DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 102
2. 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, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Mitchell (US 2019/0258466).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Mitchell discloses a high voltage management system and associated method for an electrified vehicle (vehicle ECU software update system, including propulsion system ECU(s); Mitchell at Fig. 1, abstract, 0036, 0040) having firmware over-the-air (FOTA) capability (software/firmware update OTA capability; Mitchell at 0032), the high voltage management system comprising:
A FOTA supervisor module (infotainment module 182; Mitchell at 0049) configured to:
Receive, via a wireless communication medium, a FOTA flash update for a set of components of the electrified vehicle (communication module comprised of a transceiver configured to receive one or more software/firmware updates to vehicle control modules; Mitchell at 0048-0050).
Receive, from a customer, a customer input indicating a desired time to perform the FOTA flash update (customer can approve of immediate installation of update or schedule for later; Mitchell at abstract).
Coordinate the FOTA flash update of a set of components based on the customer input (implement update in accordance with driver selection; Mitchell at abstract, 0006).
A supervisory controller configured to:
Control an electrified powertrain, including a high voltage system, of the electrified vehicle (immobilizer configured to control electric powertrain1; Mitchell at 0007).
Ignore or reject a plurality of valid high voltage wakeup requests for the high voltage system to prevent interruption of the FOTA flash update of the set of components (vehicle will be immobilized until update is complete; Mitchell at 0007, 0032, 0048)
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Mitchell discloses wherein the customer selection is (i) FOTA now or (ii) FOTA scheduled at a future time (now or at a set future time period; Mitchell at abstract).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Mitchell discloses wherein when the customer selection is FOTA scheduled, the FOTA supervisor sets a NO FOTA, status and the supervisory controller and the electrified vehicle temporarily powers down until a wakeup timer expires, wherein the wakeup timer is based on a scheduled time for the FOTA flash update as specified by the customer input (user selects update for later, when vehicle is powered down and timer expires, update is installed (Mitchell at 0034).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Mitchell discloses wherein when there is a timeout because no customer selection is received within a timeout period, the FOTA supervisor sets a NO FOTA status and the supervisory controller and the electrified vehicle powers down (Mitchell at 0014, 0022).
Claim Objections
3. Claims 2, 6, 8, 11, 15, and 17 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.
Subsequently, claims 3, 4, 12, 13 are objected due to dependency on their respective claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN M DAGER whose telephone number is (571)270-1332. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 0830-1730.
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, Angela Ortiz can be reached on 571-272-1206. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JONATHAN M DAGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663
1 EV propulsion is inherently a high voltage operation