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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference characters "24" and "98" have both been used to designate a battery system in Figs. 2-5. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The symbol representing battery pack 24 and low voltage component 98 is conventionally known to represent a capacitor. This may cause confusion when examining the diagrams whether the symbol is meant to represent a capacitor or battery pack or low-volt component. Clarifications are respectfully requested.
The symbol between components 60 and 66 in Figs. 2 and 4 is not labeled, which makes it unclear as to what it is. Similar issue is seen in Fig. 5.
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.
Claim 1 lines 14-17: claim limitations in these lines are not consistent or supported by the specification and drawing. Figs. 2, 4 shows a non-labeled capacitor/battery connected to an output of AC-DC converter 60, 102 and across a DC bus 64. Also, battery pack 24 is connected to a DC-DC converter 68. Thus, “wherein the first AC voltage is applied to charge the battery assembly” does not appear to be accurate.
Independent claim 9 have similar issue and therefore is also rejected.
Clarifications are respectfully requested. Dependent claim(s) is/are also rejected for inheriting the flaws from the parent claim(s).
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) 1-2, 5-10, 13-17, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sreedhar (US 20240429831) in view of Zhou (US 20220200314) and Lin (US 20230302943)
Sreedhar discloses
1. A system for controlling charging and discharging of a battery assembly of a vehicle, comprising:
an outlet 110;
a power module (100) configured to be selectively connected to the outlet and the battery assembly (140), the power module including a charging circuit having a bidirectional alternating current (AC)-direct current (DC) converter (PFC 120) and a split phase inverter (par. 99, 109-112), the charging circuit and the split phase inverter connected to a common transformer (433); and
a controller configured to control the power module according to at least one of a plurality of operating modes, the plurality of operating modes including:
a charging mode in which AC power from a power source charges the battery assembly via the charging circuit; and
a simultaneous charging and discharging mode in which the power module generates a split phase voltage including a first AC voltage and a second AC voltage, the first AC voltage being out of phase with the second AC voltage, wherein the first AC voltage is applied to charge the battery assembly and the second AC voltage to an external system via the outlet (par. 45, 58-59, 91, 102, 94: 111-112, 116: AC power is generated prior to being delivered to HV battery 140; PFC converter 620 may include similar components as the PFC converter 120 and may be interchangeable with the PFC converter 120 for use with the HVDC converter 130 in the battery charger 100. The PFC converter 620 may be a bidirectional AC-DC converter configured to operate in charge mode to convert AC voltage to DC voltage or discharge mode ("inverter mode") to convert DC voltage to AC voltage. The PFC converter 620 may be configured to operate in charge mode to convert grid AC into DC voltage to charge the battery 140, for example. The PFC converter 620 may be configured to operate in discharge mode to convert DC voltage from the battery 140 and the HVDC converter 130 into AC voltage to be supplied back to the grid, a backup generator to power a house, or as an inverter to supply voltage to vehicle AC outlets for various loads, among other examples;
Sreedhar is silent to simultaneous charging and discharging mode;
Zhou discloses “in a state such as frequency modulation and voltage regulation, when the energy storage system needs to absorb an instantaneous large power from a power grid or release an instantaneous large power, a first bus and the second bus may be simultaneously used to implement charging and discharging management on each battery module in the energy storage system, to increase a utilization rate of the battery module” (par. 123)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Zhou to efficiently utilize the batteries in case where both charging and discharging are desirable;
Sreedhar is silent tot AC voltage provided to external system via the outlet.
Lin discloses an outlet 10 in the form of charging and discharging apparatus 10. [0088] The charging and discharging apparatus 10 is a charging and discharging apparatus 10 which supports a V2G function. In some embodiments, the charging and discharging apparatus may be provided in a charging station or in other places that can be connected to the grid, such as a parking lot. In some embodiments, the charging and discharging apparatus 10 may include a charging pile, an AC-AC voltage conversion module, an AC-DC voltage conversion module, an on-board charger, and other apparatuses that support a V2G function and can charge and discharge the battery P1, and the specific type thereof is not limited. In some embodiments, when a charging gun of the charging and discharging apparatus 10 is connected to a charging socket on the vehicle 20, the electric energy interaction between the grid 40 and the battery P1 of the vehicle 20 can be realized by means of the charging and discharging apparatus 10.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Lin to ensure the power feeding back to grid meets its requirement. It would have also been obvious that additional outlets can be installed on the charge and discharge station 10 for providing power to other electronic or electric equipment.
2.1, wherein the charging circuit includes a primary DC-DC converter connected to the common transformer (Sreedhar, Fig. 4-5).
5.1, wherein the split phase inverter includes a set of switches in a half bridge configuration (Sreedhar, Fig. 6-8: leaves 630-636 are half bridges).
6.1, wherein the outlet includes an integrated adapter configured to convert the second AC voltage to an output voltage that conforms to voltage requirements of the outlet (Lin, par. 88)
7.6, wherein the integrated adapter is configured to convert between 120 Volts and 240 Volts (Sreedhar, Fig. 8, par. 111, 125: it is well known for a converter to convert between 120 and 240 volts)
8.1, wherein the power module operates in the charging mode by generating the first AC voltage having a first phase and the second AC voltage having a second phase, the first phase equal to the second phase, and supplying the first and second AC voltages to the battery assembly (Sreedhar, Fig. 9, par. 111).
9. A method of controlling charging and discharging of a battery assembly of a vehicle, comprising:
connecting an alternating current (AC) power source to a power module configured to be selectively connected to an outlet and the battery assembly (140), the power module including a charging circuit having a bidirectional AC-direct current (DC) converter (PFC 120) and a split phase inverter (par. 99, 109-112), the charging circuit and the split phase inverter connected to a common transformer (433);
providing AC power at an input voltage to the power module (Fig. 1); and
performing at least one of: charging the battery assembly via the charging circuit; and simultaneously charging the battery assembly and discharging power to an external system, the external system connected to the outlet, wherein simultaneously charging and discharging includes generating a split phase voltage by the power module, the split phase voltage including a first AC voltage and a second AC voltage, the first AC voltage being out of phase with the second AC voltage, wherein the first AC voltage is applied to charge the battery assembly and the second AC voltage is provided to the external system via the outlet (par. 45, 58-59, 91, 102, 94: 111-112, 116: AC power is generated prior to being delivered to HV battery 140; PFC converter 620 may include similar components as the PFC converter 120 and may be interchangeable with the PFC converter 120 for use with the HVDC converter 130 in the battery charger 100. The PFC converter 620 may be a bidirectional AC-DC converter configured to operate in charge mode to convert AC voltage to DC voltage or discharge mode ("inverter mode") to convert DC voltage to AC voltage. The PFC converter 620 may be configured to operate in charge mode to convert grid AC into DC voltage to charge the battery 140, for example. The PFC converter 620 may be configured to operate in discharge mode to convert DC voltage from the battery 140 and the HVDC converter 130 into AC voltage to be supplied back to the grid, a backup generator to power a house, or as an inverter to supply voltage to vehicle AC outlets for various loads, among other examples;
Sreedhar is silent to simultaneous charging and discharging mode;
Zhou discloses “in a state such as frequency modulation and voltage regulation, when the energy storage system needs to absorb an instantaneous large power from a power grid or release an instantaneous large power, a first bus and the second bus may be simultaneously used to implement charging and discharging management on each battery module in the energy storage system, to increase a utilization rate of the battery module” (par. 123)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Zhou to efficiently utilize the batteries in case where both charging and discharging are desirable;
Sreedhar is silent tot AC voltage provided to external system via the outlet.
Lin discloses an outlet 10 in the form of charging and discharging apparatus 10. [0088] The charging and discharging apparatus 10 is a charging and discharging apparatus 10 which supports a V2G function. In some embodiments, the charging and discharging apparatus may be provided in a charging station or in other places that can be connected to the grid, such as a parking lot. In some embodiments, the charging and discharging apparatus 10 may include a charging pile, an AC-AC voltage conversion module, an AC-DC voltage conversion module, an on-board charger, and other apparatuses that support a V2G function and can charge and discharge the battery P1, and the specific type thereof is not limited. In some embodiments, when a charging gun of the charging and discharging apparatus 10 is connected to a charging socket on the vehicle 20, the electric energy interaction between the grid 40 and the battery P1 of the vehicle 20 can be realized by means of the charging and discharging apparatus 10.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Lin to ensure the power feeding back to grid meets its requirement. It would have also been obvious that additional outlets can be installed on the charge and discharge station 10 for providing power to other electronic or electric equipment.)
Re claims 10, 13-16, see discussion regarding claims above.
17. A system of a vehicle, comprising: a battery assembly; a charging and discharging system including a controller configured to perform a method comprising:
detecting connection of an alternating current (AC) power source to a power module configured to be selectively connected to an outlet and the battery assembly (140), the power module including a charging circuit having a bidirectional AC-direct current (DC) converter (PFC 120) and a split phase inverter (par. 99, 109-112), the charging circuit and the split phase inverter connected to a common transformer;
receiving AC power at an input voltage at the power module; and performing at least one of:
charging the battery assembly via the charging circuit; and
simultaneously charging the battery assembly and discharging power to an external system, the external system connected to the outlet, wherein simultaneously charging and discharging includes generating a split phase voltage by the power module, the split phase voltage including a first AC voltage and a second AC voltage, the first AC voltage being out of phase with the second AC voltage, wherein the first AC voltage is applied to charge the battery assembly and the second AC voltage is provided to the external system via the outlet (par. 45, 58-59, 91, 102, 94: 111-112, 116: AC power is generated prior to being delivered to HV battery 140; PFC converter 620 may include similar components as the PFC converter 120 and may be interchangeable with the PFC converter 120 for use with the HVDC converter 130 in the battery charger 100. The PFC converter 620 may be a bidirectional AC-DC converter configured to operate in charge mode to convert AC voltage to DC voltage or discharge mode ("inverter mode") to convert DC voltage to AC voltage. The PFC converter 620 may be configured to operate in charge mode to convert grid AC into DC voltage to charge the battery 140, for example. The PFC converter 620 may be configured to operate in discharge mode to convert DC voltage from the battery 140 and the HVDC converter 130 into AC voltage to be supplied back to the grid, a backup generator to power a house, or as an inverter to supply voltage to vehicle AC outlets for various loads, among other examples;
Sreedhar is silent to simultaneous charging and discharging mode;
Zhou discloses “in a state such as frequency modulation and voltage regulation, when the energy storage system needs to absorb an instantaneous large power from a power grid or release an instantaneous large power, a first bus and the second bus may be simultaneously used to implement charging and discharging management on each battery module in the energy storage system, to increase a utilization rate of the battery module” (par. 123)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Zhou to efficiently utilize the batteries in case where both charging and discharging are desirable;
Sreedhar is silent tot AC voltage provided to external system via the outlet.
Lin discloses an outlet 10 in the form of charging and discharging apparatus 10. [0088] The charging and discharging apparatus 10 is a charging and discharging apparatus 10 which supports a V2G function. In some embodiments, the charging and discharging apparatus may be provided in a charging station or in other places that can be connected to the grid, such as a parking lot. In some embodiments, the charging and discharging apparatus 10 may include a charging pile, an AC-AC voltage conversion module, an AC-DC voltage conversion module, an on-board charger, and other apparatuses that support a V2G function and can charge and discharge the battery P1, and the specific type thereof is not limited. In some embodiments, when a charging gun of the charging and discharging apparatus 10 is connected to a charging socket on the vehicle 20, the electric energy interaction between the grid 40 and the battery P1 of the vehicle 20 can be realized by means of the charging and discharging apparatus 10.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Lin to ensure the power feeding back to grid meets its requirement. It would have also been obvious that additional outlets can be installed on the charge and discharge station 10 for providing power to other electronic or electric equipment.)
Re claims 19-20, see discussion regarding claims above.
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) 3-4, 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sreedhar (US 20240429831)/Zhou (US 20220200314)/ Lin (US 20230302943 in view of Baranwal (US 20220286055 )
Re claim 3.2, Sreedhar is silent to wherein the common transformer is selectively connected to at least one of the battery assembly, and one or more low voltage components of the vehicle.
Baranwal discloses [0056] Forming a HV/HV DC/DC converter (high voltage to high voltage direct current to direct current converter), Winding 1 in FIG. 2 can comprise two primary windings, also called parallel primary windings. Winding 2 can be selected for the voltage transfer across to the high voltage (HV) battery side. An additional resonant capacitor CRHV and resonant inductor LRHV can be included on the HV battery side, with a second full bridge FB2 MOSFET arrangement and capacitor. If there is a winding mismatch between the windings of Winding 1 and the windings of Winding 2, resonant inductor LRHV can be omitted because the resonant transformer T2 will have an intrinsic inductance. Or, the resonant inductor LRHV or a standard inductor can alternatively be used to balance or manipulate the intrinsic inductance for favorable charging of the HV battery.
[0057] Forming a HV/LV DC/DC converter (high voltage to low voltage direct current to direct current converter), Windings 3 & 4 are configured as a tapped winding with switching MOSFETs and a buck for coupling to the low voltage (LV) battery side. As with other disclosed tapped windings, a tap can be centered or can be askew so that a first number of turns can be on the winding 3 side of the tap and a second number of turns can be on the winding 4 side of the tap. The number of windings on each side of the tap can be the same or the number of turns can be non-equal.
See also other embodiments in Figs. 3-11.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Baranwal to selectively charge a low or high voltage component such as batteries as desired using the switches.
4.3, wherein the common transformer is selectively connected to the battery assembly by a high voltage DC-DC converter configured to provide a high voltage to the battery assembly, and the common transformer is selectively connected to the one or more low voltage components by a low voltage DC-DC converter (Baranwal, par. 56-57).
Re claims 11-12, 18, see discussion regarding claims above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN MAI whose telephone number is (571)272-8283. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5pm.
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, Steven Paik can be reached at 571-272-2404. 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.
/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
Prosecution Insights