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 . The instant application with Application Number 18/496,651 filed on 10/27/2023 is presented for examination. Claims 1-21 are pending.
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 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 present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
Claims 1, 10-11 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taylor, JR. et al. (US 2019/0115631) (Hereinafter, Taylor) in view of Kang et al. (US 2018/0226808).
With respect to claims 1, 10 and 16, Taylor discloses a serial tapped inductor battery balancing device (Fig. 3A, 210; para. # 0051) comprising: a positive terminal of a power source connected to a first cell and an alpha switch (Para. # 0044: The energy storage system 100 is typically connected to a source 105 and a load 150 via a bus); a second cell and a first switch both in electrical connection with a negative terminal of the first cell (Para. # 0066: second electrical path connected between the negative terminal of the main bus and the one or more battery units 103 comprising the switch S3 438);
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and a third cell and a second switch both in electrical connection with a negative terminal of the second cell, the alpha switch in series with a first inductor (Para. # 0063: a third electrical path connected in parallel to the first electrical path between the positive terminal of the main bus and the one or more battery units comprising the semi-conductor switch U1 410, semi-conductor switch 415, switch , the inductor L1, and the inductor. A fourth electrical path connected in parallel to the second electrical path between the negative terminal of the main bus and the one or more battery units 103 with semi-conductor switch U3, switch S2, the inductor, and the inductor); the first inductor both in electrical connection with the first switch and a second inductor (Fig. 4A, inductor 440 switch 434 and second inductor 425); the second inductor both in electrical connection with the second switch (Fig. 4A, second inductor 445 in connection with switches 415 and 425), and the switch and the third cell both in electrical connection with a negative terminal of the power source(switch 425, battery 103 connected with a negative terminal 455 of the power source).
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Taylor, does not expressly disclose multiple inductors and switches connected with plurality of cells in cell balancing.
Kang et al. (Hereinafter, Kang), on the other hand, discloses multiple inductors and switches connected with plurality of cells in cell balancing (see Par. # 0032: battery module balancing circuit 40 performs a balancing operation on the battery modules M.sub.1 to M.sub.M connected in series using a first single inductor L.sub.M, and the battery module M performs a balancing operation on battery cells B.sub.1 to B.sub.N connected in series using a second single inductor Ls.).
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TAYLOR and Kang are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely wearable device and battery module balancing using inductors.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the circuit of cell balancing by using multiple inductors to the battery balance system of Taylor in view of Kang for the benefit of transferring energy between cells, equalizing state of charge faster and more efficiently than using passive elements such as resistors.
With respect to claim 11, The combined references of Taylor and Kang disclose the serial tapped inductor battery balancing device as described above, further Kang discloses further comprising: a second switch connected between the chain of cells and the chain of inductors; wherein the second switch is connected to the chain of cells between the second cell and a third cell; and wherein the second switch is connected to the chain of inductors between the second inductor and a third inductor (see Par. # 0032/0052: battery module balancing circuit 40 performs a balancing operation on the battery modules; the positive terminal (+) of the battery cell B.sub.4 is connected to one side of the second single inductor Ls through the switches S.sub.5 and Q.sub.4, and the negative terminal (−) of the battery cell B.sub.4 is connected to the other side of the second single inductor Ls through the switches S.sub.4 and Q.sub.1. Thus, the electrical energy of the battery cell B.sub.4 is transferred and stored into the second single inductor Ls.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 12 and 17 are 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. Claims 3-9; 13-15 and 18-21 are depend on the above objected claims of 2, 12 and 17 above.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YALKEW FANTU whose telephone number is (571)272-8928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DREW A 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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/YALKEW FANTU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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