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 .
Receipt is acknowledged of IDS filed on 06/13/23 & 07/18/2024.
Claims 1-2 are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shimonagata (US 2022/0194262).
Re Claim 1: Shimonagata teaches vehicle control device, which includes an acquiring section {herein acquisition unit 61} configured to acquire battery pack information representing a charging amount and a voltage from each of the plurality of battery packs (¶ 27+); a selection section {herein selection unit 63} configured to select a battery pack to be charged or a battery pack to be discharged from among the plurality of battery packs based on the battery pack information (¶ 26+), and a control section {herein VCU 60 serves as the vehicle control device} configured to charge the battery pack to be charged in a charging mode and discharge the battery pack to be discharged in a discharging mode (¶ 18+), wherein when a mode is switched from the charging mode to the discharging mode {herein the selection unit 63 selects a drive battery pack allowed to perform discharge to drive the vehicle 1 from among a plurality of battery packs}, the control section performs a control such that the battery pack to be charged is used as it is as the battery pack to be discharged (¶ 31).
Re Claim 2: wherein in the charging mode, the selection section determines, to be a first battery pack to be charged, a battery pack with a voltage {herein the voltage value comparison unit 62 compares values of respective battery packs acquired by the voltage information acquisition unit 61 with each to determine whether a voltage difference between both the battery packs is less than a prescribed value} within a predetermined value with respect to a voltage of a battery pack with a smallest charging amount among the plurality of battery packs, and determines, to be a second battery pack to be charged, a battery pack with a voltage greater than the predetermined value, and the control section starts charging of the first battery pack to be charged first, and then executes charging of the second battery pack to be charged together with the charging of the first battery pack {herein first battery pack 21} to be charged when a charging amount of the first battery pack to be charged reaches a charging amount of the second battery pack {herein second battery pack 22} to be charged, and wherein in the discharging mode, the selection section selects a combination with a largest total charging amount from among combinations of battery packs with a voltage difference within the predetermined value, and determines, to be the battery pack to be discharged, the battery packs included in the combination, and the control section executes discharging of the battery pack to be discharged (¶ 27-30+, 59-64+).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lim (US 2021/0242704) teaches charging management system and method for batteries.
Matsuda et al. (US 2022/0289065) teaches management system and electric vehicle.
Toya (US 2015/0145476) teaches power supply apparatus.
Crowell (US 2005/0275372) teaches power controller for managing arrays of smart battery packs.
Furukawa (US 2011/0234164) teaches power supply device capable of equalizing electrical properties of batteries.
Jaber et al. (US 2024/0154449) teaches management of electrical storage capacity of battery pack system.
Trippel et al. (US 2022/0131391) teaches mode-based disabling of communication bus of a battery management system.
Uchida (US 2014/0021923) teaches electrical storage system and control method for electrical storage system.
Zhao (US 12,128,788) teaches system and application based on modular battery packs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWYN LABAZE whose telephone number is (571)272-2395. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mr. STEVE 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.
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/EDWYN LABAZE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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