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 .
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 –
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Li et al (US20240162508A1).
A vehicle (fig. 1) comprising:
an electric machine (“electrified vehicle 12 in the form of a battery electric vehicle (BEV)”);
a traction battery (traction battery 24); and
a controller(“controller 48”, BECM 50 is a traction battery controller) programmed (¶0095-0096 “pre-programmed profile”, “Once the pre-programmed profile is completely executed”) to command discharge of power from the traction battery (¶0033 last sentence) for the electric machine (figure 1 & 8A) according to data of the traction battery (e.g., “capacity”, “first terminal voltage”, “SOC”, “parameter estimations” etc.) from instances of time (“first time”, “second time”, ¶0011 “given time”, ¶0066 “discrete time state”) selected based on a net amp-hour (“Ah”, “ampere-hour”, equation 00007) throughput uncertainty associated with the instances of time (see equation 00002 “Uncertainties associated with equation (1)” equation 1 is Q capacity equation, two paragraphs above).
Claim 14 Li discloses the vehicle of claim 13, wherein the controller is further programmed to selectively store the data based on the net amp-hour throughput uncertainty (figures 7, 8A/B, “battery energy control module (BECM)”, ¶0074 “BECM 50 obtains a measurement of the current discharged from traction battery 24 during the drive time (i.e., the ampere-hour (Ah) “, “BeCM 50 is to detect the final SOC (independent of the Ah integration) process”).
Claim 15 Li discloses the vehicle of claim 13, wherein the data include a current of the traction battery (Abstract 1st sentence, claim 10 & figures 9A/C).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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, 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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN107179509A in view of applicant cited Li et al (US 9187007).
An automotive power system (fig. 1) comprising:
a traction battery (124 & “traction battery pack 200” see fig. 2); and
a controller (148 fig. 1) programmed to adjust a maximum discharge power of the traction battery (¶0013 “changing the maximum charge/discharge power limit of the traction battery by a controller”) according to an estimated capacity (¶0013 “wherein the capacity change of the traction battery is derived from open-loop estimation and closed-loop estimation”) that depends on data of the traction battery (fig. 2 “Battery Energy Control Module (BECM)”) from instances of time selected based on a delta state of charge uncertainty (fig. 5 shows ΔSOC and current with SOC related to time, ¶0039) associated with the instances of time.
CN107179509A does not disclose the concept of “uncertainty associated with the instances of time”.
Li discloses an automotive power system with batteries and SOC measuring and ΔSOC (col. 2 ll 9-11). Li also discloses uncertainty associated with instances of time in measuring the ΔSOC (Abstract 2nd sentence, claim 1). At the time the invention was made it would have been well known to one of ordinary skill in this art to upgrade the controller of CN107179509A with the SOC uncertainty measuring as taught by Li. A motivation for this improvement to CN107179509A would be to quantify the confidence with the estimations. This combination follows KSR case law rationale A; combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim 2 CN107179509A discloses the automotive power system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to selectively store the data based on the delta state of charge uncertainty (¶0041 “a closed-loop battery SOC estimator, a battery cell model compact enough to be executed in a microcontroller, microprocessor, ASIC, or other control system”).
Claim 3 CN107179509A discloses the automotive power system of claim 1, wherein the data include states of charge of the traction battery (¶0005).
Claim 4 CN107179509A discloses the automotive power system of claim 3, wherein some of the states of charge are measured (¶0036 “battery pack current measurement module 208” & 212) and other of the states of charge are estimated (¶0039 & ¶0054 “SOC estimation”).
Claim 5 CN107179509A discloses the automotive power system of claim 1, wherein the estimated capacity further depends on a charge or discharge experienced by the traction battery (claim 6) during a time period that corresponds with the instances of time (figures 5 & 6 shows instances and periods of time on X axis).
Claim 6 CN107179509A discloses the automotive power system of claim 1, wherein the delta state of charge uncertainty (¶0025 & 0026 with figures 5 & 6) depends on states of charge of the traction battery (claims 6 & 10).
Claims 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN107179509A in view of Belt et al (US20180056973A).
A method comprising: adjusting (“controller 148”, fig. 1) a maximum discharge power for a traction battery (124 & “traction battery pack 200” see fig. 2) according to an estimated capacity (¶0013 “wherein the capacity change of the traction battery is derived from open-loop estimation and closed-loop estimation”) that depends on data of the traction battery (fig. 2 “Battery Energy Control Module (BECM)”) from instances of time corresponding to a delta state of charge uncertainty (fig. 5 shows ΔSOC and current with SOC related to time, ¶0039) value less than a predefined threshold.
CN107179509A does not disclose the concept of SOC uncertainty less than a predefined threshold.
Belt discloses a method involving a traction battery (fig. 2 & “battery 66 (e.g., traction battery)”) and a delta state of charge uncertainty value less than a predefined threshold (¶0004 “the state of charge is depleted below a predefined threshold”, ¶0015 “the battery SOC 10 decreases to a predefined charge”, ¶0050 “the SOC 10 is depleted to or below a predefined threshold (e.g, 50%, 25%, 10%, 5%, or 0%)”). At the time the invention was made it would have been well known to one of ordinary skill in this art to modulate the method of CN107179509A with a ΔSOC uncertainty value less than a predefined threshold as taught by Belt. One motivation for this change to CN107179509A would be to increase the functionality of CN107179509A. This combination follows KSR case law rationale A; combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim 8 CN107179509A discloses the method of claim 7 further comprising selectively storing the data based on the delta state of charge uncertainty value (¶0041 “a closed-loop battery SOC estimator, a battery cell model compact enough to be executed in a microcontroller, microprocessor, ASIC, or other control system”).
Claim 9 CN107179509A discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the data includes states of charge of the traction battery (¶0005).
Claim 10 CN107179509A discloses the method of clam 9 further comprising measuring (¶0036 “battery pack current measurement module 208” & 212) some of the states of charge and estimating (¶0039 & ¶0054 “SOC estimation”) other of the states of charge.
Claim 11 CN107179509A discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the estimated capacity further depends on a charge or discharge experienced by the traction battery (claim 6) during a time period that corresponds with the instances of time (figures 5 & 6 shows instances and periods of time on X axis).
Claim 12 CN107179509A discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the delta state of charge uncertainty value depends on states of charge (¶0025 & 0026 with figures 5 & 6) of the traction battery.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael C Zarroli whose telephone number is (571)272-2101. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9-5 ET IFP.
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MICHAEL C. ZARROLI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3658B
/MICHAEL C ZARROLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3658 /M.C.Z/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3658