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 .
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.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al., US Patent Application Publication no. 2024/0074125 [Lee], in view of Zhou et al., US Patent Application Publication no. 2015/0192316 [Zhou].
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Lee discloses a temperature management system for a room with a charge discharge device installed, the temperature management system comprising:
one or more charge discharge devices installed in a room, performing charging or discharging of a battery, and comprising an external air conditioning module adjusting air temperature in the room [battery charging/discharging systems in a test room each include an air conditioning system that is used to provide external cooling to air in the test room, paragraphs 0047, 0056, 0057, 0131 and 0135].
Lee does not disclose a managing server controlling operation of the external air conditioning module of each of the charge discharge devices to adjust the temperature in the room. Like Lee, Zhou discloses a room that houses a plurality of heat generating electronic devices and a plurality of cooling devices for cooling air in the room. Specifically, Zhou discloses a central controller, which may be a server, that receives temperature measurements from a plurality of sensors located in the room and manages the cooling devices based received temperatures and a model that includes compensation for failures of one or more cooling device based on detected levels of influence that each of the cooling devices has on various locations in the room [paragraphs 0023-0026 and 0036-0038]. Since it was known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide centralized control of a plurality of cooling devices in a room of heat generating electronic devices, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the Zhou teachings to the Lee temperature management system by incorporating a managing server to control the battery charging/discharging system air conditioning units in order to provide cooling redundancy in the room by compensating for failed or malfunctioning air conditioning units [Zhou, paragraphs 0014-0015 and 0024].
Regarding claims 2 and 9, Lee and Zhou, as described above, disclose a managing server that receives temperature measurements from temperature sensors and that adjusts the air temperature of the room by controlling external air conditioning devices for the charge discharge devices. Lee further discloses that each of the charge discharge devices comprises:
one or more chambers each storing the battery therein and performing charging or discharging of the battery [battery chamber in which a plurality of batteries to be tested are mounted, paragraph 0047];
a cycler charging and discharging the battery that is connected thereto through the chambers [a charger/discharger may be connected to each battery installed in the battery chamber, paragraphs 0047 and 0054];
a cooling channel supplied with a refrigerant for reducing heat generated due to the charging or discharging [refrigerant circulating inside the charger/discharger cooling device, paragraph 0057];
an external temperature sensor measuring the peripheral temperature of each of the charge discharge devices [temperature sensor for detecting and transmitting the external temperature, paragraph 0129].
Regarding claim 3, Lee further discloses that the external air conditioning module adjusts the temperature of external air by using all or part of the refrigerant supplied through the cooling channel [refrigerant circulating inside the charger/discharger cooling device is used to cool the external air, paragraphs 0057 and 0131 and 0135].
Regarding claim 4, Lee further discloses that the cooling channel is a separate channel that is independent from a channel supplying a refrigerant to an air conditioner adjusting the temperature of the room with a charge discharge device installed [each charger/discharger cooling device has its own independent refrigerant circulating channel, paragraph 0057].
Regarding claims 5, 10 and 11, Zhou further discloses that when the peripheral temperature of one of the charge discharge devices is equal to or higher than a first reference temperature, the managing server controls the corresponding charge discharge device so that the external air conditioning module of the charge discharge device is operated [one or more fluid moving devices that are normally used (when no failures have occurred) to regulate the temperature at a location, paragraph 0015], and when the peripheral temperature of the charge discharge device is equal to or higher than a second reference temperature, the managing server controls another charge discharge device, which is installed within a range preset based on the corresponding charge discharge device, so that the external air conditioning module of the charge discharge device is also operated [if a thermal violation occurs at a location due to a cooling unit failure, cooling units with an influence level on that location will respond to mitigate the thermal violation, paragraphs 0014 and 0024-0025].
Regarding claims 6 and 12, Zhou further discloses that when the peripheral temperature of one of the charge discharge devices is equal to or higher than a first reference temperature, and when a cooling idle capacity of the charge discharge device is equal to or higher than a first reference capacity, the managing server controls the charge discharge device so that the external air conditioning module of the charge discharge device is operated [one or more fluid moving devices that are normally used (when no failures have occurred) to regulate the temperature at a location, paragraph 0015], and when the cooling idle capacity of the charge discharge device is less than the first reference capacity, the managing server controls another charge discharge device, which is installed within a range preset based on the corresponding charge discharge device, so that the external air conditioning module of the charge discharge device is operated [if a thermal violation occurs at a location due to a cooling unit failure, cooling units with an influence level on that location will respond to mitigate the thermal violation, paragraphs 0014 and 0024-0025].
Regarding claims 7 and 13, Zhou further discloses that the managing server receives the peripheral temperature from the plurality of charge discharge devices installed in the room, and calculates the temperature for each of a plurality of zones preset in advance based on the received temperature, and when the temperature of one zone is equal to or higher than a first zone reference temperature, the managing server controls the charge discharge devices, which are located in the corresponding zone, so that the external air conditioning module of each of the charge discharge devices is operated [the controller uses collected information from temperature sensors to determine parameters of a model that determines levels of influence of fluid moving devices at various locations in the room, paragraphs 0023-0025. If a thermal violation occurs at a location due to a cooling unit failure, cooling units with an influence level on that location will respond to mitigate the thermal violation, paragraphs 0014 and 0024-0025].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Patel et al., US Patent Application Publication no. 2004/0089010 discloses a cooling system for computer room that controls cooling in the room based on measurements from sensors at a plurality of locations in the room.
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/PAUL B YANCHUS III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115 March 7, 2026