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 .
Objections to the Drawings
The drawings are objected to because figures 2 and 3 disclose generic box elements
without labeling the elements in Fig.2 or listing the method steps in Fig.3. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in
reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement
drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the
sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended
drawing should not be labeled as "amended." If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the
appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the
remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of
the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be
necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after
the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either "Replacement Sheet"
or "New Sheet" pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner,
the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office
action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-6, 8-13 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by HUYNH et al. (US 2017/0120770 A1, hereinafter HUYNH).
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Regarding claims 1 and 16 (claim 156 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HUYNH discloses a switching arrangement for an energy storage system in a vehicle (See Fig.2, discloses contactors 230 coupled to energy storage devices 220 and used in vehicle system 100 [Fig.1]), the energy storage system comprising a plurality of parallelly arranged battery packs (See Fig.2, Items#220, disclose a plurality of battery packs/stings 220), the switching arrangement comprising:
an associated contactor for each battery pack (See Fig.2, Items#230, disclose a contactor for each battery string 220) the contactors being configured to connect the battery packs to a power apparatus being a load and/or a power source by closing (See Fig.2 and Par.22, disclose the contactors 230 connecting the battery strings 220 to electric drive system 280. The electrical drive operates as a load which receives power from the batteries and operates as a motor and also operates as a power source during regenerative braking [generator]]), and disconnect the battery packs from the power apparatus by opening,
a control unit (See Fig.3, Item#360) configured to:
identify a battery pack to be disconnected from the power apparatus (See Fig.4, Step#402, disclose detecting a faulty battery to be disconnected), the battery pack being one of a plurality of battery packs connected to the power apparatus (See Fig.4 and Fig.2, disclose a method for disconnecting a battery pack 220 coupled to power device 280),
provide measured current of the identified battery pack (See Par.18, discloses determining a faulty string includes detecting an overcurrent condition. Par.28 also discloses lowering the current to a predetermined level. Both the detection of an overcurrent condition and reducing the bus current to a predetermined level are interpreted to include measurement of current),
in response to the measured current of the identified battery pack being higher than a predetermined threshold value, reduce the current of the identified battery pack (See Pars.18 and 28 as discussed above, when an overcurrent condition is detected i.e. current higher than a threshold, the string is considered faulty and selected to be disengaged. Par.28 and Fig.4, Step#404, disclose reducing the current limit on the power train), and
in response to the measured current of the identified battery pack being lower than the predetermined threshold value (See Fig.4, Step#406 and Par.29, disclose monitoring the current through the faulty string using monitoring circuit 250 [Fig.1, Item#250]), open the contactor associated with the identified battery pack to disconnect the battery pack from the power apparatus (See Fig.4, Step#408, discloses opening the contactor when the detected current reaches a desired level).
Regarding claims 2 and 17 (claim 17 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HUYNH discloses the switching arrangement according to claim 16 as discussed above, wherein the switching arrangement comprises a common traction voltage bus connecting the plurality of battery packs with the power apparatus (See Fig.2, discloses a DC bus 210 connecting the battery packs to electric drive system 280), wherein the control unit is configured to reduce the current of the identified battery pack by adjusting the current on the common traction voltage bus (See Pars.28, 42 and Fig.3, Item#362, disclose the current limit of power train 110 may be reduced to a predetermined current level).
Regarding claims 3 and 18 (claim 18 is considered representative for limitations matching purposes, HUYNH discloses the switching arrangement according to claim 17 as discussed above, wherein the control unit is configured to adjust the current on the common traction voltage bus by controlling the operation of the power apparatus (See Par.42, discloses after receiving an instruction to disengage the faulty string, current limit adjusting module 362 may send a control command to motor control module 366 for reducing the torque generated by motors 390. The torque may be reduced to a level that prevents the current limit of power train 110 from exceeding the first current level).
Regarding claim 19, HUYNH discloses a computer program comprising program code means for performing the method according to claim 1, when the program is run on a computer. (See Par.35-37, disclose a controller 360 comprising a memory and a processing component for executing instruction stored in the memory).
Regarding claim 20, HUYNH discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium carrying a computer program comprising program code for performing the method according to claim 1, when the program code is run on a computer (See Par.35-37, disclose a controller 360 comprising a memory and a processing component for executing instruction stored in the memory. The memory is interpreted as the non-transitory readable medium and the computer is the processor).
Regarding claim 4, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the switching arrangement comprises a control unit configured to receive the measured current of each one of the plurality battery packs (See Fig.2, and Par.29, disclose a monitoring circuit 250 attached to all battery strings 220. Monitoring circuit 250 monitors current through the contactors 230).
Regarding claim 5, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 4 as discussed above, further comprising:
providing measured current of each one of a plurality of battery packs connected to the power apparatus (See Par.29 and Fig.2, Item#250, disclose a monitoring circuit connected to the plurality of battery strings 250 and monitors the current through the plurality of contactors 230. Pars.18 and 25, discloses a faulty string is determined based on detecting an overcurrent condition);
in response to the measured current of each one of the plurality of battery packs, evaluating which of the battery packs to be disconnected from the power apparatus (See Par.18, discloses detecting a fault in a string based on overcurrent i.e. when the current is above a threshold, undervoltage i.e. voltage below a threshold in the string).
Regarding claim 6, The method according to claim 1, wherein the power apparatus is a load being a motor (See Fig.3, Item#390 discloses a motor and Par.42, discloses controlling the motor torque to change the current on the power train).
Regarding claim 8, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, wherein at least one battery pack is still connected to the power apparatus during the disconnection of the identified battery pack from the power apparatus (See Fig.4, Step#404 and Par.46, disclose disconnecting the faulty string and adjusting the current based on the faultless strings which are still connected).
Regarding claim 9, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 8 as discussed above, further comprising the step of opening the contactor associated with the last connected battery pack to disconnect the battery pack from the power apparatus, such that no battery pack is connected to the power apparatus (See Fig.4, Step#404 and Par.46, disclose disconnecting the faulty string and adjusting the current based on the faultless strings which are still connected. The examiner explains that if a fault is detected in the remaining battery strings then the other battery strings will also be disconnected. Par.18 discloses disconnecting the faulty strings when the vehicle is stopped and current is minimal).
Regarding claim 10, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the measured current of the identified battery pack is provided continuously (See Fig.2, Item#250 and Fig.4 and Par.29, disclose detecting the fault in a string of the plurality of the strings by continuously monitoring the current through the strings during operation. The prior art does not disclose the monitoring is intermittent and therefore is interpreted by the examiner to be continuous monitoring).
Regarding claim 11, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, wherein at least a last battery pack is connected to the power apparatus during the disconnection of the identified battery pack, wherein the last battery pack is another battery pack than the identified battery pack (See Fig.4, Step#404 and Par.46, disclose disconnecting the faulty string and adjusting the current based on the faultless strings which are still connected).
Regarding claims 12-13, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, further comprising disconnecting at least two of the battery packs in the energy storage system from the power apparatus (See Fig.4, step#402, disclose disconnecting a faulty string. There is no restriction that if two strings are found to be faulty that would prevent both strings from being disconnected), wherein reducing the current of the identified battery pack is performed for each disconnection of the two battery packs (See Fig.4, Step#404, discloses reducing the current based on the number of faultless/connected battery strings i.e. when the first string is disconnected current is reduced and when the second string is disconnected the current is reduced again as the number of faultless strings is reduced).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HUYNH.
Regarding claim 14, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 13 as discussed above, However, HUYNH does not disclose wherein each one of the battery packs in the energy storage system is associated with a predetermined individual number, and the method comprises disconnecting the battery packs from the power apparatus in the predetermined numbered order.
However the examiner explains that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by HUYNH by detaching the battery packs according to a predetermined numbered order based on priority of the battery packs for the function of the vehicle for the benefit of prolonging the operating time of the vehicle.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HUYNH in view of Ahn et al. (US 2015/0323610 A1, hereinafter AHN).
Regarding claim 7, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, However, HUYNH does not disclose wherein the step of providing the measured current of the identified battery pack is performed during a no power operation of the power apparatus.
AHN discloses evaluating a vehicle battery degradation using measured current during a no power operation a vehicle the power apparatus (See Fig.3, Step#S330 and Pars.9 and 49, disclose calculating a vehicle battery degradation based on a combination of degradation calculations of the vehicle during load and no-load conditions).
HUYNH and AHN are analogous art since they both deal with vehicle battery degradation evaluation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by HUYNH with the teachings of AHN by calculating degradation based on measurement during a no power operation of the power apparatus in addition to power operation for the benefit of increasing the accuracy of the degradation calculation.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HUYNH in view of CARCOUET et al. (US 2006/0171088 A1, hereinafter CARCOUET).
Regarding claim 15, HUYNH discloses the method according to claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the step of reducing the current of the identified battery pack is performed until disconnection takes place (See Fig.4, Step#410).
However, HUYNH does not disclose the step of reducing the current of the identified battery pack is performed for a predetermined time interval.
CARCOUET discloses a switching device with a current limiter wherein a step of reducing the current to disconnect a switch is done for a predetermined time interval (See Pars.9 and 28, disclose limiting the current for a period of time that is enough to perform the opening and closing).
HUYNH and CARCOUET are analogous art since they both deal with switching circuits.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify HUYNH with the teachings of CARCOUET by reducing the current of the identified battery pack is performed for a predetermined time interval for the benefit of simplifying the control process by returning to higher current after a determined time needed for switching expires.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED H OMAR whose telephone number is (571)270-7165. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am -7:00 PM EST.
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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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/AHMED H OMAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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