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 .
IDS
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on September 15, 2023 and November 6, 2023 are being considered by the Examiner.
Drawing
The drawing filed on September 15, 2023 is accepted by the Examiner.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim rejection – 35 U.S.C. §112
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) or 35 U.S.C. §112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite:
In reference to claims 1, 7 and 9: the respective claims recite the limitation "the first and second measuring units" and “the third and fourth measuring units”, in page 13, lines 24 and 26; page 15, lines 12 and 13; and page 16, lines 23 and 24 respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. On suggestion would be state those limits as “the first measuring unit (32) and the second measuring unit (34)”; and “the third measuring unit (36) and the fourth measuring unit (38)”. Further, in reference to claim 7: the last two steps, see page 15, lines 17-19, the claim recites “the respective measuring voltages”, “the respective measuring units”, and “the first and second measuring switches”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. One suggestion would be to write the respective limitation as: “respective measuring voltages (UM1, UM2, UM3, UM4)”, “respective measuring units (32, 34, 36, 38)”, and “the first measuring switch (SM1) and the second measuring switch (SM2)”. The remaining claims depend on their respective base claims and inherit the attributes of the base clams and/or include similar antecedent issues.
Claims 1, 7 and 9 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-6, 8 and 10 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Art of Interest
In reference to claims 1-10: Worry et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,374,444, Worry) discloses a battery management system that controls a stack of battery cells (battery pack). The battery management system detects stack voltages and current (such as measurement of current, and voltages). The system further includes a feature may also detect communication breakdown or failure in the battery management system (see Worry, column 1, lines 40-53). Further, the system includes a fault detection circuit that detects ground fault in the battery stack by sampling the signal at both positive and negative end of the battery stack. For instance, if a ground fault exists, it is expected to have a negative value in which case the resistors R7 and R8 are used to adjust the signal to the desired voltage range and making them as part of the voltage divider (see Worry, Fig. 9A (1). The system also includes transistor witches to adjust the gain of the amplifiers as specified by the factor of R7, R8 and R28.
However, unlike the battery system described in Worry, the instant application has a different circuit arrangement as noted “the first measuring unit (32) and the second measuring unit (34) are electrically connected to the first reference point (50), and the third measuring unit (36) and the fourth measuring unit (38) are electrically connected to the second reference point (60), wherein the first reference point (50) is connected to a low-voltage coupling network ground (52), and that the second reference point (60) is connected to the negative pole (21) of the battery pack (5).” Furthermore, the instant application includes a high voltage coupling network with a link voltage divider, in combination with the rest of the claim limitations as claimed and defined by the Applicants.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Comesana (U.S. Patent No. 10,632,855) discloses a device including a circuit for measuring isolation or leakage resistance of a high-voltage battery powered system, typically with a battery nominal voltage within the range 400-600 volts. The device comprises a positive high-voltage bus and a negative high-voltage bus, both connectable respectively with the positive and negative poles of the battery, and also connectable with a load, so that the battery power is supplied to the load through the high-voltage busses.
Krieg et al. (U.S. Patent No. 12,199,317) discloses a battery system having a battery pack with a negative pole, a positive pole and a battery cell, a coupling network having a first negative terminal and a first positive terminal, a pack voltage divider, and a coupling voltage divider.
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/ELIAS DESTA/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857