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
2. 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/18/2024 is considered by the examiner.
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, 4, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Kamata et al. (US 20130088202), hereinafter ‘Kamata’.
Regarding Claim 1, Kamata discloses a battery monitoring device (Fig. 1, cell balance control unit) having a function of detecting disconnection of each of a plurality of connection lines (Fig. 1, each line coupled C1…C12 to T1…T12 respectively; showing line with occurrence of disconnection along C2 to T2) respectively connected to a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack in which the plurality of battery cells is connected in series (Abstract detects disconnection of wirings extracted from both ends of each battery cell based on a potential difference between the adjacent battery cells; Para [0017] the cell balance control unit 1 is used in performing a cell balance control for uniformizing voltages of twelve battery cells C1 to C12, connected to each other in series), the battery monitoring device comprising: a plurality of internal wirings (Fig. 1, line coupled between T1 to D1, Tn to Dn) respectively connected to the plurality of connection lines (Fig. 1, showing line coupled C1…C12 to T1…T12 coupled at a node to line coupled between T1 to D1, Tn to Dn); a plurality of transistors (Fig. 1, T1-T12; Para [0018]) provided to correspond to the plurality of internal wirings (Fig. 1, line coupled between T1 to D1, Tn to Dn) and turned on according to a potential difference between a corresponding internal wiring and an internal wiring adjacent to the corresponding internal wiring (Para [0022-0023] the micro-computer M has a function of controlling the switching elements T1 to T12; the micro-computer M has also a function of controlling the switching elements of the discharge circuits connected to the adjacent battery cells, and detecting the disconnection of the wiring extracted from both ends of each battery cell based on the potential difference between the adjacent battery cell); and a determination circuit that performs a determination process of determining presence or absence of disconnection of each of the plurality of connection lines based on output voltages of the plurality of transistors (Para [0023-0029] micro-computer M has also a function of controlling the switching elements and detecting the disconnection of the wiring extracted from both ends of each battery cell based on the potential difference between the adjacent battery cell).
Regarding Claim 4, Kamata discloses wherein the output voltages of the plurality of transistors are simultaneously input to the determination circuit (Para [0004] a discharge circuit composed of a series circuit of a switching element and a bypass resistor is connected to each battery cell in parallel, and the uniformity of each cell voltage is realized by turning on (discharging the battery cell) the switching element of the discharge circuit connected to the battery cell; thus to maintain uniformity of each cell the voltage of the switches is realized in a uniform manner).
Regarding Claim 5, Kamata discloses wherein the determination circuit outputs information indicating a connection line in which disconnection occurs among the plurality of connection lines (Para [0027] after the lapse of a certain period of time from the start time t1 of the disconnection detection period, the micro-computer M fetches the output voltages V1 to V12 of each of the voltage detecting circuits D1 to D12 and converts the output voltages into digital data).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 3 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding Claim 2, the closest prior art fails to disclose nor would it be obvious to combine “wherein the plurality of transistors includes P-channel transistors each having a source connected to a corresponding internal wiring, a gate connected to an adjacent internal wiring on a low potential side, and a drain connected to a first current source, and voltages generated at the respective drains of the P-channel transistors are input to the determination circuit as the output voltages” in combination with all other limitations of the claim renders the claim allowable over the prior art.
Regarding Claim 3, the closest prior art fails to disclose nor would it be obvious to combine “a lowest potential internal wiring that is an internal wiring connected to a lowest potential connection line and to which a ground potential is applied when the lowest potential connection line is not disconnected; a second current source that biases the lowest potential internal wiring; and an N-channel transistor having a gate connected to the lowest potential internal wiring, a source connected to a ground wiring to which the ground potential is applied, and a drain connected to a third current source, wherein a voltage generated at the drain of the N-channel transistor is input to the determination circuit as the output voltage” in combination with all other limitations of the claim renders the claim allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kiuchi (US 20130320991) discloses a voltage monitoring module for use in a voltage monitoring system for monitoring an output voltage of a battery cell of an assembled battery supplying power to an electric vehicle.
Aoki et al. (US 20120146652) discloses voltage measuring circuits respectively connected to voltage detecting lines and detecting electric potential difference between the voltage detecting lines; electrically openable short-circuiting switches are arranged between capacitors and the voltage measuring circuits and connected to the capacitors in parallel; An assembled battery managing unit detects difference between measurement results with respect to each of the short-circuiting switches and detects failure based on the difference between the measurement results.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALESA ALLGOOD whose telephone number is (571)270-5811. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 AM-3:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eman Alkafawi can be reached at (571) 272-4448. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALESA ALLGOOD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858