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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to application 18/608,789 filed 3/18/24. Claims 1-15 are pending with claims 1 and 8 in independent form.
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) 1-2, 4-5, 8-10 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim US 2023/0268754 A1.
Kim teaches:
Re: claim 1, A battery control method for controlling a battery system comprising a plurality of battery racks in a battery control system ([0022], [0041]), the method comprising: receiving operation mode information of the battery system from an energy management system ([0045]); receiving status information of the battery system from the battery system (abstract; [0015]-[0016], [0022], [0040], [0042]); determining an individual power of each of the plurality of battery racks based on the operation mode information and the status information ([0039]); and adjusting the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks if at least one of the plurality of battery racks has the individual power that exceeds a maximum power of a corresponding battery rack from among the plurality of battery racks ([0039]-[0044]).
Re: claim 2, The battery control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks comprises: determining a power correction coefficient based on the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks and maximum powers of the plurality of battery racks; and correcting the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks by reflecting the power correction coefficient to the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks ([0064]-[0067]; claim 6).
Re: claim 4, The battery control method as claimed in claim 2, wherein: if the operation mode information indicates a charge mode, the individual power indicates a charging power; and if the operation mode information indicates a discharge mode, the individual power indicates a discharging power ([0039], [0044], [0053]).
Re: claim 5, The battery control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the operation mode information comprises at least one of charge mode information or discharge mode information ([0039], [0044], [0053]); and the status information comprises at least one of a status of charge (SOC), a status of health (SOH), or a depth of discharge (DOD) of each of the plurality of battery racks ([0039], [0061]; claim 3).
Re: claim 8, A battery control system to control a battery system comprising a plurality of battery racks ([0022], [0041]), the battery control system comprising: a communicator configured to receive operation mode information of the battery system ([0045]) and status information of the battery system (abstract; [0015]-[0016], [0022], [0040], [0042]); an operation mode determiner configured to determine an operation mode of the battery system based on the operation mode information ([0039]); and a power calculator configured to: determine an individual power of each of the plurality of battery racks corresponding to the operation mode based on the status information ([0039]); and determine whether to adjust the individual power of each of the plurality of battery racks based on the individual power of each of the plurality of battery racks and a maximum power of each of the plurality of battery racks ([0039]-[0044]).
Re: claim 9, The battery control system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the power calculator is configured to determine final powers of the plurality of battery racks by adjusting the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks if at least one of the plurality of battery racks has the individual power that exceeds a maximum power of a corresponding battery rack ([0064]-[0067]; claim 6).
Re: claim 10, The battery control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the power calculator is configured to: determine a power correction coefficient based on the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks and maximum powers of the plurality of battery racks; and reflect the power correction coefficient to the individual powers of the plurality of battery racks to determine the final powers of the plurality of battery racks ([0064]-[0067]; claim 6).
Re: claim 13, The battery control system as claimed in claim 8, wherein: the operation mode information comprises at least one of charge mode information or discharge mode information ([0039], [0044], [0053]); and the status information comprises at least one of a status of charge (SOC), a status of health (SOH), or a depth of discharge (DOD) of each of the plurality of battery racks ([0039], [0061]; claim 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6-7, 11-12 and 14-15 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: The prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art, in conjunction with all the other limitations of the claims: With respect to claim 3 and all its dependencies, calculating a ratio of the individual power to the maximum power of each of the plurality of battery racks; and determining a smallest value from among the ratios of the individual powers to the maximum powers of the plurality of battery racks as the power correction coefficient, when combined with all the other limitations of the claim and claims 1 and 2 from which it depends. With respect to claim 6 and all its dependencies, the charge mode information comprises a total charging power of the battery system, and wherein the determining of the individual power comprises: determining a target charging coefficient representing a charging rate of each of the plurality of battery racks using the DOD and the SOH of each of the plurality of battery racks; and calculating an individual charging power of each of the plurality of battery racks based on the total charging power of the battery system and the target charging coefficient of each of the plurality of battery racks, when combined with all the other limitations of the claim and claims 1 and 5 from which it depends. With respect to claim 7 and all its dependencies, the discharge mode information comprises a total discharging power of the battery system, and wherein the determining of the individual power comprises: determining a target discharging coefficient representing a discharge rate of each of the plurality of battery racks using the SOC and the SOH of each of the plurality of battery racks; and calculating an individual discharging power of each of the plurality of battery racks based on the total discharging power of the battery system and the target discharging coefficient of each of the plurality of battery racks, when combined with all the other limitations of the claim and claims 1 and 5 from which it depends. With respect to claim 11 and all its dependencies, calculate a ratio of the individual power to the maximum power of each of the plurality of battery racks; and determine a smallest value of the ratios of the individual powers to the maximum powers of the plurality of battery racks as the power correction coefficient, when combined with all the other limitations of the claim and claims 8, 9 and 10 from which it depends. With respect to claim 12 and all its dependencies, the power calculator is configured to determine the individual power of each of the plurality of battery racks as the final power of each of the plurality of battery racks, respectively, if the individual power of each of the plurality of battery racks does not exceed the maximum power of each of the plurality of battery racks, when combined with all the other limitations of the claims and claims 8 and 9 from which it depends. With respect to claim 14 and all its dependencies, the charge mode information comprises a total charging power of the battery system, and wherein the power calculator is configured to: determine a target charging coefficient representing a charging rate of each of the plurality of battery racks using the DOD and the SOH of each of the plurality of battery racks; and calculate an individual charging power of each of the plurality of battery racks based on the total charging power of the battery system and the target charging coefficient of each of the plurality of battery racks, when combined with all the other limitations of the claim and claims 8 and 13 from which it depends. With respect to claim 15 and all its dependencies, the discharge mode information comprises a total discharging power of the battery system, and wherein the power calculator is configured to: determine a target discharging coefficient representing a discharge rate of each of the plurality of battery racks using the SOC and the SOH of each of the plurality of battery racks; and calculate an individual discharging power of each of the plurality of battery racks based on the total discharging power of the battery system and the target discharging coefficient of each of the plurality of battery racks, when combined with all the other limitations of the claim and claims 8 and 13 from which it depends. The prior art of record fails to provide sufficient teaching or motivation to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the additionally recited features of these claims in the combinations as claimed.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISTY A HAUPT whose telephone number is (571)272-8545 and email address is kristy.haupt@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Sun 5:30 AM- 10PM; Flex during day.
If all attempts to reach the examiner by telephone and email are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Pham, can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-3689. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KRISTY A HAUPT/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
KAH