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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/20/2023 and 01/29/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-5, 7, 9-12, 14-15, and 17-20 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ko et al. [US 2022/0224138].
With respect to claims 1, 10, and 18, Ko discloses a control system for a battery pack [Fig. 1], comprising: a plurality of battery strings each having an identical construction, each battery string including a plurality of battery cells connected in series [10, Fig. 1]; a plurality of contactors each having an identical construction, wherein each battery string has a respective pair of the plurality of contactors with one of the respective pair connected to a positive terminal and a second of the respective pair connected a negative terminal of each battery string [S1, S2, etc.]; a plurality of sensors wherein each of the plurality of battery strings has a respective one of the plurality of sensors configured to measure at least one of voltage and current [I1, T1, and/or V1]; and a controller connected to the plurality of sensors and the plurality of contactors, wherein the controller is configured to control each of the plurality of battery strings individually to meet a system requirement based upon measurement from the plurality of sensors [20, par. 0112-0118; i.e. discloses providing a baseline string and adding/removing strings to increase/decrease power, see Fig. 4].
With respect to claims 2 and 11, Ko further discloses wherein the controller is configured to selectively connect or disconnect each of the plurality of battery strings by controlling the respective pair of contactors for each battery string based on the measurement of the respective one of the plurality of sensors [par. 0137-0144, S80-S90].
With respect to claims 3 and 12, Ko further discloses wherein the plurality of battery strings are connected in parallel to combine an output power for the battery pack [Fig. 1 depicts parallel connections; Fig 1 discloses usage of at least four parallel strings Pn as compared to a single switch on one branch].
With respect to claims 4 and 20, Ko further discloses wherein the output power of the plurality of battery strings connected in parallel exceeds a rated power output of any one of the plurality of contactors [Fig 1 discloses usage of at least four parallel strings Pn as compared to a single switch on one branch].
With respect to claims 5, 14, and 19, Ko further discloses wherein the identical construction of each of the plurality of battery strings includes a same architecture and same components [Fig. 1 as depicted; Fig. 4, S40-S90 shows strings are added without any reconfiguring of the controller].
With respect to claims 7, 15, and 17, Ko further discloses wherein controller is configured to increase power output of the battery pack by selectively commanding applicable ones of the plurality of contactors to connect additional of the plurality of battery strings and the controller is configured to selectively decrease power output of the battery pack by selectively commanding applicable ones of the plurality of contactors to disconnect one or more of the plurality of battery strings [Fig. 4].
With respect to claim 9, Ko further discloses wherein the identical construction of the plurality of battery strings enables one or more battery strings to be interchangeably added or removed without reconfiguring the controller [Fig. 4, S40-S90 shows strings are added without any reconfiguring of the controller].
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.
Claim(s) 6, 8, 13, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ko et al. [US 2022/0224138] as applied above.
With respect to claims 6 and 16, Ko disclose a single battery pack and fails to disclose another/same battery pack as claimed. Duplication of essential working parts is obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art. Specifically, in the field of batteries, duplicating/doubling battery pack increases the amount of stored power available for the system. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to modify Ko such that a second battery pack connected together in series or parallel with the battery back, wherein the second battery pack has a second plurality of strings having the identical construction of the plurality of battery strings of the battery pack, for the benefit of increase the capacity or output power to the system by doubling/duplicating the battery pack.
With respect to claims 8 and 13, Ko fails to explicitly disclose the specific contactors/rating. However, it is within the level of ordinary skill in the art to select a known contactor suited for specific battery pack. There is only a finite number of contactor ratings and applicant fails to disclose any unexpected results that occur with the selection of 100 amps specifically. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to utilize a plurality of contactors rated to 100 Amperes or less for the benefit of selecting a contactor that is appropriate size for the load and not too big to the point that short circuits are prevented.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL R PELTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1761. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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/NATHANIEL R PELTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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