault based on time (paragraphs 51-54).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IMRAN AKRAM whose telephone number is (571)270-3241. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9a-5p.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Basia Ridley can be reached at 571-272-1453. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IMRAN AKRAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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