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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDSes filed 12/01/23 and 12/09/24 have both been considered and placed of record. The two (2) initialed copies are attached herewith.
Specification
The disclosure should be carefully reviewed to ensure that any and all grammatical, idiomatic, and spelling or other minor errors are corrected. For example, amendment 12/01/23 to claim 6 replaced the word “used” with --use-- (two occurrences). In term of grammar, the original word “used” should have been kept.
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.
Claims 1-6, 9, 10, 13-15, 17, 18 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Han et al. (US 2018/0022299A1).
Re claim 1, the reference discloses A method for controlling a vehicle having, inter alia, determining a power supply of the vehicle is in an insufficient electric-charge-quantity state (para 173) , when the vehicle is stopped and a battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in a non-activated state (para 168-169); controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter a primary protection state (para 170 and 174); and limiting a specified power consumption function in the vehicle not to be used, when the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in the primary protection state (end of para 174). See fig 8.
Re claims 2 and 21, the reference further discloses determining the power supply of the vehicle is in the insufficient electric-charge-quantity state comprises: obtaining a state of charge (SoC) of a power battery of the vehicle and a charging state of the vehicle, when the vehicle is stopped and the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in the non-activated state; and determining that the power supply of the vehicle is in the insufficient electric-charge- quantity state, in response to the SoC of the power battery being in a first low-electric-charge- quantity range and the charging state of the vehicle indicating that the vehicle is not charged. See para 162.
Re claim 3, the reference further discloses the primary protection state comprises a first protection state and a second protection state, and a number of limited functions of the vehicle in the first protection state is less than a number of limited functions of the vehicle in the second protection state. See para 181.
Re claims 4 and 22, the reference further discloses the first low-electric-charge-quantity range comprises a first range and a second range and an electric-charge quantity lower limit of the first range is higher than an electric-charge-quantity upper limit of the second range; and controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter the primary protection state comprises: obtaining a state of charge (SoC) of a storage battery of the vehicle; controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter the first protection state, in response to the SoC of the power battery being within the first range and the SoC of the storage battery reaching a first electric-charge-quantity threshold; and controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter the second protection state, in response to the SoC of the power battery being within the second range and the SoC of the storage battery not reaching the first electric-charge-quantity threshold. See also para 181.
Re claim 5, the reference further discloses when the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is within the first protection state, controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter the second protection state, in response to detecting that the SoC of the storage battery is lower than the first electric-charge-quantity threshold. See also para 181.
Re claim 6, the reference further discloses limiting the specified power consumption function in the vehicle not to be used comprises: limiting a power consumption function controlled by at least one of an assisted driving domain controller, a body domain controller, or a direct current to direct current (DC2DC) converter, not to be used. See para 179.
Re claim 9, the reference further discloses generating and outputting a first prompt message, wherein the first prompt message is configured to indicate a power consumption function that has been limited. See para 175 and fig 8.
Re claims 10 and 23, the reference further discloses determining the vehicle satisfies a condition for entering a protection activated state, when the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in the primary protection state, wherein an electric charge quantity consumed by the vehicle in the protection activated state is lower than an electric charge quantity consumed by the vehicle in the primary protection state; and controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter the protection activated state, in response to determining that the vehicle satisfies the condition for entering the protection activated state. See para 176-178.
Re claim 13, the reference further discloses the specified function is controlled by a specified device; and the method further comprises: controlling the specified device to sleep, when the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in the protection activated state. See para 186-189.
Re claim 14, the reference further discloses determining the vehicle satisfies a condition for existing protection, when the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in the protection activated state; and controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to switch from the protection activated state to the non-activated state, in response to determining that the vehicle satisfies the condition for existing protection. See para 174-175.
Re claim 15, the reference further discloses determining whether the vehicle satisfies the condition for exiting protection comprises: determining that the vehicle satisfies the condition for existing protection, when the vehicle is powered on; or determining that the vehicle satisfies the condition for existing protection, when a state of charge (SoC) of a power battery is greater than a second electric-charge-quantity threshold and a charging state of the vehicle indicates that the vehicle is being charged. See para 170-172.
Re claim 17, the reference discloses a vehicle with an assisted driving domain controller (para 59), a body domain controller (para 55; BCM), a direct current to direct current (DCDC) converter, and a power domain controller 100, wherein the power domain controller 100 is configured to determining a power supply of the vehicle is in an insufficient electric-charge-quantity state (para 173) , when the vehicle is stopped and a battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in a non-activated state (para 168-169); controlling the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function to enter a primary protection state (para 170 and 174); and limiting a specified power consumption function in the vehicle not to be used, when the battery low-electric-charge-quantity protection function is in the primary protection state (end of para 174). See fig 8.
Re claim 18, the limitations mirrored in claims 1 and 17 in computer programs executed by controller. Rationale for rejecting claims 1 and 17 applied here.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 8, 11 and 12 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication** should be directed to the Examiner at the below number. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thu from 7:00am-5:00pm.
The Examiner’s SPE is Drew Dunn and he can be reached at 571.272.2312. The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571.273.8300.
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/EDWARD TSO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 571.272.2087
**All communications after 10/31/26 should be directed to SPE Drew Dunn at his number.
