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
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyamoto (pat# 8,860,423).
AS to claim 8, Miyamoto discloses a power supply circuit as shown in figure 3 comprising: a first node (V1) to which a first voltage that is a highest voltage of a battery (EM1) including a number of cells (EC1…ECm) is connected, the number being an integer greater than or equal to two; a second node (V(m+1) to which a second voltage that is a lowest voltage of the battery is connected; a third node of a VMC_SEL) connected to (VH) to which a high potential of one cell selected from among the number of cells is input; and a fourth node (VL) of a VMC_SEL) to which a low potential of the selected one cell is input and Analog to digital converter (ADC) connected to the third and fourth nodes (VH,VL). It is noted that Miyamoto does not explicitly mention about the lowest and highest voltages of the battery and a first operating voltage with a midpoint of the high potential and the low potential as a reference is generated as an operating voltage of an analog-to-digital conversion circuit (ADC). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to consider that (V1) connected to an output (VH) of a selection circuit (multiplexer) and this Voltage (V1) is a high voltage of the battery (EM1) and V(m+1) connected to an output (VL) of a selection circuit (VMC_SEL) and this Voltage (VL) is a low voltage of the battery (EM1). Furthermore, since both VH and VL (a high potential, a low potential), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to consider that the ADC is operated with a first operating voltage with a midpoint of the high potential and the low potential as a reference.
AS to claim 9, it appears that the operating voltage is a second operating voltage with a high potential of the operating voltage as the first voltage, for the third node that is a high potential of a cell on a highest potential side of the battery, and the operating voltage is a third operating voltage with a low potential of the operating voltage as the second voltage, for the fourth node that is a low potential of a cell on a lowest potential side of the battery.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12 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 prior art does not disclose a first differential amplifier; a first resistor circuit electrically connected between the third node and the fourth node; and a second resistor circuit electrically connected between the first node and the second node, wherein the midpoint is a third voltage divided by the first resistor circuit, and a fourth voltage divided by the second resistor circuit and a voltage based on a fifth voltage divided by the second resistor circuit are input to the first differential amplifier as recited in claim 10 and in combined with the limitation of claim 8. Claims 11-12 depend directly from objected claim 10, they are also objected to.
Claims 1-7 are allowed. The prior art does not disclose a power supply monitoring circuit comprising: a first terminal to which a first voltage that is a highest voltage of a battery including a number of cells is connected, the number being an integer greater than or equal to two; a second terminal to which a second voltage that is a lowest voltage of the battery is connected; a selection circuit that selects a high potential and a low potential of a cell which is one of the number of cells; an analog-to-digital conversion circuit to which the high potential and the low potential are input; a power supply circuit that generates an operating voltage of the analog-to-digital conversion circuit; and a logic circuit that receives a first signal from the analog-to-digital conversion circuit, processes the first signal, and outputs a second signal from a third terminal to an external device, wherein the operating voltage is a first operating voltage with a midpoint of the high potential and the low potential as a reference. Claims 2-7 depend directly or indirectly from allowed claim 1, they are also allowed accordingly.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ueda et al (pat# 8,957,686) disclose Voltage Measurement Device And Voltage Measurement System.
Bosch et al (Pat# 9,400,312) disclose Battery System And Method For Determining Battery Module Voltages.
Butzmann (Pat# 9,921,270) discloses Battery System With Cell Voltage Detecting Units.
Nakatsuka et al (Pat# 10,193,194) disclose Battery Assembly Controller Which Monitors Voltages Of Secondary Batteries.
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/VINH P NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858