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 .
In response to the restriction requirement, Applicant elected claims 1, 12-13, 18-20 for further examination. As a result, claims 2-11 and 14-17 are withdrawn from further prosecution.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because:
Eligibility Step 1 (MPEP 2106. 3, subsection II): The claims, after reviewing the entire application disclosure, considered as a whole, are determined to be directed to one of the statutory category (processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter): A method/apparatus/system.
Eligibility Step 2A (MPEP 2106. 4, subsection II):
Prong One: The claims recite the limitation of calculating the features from the measurement. This limitation is analyzed including concepts directed to “mathematical concepts” that falls within at least one of the groupings of abstract idea (MPEP 2106.04(a) Abstract Ideas: The enumerated groupings of abstract ideas: Mathematical concepts, Certain methods of organizing human activity, Mental processes). As a result, the claims recite a judicial exception.
Prong Two: The additional steps/actions/elements recited in the claims:
- acquiring measurement data including the amounts of charge and the voltages (Mere data gathering – obtaining information (MPEP 2106.05(g));
- estimating a state of the battery from the features (Insignificant post solution activity (MPEP 2106.05(g))
When viewed in combination of as a whole, the recited additional steps/actions/elements do no more than add insignificant extra-solution to the judicial exception. As a result, these additional steps/actions/elements do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. These claims are therefore directed to an abstract idea.
Eligibility Step 2B (MPEP 2106. 5: Whether a claim amounts to significantly more):
The additional steps/actions/elements recited in the claims, acquiring measurement data and estimating a state of the battery, are well known in the field as evidenced by Yamamoto et al. (US 2021/0178927) (as addressed in the 102 rejection below), do not add an inventive concept to the claim due to only adding insignificant pre-solution and post-solution activities to the judicial exception.
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.
2. Claim(s) 1 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamamoto et al. (US 2021/0178927).
Regarding independent claims 1 and 18-20, Yamamoto et al. discloses an information processing apparatus (claim 1), an information processing method (claim 18), a non-transitory computer readable medium (claim 19) and an information processing system (claim 20) comprising processing circuitry configured to acquire measurement data including a plurality of amounts of charge and a plurality of voltage values in a target rechargeable battery (FIG. 1 and paragraph [0043]: The measurement device 41 measures the voltage, current, and the like of the rechargeable battery 202. Paragraph [0039]: The data acquirer 103 may calculate the present charging amount (SoC) based on the initial SoC and the current value and may add the calculated SoC to the measurement data);
calculate, based on the measurement data, a first feature related to a range of the voltage values with respect to the amounts of charge and a second feature related to a change of the voltage values with respect to the amounts of charge (paragraph [0052] and FIG. 11, step S33: The feature calculator 12 calculates the first feature expressing the ratio/gradient of a voltage increased amount relative to an increased amount of SoC (FIG. 4: ΔV/ΔSoC) (this reads on the claimed second feature) and the second feature expressing a voltage increased Vsp (FIG. 4: Vsp) (this reads on the claimed first feature), wherein SoC reads on the amount of charge); and
estimate a state of the target rechargeable battery based on the first feature and the second feature (FIG. 11, step S34: Estimate SoH, wherein SoH is the state of health of the battery. Paragraph [0065]: The SoH is specified based on corresponding ΔV/ΔSoC and Vsp calculated by the feature calculator).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-13 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.
Regarding to claim 12: The primary reasons for the indication of the allowability of the claim is the inclusions therein, in combination as currently claimed, of the limitation that wherein the measurement data includes first measurement data measured when charge or discharge is performed based on a first scheme in which a current becomes relatively small in an end time slot close to an end of charge or discharge, and a second measurement data measured when charge or discharge is performed based on a second scheme different from the first scheme, the processing circuitry calculates the first feature and the second feature based on data of the end time slot in the first measurement data, and the processing circuitry estimates the state of the target rechargeable battery based on the first feature and the second feature that have been calculated, the processing circuitry calculates the first feature and the second feature based on the second measurement data, and the processing circuitry estimates the state of the target rechargeable battery based on the first feature and the second feature that have been calculated, and a difference between an estimated value of the state of the target rechargeable battery based on the second scheme and an estimated value of the state of the target rechargeable battery based on the first scheme is calculated, and a change of the state due to a cycle deterioration of the target rechargeable battery is calculated based on the calculated difference is neither disclosed nor taught by the cited prior art of record, alone or in combination.
Claim 13 is allowed because they depend directly/indirectly on claim 12.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAM S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2151.
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/LAM S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853