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
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU et al. (US 2016/0049815 A1, hereinafter WU) in view of HORIE (US 2015/0241937 A1, hereinafter HORIE).
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Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15 (claim 1 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), WU discloses an electronic device comprising:
a system circuitry (See Fig.1, Item#110 and Par.18, disclose a portable device comprising system circuitry 1102+1101); and
a battery pack configured to be electrically connected to or disconnected from the system circuitry (See Fig.1, Item#105 and Par.18, disclose a battery pack),
wherein the battery pack includes a battery management circuitry (See Fig.1, Item#1053, and Par.19 disclose a control circuit), a protective operation circuitry (See Fig.1, Items#Sw1+Sw2), and a battery (See Fig.1, Item#1051), and
wherein the battery management circuitry is configured to:
obtain battery state information by identifying a state of the battery (See Fig.1 and Par.19, disclose the control circuit is connected to the battery cell 1051, provides protection to the battery cell and stores control data such as battery percentage, battery capacity and ageing. This is interpreted to mean that the control circuit monitors battery characteristics and stores battery data, the data is then used for further control and protection functions),
enable a ship mode for minimizing power consumed in the battery and control the protective operation circuitry to electrically disconnect the system circuitry and the battery pack from each other (See Par.20, discloses that when shipping mode is activated via the portable device, the control circuit disconnects switches Sw1 and Sw2 to disconnect the battery pack 105 from the system circuitry of portable device 110), and
disable the ship mode and control the protective operation circuitry to electrically connect the system circuitry and the battery pack to each other, based on a power key included in the system circuitry being connected to a first pin of the battery management circuitry (See Par.18, discloses “a user can press a power key at the side of the portable device 110 to deactivate or release a shipping mode of the battery 105 via the battery communication line BCL”. Fig.1 discloses the BCL pin of the battery pack 105 is connected to the power key “SW” of the portable device 110).
However, WU does not disclose the ship mode is enabled based on the battery state information.
HORIE discloses a battery pack comprising a battery management circuitry (See Fig.3, Item#173, discloses a gas gage IC comprising a cell voltage measurement module 173a and a controller 173b), wherein the battery management circuitry is configured to:
enable a ship mode for minimizing power consumed in the battery based on the battery state information (See Pars.42 and 52, discloses a ship mode/discharge-off mode (discharge-off is used interchangeably with ship mode) for reducing the consumption of the battery after the battery is tested and before the electronic device [comprising the battery pack] is shipped. Pars.56-60, disclose and Fig.4 steps#B4-B5, disclose measuring the voltage of the battery cells 171 and activating the discharge-off/ship mode when the battery voltage is less than a voltage threshold. Par.66 discloses that having a cut-off voltage value “threshold” stored inside the controller 173b allows the controller the battery to enable the ship mode/discharge-cutoff when the battery voltage falls below the voltage threshold even if no external signal of ship mode is provided to the battery pack).
WU and HORIE are analogous art since they both deal with reducing battery consumption during shipping.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by WU with the teachings of HORIE by enabling the ship mode for minimizing power consumed in the battery based on the battery state information for the benefit of reducing battery consumption during shipping by preventing excessive discharging (over discharging) even in the absence of an external signal to place the battery in ship mode before the device is shipped (See HORIE, Par.65).
Regarding claim 2, WU and HORIE disclose the electronic device of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the battery management circuitry includes:
a cell voltage detection circuitry configured to detect a cell voltage of the battery (See HORIE, Fig.3, Item#173a, discloses a cell voltage measurement module); and
a control circuitry continuously configured to identify the state of the battery and control enabling or disabling of the ship mode (See Figs.3-4 , Item#173b and Pars.56-60 and 65 as applied to claim 1 rejection above, disclose the battery voltage is measured and enabling a ship mode/discharge-off mode when the battery voltage reaches a level less than or equal a voltage threshold).
Regarding claim 9, WU and HORIE disclose the method of claim 8 as discussed above, further comprising:
identifying whether the battery state information satisfies a predetermined condition (See HORIE, Fig.3, Item#173a. discloses a cell voltage measurement module), transmitting the battery state information to the system circuitry (See WU, Fig.1, discloses a communication line BCL between the battery control circuit 1053 and the portable device control circuit 1102. The examiner explains that it is implicit that battery pack control circuit communicates the batter capacity information such that the portable device controller can perform functions such as charging control and SOC display).
Regarding claims 3 and 10 (claim 3 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), WU and HORIE disclose the electronic device of claim 1 as discussed above,
wherein the battery management circuitry is further configured to, when the battery state information satisfies a predetermined condition (See HORIE, Fig.3, Step#B4), enable the ship mode (See HORIE, Fig.4, Step#B5) and transmit a first control signal to the protective operation circuitry to electrically disconnect the system circuitry and the battery pack from each other (See WU, Fig.1, Items Sw1 and Sw2 and Par.20 disclose “When the system 100 (or the battery 105) enters the shipping mode, the control circuit 1053 controls the switch units SW1 and SW2 to be open”. The combination of WU and HORIE provides a battery comprising the controller disclosed by HORIE including the cell voltage detecting module and the controller and the protective circuit and portable device comprising a power key as disclosed by WU),
wherein the first pin is a communication pin and is not connected to the power key when the ship mode is enabled (See WU, Fig.1, discloses BCL pin is not connected to power key “SW” in the ship mode as SW is in the open state),
wherein when receiving the first control signal from the battery management circuitry, the protective operation circuitry configured to disconnect the system circuitry from a power supply circuitry (See WU, Fig.1, discloses BCL pin not connected to power key “SW” of the portable device 110. Par.20 discloses “the control circuit 1053 controls the switch unit SW3 to be closed and the switch unit SW4 to be open under the shipping mode. Thus, under the shipping mode, the voltage level at battery communication line BCL is almost equal to a logic high level such as a supply level VDD. Since the control circuit 1053 merely consumes a smaller current and almost all discharging paths for the battery cell 1051 are disconnected, power-off leakage currents become almost zero.”. WU discloses switches SW1 and SW2 are opened during ship mode which disconnects the system circuitry of the portable device 110 from the power supply interface of the battery pack 105),
wherein the predetermined condition includes a set condition that the state of the battery is equal to or less than a specified threshold (See HORIE, Fig.4, Step#B4), and
wherein the battery state information includes information indicating a state of at least one of current, voltage, or temperature (See HORIE, Fig.4, discloses a cell voltage measurement module 173a and Fig.4, Step#B4, discloses the battery voltage is the battery state information used to control the ship mode).
Regarding claims 4 and 11 (claim 4 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), WU and HORIE disclose the electronic device of claim 1 as discussed above,
wherein the battery management circuitry is further configured to, when the ship mode is disabled based on an input signal (See WU, Pars.20-21, discloses releasing the battery packing from the shipping mode by pressing power key of the portable device and transmitting signal to the battery pack using BCL pin), transmit a second control signal to the protective operation circuitry to electrically connect the system circuitry and the battery pack to each other (See WU, Pars.20-21, discloses when the shipping mode is release/deactivated the control module 1053 controls switches SW1 and SW2 to close), and
wherein when receiving the second control signal from the battery management circuitry, the protective operation circuitry is configured to be electrically connected to a power supply circuitry of the system circuitry to supply power from the battery to the system circuitry (See WU, Fig.1, discloses in the normal mode when shipping mode is not activated, SW1 and SW2 are closed and the system circuitry of portable device 110 is connected to the power supply circuit of the battery pack).
Regarding claims 5 and 12 (claim 5 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), WU and HORIE disclose the electronic device of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the battery management circuitry is further configured to:
when the power key is connected to a power key recognition pin as the first pin in an enabled state of the ship mode, identify an input signal input through the power key recognition pin (See WU, Fig.1, Item: “SW” discloses a power key. Pars.20-21, discloses releasing the battery packing from the shipping mode by pressing power key of the portable device and transmitting signal to the battery pack using BCL pin While the shipping mode is enabled, when the power key SW is pressed, a signal is detected by the control circuit 1053 and the control circuit identifies a ship mode release signal), and
disable the ship mode based on the identified input signal (See WU, Par.21).
Regarding claims 6 and 13 (claim 6 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), WU and HORIE disclose the electronic device of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the battery management circuitry is further configured to:
when the power key is connected to a communication pin as the first pin in an enabled state of the ship mode, obtain a voltage difference value in a connection path between the power key and the communication pin (See WU, Figs.18-19, discloses “the user may press the power key to deactivate or release the shipping mode of the battery 105 via the BCL”. Fig.1 further disclose R4 connected to the terminal coupled to BCL pin), and
when the voltage difference value is equal to or less than a specified threshold, disable the ship mode (See WU, Fig.1, and Par.21, disclose when power key “SW” is pressed, a voltage difference appears at the contacts of resistance R4 and detected by control unit 1053 of the battery pack via BCL pin and ship mode is released).
Regarding claims 7 and 14 (claim 7 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), WU and HORIE disclose the electronic device of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the battery management circuitry is further configured to:
when the power key is connected to a positive cell voltage pin as the first pin in an enabled state of the ship mode, obtain a voltage difference value in a connection path between the power key and the positive cell voltage pin (See WU, Figs.18-19, discloses “the user may press the power key to deactivate or release the shipping mode of the battery 105 via the BCL”. Fig.1 further disclose R4 connected to the terminal coupled to BCL pin. Par.18 further discloses “the user may press the power key to deactivate or release the shipping mode of the battery 105 via the supply line VBAT” so the same detection may be done by connecting the power key to the battery terminal), and
when the voltage difference value is equal to or less than a specified threshold, disable the ship mode (See WU, Fig.1, and Par.21, disclose when power key “SW” is pressed, a voltage difference appears at the contacts of resistance R4 and detected by control unit 1053 of the battery pack via BCL pin and ship mode is released).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED H OMAR whose telephone number is (571)270-7165. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am -7:00 PM EST.
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/AHMED H OMAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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