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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 9/9/2026. Claims 1-6,8-13,14-22 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Response to arguments
Applicant amended claims 1, 8, 11, 15, and 18, cancelled claims 7 and 14 and added claims 21 and 22 which changes the scope of the claims and as such a new grounds of rejection is issued.
In regards to applicants remaining remarks:
Applicant remarks have been considered but are moot base on new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6,8-13,14-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1,8, and 15 recites “disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell” which is unclear. It is unclear how current no longer flows through a cell that is being charged or discharged.
Examiner will interpret as “disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the battery pack”.
Claims 2-6,9-13,14, and 16-22 are included in this rejection based on their dependence on claims 1,8, and 15.
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.
Claims 1-3,5-6,8-10,12-13,15-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsenter (US 5729116) in view of Zhang (US 20220268852).
As to claims 1, Tsenter discloses a processor-implemented method, (Fig. 1 with microcontroller 22. Columns 4 lines 1-6, Column 5 lines 65-67, Column 6 lines 1-5 and 48-53. Battery charger 20 is comprised of the necessary elements for achieving the methodology of shunt recognition (i.e. dendrite formation)…all or part of these elements may be integrated into the microcontroller 22), the method comprising: calculating a dendrite formation value of a cell within a battery pack based on captured sensor data (Column 4 lines 36-44 sampling a charging voltage of the battery; interrupting charging of the battery to sample an open circuit voltage of the battery; identifying one or more points indicative of dendrite formation) ; and in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell (Column 4 lines 36-44 .. and terminating charging if the point indicative of dendrite formation is identified).
Tsenter does not disclose/teach in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell.
Zhang teaches in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell ([0100] [0100] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a parallel test management device or PTMD 40…. each and every battery in a parallel group connects to a PTMD first. [0118] The PTMD of FIG. 6 provides safety in that it helps to prevent and avoid the explosion of a battery, and also, an unacceptable battery, such as one that has a short or inadequate capacity, can be isolated using the PTMD).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the computer system of Tsenter to wherein in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell in order to provide safety in that it helps to prevent and avoid the explosion of a battery [0118].
As to claims 8, Tsenter discloses a computer system, the computer system comprising: one or more processors, one or more non-transitory computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage media (Column 6 lines 10-15 The microcontroller 22 used in the present invention is a MC608HC705 B5 type and includes 6 KB memory ROM, 128 byte RAM), and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories (Fig. 1 with microcontroller 22. Columns 4 lines 1-6, Column 5 lines 65-67, Column 6 lines 1-5 and 48-53. Battery charger 20 is comprised of the necessary elements for achieving the methodology of shunt recognition (i.e. dendrite formation)…all or part of these elements may be integrated into the microcontroller 22), wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising:
calculating a dendrite formation value of a cell within a battery pack based on captured sensor data (Column 4 lines 36-44 sampling a charging voltage of the battery; interrupting charging of the battery to sample an open circuit voltage of the battery; identifying one or more points indicative of dendrite formation); and in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold (Column 4 lines 36-44 .. and terminating charging if the point indicative of dendrite formation is identified).
Tsenter does not disclose/teach in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell.
Zhang teaches in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell ([0100] [0100] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a parallel test management device or PTMD 40…. each and every battery in a parallel group connects to a PTMD first. [0118] The PTMD of FIG. 6 provides safety in that it helps to prevent and avoid the explosion of a battery, and also, an unacceptable battery, such as one that has a short or inadequate capacity, can be isolated using the PTMD).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the computer system of Tsenter to where in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell in order to provide safety in that it helps to prevent and avoid the explosion of a battery [0118].
As to claims 15, Tsenter discloses computer program product, the computer program product comprising: one or more computer-readable tangible storage media (Column 6 lines 10-15 The microcontroller 22 used in the present invention is a MC608HC705 B5 type and includes 6 KB memory ROM, 128 byte RAM), and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory tangible storage media, the program instructions executable by a processor capable of performing a method (Fig. 1 with microcontroller 22. Columns 4 lines 1-6, Column 5 lines 65-67, Column 6 lines 1-5 and 48-53. Battery charger 20 is comprised of the necessary elements for achieving the methodology of shunt recognition (i.e. dendrite formation)…all or part of these elements may be integrated into the microcontroller 22), the method comprising:
calculating a dendrite formation value of a cell within a battery pack based on captured sensor data (Column 4 lines 36-44 sampling a charging voltage of the battery; interrupting charging of the battery to sample an open circuit voltage of the battery; identifying one or more points indicative of dendrite formation); and in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold (Column 4 lines 36-44 .. and terminating charging if the point indicative of dendrite formation is identified).
Tsenter does not disclose/teach in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell.
Zhang teaches in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell ([0100] [0100] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a parallel test management device or PTMD 40…. each and every battery in a parallel group connects to a PTMD first. [0118] The PTMD of FIG. 6 provides safety in that it helps to prevent and avoid the explosion of a battery, and also, an unacceptable battery, such as one that has a short or inadequate capacity, can be isolated using the PTMD).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the computer system of Tsenter to wherein in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disabling the cell disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell in order to provide safety in that it helps to prevent and avoid the explosion of a battery [0118].
As to claims 2, 9, and 16, Tsenter in view of Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, the computer system of claim 8, and the computer program product of claim 15, further comprising: in response to determining the dendrite formation value does not exceed the safety threshold but does exceed a preconfigured threshold lower than the safety threshold (Abstract… If a shunt is not recognized charging is continued), performing a remediation action (Column 6 lines 20-26 .. the temperature detector 19 may be useful as a default mechanism to prevent explosive reactions from taking place. The collected information is fed to a microcontroller 22 which can in turn signal adjustment or termination of the 25 charging current by power manager 15 through current adjuster 18.
As to claims 3, 10, and 17, Tsenter in view of Zhang teaches the method of claim 2, the computer system of claim 9, and the computer program product of claim 16, wherein the remediation action comprises activating a cooling system to lower a temperature of the cell to a range less conducive to dendrite formation (Column 6 lines 20-26 …the temperature detector 19 may be useful as a default mechanism to prevent explosive reactions from taking place. The collected information is fed to a microcontroller 22 which can in turn signal adjustment or termination of the charging current by power manager 15 through current adjuster 18 (i.e termination of charging reduces battery temperature). Preferably, after an equilibrium period which may be preset into microcontroller 22 or a timer 14, the current is interrupted by a relay 17 so that the open circuit voltage VOCV of the battery 11 can be sampled).
As to claims 5, 12, and 19, Tsenter in view of Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, the computer system of claim 8, and the computer program product of claim 15, wherein the captured sensor data is selected from a group consisting of temperature, a charging detail, an available power state, a usage duration, an amount of recharge, an amount of discharge and any other information related to charge, discharge, operation, or environmental parameters of the cell (Abstract..Dendrite formation or the beginning of shunting due to such formation is indicated by any one of the following conditions: a negative gradient in sampled voltage values; a negative gradient in sampled steady open circuit values; and a negative gradient in the chemical polarization voltage values which may be calculated by sampling both the open circuit voltage soon after current interruption and steady open circuit voltages during a plurality of currentless phases).
As to claims 6, 13, and 20, Tsenter in view of Zhang teaches the method of claim 1, the computer system of claim 8, and the computer program product of claim 15, further comprising: mapping a location of the cell within the battery pack (Column 6 lines 1-5.. rechargeable lithium battery or cell 11 is connected to a power supply 13 through power manager 15).
Claims 4,11, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsenter (US 5729116) in view of Zhang (US 20220268852) hereinafter Zhang ‘852 in view of Zhang (US 20210334574) hereinafter Zhang ‘574.
As to claims 4, 11, and 18 Tsenter in view of Zhang ‘852 teaches the method of claim 1, the computer system of claim 8, and the computer program product of claim 15.
Tsenter in view of Zhang ‘852 does not disclose/teach wherein the calculating utilizes a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based, you only look once (YOLO) object detector, trained using historical data from various devices of a same or similar type as a device in which the cell is installed, to generate a percentage of dendrite formation in the cell.
Zhang ’574 teaches wherein the calculating utilizes a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based, you only look once (YOLO) object detector. ([0098] The SSD is a method that makes use of the ideas of the deep learning-based target detection algorithm YOLO (You Only Look Once) and Faster R-CNN, and the SSD have a fast target detection speed and a high target detection accuracy).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Tsenter to wherein the calculating utilizes a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based, you only look once (YOLO) object detector, trained using historical data from various devices of a same or similar type as a device in which the cell is installed in order to have a fast target detection speed and a high target detection accuracy ([0098]).
Claim 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsenter (US 5729116) in view of Zhang (US 20220268852) in view of (JP 2019039856)
As to claims 21 Tsenter in view of Zhang ‘852 teaches the method of claim 1.
Tsenter in view of Zhang ‘852 does not disclose/teach in response to determining that the dendrite formation value exceeds the safety threshold, initiating a scanning procedure of the cell using an x-ray computed tomography capture device.
SHIMURA teaches in response to determining that the dendrite formation value exceeds the safety threshold, initiating a scanning procedure of the cell using an x-ray computed tomography capture device ( The symmetric cell for observation described here is for observing lithium dendrites (so-called lithium dendrite) generated by energization of the symmetric cell for observation using X-ray computed tomography (CT).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Tsenter to wherein in response to determining that the dendrite formation value exceeds the safety threshold, initiating a scanning procedure of the cell using an x-ray computed tomography capture device in order to observe the growth state of the lithium dendrite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22 is 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 and rewritten to overcome the 112 second rejection above.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding dependent claim(s) 22, although the prior art discloses A computer system, the computer system comprising: one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more non- transitory computer-readable tangible storage media, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising: calculating a dendrite formation value of a cell within a battery pack based on captured sensor data; and in response to determining the dendrite formation value exceeds a safety threshold, disconnecting the cell from other cells within the battery pack such that current no longer flows through the cell during recharging and discharging of the cell, the prior art of record does not disclose or teach the combination of:
“wherein the program instructions further cause the computer system to perform operations comprising: monitoring data related to an overall status of the battery pack representative of an ability of the battery pack to provide operational power to a device powered by the battery pack; and in response to determining, due to dendrite formation, that the battery pack is unable to provide enough power to operate the device, transmitting a notification to a user through a graphical user interface of the device.”
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TYNESE V MCDANIEL whose telephone number is (313)446-6579. The examiner can normally be reached on M to F, 9am to 530pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Drew Dunn can be reached at 571-272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TYNESE V MCDANIEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
