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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 4: “the determination result” lacks antecedent basis. Dependent claim 5 is/are also rejected for inheriting the flaws from the parent claim.
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(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (KR 20210049470 A) in view of Akiba (US 20110050169)
Kim discloses
1. A battery system comprising:
a battery including a plurality of battery cells (cells1-n);
a battery management system (BMS 4) for determining whether a predetermined sleep mode entering condition is satisfied, entering the sleep mode when the sleep mode entering condition is satisfied (par. 37-39, 45: temporary stopped/parked state when relay is off), and waking up (par. 37: “The time control unit 30 may count the wake-up period …”) for each predetermined wakeup period in the sleep mode state to determine whether to perform cell balancing (i.e. par. 39, 49, 62); and
Kim is silent to a power supply unit including a timer synchronized with a time when the BMS sleeps and for counting a first wakeup time, wherein the power supply unit supplies a driving voltage to the BMS when the count result reaches the first wakeup time.
Akiba discloses a power supply unit (i.e. PS Management unit 606) including a timer TM synchronized with a time when the BMS 60 sleeps and for counting a first wakeup time, wherein the power supply unit supplies a driving voltage to the BMS 60 when the count result reaches the first wakeup time (par. 70, 73-78).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Akiba to provide power to the BMS thereby enabling the cell balancing via its interfaces.
2.1, wherein when the driving voltage is supplied to the BMS, the BMS wakes up and determines whether to perform cell balancing on the plurality of battery cells, subtracts a time used in determining whether to perform cell balancing from the wakeup period to calculate a second wakeup time, and sets the second wakeup time to be a time counted by the timer (Kim discloses [0058] At time Td, the main control circuit 40 transmits a cell balancing control signal to the cell monitoring IC 20 to activate cell balancing, and transmits a wakeup control signal to the time control unit 30. The time control unit 30 resets the wakeup period based on the received wake-up control signal. For example, when it is assumed that cell balancing starts at Td, the maximum cell balancing time is from the time point Td to Te, and the operation mode of the main control circuit 40 during the period is a sleep mode; Kim is silent to subtracts a time used in determining whether to perform cell balancing from the wakeup period to calculate a second wakeup time; however, Akiba discloses per Figs. 6-10, “control circuit CTR sets the time obtained by subtracting the power-on time and the time required for an activating process of the control device (control device activation process time) from the minimum value (minimum time) of the cell balance times judged as not being zero in steps 6A(1)-6A(4A) as the power-off time (step 6D)”; thus, the claimed feature is considered obvious in view of the prior art’s teachings.).
3.2, wherein the timer is synchronized with a time when the BMS wakes up and stops counting of the first wakeup time, and the timer is synchronized with a time when the BMS sleeps and counts the second wakeup time (Kim, par. 36-39, 58-59; Akiba, Figs. 6-10, par. 70, 79-81, 92, 99, 112: the timer TM is set to 3 minutes, and in the period of time during which the cell balance is not performed, the timer TM is set to 60 minutes, for example).
4.3, wherein The BMS sets performing of the cell balancing and the second wakeup time when the performing of the cell balancing is needed according to the determination result, and the BMS sleeps when the cell balancing is completed (Kim, par. 37-39; Akiba, Fig. 6-10, par. 78-79, 92, 99, 112).
5.3, wherein the BMS sets the second wakeup time and sleeps when performing of cell balancing is not needed according to the determination result (Kim, par. 39, 51, 54-55; Akiba, par. 69-70, 82, 101-103).
6. A method for a battery management system (BMS) to wake up for each predetermined wakeup period and control cell balancing, the method comprising:
determining whether a predetermined sleep mode entering condition is satisfied (par. 37-39, 45: temporary stopped/parked state when relay is off);
setting a first wakeup time counted by a timer of a power supply unit of the BMS when the sleep mode entering condition is satisfied according to the determination result; setting the first wakeup time to the timer and sleeping; receiving a driving voltage from the power supply unit and waking up when a counting result of the timer reaches the first wakeup time; and determining whether to perform cell balancing on a plurality of battery cells (Kim, par. 37-39, 49, 62: the time control unit 30 transmits a wake-up signal to the main control circuit 40, and the main control circuit 40 that has received the wake-up signal wakes up; Kim is silent to a power supply of the BMS; Akiba discloses a power supply unit (i.e. PS Management unit 606) including a timer TM synchronized with a time when the BMS 60 sleeps and for counting a first wakeup time, wherein the power supply unit supplies a driving voltage to the BMS 60 when the count result reaches the first wakeup time; par. 70, 73-78; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Akiba to provide power to the BMS thereby enabling the cell balancing via its interfaces.)
7.6, wherein the sleeping includes being synchronized with a time when the BMS sleeps, and counting the first wakeup time (see discussion regarding claim 2 above; above; the feature is considered obvious extension of the prior art’s teachings)
8.6, further comprising: after the determining of whether to perform the cell balancing, subtracting a time used in determining whether to perform the cell balancing from the wakeup period to calculate a second wakeup time, and setting the second wakeup time to be a time counted by the timer (see discussion regarding claims above; the feature is considered obvious extension of the prior art’s teachings).
9.8, wherein: the method comprises progressing to the sleeping after the setting of the second wakeup time to be a time counted by the timer, and the sleeping includes being synchronized with a time when the BMS sleeps, and counting the second wakeup time (see discussion regarding claims above; the feature is considered obvious extension of the prior art’s teachings).
10.6, wherein the waking up includes stopping counting of the first wakeup time when the BMS wakes up (see discussion regarding claims above; the feature is considered obvious extension of the prior art’s teachings).
11.6, further comprising: after the determining of whether to perform the cell balancing, subtracting a time used in determining whether to perform the cell balancing and a time for performing the cell balancing from the wakeup period to calculate a second wakeup time, and setting the second wakeup time to be a time counted by the timer (see discussion regarding claims above; the feature is considered obvious extension of the prior art’s teachings).
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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