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 .
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.
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(s) 1-3, 5-7, 9-13, 15-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0023198 to Hamilton et al. (“Hamilton”), US Patent Application Publication Number 2014/0257597 to Miller et al. (“Miller”), and US Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0137602 to Thumati (“Thumati”).
In reference to Claim 1, Hamilton discloses a battery module communication processing apparatus (See Figures 1 and 2 Number 10) comprising: a connector (See Figures 1 and 2 Number 16) configured to connect to and receive data (See Paragraph 18) from a communication port (See Figure 1 Number 20) of a battery module (See Figure 1 Numbers 12 and 26 and Paragraph 22 [vehicle 12 contains battery 26, and thus is a “battery module” in accordance with the broadest reasonable interpretation of the term]); and a processor (See Figure 2 Number 30) configured to establish communication of the battery module by determining a communication protocol of the battery module based on the data of the battery module transmitted through the connector (See Paragraphs 24, 27, and 34). Hamilton is not limited as to the use of any particular means for determining the protocol, and discloses that any means may be used to determine the protocol (See Paragraph 34). However, Hamilton does not explicitly disclose determining the communication protocol of the battery module based on a number of pins of the connector connected to the communication port; and that the processor is configured to generate a communication protocol preset by analyzing rules of the communication protocol and a format of the data, in response to determining that the communication protocol is not the preregistered communication protocol. Miller discloses a module communication processing apparatus (See Figure 1 Number 308) comprising: a connector (See Figure 1 Number 306) configured to connect to and receive data (See Paragraph 18) from a communication port of a module (See Figure 1 Number 304 and Paragraph 18); and a processor (See Figure 2 Number 110 and Paragraph 27) configured to establish communication of the module by determining a communication protocol of the module based on a number of pins of the connector connected to the communication port (See Paragraph 27) and the data of the module transmitted through the connector (See Paragraph 27 [voltage range, timing of voltage changes, clock recovery methods]), wherein the processor is configured to generate a communication protocol preset by analyzing rules of the communication protocol and a format of the data, in response to determining that the communication protocol is not the preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraph 21). Hamilton and Miller are silent as to how the processor determines whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, and do not explicitly disclose that the processor is configured to apply features of packets classified from the data to a machine learning model to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol; and wherein the machine learning model is trained based on the features of the packets as input values, and the features of each packet comprise at least one of a bit length, a header, a payload, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a timestamp, and an inter-packet interval thereof. Thumati discloses applying features of packets classified from data to a machine learning model to determine whether a communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52); wherein the machine learning model is trained (See Figure 6 and Paragraphs 110-116) based on the features of the packets as input values (See Paragraphs 25-29, 45, 50-51, 53, 75, and 110-111), and the features of each packet comprise at least one of a payload (See Paragraphs 25, 27-29, 50-51, 53, 75, and 110-111), a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a timestamp (See Paragraphs 31, 75, and 110-111), and an inter-packet interval thereof.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to construct the device of Hamilton using the protocol determination of Miller, and using the machine learning model of Thumati to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, resulting in the invention of Claim 1, because Hamilton is not limited as to the use of any particular means for determining the protocol, and discloses that any means may be used to determine the protocol (See Paragraph 34 of Hamilton), and the simple substitution of the protocol determination of Miller as the protocol determination of Hamilton would have yielded the predictable result of automatically determining the protocol used by the connected battery module without user intervention and without resorting to trial and error (See Paragraph 27 of Miller and Paragraph 34 of Hamilton); and because Hamilton and Miller are silent as to how the processor determines whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, and the simple substitution of the machine learning model of Thumati to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol would have yielded the predictable result of identifying the protocol type automatically based on the received packets (See Paragraphs 35 and 52 of Thumati, Paragraph 34 of Hamilton, and Paragraph 27 of Miller).
In reference to Claim 2, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Hamilton further discloses that the processor is configured to establish the communication of the battery module based on whether the communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 34). Miller further discloses that the processor is configured to establish the communication of the battery module based on whether the communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 33).
In reference to Claim 3, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 2 above. Hamilton further discloses that the processor is configured to convert and transmit data between the battery module and an external device according to the communication protocol, in response to determining that the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol (See Figure 2 Number 18 and Paragraph 21). Miller further discloses that the processor is configured to convert and transmit data between the module and an external device according to the communication protocol, in response to determining that the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol (See Figure 2 Number 120 and Paragraph 19).
In reference to Claim 5, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Hamilton further discloses that the processor is configured to convert and transmit data between the battery module and an external device according to the communication protocol (See Figure 2 Number 18 and Paragraph 21). Miller further discloses that the processor is configured to convert and transmit data between the module and an external device according to the communication protocol preset (See Figure 2 Number 120 and Paragraphs 19 and 21).
In reference to Claim 6, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Miller further discloses that the processor is configured to extract characteristic information of packets of the data, to classify the packets based on the characteristic information, and to generate the communication protocol preset based on a classification result (See Paragraph 21). Thumati further discloses using the machine learning model to extract characteristic information of packets of data (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52), to classify the packets based on the characteristic information (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52), and to generate a communication protocol preset based on a classification result (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52), and wherein the characteristic information of each packet comprises at least one of a length (See Paragraph 51), a bit pattern between a header and a payload (See Paragraph 25), and an end byte thereof (See Paragraph 25).
In reference to Claim 7, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Miller further discloses that the communication protocol preset comprises at least one of header information (See Paragraphs 21 and 32), a payload length, use of cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and communication timing (See Paragraphs 21 and 27).
In reference to Claim 9, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Thumati further discloses that the features of each packet further comprise at least one of a bit length (See Paragraphs 26-27, 51, and 110-111) and a header (See Paragraphs 25, 51, and 110-111).
In reference to Claim 10, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Hamilton further discloses that the processor has a directory for managing the battery module (See Figure 2 Number 48 and Paragraphs 24-25 [software stored in associated memory]) and a directory for managing the communication protocol of the battery module (See Figure 2 Number 44 and Paragraphs 24-25 [software stored in associated memory]), and wherein item information of the battery module is stored in the directory for managing the battery module (See Paragraphs 24-25 [software stored in associated memory]), and information about the communication protocol of the battery module is stored in the directory for managing the communication protocol (See Paragraphs 24-25 [software stored in associated memory]). Miller further discloses that the processor has a directory for managing the module (See Paragraphs 19 and 22 [software stored in associated memory]) and a directory for managing the communication protocol of the module (See Paragraphs 19 and 21 [software stored in associated memory]), and wherein item information of the module is stored in the directory for managing the module (See Paragraphs 19 and 22 [software stored in associated memory]), and information about the communication protocol of the module is stored in the directory for managing the communication protocol (See Paragraphs 19 and 21 [software stored in associated memory]).
In reference to Claim 11, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 1 above. Hamilton further discloses that the processor is configured to convert each of the data transmitted from each battery module according to the communication protocol to generate converted data, to merge the converted data into a data stream, and to transmit the data stream to an external device (See Figure 2 Number 18 and Paragraph 21). Miller further discloses that the processor is configured to convert each of the data transmitted from each module according to the communication protocol to generate converted data, to merge the converted data into a data stream, and to transmit the data stream to an external device (See Figure 2 Number 120 and Paragraph 19).
In reference to Claim 12, Hamilton discloses a battery module communication processing method (See Figures 1 and 2 Number 10) comprising: determining (See Paragraphs 24, 27, and 34) that a communication port (See Figure 1 Number 20) of a battery module (See Figure 1 Numbers 12 and 26 and Paragraph 22 [vehicle 12 contains battery 26, and thus is a “battery module” in accordance with the broadest reasonable interpretation of the term]) is connected to a connector (See Figures 1 and 2 Number 16); recognizing, by a processor, a number of pins of the connector connected to the communication port (See Paragraphs 27 and 34), and determining a communication protocol of the battery module based on data of the battery module transmitted through the connector (See Paragraphs 24, 27, and 34); determining, by the processor (See Figure 2 Number 30), whether the communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 34); and establishing, by the processor, communication of the battery module based on whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 34). Hamilton is not limited as to the use of any particular means for determining the protocol, and discloses that any means may be used to determine the protocol (See Paragraph 34). However, Hamilton does not explicitly disclose determining a communication protocol of the battery module based on number of pins of the connector connected to the communication port; and that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: generating, by the processor, a communication protocol preset by analyzing rules of the communication protocol and a format of the data, in response to determining that the communication protocol is not the preregistered communication protocol. Miller discloses a module communication processing method (See Figure 1 Number 308), comprising: determining (See Paragraph 27) that a communication port of a module (See Figure 1 Number 304 and Paragraph 18) is connected to a connector (See Figure 1 Number 306); recognizing, by a processor (See Figure 2 Number 110 and Paragraph 27), a number of pins of the connector connected to the communication port (See Paragraph 27), and determining a communication protocol of the battery module based on data of the battery module transmitted through the connector (See Paragraph 27 [voltage range, timing of voltage changes, clock recovery methods]); determining, by the processor, whether the communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 33); and establishing, by the processor, communication of the battery module based on whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 33), wherein the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: generating, by the processor, a communication protocol preset by analyzing rules of the communication protocol and a format of the data, in response to determining that the communication protocol is not the preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraph 21). Hamilton and Miller are silent as to how the processor determines whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, and do not explicitly disclose the processor is configured to apply features of packets classified from the data to a machine learning model to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol; and wherein the machine learning model is trained based on the features of the packets as input values, and the features of each packet comprise at least one of a bit length, a header, a payload, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a timestamp, and an inter-packet interval thereof. Thumati discloses applying features of packets classified from data to a machine learning model to determine whether a communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52); wherein the machine learning model is trained (See Figure 6 and Paragraphs 110-116) based on the features of the packets as input values (See Paragraphs 25-29, 45, 50-51, 53, 75, and 110-111), and the features of each packet comprise at least one of a payload (See Paragraphs 25, 27-29, 50-51, 53, 75, and 110-111), a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a timestamp (See Paragraphs 31, 75, and 110-111), and an inter-packet interval thereof.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to construct the device of Hamilton using the protocol determination of Miller, and using the machine learning model of Thumati to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, resulting in the invention of Claim 12, because Hamilton is not limited as to the use of any particular means for determining the protocol, and discloses that any means may be used to determine the protocol (See Paragraph 34 of Hamilton), and the simple substitution of the protocol determination of Miller as the protocol determination of Hamilton would have yielded the predictable result of automatically determining the protocol used by the connected battery module without user intervention and without resorting to trial and error (See Paragraph 27 of Miller and Paragraph 34 of Hamilton); and because Hamilton and Miller are silent as to how the processor determines whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, and the simple substitution of the machine learning model of Thumati to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol would have yielded the predictable result of identifying the protocol type automatically based on the received packets (See Paragraphs 35 and 52 of Thumati, Paragraph 34 of Hamilton, and Paragraph 27 of Miller).
In reference to Claim 13, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 12 above. Hamilton further discloses that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: converting and transmitting, by the processor, data between the battery module and an external device according to the communication protocol, in response determining that the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol (See Figure 2 Number 18 and Paragraph 21). Miller further discloses that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: converting and transmitting, by the processor, data between the battery module and an external device according to the communication protocol, in response determining that the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol (See Figure 2 Number 120 and Paragraph 19).
In reference to Claim 15, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 12 above. Hamilton further discloses that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: converting and transmitting, by the processor, data between the battery module and an external device according to the communication protocol preset (See Figure 2 Number 18 and Paragraph 21). Miller further discloses that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: converting and transmitting, by the processor, data between the battery module and an external device according to the communication protocol preset (See Figure 2 Number 120 and Paragraphs 19 and 21).
In reference to Claim 16, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 12 above. Miller further discloses that the processor is configured to extract characteristic information of packets of the data, to classify the packets based on the characteristic information, and to generate the communication protocol preset based on a classification result (See Paragraph 21). Thumati further discloses using a machine learning model to extract characteristic information of packets of data (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52), to classify the packets based on the characteristic information (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52), and to generate a communication protocol preset based on a classification result (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52), and wherein the characteristic information of each packet comprises at least one of a length (See Paragraph 51), a bit pattern between a header and a payload (See Paragraph 25), and an end byte thereof (See Paragraph 25).
In reference to Claim 17, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 12 above. Miller further discloses that the communication protocol preset comprises at least one of header information (See Paragraphs 21 and 32), a payload length, use of cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and communication timing (See Paragraphs 21 and 27).
In reference to Claim 19, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 10 above. Thumati further discloses that the features of each packet further comprise at least one of a bit length (See Paragraphs 26-27, 51, and 110-111) and a header (See Paragraphs 25, 51, and 110-111).
In reference to Claim 20, Hamilton, Miller, and Thumati disclose the limitations as applied to Claim 12 above. Hamilton further discloses that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: converting, by the processor, each of the data transmitted from each battery module according to the communication protocol to generate converted data; merging the converted data into a data stream, and transmitting the data stream to an external device (See Figure 2 Number 18 and Paragraph 21). Miller further discloses that the establishing the communication of the battery module comprises: converting, by the processor, each of the data transmitted from each module according to the communication protocol to generate converted data; merging the converted data into a data stream, and transmitting the data stream to an external device (See Figure 2 Number 120 and Paragraph 19).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 17 December 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant has argued that Thumati does not disclose that the processor is configured to apply features of packets classified from the data to a machine learning model to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol; and wherein the machine learning model is trained based on the features of the packets as input values, and the features of each packet comprise at least one of a bit length, a header, a payload, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a timestamp, and an inter-packet interval thereof (See Pages 9-10). In response, the Examiner notes that Thumati discloses applying features of packets classified from data to a machine learning model to determine whether a communication protocol is a preregistered communication protocol (See Paragraphs 27 and 49-52). Thumati further discloses training the machine learning model using a wide variety of parsed features of the packets as input values (See Paragraphs 25-29, 45, 50-51, 53, 75, and 110-111), and while an example embodiment may utilize the header and size of the packet in making the determination, it is not so limited (See Paragraphs 75 and 110-111). Thumati further discloses that the features of each packet comprise at least one of a payload (See Paragraphs 25, 27-29, 50-51, 53, 75, and 110-111) and a timestamp (See Paragraphs 31, 75, and 110-111).
Applicant has argued that there is no apparent reason why one of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the art of record to arrive at the claimed invention (See Page 10). In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, and as indicated in the above rejections, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to construct the device of Hamilton using the protocol determination of Miller, and using the machine learning model of Thumati to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, resulting in the invention of Claim 1, because Hamilton is not limited as to the use of any particular means for determining the protocol, and discloses that any means may be used to determine the protocol (See Paragraph 34 of Hamilton), and the simple substitution of the protocol determination of Miller as the protocol determination of Hamilton would have yielded the predictable result of automatically determining the protocol used by the connected battery module without user intervention and without resorting to trial and error (See Paragraph 27 of Miller and Paragraph 34 of Hamilton); and because Hamilton and Miller are silent as to how the processor determines whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol, and the simple substitution of the machine learning model of Thumati to determine whether the communication protocol is the preregistered communication protocol would have yielded the predictable result of identifying the protocol type automatically based on the received packets (See Paragraphs 35 and 52 of Thumati, Paragraph 34 of Hamilton, and Paragraph 27 of Miller).
Conclusion
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/THOMAS J. CLEARY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2175