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 18/560,289 filed on 11/10/2023 is presented for examination. Claims 1-6 ae pending. As per the remarks of 11/23/2025, claims 3 and 4 have been amended; claims 1-6 pending.
Information Disclosure Statment
The Information Disclosure Statement dated 11/10/2023 is acknowledged and the cited references have been considered in this examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burkman et al. (US 2018/0272870) (Hereinafter, Burkman) in view of Kramer et al. (US 2019/0326745).
With respect to claims 1, 5 and 6, Burkman discloses an in-vehicle energy storage apparatus/method ( Fig. 1, main 124 and auxiliary 130) comprising: an energy storage cell (Fig. 1, 124 containing series of connected battery cells); a current interruption device configured to interrupt a current to the energy storage cell (Para. # 0025: he precharge operation is performed to reduce the occurrence of such events. In addition, arcing and welding may occur when the contactor is commanded to open while current is flowing. Normal shut-down procedures may check that current is below a threshold before opening the contactors.); and a control unit (Fig. 1, 148),
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wherein the control unit is configured to, in a case where the energy storage apparatus is charged (Para. # 0019: The EVSE 138 may provide circuitry and controls to regulate and manage the transfer of energy between the power source 136 and the vehicle 112. The external power source 136 may provide DC or AC electric power to the EVSE 138. The EVSE 138 may have a charge connector 140 for coupling to a charge port 134 of the vehicle 112),
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interrupt the current to the energy storage cell by the current interruption device after the energy storage apparatus is charged with electricity (Para. # 0025, 0044: The purpose of the precharge operation is to limit the large initial current flow (e.g., inrush current) that can occur when switching a voltage to the capacitive loads. The precharge operation protects the main contactor 206 and the return contactor 208 from excessive inrush currents).
Burkman, does not expressly disclose a control unit is configured to, in a case where the energy storage apparatus is charged with electricity in a not-in-vehicle state and needs automatic shout-off or shut-on operation to prevent in-rush current.
Kramer, on the other hand, discloses disclose a control unit is configured to, in a case where the energy storage apparatus is charged with electricity in a not-in-vehicle state and needs automatic shout-off or shut-on operation to prevent in-rush current (See Para. # 0044: when the relay module 202 is triggered by the under-voltage signal, the relay module 202 may be reset automatically when the battery voltage 206 raise to a predetermined voltage threshold that may be greater than the under-voltage threshold. Additionally, when the relay module 202 is triggered by the overcurrent signal, the relay module 202 include two disconnect statuses: one may be used for disconnecting a circuit upon the under-voltage signal and the other one may be used for disconnecting the circuit upon the overcurrent signa).
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BURKMAN and Kramer are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely Battery precharge circuit and an apparatus for protecting battery.
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 protection and control circuit of Burkman with the protection circuit of Kramer for the benefit of protecting the rechargeable battery form over-current charging power or protect from being drained that completely affect the battery life ((Para.# 0042/0032: When the sensed current exceeds a predefined current threshold, the current sense module 204 may send an overcurrent signal to the relay module 202. In some embodiments, the overcurrent signal may be a trigger for the relay module 202 to turn off the power to the load and, thus, the battery may be protected from being drained).
With respect to claim 2, the combined references of Burman and Kramer disclose the in-vehicle storage apparatus as described above, further Kramer discloses wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the energy storage apparatus is in an in-vehicle state or in the not-in-vehicle state after the energy storage apparatus is charged with electricity (Para. # 0040-0041).
With respect to claim 3, the combined references of Burman and Kramer disclose the in-vehicle storage apparatus as described above, further Kramer discloses wherein the control unit (Fig. 1, 148) is configured to determine whether the energy storage apparatus is in an in-vehicle state or in the not-in-vehicle state based on communication between the energy storage apparatus and a vehicle (Par. # 0024, 0029-0030: The voltage sensing devices 214, 216 may also include circuitry for filtering the voltage signals and isolating the contactor controller 220 from high voltages. The contactor controller 220 may receive a signal from the battery-side voltage sensing device 214 that is indicative of the traction battery voltage).
With respect to claim 4, the combined references of Burman and Kramer disclose the in-vehicle storage apparatus as described above, further Burkman discloses wherein the control unit is configured to release interruption of a current by the current interruption device in a case when the energy storage apparatus is mounted on a vehicle during the interruption of the current (Para. # 0028,0046: the main contactor 406 to open, the traction battery voltage may be compared to the load-side voltage. The comparison may be performed a predetermined delay time after commanding the main contactor 406 to open to allow the load-side voltage to decay. If the difference between the traction battery voltage and the load-side voltage is greater than a predetermined amount, then the main contactor 406 is likely opened as commanded).
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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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