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.
Claims 1 and 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashimoto et al. (US 2015/0367737) in view of Hunt et al. (US 2017/0232969).
Claim 1: Hashimoto teaches a vehicle (Fig.1) (Par.43) comprising:
a high-voltage battery (B1-B2) (Par.43);
a motor generator (MG1-MG2) (Par.44);
a high-voltage system wire configured to electrically couple the high-voltage battery (B1-B2) and the motor generator (MG1-MG2) (Fig.2A);
a system main relay (SMR1-SMR2) (Par.52 and 56) configured to turn ON or OFF electric coupling between the high-voltage battery (B1-B2) and the motor generator (MG1-MG2) on the high-voltage system wire (Par.128);
an atmospheric pressure sensor (32) configured to detect an atmospheric pressure at a position of the vehicle (Par.58); and
a control device (30), wherein the control device (30) comprises: configured to execute a process comprising performing SMR-OFF control for controlling the system main relay (SMR1-SMR2) to turn OFF (Fig.9) when the system main relay is ON and the atmospheric pressure detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor (32) is lower than a first atmospheric pressure threshold (Fig.6, S11) (Par.94-95 and 105).
Hashimoto does not explicitly teach the control device comprises: one or more processors; and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the process.
Hunt teaches a control device (148) comprises: one or more processors (Par.22); and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the process (Par.22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Hunt in the system of Hashimoto to have had allowed onboard processing of commands and routines (Par.22).
Claim 3: Hashimoto in view of Hunt teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Hashimoto teaches further comprising an engine (42) (Fig.1) (Par.47), wherein the process further comprises, when the system main relay (SMR1-SMR2) is OFF through the SMR-OFF control (Fig.17, S96), setting a state of the vehicle to a battery-less traveling state in which the vehicle is travelable by using the engine (42) (Fig.17, S94) (Par.141) and electric power is generable by the motor generator (MG1-MG2) (Par.47).
Claim 4: Hashimoto in view of Hunt teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Hashimoto teaches wherein the process further comprises, when the state of the vehicle is the battery-less traveling state and the atmospheric pressure detected by the atmospheric pressure sensor is equal to or higher than a second atmospheric pressure threshold that is higher than the first atmospheric pressure threshold, performing normal state restoration control for causing the state of the vehicle to restore to a normal traveling state in which the vehicle is travelable by using the motor generator (Fig.6) (Par.94); when the pressure is less than or equal to a threshold the mail relay is opened; otherwise it is closed (Fig.9). Therefore, the vehicle will return to a normal state once the pressure is above a value higher than the threshold.
Claims 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashimoto et al. (US 2015/0367737) in view of Hunt et al. (US 2017/0232969) as applied to claims 1 and 4 above, and further in view of Yamada et al. (US 5,903,113) and Lee et al. (US 2011/0095603).
Claim 2: Hashimoto in view of Hunt teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Hashimoto does not explicitly teach further comprising a DC-DC converter comprising an input end electrically coupled between the system main relay and the motor generator on the high-voltage system wire and an output end coupled to a low-voltage system wire, the DC-DC converter being configured to convert electric power on the high-voltage system wire and supply the converted electric power to the low-voltage system wire.
Hunt teaches a vehicle (112) (Fig.1) comprising: a DC-DC converter (128) comprising an input end electrically coupled between a system main relay (142) and a motor generator (114) on a high-voltage system wire (154A) and an output end coupled to a low-voltage system wire (156) (Par.13), the DC-DC converter (128) being configured to convert electric power on the high-voltage system wire (154A) and supply the converted electric power to the low-voltage system wire (156) (Par.13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Hunt in the system of Hashimoto to have had provided power to an energy source compatible with low-voltage vehicle loads (Par.13).
The combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt does not explicitly teach wherein the process further comprises: in the SMR-OFF control, determining whether electric power generated by the motor generator is to be supplied to the low-voltage system wire; when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator is to be supplied, performing SMR current zero control for controlling a current flowing through the system main relay to reach zero; and when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator is not to be supplied, performing MG assist zero control for controlling the motor generator to rotate with a zero torque, and turning OFF the system main relay.
Yamada teaches determining that an electric power generated by a motor generator (30) is to be supplied to a battery (94) (Col.26, Lines 29-51)(Col.32, Lines 44-47); and when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator (30) is not to be supplied, performing MG assist zero control for controlling the motor generator (30) to rotate with a zero torque (Col.32, Lines 39-43).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Yamada in the combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt to have had allowed power to be supplied from the battery when it has sufficient capacity (Col.32, Lines 39-43) while providing regenerative power to the battery when it does not have sufficient capacity (Col.26, Lines 29-51) thereby efficiently distributing power in the system and reducing wasted power.
The combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt and Yamada does not explicitly teach performing SMR current zero control for controlling a current flowing through a system main relay to reach zero, and turning OFF the system main relay; and performing MG assist zero control, and turning OFF the system main relay.
Lee teaches performing SMR current zero control for controlling a current flowing through a system main relay to reach zero, and turning OFF the system main relay (Par.71); and performing MG assist zero control, and turning OFF the system main relay (Par.72).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Lee in the combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt and Yamada to have had minimize the current flowing through the main relay before turning it off, thus preventing the main relay from being damaged (Par.71).
Claim 5: Hashimoto in view of Hunt teach the limitations of claim 4 as disclosed above. Hashimoto does not explicitly teach further comprising a DC-DC converter comprising an input end electrically coupled between the system main relay and the motor generator on the high-voltage system wire and an output end coupled to a low-voltage system wire, and configured to convert electric power on the high-voltage system wire and supply the electric power to the low-voltage system wire.
Hunt teaches a vehicle (112) (Fig.1) comprising: a DC-DC converter (128) comprising an input end electrically coupled between a system main relay (142) and a motor generator (114) on a high-voltage system wire (154A) and an output end coupled to a low-voltage system wire (156) (Par.13), the DC-DC converter (128) being configured to convert electric power on the high-voltage system wire (154A) and supply the converted electric power to the low-voltage system wire (156) (Par.13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Hunt in the system of Hashimoto to have had provided power to an energy source compatible with low-voltage vehicle loads (Par.13).
The combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt does not explicitly teach wherein the process further comprising: in the normal state restoration control, determining whether electric power generated by the motor generator is to be supplied to the low-voltage system wire; when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator is to be supplied, performing balance control for controlling the electric power generated by the motor generator and an output of the DC-DC converter to become equal to each other; and when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator is not to be supplied, performing MG assist zero control for controlling the motor generator to rotate with a zero torque.
Yamada discloses a process comprising: in the normal state restoration control, determining whether electric power generated by a motor generator (30) is to be supplied to a battery (94) (Col.32, Lines 44-47); when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator (30) is to be supplied, performing balance control for controlling the electric power generated by the motor generator (30) and an output of the DC-DC converter (91) (Fig.1) to become equal to each other (Col.32, Lines 44-47); and when it is determined that the electric power generated by the motor generator (30) is not to be supplied, performing MG assist zero control for controlling the motor generator (30) to rotate with a zero torque (Col.32, Lines 39-43).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Yamada in the combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt to have had allowed power to be supplied from the battery when it has sufficient capacity (Col.32, Lines 39-43) while providing regenerative power to the battery when it does not have sufficient capacity (Col.32, Lines 44-47) thereby efficiently distributing power in the system and reducing wasted power.
The combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt and Yamada does not explicitly teach control power generated by the motor generator, and turning ON the system main relay; and performing MG assist zero control, and turning ON the system main relay.
Lee teaches performing control power generated by the motor generator, and turning ON the system main relay (Par.72); and performing MG assist zero control, and turning ON the system main relay (Par.73).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Lee in the combination of Hashimoto in view of Hunt and Yamada to have had minimize the current flowing through the main relay before turning it on, thus preventing the main relay from being damaged (Par.71).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHALI ALEJANDRA TORRES RUIZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1262. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am-6:00pm.
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/JOHALI A TORRES RUIZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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