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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/30/2024, 10/21/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang (U.S. Publication 20200341071).
Regarding claim 1, Kang teaches a battery system for estimating a state of charge (SOC) of a battery cell, the battery system (fig. 1 (10, via 130) “a state of charge (SOC) of a battery estimated by the current integration method based on an open-circuit voltage (OCV) of the battery that is periodically estimated based on the terminal voltage and the current of the battery, irrespective of whether the battery is being charged/discharged” [0025]) comprising:
a storage (fig. 1 (110)) configured to store, at each predetermined storage period, mapping data that map the SOC estimated based on an integral value of a cell current flowing in a battery cell, and a first open voltage estimated through a predetermined model that simulates a cell voltage corresponding to the cell current (memory 110 storing measured voltage/current values and SOC updated via current integration [0050-51] and estimating OCV using an equivalent circuit model simulating battery voltage [0014, 52-56]); and
a controller (fig. 1 130) configured to perform a process (control unit performing SOC estimation, data storage, OCV estimation and calibration operations [0049]) including
when a number of times of storing the mapping data reaches a predetermined reference number of times so that a calibration period arrives (S370, the control unit 130 determines whether a second number or more of estimated voltage values are sequentially stored in the memory 110 prior calibration [0077]), estimating a first relationship graph, which is a graph of a relationship between a plurality of SOCs and a plurality of open circuit voltages stored in the storage, based on a predetermined SOC-open circuit voltage lookup table (OCV-SOC curve data used to determine relationship between SOC and OCV [0080 fig. 5]),
calculating a summed value of distances between each of the plurality of relationship graphs and the mapping data (calculating a sum of squared errors (SSE) between measured voltage data and modeled voltage values [0072], eq 9 where the SSE represents a summed value of distances between modeled relationship and measured data, and evaluating error for model fitting),
determining an error value corresponding to a minimum value among a plurality of summed values to be a final error value between the first open voltage and a second open voltage (determining optimal model parameters by minimizing the SSE [0073], corresponding to selecting a minimum error value eq. 10), and
determining whether the final error value falls within a predetermined reference range, to determine whether to calibrate an initial SOC value (determining calibration condition using voltage difference thresholds and calibrating SOC when satisfied [0018, 79,81]).
Kang does not explicitly teach calculating a plurality of relationship graphs by reflecting a plurality of preset error values in the first relationship graph, however the teachings of Kangs estimating model parameters and OCV using atleast squares method associated with an equivalent circuit model [0014, 52-56, 72-73] wherein different assumed parameter/error values inherently produce different modeled voltage relationships, corresponding to multiple candidate relationship graphs.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to extend the error evaluation and minimization approach of Kang to include generating multiple candidate relationship graphs corresponding to different error values and selecting a final error value based on a minimum summed distance, in order to improve accuracy and robustness of SOC calibration, since Kang teaches calculating and minimizing error SSE between modeled and measured data [0072-73].
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Regarding claims 2, 9, Kang further teaches wherein when an N-th storage period arrives, the controller calculates the integral value by integrating the cell current measured for a storage duration time from an N-1-th storage period to the N-th storage period, and adds the integral value to the SOC corresponding to the N-1-th storage period, thereby calculating the SOC corresponding to the N-th storage period (updating SOC using current integration (coulomb counting), where SOC at a current time is calculated by integrating current over time interval and adding it to a previous SOC value [0050-51], and performing such updated periodically at each measurement/storage cycle steps S300-320 [0056]).
Regarding claims 3, 10, Kang further teaches wherein the storage stores a cell current profile calculated based on the cell current and a first cell voltage profile calculated based on a cell voltage, which is a voltage at both ends of the battery cell, for a storage duration time, which is a time period between adjacent storage periods (measuring and storing current and terminal voltage values over time, which inherently from current and voltage profiles stored in memory [0050-51, 56] memory 110 storing sequential voltage/current data), and the controller generates a second cell voltage profile corresponding to the cell current profile through the model that includes an open circuit voltage as a parameter based on an equivalent circuit of the battery cell (estimating battery voltage using an equivalent circuit model that includes open circuity voltage OCV and other parameters, and generating modeled voltage corresponding to measured current [0014, 0052-56]).
Regarding claims 4, 11, Kang further teaches wherein the controller calculates a magnitude of the open circuit voltage when the first and second cell voltage profiles are fitted closest to each other, as the first open voltage (estimating open circuit voltage OCV and model parameters by fitting modeled voltage values to measured terminal voltage values using at least squares method, wherein the optimal OCV corresponds to the value that minimized the error between modeled and measured voltage data [0052-56, 72-73, E.q. 9-10]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine the open circuit voltage as the value corresponding to the closest fit between modeled and measured voltage profiles, in order to improve accuracy or voltage estimation, since Kang teaches determining OCV by minimizing error between modeled and measured voltage data using a fitting (least squares) approach [0072-73].
Regarding claims 5, 12, 17, Kang further teaches wherein when the final error value is out of the predetermined reference range, the controller calibrates the initial SOC value by adding the SOC corresponding to the final error value to the initial SOC value (determining whether a calibration condition is satisfied based on an error of difference between estimated and reference values, and calibrating the SOC when the condition is satisfied [0018, 79, 81], which corresponds to adjusting the SOC value based on an identified error between estimated and reference values).
Regarding claims 6, 13, 18, Kang further teaches wherein when the final error value is out of the predetermined reference range, the controller divides the SOC corresponding to the final error value by a preset time, and adds the divided SOC to the initial SOC value in a unit of divided time, thereby calibrating the initial SOC value (calibrating the SOC based on an identified error when a calibration condition is satisfied [0018, 79-81]).
Kang does not explicitly teach dividing the SOC correction over a preset time interval and incrementally applying the correction however It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the SOC correction of Kangs gradually over a present time interval rather than instantaneously, in order to avoid abrupt changes and improve system stability, since gradual adjustment technique s are well known in control system for smoothing correction and preventing transient errors.
Regarding claim 7, the method recited is intrinsic to the apparatus recited in claim 1, as disclosed by Kang (U.S. Publication 20200341071) as the recited method steps will be performed during the normal operation of the apparatus, as discussed above with regard to claim 1. Kang further teaches estimating a plurality of second open voltages corresponding to a plurality of SOCs stored in the storage based on a predetermined SOC-open circuit voltage lookup table (estimating OCV values and using OCV=SOC relationship data (lookup table/curve) to elate SOC and OCV [0080], and generating multiple estimated voltage values corresponding to stored data [0077-78]),
calculating a final error value corresponding to a degree of discrepancy between a plurality of first open voltages stored in the storage and the plurality of second open voltages based on a predetermined cost function that quantifies a degree of matching between the plurality of first open voltages and the plurality of second open voltages (calculating a sum of squared error SSE between measured and modeled voltage values as an error metric representing discrepancy [0072, E.q 9, and determining optimal values by minimizing the SSE [0073], e. q 10]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to extend the error evaluation and minimization approach of Kang to include generating multiple candidate relationship graphs corresponding to different error values and selecting a final error value based on a minimum summed distance, in order to improve accuracy and robustness of SOC calibration, since Kang teaches calculating and minimizing error SSE between modeled and measured data [0072-73].
Regarding claims 8, 15, Kang further teaches wherein the controller determines an error value corresponding to a smallest cost among a plurality of costs derived through an equation below corresponding to the cost function, to be the final error value (calculating a sum of squared errors SSE between voltage values and modeled voltage values [0072] E.q. 9, and determining optimal values by minimizing the SSE [0073. E.q. 10], which corresponds to selecting and error value associated with a minimum cost),
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wherein Cost is a cost, OCV_1 is a first open voltage, OCV_2 is a second open voltage, SOC is a state of charge, “k” is a storage period count, “n” is the reference number of times, and “ε” is an error value, which corresponds to each of a plurality of integers that falls within a predetermined range (Kangs SSE represents a sum of squared differences between two voltage sets corresponding to SOC related estimation, thereby constituting a cost function quantifying discrepancy between first and second voltage values [0072]), although Kang performs continuous optimization, such minimization inherently evaluated a solution space of candidates values, which encompasses discrete candidate values withing a bounded range as a matter of routine implementation It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine and error value by evaluating a cost function over a plurality of candidate values and selecting a minimum cost , in order to improve accuracy of SOC estimation, since Kang teaches minimizing a summer error between modeled and measured data [0072-72].
Regarding claim 14, the method recited is intrinsic to the apparatus recited in claim 7, as disclosed by Kang (U.S. Publication 20200341071) as the recited method steps will be performed during the normal operation, as discussed above with regard to claim 7. Kang further teaches a method of calibrating a state of charge, the method comprising (a state of charge (SOC) of a battery estimated by the current integration method based on an open-circuit voltage (OCV) of the battery that is periodically estimated based on the terminal voltage and the current of the battery, irrespective of whether the battery is being charged/discharged” [0025]):
when a predetermined storage period arrives, estimating a state of charge (SOC) of a battery cell and a first open voltage based on an integral value of a cell current flowing in the battery cell and a predetermined model that simulates a cell voltage corresponding to the cell current, respectively (SOC updated via current integration [0050-51], and OCV estimated using equivalent circuit model [0052-56]);
storing mapping data that map the SOC and the first open voltage in a storage (via memory 110 [0056]); and when determined that the final error value is out of the predetermined reference range, calibrating an initial SOC value (step s390 [0081]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the SOC calibration process of Kang as a method including explicitly determining whether an error exceeds a reference range and calibrating SOC when the error is outside the range, in order o improve clarity and control of calibration, since Kang teaches performing calibration based on threshold conditions [0079-81], and expressing such control login as explicit conditional method steps is routing and predictable implementation of control algorithms.
Regarding claim 16, Kang further teaches wherein the estimating the SOC and the first open circuit includes storing a cell current profile calculated based on the cell current and a first cell voltage profile calculated based on a cell voltage, which is a voltage at both ends of the battery cell, for a storage duration time, which is a time period between adjacent storage periods (measuring and storing current and terminal voltage values over time, which inherently from current and voltage profiles stored in memory [0050-51, 56] memory 110 storing sequential voltage/current data), and
generating a second cell voltage profile corresponding to the cell current profile through the model that includes an open circuit voltage as a parameter based on an equivalent circuit of the battery cell (estimating battery voltage using an equivalent circuit model that includes open circuity voltage OCV and other parameters, and generating modeled voltage corresponding to measured current [0014, 0052-56]), and
calculating a magnitude of the open circuit voltage when the first and second cell voltage profiles are fitted closest to each other, as the first open voltage (estimating open circuit voltage OCV and model parameters by fitting modeled voltage values to measured terminal voltage values using at least squares method, wherein the optimal OCV corresponds to the value that minimized the error between modeled and measured voltage data [0052-56, 72-73, e.q. 9-10]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine the open circuit voltage as the value corresponding to the closest fit between modeled and measured voltage profiles, in order to improve accuracy or voltage estimation, since Kang teaches determining OCV by minimizing error between modeled and measured voltage data using a fitting (least squares) approach [0072-73].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chen (U.S. Publication 20110226559) discloses BATTERY STATE-OF-CHARGE CALIBRATION.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAQI R NASIR whose telephone number is (571)270-1425. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lee Rodak can be reached at (571) 270-5628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAQI R NASIR/ Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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