DETAILED ACTION
This is a first action on the merits, in response to the claims received 08/28/2023. Claims 1-5 are pending for prosecution below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) file on 8/28/2023,3/15/2024 has been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy is attached herewith.
Claim Objections
Claim 5, recites “the auxiliary machine” which lacks proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1,2, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lin et al, (USNO.2016/0054390]).
As for claim 1, Lin discloses and shows in Fig. 1 a battery management system, comprising: an acquisition section that acquires, in a case where a charging current flowing from a charger to a battery is measured by a current measurement device, a measurement value measured by the current measurement device; an estimation section that estimates a current value of the charging current by referring to a characteristic map (ref’s lookup table) based on a known value of a current flowing from the charger, the characteristic map indicating a characteristic of the battery; and a correction section (ref’s current correction module) that corrects an offset in the current measurement device based on the current value having been estimated and the measurement value (par.[0018-0028,0032-0033]).
As for claim 2, Lin discloses and shows in Fig. 1 the characteristic map is a map indicating a relationship of the current value of the charging current with a terminal voltage of the battery, an ambient temperature of the battery, and a state of charge of the battery
As for claim 5, Lin discloses and shows in Fig. 1 a vehicle, comprising: the battery and the auxiliary machine which are mounted in the vehicle; and the battery management system according to claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 3: a current value calculation section that calculates the current value of the charging current based on the known value of the current flowing from the charger; and
an average value calculation section that calculates an average value of a plurality of
measurement values, wherein the correction section corrects the offset in the current measurement device in a case where a difference between the current value and the average value exceeds a predetermined range, the current value and the average value having been calculated, in combination with the remaining limitations of independent claims
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARUN C WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-9765. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9 a.m. - 6 p.m..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian Huffman can be reached on 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ARUN C WILLIAMS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859