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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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.
2. 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.
Claim 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No US 2016/0330044 to Andrews et al. (hereinafter Andrews) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2022/0021071 to Shimizu et al. (hereinafter Shimizu)
As to claims 1, Andrews discloses a battery management apparatus comprising:
an interface circuit configured to perform controller area network (CAN) communication with an external device through a CAN bus line (Andrews; Fig.1; [0040] discloses the device 104 includes a CAN controller 114 configured in a Bus Manager mode via software processes. In this mode, the device 104 may interface and control the CAN controller 114 via computer-implemented processes, such as the processes described in FIGS. 3-8, to manage baud rate selection. In one embodiment, the device 104 may configure itself as the Bus Manager based on determining that no other device of the CAN bus 122 is operating as the Bus Manager); and
a micro controller unit (MCU) configured to detect an error in a CAN message frame received from the external device through the interface circuit, and to set a CAN baud rate based on whether the error is detected in the CAN message (Andrews; [0020]-[0023] discloses the sequences of instructions include instructions that cause the at least one processor to receive a data frame from at least one device coupled to the CAN bus, determine, in response to receiving the data frame, that the CAN bus does not support the second baud rate based on an error count of the CAN controller, determine a lower baud rate, wherein the lower baud rate is less than the second baud rate, and send a baud rate change request via the CAN bus, wherein the baud rate change request includes at least an identifier of the lower baud rate)
Andrews discloses of determining a abnormality in a battery pack, but fails to disclose wherein the MCU is configured to diagnose whether an abnormality occurs in a battery pack based on battery status data, and to receive the CAN message frame from the external device through the CAN bus line in response to a result of diagnosis. However, Shimizu discloses
wherein the MCU is configured to diagnose whether an abnormality occurs in a battery pack based on battery status data, and to receive the CAN message frame from the external device through the CAN bus line in response to a result of diagnosis (Shimizu; [0030]-[0032] discloses when it is determined that the abnormality has occurred in cell in battery pack, BMU notifies electronic control unit (ECU) of an abnormality occurrence signal of the cell via an in-vehicle network such as a controller area network (CAN). Here ECU is receiving CAN message (i.e. an abnormality occurrence signal) from BMU (=external device).
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings so that ECU can control the entire electric vehicle, and may be, for example, an integrated vehicle control module (VCM) when the abnormality occurrence signal of the cell is received from BMU
As to claims 2, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Andrews-Shimizu discloses wherein, in response to the battery management apparatus waking up, the MCU is configured to initialize the CAN baud rate to a most recently used CAN baud rate, and to check whether the error in the CAN message frame received from the external device is detected at the initialized CAN baud rate and to set the initialized CAN baud rate as a final CAN baud rate in response to no error being detected (Andrews; [0042]; [0070]-[0071] discloses during the startup of a device (e.g., devices 104, 106, 108, and 110) the device enters a “listen only” mode to determine which role (e.g., Bus Manager or Bus Client) the device should take. In one embodiment, if no communication is received via the CAN bus 122 after a predetermined period of time (e.g., 1 second), the device will operate as a Bus Manager. In other embodiments, the device will operate as a Bus Client in the event a Bus Manager is already present on the CAN bus 122. In these embodiments, the listen only mode continues until a baud rate is identified by the device. The listen only mode may reduce the potential of framing errors being introduced by the device on the CAN bus 122. In at least one embodiment, a device will initially configure itself to the lowest possible baud rate (e.g., 62.5 Kb). In other embodiments, a device will initially configure itself at the highest possible baud rate. In all of these embodiments, the device may determine a baud-rate mismatch based on detecting a framing error. If a mismatch is detected, the device may step-up, or step-down, to the next baud rate. Once a valid data frame is received, and thus a valid baud rate set, the device may continue to operate at the valid baud rate until a baud rate switch command (BUAD_RATE_SWITCH) is received from the Bus Manage).
Claim 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No US 2016/0330044 to Andrews et al. (hereinafter Andrews) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2022/0021071 to Shimizu et al. (hereinafter Shimizu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2018/0159699 to Yang et al. (hereinafter Yang)
As to claim 11, Andrews-Shimizu discloses of determining CAN baud rate, but fails to disclose of determining that the CAN baud rate is not the same as that of the external device. However, Yang discloses
wherein, in response to no error being detected in the CAN message frame, the MCU is configured to determine that the CAN baud rate is the same as that of the external device, and wherein, in response to the error being detected in the CAN message frame, the MCU is configured to determine that the CAN baud rate is not the same as that of the external device, and to change a preset CAN baud rate to a different CAN baud rate (Yang; [0056]-[0057] discloses rror detector 331 detects an error in reception information. For example, the error detector 331 may detect bit errors, Stuff errors, form errors, cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors, and acknowledgment bit errors. Bit errors occur when information transmitted from one node is not represented on the CAN bus. Stuff errors occur when six consecutive bit values in the CAN protocol mat not appear in principle. Form errors occur when the bit value specified by 0 or 1 appears differently. CRC errors occur when CRC calculation of a CRC field of the reception information confirms that some bits are changed. Acknowledgment bit errors occur when the receiver 330 receives reception information without error and the acknowledgment bit with a bit value of 0 has a different value. The counter 332 may count the number of errors detected by the error detector 331. If the number of detected errors is greater than or equal to a specific number, the error detector 331 may control the receiver 330 not to receive reception information and provide it to the reception FIFO memory 322. The reception baud-rate adjustor 333 adjusts the baud-rate of the reception information. The reception baud-rate adjustor 333 adjusts the baud rate of the data field included in the reception information according to the set protocol. For example, the reception baud-rate adjustor 333 may adjust the clock so that the data field is transmitted at a maximum of 1 Mbps when the protocol is set to CAN 2.0 A or CAN 2.0 B. The reception baud-rate adjustor 333 may adjust the clock so that the data field is transmitted at a maximum of 8 Mbps when the protocol is set to CAN 2.0 A FD or CAN 2.0 B FD. The reception baud-rate adjustor 333 may not adjust the baud rate of other fields except the data field regardless of the set protocol).
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to use the limited resources in an effective way by adjusting the bud rate
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-20 are allowable. Claims 3-10 are objected, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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