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 –
(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.
Claim(s) 1-10, 11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chikkannanavar et al. (US 9,840,161 B2 hereinafter Chikkannanavar).
As to claim 1, Chikkannanavar discloses in Figs. 2, 5, a battery management apparatus comprising: (traction battery system with BECM 206 as shown in Fig. 2);
a control circuit configured to:(BECM 206 as shown in Fig. 2);
based on a voltage of a battery pack reaching a predetermined voltage during charge of the battery pack, (opportunistic test triggered at high SOC/voltage threshold >50% or >0.75 as shown in Fig. 4A); determine a current change amount of the battery pack and a voltage change amount of one or more battery cells in the battery pack according to a current change request time point requiring a charging current change, (dynamic current input such as partial discharge pulse requested during charging as shown in Fig. 5 operation 502);
determine an internal resistance value for each of the one or more battery cells based on the current change amount of the battery pack and the voltage change amount in the one or more battery cells, (dV/dI proportional to IR per cell as shown in Fig. 4B profile 414); and
diagnose, based on the battery pack being charged, one or more defects in the one or more battery cells according to the internal resistance values of the one or more battery cells. (fault for defects like shorts/plating based on IR anomalies as shown in Fig. 5 operation 508).
As to claim 2, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 5, wherein determining the current change amount comprises: determining the current change amount from the current change request time point to a time point at which a target current requesting the current change is reached (current stabilization after input as shown in Fig. 5 operation 502).
As to claim 3, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 3A, wherein determining the voltage change amount comprises: determining the voltage change amount from the current change request time point to a voltage change stabilization time point, which is a time point at which the voltage of the battery pack is stabilized (voltage until steady after current change as shown in Fig. 3A profile).
As to claim 4, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 2, further comprising: a voltage sensor configured to measure a voltage of the one or more battery cells; and a current sensor configured to measure a current of the battery pack (voltage sensor 210 and current sensor 208 as shown in Fig. 2).
As to claim 5, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 4A, wherein determining the current change amount comprises: determining, based on a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack being greater than a predetermined reference value, the current change amount according to a measured current value (SOC >0.75 as shown in Fig. 4A).
As to claim 6, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 2, wherein determining the current change amount comprises: determining, based on a temperature of the battery pack being equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature, the current change amount according to a measured voltage value (temp sensor 212 as shown in Fig. 2).
As to claim 7, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 6, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine a deviation of the internal resistance values for each of one or more battery cells (per-cell dV/dI deviation comparison as shown in Fig. 6 operation 612).
As to claim 8, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 5, wherein the control circuit is configured to, based on the deviation of the internal resistance values for each of the one or more battery cells exceeding a predetermined reference value, diagnose a corresponding battery cell as a failure (exceedance triggers fault as shown in Fig. 5 operations 506-508).
As to claim 9, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 6, wherein determining the deviation of the internal resistance values comprises determining a deviation of the internal resistance values for each of one or more battery cells one or more times, and wherein diagnosing the corresponding battery cell as a failure comprises determining, based on the deviation of the internal resistance values being increased, that the corresponding battery cell has failed (multi-cycle deviation trends as shown in Fig. 6 operations 602-612).
As to claim 10, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 6, wherein the corresponding battery cell is determined to be failed based on (i) the deviation of the internal resistance values being increased and an increase amount of the deviation being exceeded a predetermined reference value or (ii) the deviation of the internal resistance values continuing to increase (count of deviations and trend increase as shown in Fig. 6 operation 610).
As to claim 11, Chikkannanavar discloses in Figs. 2, 5, a system comprising: (traction battery system as shown in Fig. 1);
a battery management apparatus configured to: (sensor modules 204 as shown in Fig. 2);
measure a current of a battery pack including one or more battery cells, (current sensor 208 as shown in Fig. 2);
measure a voltage of each of the one or more battery cells, (voltage sensor 210 as shown in Fig. 2); and
based on the battery pack being charged, transmit the measured voltage value of the one or more battery cells and the measured current value of the battery pack; (transmit to BECM 206 or remote as shown in Fig. 2); and
a server configured to: (BECM 206 or remote system as shown in Fig. 2);
determine a current change amount of the battery pack and a voltage change amount of the one or more battery cells based on the voltage of the one or more battery cells and the current of the battery pack received from the battery management apparatus, (current/voltage changes as shown in Fig. 5 operation 502);
determine an internal resistance value for each of the one or more battery cells based on the current change amount of the battery pack and the voltage change amount of the one or more battery cells, (dV/dI as IR as shown in Fig. 4B);
diagnose one or more defects in the one or more battery cells based on the internal resistance value for each of the one or more battery cells, (defect diagnosis as shown in Fig. 5 operation 508); and
transmit, to the battery management apparatus, a result of the diagnosis, (transmit fault signal as shown in Fig. 5 operation 508);
wherein determining the current change amount and the voltage change amount comprises:
determining, based on the voltage of the battery pack reaching a predetermined voltage during charge of the battery pack, the current change amount of the battery pack and the voltage change amount of the one or more battery cells according to a current change request time point requiring a charging current change. (pulse request at threshold as shown in Fig. 5 operation 502).
As to claim 12, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 5, wherein determining the current change amount comprises: determining the current change amount from the current change request time point to a time point at which a target current requesting the current change is reached** (current stabilization after input as shown in Fig. 5 operation 502).
As to claim 13, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 3A, wherein determining the voltage change amount comprises: determining the voltage change amount from the current change request time point to a voltage change stabilization time point, which is a time point at which the voltage of the battery pack is stabilized (voltage until steady after current change as shown in Fig. 3A profile).
As to claim 14, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 4A, wherein determining the current change amount comprises: determining, based on a state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack being greater than a predetermined reference value, the current change amount according to a measured current value (SOC >0.75 as shown in Fig. 4A).
As to claim 15, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 2, wherein determining the current change amount comprises: determining, based on a temperature of the battery pack being equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature, the current change amount according to a measured voltage value (temp sensor 212 as shown in Fig. 2).
As to claim 16, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 6, wherein the server is configured to determine a deviation of the internal resistance values for each of one or more battery cells (per-cell dV/dI deviation comparison as shown in Fig. 6 operation 612).
As to claim 17, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 5, wherein the server is configured to, based on the deviation of the internal resistance values for each of the one or more battery cells exceeding a predetermined reference value, diagnose a corresponding battery cell as a failure** (exceedance triggers fault as shown in Fig. 5 operations 506-508).
As to claim 18, Chikkannanavar discloses in Fig. 6, wherein determining the deviation of the internal resistance values comprises determining a deviation of the internal resistance values for each of one or more battery cells one or more times, and wherein diagnosing the corresponding battery cell as a failure comprises determining, based on the deviation of the internal resistance values being increased, that the corresponding battery cell has failed (multi-cycle deviation trends as shown in Fig. 6 operations 602-612).
As to claim 19, Chikkannanava discloses in Figs. 1, wherein the server is located outside of a vehicle, and the battery management apparatus is positioned in the vehicle and configured to perform wireless communication with the server (remote system outside vehicle with transmission from vehicle BMS as shown in Fig. 1)
As to claim 20, Chikkannanavar discloses in Figs. 2, 5, a battery management method comprising: (flowchart as shown in Fig. 5);
determining, by a processor, (BECM 206 as shown in Fig. 2); a current change amount of a battery pack including one or more battery cells and a voltage change amount of the one or more battery cells based on a current change request time point requiring a charging current change based on a voltage of the battery pack reaching a predetermined voltage during charge of the battery pack; (current pulse request at voltage threshold as shown in Fig. 5 operation 502);
determining, by the processor, an internal resistance value for each of the one or more battery cells based on the current change amount of the battery pack and the voltage change amount of the one or more battery cells; (dV/dI as IR as shown in Fig. 4B); and
diagnosing, by the processor, one or more defects in the one or more battery cells based on the internal resistance value for each of the one or more battery cells. (defect diagnosis as shown in Fig. 5 operation 508).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUNG X NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1967. The examiner can normally be reached 10:30am-6:30pm M-F.
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/TUNG X NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858 12/22/2025