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
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I (Claims 1-9 and 18-20) in the reply filed on 7/1/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-17 (Invention II) are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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 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 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 1-4, 18, and 21-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ligong Wang et al. (US 10677852), hereinafter “wang’ in view of Mohammed Buhari et al. (US 20250130286), hereinafter ‘Buhari’.
With regards to Claim 1, Wong discloses
A method comprising:
testing battery configured to supply back-up power to a load associated with the device, wherein the battery is receiving primary power to maintain a first charge level of the battery (FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of acts of a method 10 of estimating total capacity of a battery based on output of the battery during a partial discharge cycle, in accordance with some embodiments, Col.2, Lines 35-39; FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram of a power supply system including a power system controller and a backup battery unit that includes a battery management unit with a capacity gage, in accordance with some embodiments, Fig.3, Lines 30-34; The method 10 can optionally include charging the battery to a full charge level prior to subjecting the battery to a partial discharge cycle, Col.2,Lines 56-59);
the battery to supply power to the load to cause a partial discharge of the battery from the first charge level to a second charge level of the battery (Fig.1; systems and methods described herein employ a partial discharge cycle in which the energy withdrawn from the backup battery unit is supplied to a regular system load, Col.2, Lines 26-28; In act 14, the battery is partially discharged at a controlled discharge rate. For example, the battery can be discharged at a constant power rate (e.g., 1.5 KW), thereby simplifying determination of the total amount of energy discharged from the battery during the partial discharge cycle, Col.2, Lines 60-64; In act 18, the total capacity of the battery is estimated based on the energy supplied during the partial discharge cycle. Any suitable partial discharge cycle can be employed … As shown in FIG. 2, the energy output by the battery during the partial discharge cycle from an output voltage of the battery equal to a first voltage level (e.g., V1 shown in FIG. 2) and an output voltage of the battery equal to a second voltage level (e.g., V2 shown in FIG. 2) can be measured and used to estimate total capacity of the battery, Col.3, Lines 39-41; Lines 44-49; an estimate of the amount of energy that can be discharged from the battery cell(s) 62 from the current state of charge of the battery cell(s) 62 to a lower state of charge, Col.4, Lines 64-67);
determining one or more metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery (V1, V2, Fig.2); and
determining, based on the one or more metrics, an indication of a state of health of the battery (the battery management unit 58 can include one or more processor and a memory device that stores capacity data indicating the estimate of the amount of energy that can be discharged from the battery cell(s) 62 from the current state of charge of the battery cell(s) 62 to the lower state of charge, Col.5, Lines 4-9).
Wang also discloses sending, based on one or more metrics, an indication of the state a state of the battery (For example, during discharge of energy from the battery cell(s) 62 to the power supply unit 54, the current flowing from the battery cell(s) is sensed by the current sensor 60, which transmits a signal to the battery management unit 58 indicative of the magnitude of the current flowing from the battery cell(s) 62, Col.5, Lines 39-44).
However, Wang does not specifically disclose receiving, by a device, a signal to initiate a test of a battery configured to supply back-up power to a load associated with the device; and based on the signal, causing the primary power to discontinue supplying power to the battery.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang to receive a signal initiating a test of a battery that consist of discharging a previously charged battery to a load in order to estimate state of health of the battery using the claimed signal routine as known in the art such as discontinue supplying power to the battery before partial discharging of the battery to evaluate discharging electrical parameters.
Wang also does not specifically disclose determining one or more metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery and sending, based on the one or more weighted metrics, an indication of a state of health of the battery.
Buhari discloses determining one or more weighted metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery (Following the testing and validation step, neural network 140 may be optimized, at step 660, by adjusting the weightings and/or parameters to minimize the error in battery system SoH determinations [0079]; Fig. 8, Step 630-640) and developing, based on the one or more weighted metrics, an indication of a state of health of the battery (Fig. 8, Step 660).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari to determine one or more weighted metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery to minimize errors in determining SOH (Buhari, above) and sending, based on the one or more weighted metrics, an indication of a state of health of the battery as a more accurate assessment to a user (additional processing on the resulting battery system characteristic differential data ensures that the SoH determination is not skewed by the interference caused from swapping between charging rates, Buhari [0064]).
With regards to Claim 2, Wang additionally discloses causing the battery to discharge an amount of energy from the battery over a period of time (Abstract) or discharge an amount of electric charge (1.5 kw) from the battery as discussed above in Claim 1.
With regards to Claim 3, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the invention as discussed above.
Wang does not specifically disclose causing, based on the discharge of the battery from the first charge level to the second charge level, the battery to discontinue supplying power to the load and the primary power to resume supplying power to the battery.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari to cause, based on the discharge of the battery from the first charge level to the second charge level, the battery to discontinue supplying power to the load and the primary power to resume supplying power to the battery if/when the period of time allocated for a partial discharge when the SOH was determined has elapsed and then start re-charging the battery to enable future functionality of a backup battery similar to the procedure discussed (each backup battery unit 52 can be periodically subjected to a learning cycle (e.g., every three months) in which the backup battery unit 52 is discharged from a full charge level to an empty charge level and then recharged back to the full charge level, Col.6, Lines 30-33).
With regards to Claim 4, Wang in view of Buhari additionally discloses the invention as discussed above.
Wang does not specifically disclose wherein determining the one or more weighted metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery comprises: determining one or more metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery; and assigning a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics (Claim 4), wherein assigning a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics comprises assigning, based on an application of a machine learning model to the one or more metrics, a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics (Claim 5).
Buhari discloses determining the one or more weighted metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery comprises: determining one or more metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery; and assigning a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics (battery system 110 undergoes at least a partial charge/discharge cycle while sensor 125 collects, at step 220, measurement data indicative of characteristics associated with battery system 110 as battery system 110 is charged/discharged [0055]; the disclosed solutions can accurately determine SoH using measurement data from a partial charge/discharge cycle at higher C-rates. [0067]; as shown in FIGS. 6a and 6b, the range for the determined dV/dSoC may be rescaled to the range 1 to −1 to facilitate easier weighting and to support higher resolutions, e.g., using 32 bits to represent 1 to −1 instead of the raw values. Additionally, lower measurement data accuracy from sensor 125 may be compensated for by reducing the sampling interval of the measurement data used to determine dV/dSOC. In an embodiment, a sampling interval of 0.5%-5% SOC may be used [0068]),
wherein assigning a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics comprises assigning, based on an application of a machine learning model to the one or more metrics, a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics (At step 640, the determined normalized rate of change is used to train neural network 140 to weight and set parameters for processing the rate of change to determine the SoH for a battery system [0077]; neural network 140 may be optimized, at step 660, by adjusting the weightings and/or parameters to minimize the error in battery system SoH determinations [0079]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari to determine one or more metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery when the SoH is being determined and assign a weight to each metric of the one or more metrics to improve accuracy/reduce errors in the SoH determination that uses these parameters.
With regards to Claim 18, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claim 1.
However, Wang does not specifically disclose sending, based on the state of health satisfying a threshold, an indication to replace the battery.
Buhari discloses determining when to replace a battery based on a state of charge [0073] while using a capacity threshold [0047].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari to send, based on the state of health satisfying a threshold, an indication to replace the battery similarly to sending an indication of a state of health of the battery as discussed in Claim 1.
With regards to Claim 21, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 1/18. In addition, Wang discloses one or more processors; and a memory storing processor-executable instructions executed by the one or more processors (Col. 2, Lines 39-51).
With regards to Claim 22, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 21 and 2.
With regards to Claim 23, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 21 and 3.
With regards to Claim 24, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 21 and 4.
Claims 6-8, 19, and 25-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Buhari, in further view of Tony Delaplagne (US 20160187426), hereinafter ‘Delaplagne’.
With regards to Claim 6, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the invention as discussed above.
Wang does not specifically disclose wherein determining the one or more weighted metrics of the battery during the partial discharge of the battery comprises determining the one or more weighted metrics at one or more depth of discharge levels during the partial discharge of the battery.
Delaplagne discloses one or more depth of discharge levels during the partial discharge of the battery (The micro-cycles correspond to partial charges and discharges carried out on 25% of discharge depth, that is to say between 55% and 80% of state of charge SOC. It may be noted that the battery has lost 6% of capacity after 16900 micro-cycles [0047]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne to determine weighting metrics while accounting for discharge depth that would indicate a deterioration of a battery (lost capacity) and lead to more accurate estimate of SOH.
With regards to Claim 7 and 8, Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne discloses the invention as discussed above.
Wang does not specifically disclose wherein determining the one or more weighted metrics of the battery comprises determining, based on one or more characteristics of the battery, the one or more weighted metrics of a plurality of weighted metrics, wherein the one or more characteristics of the battery comprise one or more of a battery model of the battery or a battery type of the battery, and wherein the plurality of weighted metrics comprise one or more of a voltage, a first derivative of the voltage, a second derivative of the voltage, a change in voltage from optimal, a change in voltage due to the discharge of the battery, a recovery of the voltage during the discharge of the battery, a first and second derivate of the recovery voltage.
Buhari discloses determining the one or more weighted metrics of the battery as discussed above.
Delaplagne discloses wherein the one or more characteristics of the battery comprise one or more of a battery model of the battery or a battery type of the battery (model for estimating the state of charge of the battery [0057]), and wherein the plurality of metrics comprise one or more of a voltage, a first derivative of the voltage, a second derivative of the voltage, a change in voltage from optimal, a change in voltage due to the discharge of the battery, a recovery of the voltage during the discharge of the battery, a first and second derivate of the recovery voltage (evaluating the time derivative of the voltage; (d) detecting at least one particular point of this derivative corresponding to a known and predefined real value of state of charge, and (ii) resetting the estimation algorithm knowing the real value of state of charge at the given instant, Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne that the one or more characteristics of the battery comprise one or more of a battery model of the battery or a battery type of the battery and wherein the plurality of weighted metrics would comprise one or more of a voltage and a first derivative of the voltage as important metric in resetting the algorithm for calculating a state of health because the time derivative of the voltage across the terminals of a battery as (is) a function of its state of charge during a discharging phase (Delaplagne [0043]).
With regards to Claim 19, Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 18 and 8.
With regards to Claim 25, Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 21 and 6.
With regards to Claim 26, Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 21 and 7.
With regards to Claim 27, Wang in view of Buhari, and Delaplagne discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 21 and 8.
Claims 9 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Buhari, in further view of Nicholas Dane Willard et al. (US 20170115355), hereinafter ‘Willard’.
With regards to Claim 9, Wang in view of Buhari discloses the invention as discussed above in Claim 1.
Wang does not specifically disclose the state of health comprises one or more of a percentage of an original capacity of the battery or a remaining life of the battery.
Willard discloses the state of health comprises one or more of a percentage of an original capacity of the battery or a remaining life of the battery (SOH can be thought of as the percentage of maximum available storage capacity compared to the maximum amount of capacity at the beginning of life [0025]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Buhari, and Willard to express the state of health as a percentage of an original capacity of the battery as known in the art (the value of maximum capacity is required for the state of health estimation to be made, Willard [0026]).
With regards to Claims 20 and 28, Wang in view of Buhari, and Willard discloses the claim limitations as discussed above with regards to Claims 18/21 and 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Atsushi Namba (US 20060176022) discloses wherein the one or more weighted metrics comprise one or more of a voltage, a first derivative of the voltage, a second derivative of the voltage, a change in voltage from optimal, a change in voltage due to the discharge of the battery, a recovery of the voltage during the discharge of the battery, a first and second derivate of the recovery voltage (According to the present SOC estimation algorithm, therefore, the remaining capacity SOCc(t) based on the integration of the current I and the remaining capacity SOCv(t) obtained from the estimated battery open circuit voltage Vo are weighted using a weight (weight factor) w, which depends on the operating conditions of the battery 10 as needed, and the weighted remaining capacities are then combined into the remaining capacity SOC(t) [0044]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER SATANOVSKY whose telephone number is (571)270-5819. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9 am-5 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Catherine Rastovski can be reached on (571) 270-0349. 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.
/ALEXANDER SATANOVSKY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
Prosecution Insights