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 required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/4/25 and 3/5/24 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iijima, WO 2020095471 in view of Matsumoto et al., US 20150102672
Regarding claim 1, Iijima discloses an impedance measuring device, comprising:
a measurement unit that measures a voltage, generated between contact terminals that respectively contact both terminals of a measurement target object (Fig. 1; measurement object DUT sense terminal Hp, sense terminal Lp) by an alternating current supplied to the measurement target object (Fig. 1; AC signal source 11), and determines an internal impedance of the measurement target object (Fig. 1; ¶[0001]; impedance measuring device 1A); a current source for disconnection detection that supplies an alternating current for disconnection detection to a current path between the measurement unit and the measurement target object via a coupling capacitor (Fig. 1; inspection signal source, ac signal source 21a; coupling capacitors 21b, 61a).
Iijima is silent in a charging acceleration unit connected between the coupling capacitor and the current source for disconnection detection to charge the coupling capacitor when the
voltage between both the terminals of the current source for disconnection detection exceeds a prescribed voltage range. Matsumoto teaches a charging acceleration unit connected between a coupling capacitor and a current source to charge the coupling capacitor when the voltage between both the terminals of the current source for disconnection detection exceeds a prescribed voltage range (¶[0120]; “When a disconnection abnormality of a ground wiring line between the ground terminal 104 and the ground circuit GND0 occurs…the power capacitor 113 is charged by the return current…and a monitoring divided voltage divided by the voltage dividing resistors 124 and 125 exceeds a predetermined threshold voltage, occurrence of a disconnection abnormality…is detected”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Matsumoto into Ijima for the benefit of providing a disconnection abnormality monitoring system.
Claim(s) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iijima, WO 2020095471 in view of Matsumoto et al., US 20150102672 in view of Terajima, JP 2006343108
Regarding claim 2, Ijima is silent in wherein the prescribed voltage range is narrower than a compliance voltage of the current source for disconnection detection. Terajima teaches wherein a prescribed voltage range is narrower than a compliance voltage of a current source (“Tech-solution” section - voltage range narrower than a predetermined voltage range). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Terajima into Ijima as modified for the benefit of calculating a more accurate internal impedance of a battery.
Regarding claim 3, Ijima is silent in wherein the charging acceleration unit has hysteresis characteristics. Terajima teaches wherein an impedance measuring unit has hysteresis characteristics (“Advantageous-effects” section: “the amplitude limiting unit has a hysteresis characteristic”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Terajima into Ijima as modified for the benefit of calculating a more accurate internal impedance of a battery.
Regarding claim 4, Terajima teaches wherein the impedance measuring unit includes a hysteresis comparator for a positive power source and a hysteresis comparator for a negative power source (Fig. 1-2; amplitude limiting unit 10; amplifier 10a connected to positive side of power supply 10e, amplifier 10b connected to negative side of power supply 10f). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Terajima into Ijima as modified for the benefit of calculating a more accurate internal impedance of a battery.
Conclusion
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/FEBA POTHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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