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 .
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 12-14 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.
In claim 12, at line 24, the phrase “such as minimizing”, renders the claims indefinite because it is unclear whether the phrase is merely exemplary or whether it constitutes a required limitation of the claimed invention.
Claims 13-14 are rejected for their dependency on rejected base claim 12.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11 are allowed.
Claims 12-14 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1-11 and 12-14 would be allowable because the prior art of record does not teach or suggest a circuit arrangement or battery arrangement having all the combinations of elements as recited in and required by independent claims 1 or 12, particularly including, among other things, the following:
In claim 1, wherein each series-connectable cell module (120, 120′) is connected to a respective electronic module (100, 100′) controllable to include said each cell module (120, 120′) for contribution to the output voltage or to bypass said each cell module (120, 120′) for exclusion from contribution to the output voltage, wherein the circuit arrangement (10) is characterized by that the series-connectable cell modules (120, 120′) comprise: a first group of cell modules (150) comprising a first number of cell modules (150), wherein each cell module (120, 120′) of the first group has a first nominal cell module voltage in a range of 30-200 V, at least one second group of cell modules (150′) comprising a second number of cell modules (150′), wherein each cell module (120, 120′) of said at least one second group has a second nominal cell module voltage that is less than the first nominal cell module voltage, and by that the circuit arrangement (10) comprises: a control unit (20) configured to: measure the output voltage of the circuit arrangement (10), and in order to control the measured output voltage towards the voltage target, control at least one respective electronic module (100, 100′) to adjust a respective contributing number of cell modules (120, 120′) of at least one of the first and second groups, wherein each cell module (120, 120′) of the respective contributing number of cell modules (120, 120′) is contributing, positively or negatively, to the output voltage of the circuit arrangement (10).
In claim 12, at least one second circuit arrangement (10′), comprised in the battery arrangement (9), wherein the first circuit arrangement (10) and said at least one second circuit arrangement (10′) are parallelly connected to a pair of terminals (16, 18) for connection to the power unit (230, 300), and wherein the battery arrangement (9) comprises: a battery arrangement control unit (70) configured to: receive information comprising: a respective measured current for each one of the first and said at least one second circuit arrangement (10, 10′), a measured voltage on the DC link, a respective circuit configuration relating to which of the cell modules that contribute to voltage over each of the first and said at least one second circuit arrangement, and receive information comprising: a target current distribution indicating a respective target current for each of the first and said at least one second circuit arrangement (10, 10′), and the DC link voltage target, and wherein the battery arrangement control unit (70) is configured to: control the output voltage towards the DC link voltage target by assigning changed circuit configurations based on the respective measured current for each one of the first and said at least one second circuit arrangement (10, 10′), the measured voltage on the DC link, and the respective circuit configuration, while reducing, such as minimizing, a loss function defining a measure of the deviation from the target current distribution.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner SURESH MEMULA whose telephone number is (571)272-8046, and any inquiry for a formal Applicant initiated interview must be requested via a PTOL-413A form and faxed to the Examiner's personal fax phone number: (571) 273-8046. Furthermore, Applicant is invited to contact the Examiner via email (suresh.memula@uspto.gov) on the condition the communication is pursuant to and in accordance with MPEP §502.03 and §713.01. The Examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 9am-6pm. If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Jack Chiang, can be reached on 571-272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned (i.e., central fax phone number) is 571-273-8300.
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/SURESH MEMULA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
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