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 .
This Office Action is in response to Amendments filed on 01/22/2026.
In the instant Amendment, no claims have been added or cancelled; claims 1-4, 6, 10-11, 13, 15-16, have been amended; and claims 1, 13, and 18 are independent claims. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made Final
Response to Arguments
In lights of applicant’s amendments, the 112 a rejection of claims 3-4, 11, and 13-20 have been withdrawn, and in light of Applicant’s response and amendments the 112b of claims 1-20 are withdrawn.
Applicants’ arguments filed on 01/22/2026 with respect to claims 1-17 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection, which were necessitated by amendment.
Applicant's arguments filed01/22/2026 regarding claim 18-20 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive as to claim 18. Claim 18 does not recite the amended limitations argued with respect to claim 1, such as causing one or more battery cells to alter current or voltage, comparing the first value to a second calculated value at the first node. Instead, claim 18 only recites, from the perspective of the second node, sampling a current or voltage of a battery pack, calculating a first value based thereon, sending the first value to a first node, and, in response, receiving an indication of authentication. Xhafa teaches a wireless battery management system having a secondary node that collects sensed properties including voltage from battery cells and wirelessly transmits the information to a primary node, together with scan, response, and pairing security procedures. Lamenza teaches monitoring currents and voltages, determining whether observed information corresponds to expected information, and verifying pairing system elements when the exchanged information matches. Zhang further teaches challenge-response verification in which a node responds with observed measured values for authentication and verification. Accordingly, the combination still teaches claim 18.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-9, and 12-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xhafa et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 2022/0332213 A1; Hereinafter “Xhafa”) in view of Ekstrom et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20230093714 A1; Hereinafter “Ekstrom”), Fahimi et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20110060538 A1; Hereinafter “Fahimi”), and Hwang et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20240388561 A1; Hereinafter “Hwang”).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Xhafa teaches a battery management system (BMS), comprising (Xhafa: fig. 1-2, para[23], [85], “FIG. 9 illustrates an example security data flow diagram 900 of a technique for security key authentication used by a wireless battery management system, e.g., the wireless battery management system 100.”):
a battery pack including multiple battery cells (Xhafa: para[20-36], “the wireless battery management system 100 includes a primary network node 102, a battery controller 104, a plurality of secondary network nodes 106, and a plurality of battery cells 108.”);
a second node coupled to the battery pack (Xhafa: para[20-36], “the wireless battery management system 100 includes a primary network node 102, a battery controller 104, a plurality of secondary network nodes 106, and a plurality of battery cells 108”);
a first node configurable to (Xhafa: para [30], [45], [85], “a primary network node applies steps of the security data flow diagram 900 when scanning a network for secondary network nodes, as discussed with reference to FIG. 4A”, para[48-50],).
Xhafa does not explicitly teach that the second node sample a current or a voltage of the battery pack; and determine a first value using the sampled current or using the sampled voltage; and the first node configurable to: cause one or more battery cells of the battery pack to alter the current or the voltage; receive the first value from the second node; compare the first value with a second value calculated based on the altered current or the altered voltage; and authenticate the second node as a member of the BMS based on comparing the first value with the second value.
However, in the related art, Ekstrom teaches a second node coupled to the battery pack and configurable to: sample a current or a voltage of the battery pack (Ekstrom: fig. 3A para[65-70], “SmartCell system 300 can comprise a primary node 306 that can dictate a behavior of SmartCell system 300, and the behavior of several secondary nodes that can be mounted directly on each smart cell cluster of SmartCell system 300….SmartCell system 300 can be capable of over-current protection. All secondary nodes can sample cell current, H-bridge current, and temperature at a high rate.”); and
determine a first value using the sampled current or using the sampled voltage (Ekstrom: para [68-73], “At every sampling occasion, the secondary nodes can compare current with an allowed max current for that instant….Feedback from the secondary nodes can be used to present information from SmartCell system 300 via primary node 306. Upon implementation of field operated control (FOC), feedback from the secondary nodes can distribute measured current from all three phases about every 1 ms, if required from a control perspective. For example, information gathered from the secondary nodes presented by primary node 306 using serial communication can be represented as cell voltage values, iStringpeak values, modulator offset time values, modulator update offset time values, modulator state values, and/or other relevant values.”); and
a first node configurable to: receive the first value from the second node (Ekstrom: para [71-73], “Feedback from the secondary nodes can be used to present information from SmartCell system 300 via primary node 306….information gathered from the secondary nodes presented by primary node 306 using serial communication can be represented as cell voltage values, iStringpeak values, modulator offset time values, modulator update offset time values, modulator state values, and/or other relevant values”);
compare the first value with a second value (Ekstrom: para [71-74], “Primary node 306 can measure total voltage on each string 308. A cell voltage measurement can be verified by activating one node at a time and comparing voltage values from secondary nodes with the total value measured by the primary node.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Xhafa in view of Ekstrom does not teach cause one or more battery cells of the battery pack to alter the current or the voltage, the second value calculated based on the altered current or the altered voltage; and authenticate the second node as a member of the BMS based on comparing the first value with the second value.
However, in the related art, Fahimi teaches cause one or more battery cells of the battery pack to alter the current or the voltage, second value calculated based on the altered current or the altered voltage (Fahimi: para [64-66], “FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 show the comparison of calculated output voltages for both healthy and faulty batteries with the measured output voltage of the healthy battery. A specific current waveform is applied to the healthy battery, and then the same current waveform is applied to both impulse responses of the healthy and aged batteries. The calculated output voltages using impulse responses are compared to the measured terminal voltage of the healthy battery. It can be noted that the voltage calculated by the impulse response of the healthy battery fits the measured voltage better than the one calculated by the impulse response of the faulty battery. The test has been done for two various current waveforms, the first one has one a discharging pulse of about 10 seconds, FIG. 15, and second one contains two discharging pulses of 5 and 15 seconds, FIG. 16.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the battery measurement and comparison technique of the modified Xhafa with the battery response verification of Fahimi so that a primary WBMS node could verify that a candidate secondary node is actually coupled to and sensing the same battery system by comparing a reported battery response value against an expected calculated battery response value, it will improve reliability of node authentication (Fahimi: para [03]).
Xhafa in view of Ekstrom and Fahimi does not teach authenticate the second node as a member of the BMS based on comparing the first value with the second value.
However, in the elated art, Hwang teaches authenticate the second node as a member of the BMS based on comparing the first value with the second value (Hwang: para [66-77], “The master BMS 200 wirelessly transmits a cell balancing start command signal S1 to the first to n-th slave BMSs 300, 301, 303, and 305 (S400)… The first slave BMS 300 performs cell balancing and measures the temperature T11 of the PCB substrate of the slave BMS after a certain period of time (or after receiving a temperature measurement command from the master BMS 200) (S406)…Each of the slave BMSs 300, 301, and 305 transmits an association signal to the master BMS 200 when the values of Tα1, Tα2, and Tαn are greater than a preset Tth value (S448). In operation S400, S448 is repeated until the number of association signals received by the master BMS is equal to a preset number (e.g., the number of slave BMSs determined to be in the same rack as the corresponding master BMS). The master BMS 200 receiving the association signal from at least one slave BMS sets the fan ID of the slave BMS that transmitted the association signal and the communication channel with the corresponding slave BMS from a default value to a specific value.” )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the battery measurement and comparison technique of the modified Xhafa with the association by measured physical response teaching of Hwang, it will improve the reliability of authenticating whether a respective secondary node is actually part of the battery pack and improve trustworthiness of node admission using existing battery measurement and wireless BMS infrastructure (Hwang: para [08]).
Regarding claim 2, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Hwang teaches wherein the first node is further configurable to optionally reject the second node based on comparing the first value with the second value (Hwang: para [123], “The slave BMS 602 may include a power unit 606, a battery cell voltage measurement unit 608, a cell balancing unit 610, a module temperature measurement unit 612, a PCB temperature measurement unit 614, and an RF communication unit 616. When the RF communication unit 616 receives the cell balancing signal from the master BMS 600, the cell balancing unit 610 performs battery cell balancing only when the strength of the received cell balancing signal is greater than a preset value.. The RF communication unit 616 transmits an association signal to the master BMS when the difference between the measured temperature after cell balancing and the measured temperature after fan driving is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the battery measurement and comparison technique of the modified Xhafa with the association by measured physical response teaching of Hwang, it will improve the reliability of authenticating whether a respective secondary node is actually part of the battery pack and improve trustworthiness of node admission using existing battery measurement and wireless BMS infrastructure (Hwang: para [08]).
Regarding claims 3 and 15, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Xhafa teaches wherein the first node is further configurable to: initiate a scanning process by wirelessly sending out scan requests on predetermined channels (Xhafa: para [31], “In an example, after the primary network node 102 has selected a master ID, the primary network node 102 transmits a scan request frame in every SF period as long as there are unconnected secondary network nodes 106 from the primary network node 102. ….The scan request frames include information about the structure of the SF and the frame formatting of the DL and UL slots.”);
receive a scan response from the second node wishing to be authenticated (Xhafa: para[32], “The secondary network nodes 106 reply to the primary network node 102 with a scan response and await a pairing request frame from the primary network node 102.”); and
instruct the second node to sample the current or the voltage of the battery pack at a predetermined time interval (Xhafa: fig. 4 (A-B), para [48-50], “Frequency is denoted by the y-axis and time is denoted by the x-axis. And each of the frames is active for a predetermined time.”).
Regarding claim 4, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the dependent claim 3. Ekstrom teaches wherein instructing the second node to sample the current or the voltage at the predetermined time interval includes instructing the second node to sample the current voltage at predetermined timestamps at a given sampling frequency (Ekstrom: para [88], “The scheduled secondary node responses can be made so that one secondary node (one from each string) can have time to respond between every primary node transmission. For example, primary node transmission/broadcast 802 and primary node transmission/broadcast 804 can be about 1 ms apart during which time, a secondary node of a smart battery cell cluster can generate a first response 806. Thus, for example, current from each string with the same time stamp can be available on the network and it can be possible to analyze the AC current about every 1 ms based on the internal current sensors in the secondary nodes”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Regarding claim 5, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the dependent claim 3. Ekstrom teaches wherein causing the one or more battery cells of the battery pack to alter the current or the voltage includes causing the one or more battery cells of the battery pack to alter the current or the voltage includes in a pattern known to the first node (Ekstrom: para [71-73], “A cell voltage measurement can be verified by activating one node at a time and comparing voltage values from secondary nodes with the total value measured by the primary node…Cell voltage verification can assist in identifying that the cell voltage is measured correctly due to cell voltage measurement requirements for the system. Since primary node 306 can measure the phase voltage, all smart cell clusters, except one, can be put in bypass mode, as discussed herein. Then, the voltage of the cell not in bypass mode can be measured and read by primary node 306, and the values from the primary node voltage measurements and the cluster voltage measurements can be compared to determine if the voltage falls within the desired threshold.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Regarding claim 6, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the dependent claim 3. Ekstrom teaches wherein authenticating the second node as the member of the BMS based on comparing the first value with the second value includes determining if the first value matches the second value within a predetermined tolerance (Ekstrom: para [71-73], “Then, the voltage of the cell not in bypass mode can be measured and read by primary node 306, and the values from the primary node voltage measurements and the cluster voltage measurements can be compared to determine if the voltage falls within the desired threshold.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Regarding claim 7, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Xhafa teaches wherein the first node is a trusted node, and wherein the second node is an unauthenticated node (Xhafa: para[50], “the secondary network nodes that are unconnected from the primary network node respond to the scan request frame 424 with the scan response frame 426.”, “identify a plurality of secondary network nodes, the secondary network nodes coupled to a set of battery cells; perform a security check of the plurality of secondary network nodes to verify security frames in a frame format;”).
Regarding claim 8, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Xhafa teaches wherein the second node is a Master node or a Secondary node in a star topology network (Xhafa: para[21], “This information is frequently communicated to a battery controller, which may take any of a variety of actions, depending on the information received. The cells and the battery controller communicate with each other via a wired system that includes a primary node (also understood as a master node) coupled to the controller, secondary nodes (also understood as slave nodes) coupled to the cells, and wired connections between the primary and secondary nodes”).
Regarding claim 9, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Xhafa teaches wherein the second node is one or more peer nodes in a mesh topology network (Xhafa: [82], “] The one hop field 814 indicates whether one hop extension is supported by the primary network node or the secondary network nodes. The one hop extension is when one of the secondary network nodes communicates with the primary network node on behalf of another secondary network node. For example, if a first secondary network node loses connection to a primary network node, then the first secondary network node can communicate with a second secondary network node as an intermediate node to communicate with the primary network node”).
Regarding claim 12, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Hwang wherein the second node is authenticated on a per-node basis (Hwang: para [66-77], “The master BMS 200 wirelessly transmits a cell balancing start command signal S1 to the first to n-th slave BMSs 300, 301, 303, and 305 (S400)… The first slave BMS 300 performs cell balancing and measures the temperature T11 of the PCB substrate of the slave BMS after a certain period of time (or after receiving a temperature measurement command from the master BMS 200) (S406)…Each of the slave BMSs 300, 301, and 305 transmits an association signal to the master BMS 200 when the values of Tα1, Tα2, and Tαn are greater than a preset Tth value (S448). In operation S400, S448 is repeated until the number of association signals received by the master BMS is equal to a preset number (e.g., the number of slave BMSs determined to be in the same rack as the corresponding master BMS). The master BMS 200 receiving the association signal from at least one slave BMS sets the fan ID of the slave BMS that transmitted the association signal and the communication channel with the corresponding slave BMS from a default value to a specific value.” )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the battery measurement and comparison technique of the modified Xhafa with the association by measured physical response teaching of Hwang, it will improve the reliability of authenticating whether a respective secondary node is actually part of the battery pack and improve trustworthiness of node admission using existing battery measurement and wireless BMS infrastructure (Hwang: para [08]).
Regarding claim 14, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1. Ekstrom rejecting the second node as if the first value does not match the second value within a predetermined tolerance (Ekstrom: para [71-73], “Then, the voltage of the cell not in bypass mode can be measured and read by primary node 306, and the values from the primary node voltage measurements and the cluster voltage measurements can be compared to determine if the voltage falls within the desired threshold.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Regarding claim 16, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 13. Ekstrom wherein the current is an electrical current of a battery pack, and wherein the voltage is a voltage of the battery pack (Ekstrom: [66], [88] [72],“If smart cell nodes can be connected in series to form string 308 of smart cell nodes, a sine shaped wave form (e.g., sine shaped wave form 302) can be generated, wherein the sine shaped wave form can be a representation of electrical current, generated by string 308 of smart cell clusters, on an oscilloscope, and wherein the sine shaped wave form can drive electric motor 304”, “current from each string with the same time stamp can be available on the network and it can be possible to analyze the AC current about every 1 ms based on the internal current sensors in the secondary nodes.”, “Primary node 306 can measure total voltage on each string 308. A cell voltage measurement can be verified by activating one node at a time and comparing voltage values from secondary nodes with the total value measured by the primary node”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Regarding claim 17, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 13. Zhang wherein the first value is calculated based on the pattern (Lamenza: para [97], “The monitoring circuits may provide the signals necessary to actively compensate for changes in parameters of components. For example, a temperature reading may be used to calculate expected changes in, or to indicate previously measured values of, capacitance of the system allowing compensation by switching in other capacitors or tuning capacitors to maintain the desired capacitance over a range of temperatures. In embodiments, the RF amplifier switching waveforms may be adjusted to compensate for component value or load changes in the system.”, para[256], “he modulation may causes voltage and/or current modulations on device resonators. The modulations may be configured to change in a specific pattern.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the battery specific measurement and comparison of Ekstrom, it would improve confidence that the responding node is truly coupled to the battery pack and operating as part of the BMS (Ekstrom: para [04]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xhafa et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 2022/0332213 A1; Hereinafter “Xhafa”) in view of Ekstrom et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20230093714 A1; Hereinafter “Ekstrom”), Fahimi et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20110060538 A1; Hereinafter “Fahimi”), Hwang et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20240388561 A1; Hereinafter “Hwang”) and of Tkachenko et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20190229537 A1; Hereinafter “Tkachenko”).
Regarding claim 10, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Fahimi and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1.
Tkachenko teaches wherein the first node is configurable to cause one or more battery cells to alter the current or voltage is a random pattern (Tkachenko: [61], “At block 810, the control logic 312 can set the pulse train generator 316 to generate second kinds of pulses that are more suitable for making EIS measurements. In some embodiments, for example, the pulse train can be a pseudo-random binary pulse sequence, which approximates a form of band-limited white noise, that produces a pulsed charging current having a pulse amplitude in the range of 0.1 C to 20 C and pulse durations in the range from 1 mS to 5000 mS. Consequently, while the resulting pulsed charging current continues to charge the battery, it will no longer be optimized for battery charging, but rather for making EIS measurements”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa and use the controlled pulse pattern teaching of Tkachenko to make the induced current voltage variation more robust and distinctive during verification.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xhafa et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 2022/0332213 A1; Hereinafter “Xhafa”) in view of Ekstrom et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20230093714 A1; Hereinafter “Ekstrom”), Fahimi et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20110060538 A1; Hereinafter “Fahimi”), Hwang et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20240388561 A1; Hereinafter “Hwang”) and of Park et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 20200036194 A1; Hereinafter “Park”).
Regarding claim 11, Xhafa in view of Ekstrom, Wang and Hwang teaches the independent claim 1.
Park teaches wherein the first node is configurable to authenticate the second node as the member of the BMS without an explicit whitelist of nodes in the BMS (Park: para [21], “T it is possible to allocate different identification information to a plurality of slave battery management systems (BMSs) using a wireless signal without the process of checking the physical or electrical location of the plurality of slave BMSs before the manufacture of a battery pack is finished” para[77-83], “In step S525, each slave BMS 100 updates its connected device list using the called master identification information. The updated connected device list indicates the master BMS 200.When step S520 and step S525 are all finished, the master BMS 200 and each slave BMS 200 establish a wireless connection for their encrypted communication using their updated connected device lists.”. Park teaches dynamic wireless identification and allocation without pre-checking node location, which would have suggested authenticating or admitting BMS nodes without requiring and explicit whitelist))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified the BMS discoverer architecture of Xhafa with the dynamic wireless ID allocation and registration of Park, so that, after a node is discovered and verified as belonging to the battery system, the node can be admitted and assigned identification information without relying on a pre-entered whitelist, thereby simplifying onboarding and improving scalability of BMS node authentication
Claims 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xhafa et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 2022/0332213 A1; Hereinafter “Xhafa”) in view of Lamenza et al. (U.S. PGPub. No. 2015/0061404 A1; Hereinafter “Lamenza”), and Zhang et al. (“Evaluation of Localization Attacks on Power-Modulated Challenge–Response Systems, 2008”; Hereinafter “Zhang”).
Regarding claim 18, Xhafa teaches a method for a second node to be authenticated in a Wireless Battery Management System (WBMS), the method comprising (Xhafa: fig. 1-2, para[22-23], [85-91], “FIG. 9 illustrates an example security data flow diagram 900 of a technique for security key authentication used by a wireless battery management system, e.g., the wireless battery management system 100.”, “The security data flow diagram 900 includes transmitting, by the secondary network node, a response to the primary network node when the first certificate is authentic, where the response includes a second certificate and a session key (906). The session key includes a second session identifier.” See also measure data para[80-81]).
Xhafa does not teach sampling a current or a voltage of a battery pack; calculating a first value based on the sampled current or the sampled voltage; in response to sending the first value to the first node, receiving an indication of authentication as a member of the WBMS.
However, in the related art, Lamenza teaches sampling a current or a voltage of a battery pack (Lamenza: para[118-119], “shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, may be implemented using two-channel simultaneous sampling ADCs and these ADCs may be integrated into a microcontroller chip or may be part of a separate circuit. Simultaneously sampling of the voltage and current signals at the input to a source resonator's impedance matching network and/or the source resonator, may yield the phase and magnitude information of the current and voltage signals and may be processed using known signal processing techniques to yield complex impedance parameters”);
calculating a first value based on the sampled current or the sampled voltage (Lamenza: para [97], “The monitoring circuits may provide the signals necessary to actively compensate for changes in parameters of components. For example, a temperature reading may be used to calculate expected changes in, or to indicate previously measured values of, capacitance of the system allowing compensation by switching in other capacitors or tuning capacitors to maintain the desired capacitance over a range of temperatures. In embodiments, the RF amplifier switching waveforms may be adjusted to compensate for component value or load changes in the system.”, para[256], “he modulation may causes voltage and/or current modulations on device resonators. The modulations may be configured to change in a specific pattern.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have update Xhafa and used the current/voltage modulation technique of Lamenza, it will improve the system performance and prevent eavesdropping (Lamenza: para [209]).
Xhafa in view of Lamenza does not teach in response to sending the first value to the first node, receiving an indication of authentication as a member of the WBMS.
However, in the related art Zhang teaches in response to sending the first value to the first node, receiving an indication of authentication as a member of the WBMS (Zhang: page 1-2, section II, “The power configuration will involve a power of 0 for some access points, meaning that these APs do not transmit, while specific power is chosen for other APs in order to define a radio region about such that the node should be able to witness the beacon from its claimed position . The determination of a radio region is made by using a propagation model . The infrastructure now sends the challenge “Which APs do you hear?” to the mobile. The power levels of the APs are temporarily adjusted and location beacons are issued. The mobile then responds with a list of the APs that it was able to witness, and the infrastructure checks this response”, “A power-modulated challenge response can be used in a direct method, where the transmission powers of the transmitters are modulated so that a node at the claimed location should be able to witness the beacons from the transmitters…the node replying with the received power for signals transmitted by a set of transmitters for verification”, “page 7-8, section IV, “the probability density of the observed signal powers set {Prj} is Pr ({Prj}|(x,y))=II Pr(Prj|(x,y)). To verify a node, the system checks that the response from the claimant includes received powers from all of the active APs. If this is true, the system will make a maximum-likelihood estimation of the location of the node based on its reported received power” )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have apply the verification approach of Zhang to the wireless BMS of Xhafa to authenticate the network nodes, it will enhance WBMS security and prevent spoofing (Zhang: page 13).
Regarding claim 19, Xhafa in view of Lamenza and Zhang teaches the independent claim 18. Xhafa teaches wherein the first node is further configured to: initiate a scanning process by wirelessly sending out scan requests on predetermined channels (Xhafa: para [31], “In an example, after the primary network node 102 has selected a master ID, the primary network node 102 transmits a scan request frame in every SF period as long as there are unconnected secondary network nodes 106 from the primary network node 102. ….The scan request frames include information about the structure of the SF and the frame formatting of the DL and UL slots.”);
receive a scan response from the second node wishing to be authenticated (Xhafa: para[32], “The secondary network nodes 106 reply to the primary network node 102 with a scan response and await a pairing request frame from the primary network node 102.”); and
instruct the second node to sample the current or the voltage of the battery pack at a predetermined interval (Xhafa: fig. 4 (A-B), para [48-50], “Frequency is denoted by the y-axis and time is denoted by the x-axis. And each of the frames is active for a predetermined time.”).
Regarding claim 20, Xhafa in view of Lamenza and Zhang teaches the independent claim 18. Lamenza teaches wherein a pattern of altering the current or the voltage is random (Lamenza: [209], “In a system enabled with cryptographic protocols the verification code may comprise a challenge-response type exchange which may provide an additional level of security and authentication capability. A device, for example, may challenge the source to encrypt a random verification code which it sends to the source via the out-of-band communication channel using a shared secret encryption key or a private key”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have update Xhafa and used the current/voltage modulation technique of Lamenza, it will improve the system performance and prevent eavesdropping (Lamenza: para [209]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LYDIA L NOEL whose telephone number is (571)272-1628. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 - 5:00.
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, Alexander Lagor can be reached on (571)-270-5143. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/L.L.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2437
/MENG LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2437